ATTACHMENT A
Partial Deletion Policy
Federal Register Notice

40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-5323-8]

Notice of Policy Change: Partial Deletion of Sites Listed on the National Priorities List

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of policy change.

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is changing its policy concerning deletion of sites listed on the National Priorities List (NPL), or Superfund sites. EPA will now delete releases of hazardous substances at portions of sites, if those releases qualify for deletion. Sites, or portions of sites, that meet the standard provided in the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP), i.e., no further response is appropriate, may be the subject of entire or partial deletion. EPA expects that this action will help to promote the economic redevelopment of Superfund sites, and will better communicate the completion of successful partial cleanups.

EFFECTIVE DATE: November 1, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Hugo Paul Fleischman, (5203G), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M St., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20460; (703) 603-8769. An alternative contact is the Superfund Hotline; 1-800-424-9346 (TDD 800-553-7672), or in the Washington, D.C. area, (703) 412-9810), (TDD 703-412-3323).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: With State concurrence, EPA may delete sites from the NPL when it determines that no further response is appropriate under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). See 40 CFR 300.425(e). In making that determination, EPA typically considers: whether responsible or other parties have implemented all appropriate and required response actions; whether all appropriate Fund-financed responses under CERCLA have been implemented and EPA has determined that no further cleanup by responsible parties is appropriate; or whether the release of hazardous substances poses no significant threat to the public health, welfare or the environment, thereby eliminating the need for remedial action. To date, EPA policy has been to delete releases only after evaluation of the entire site. However, deletion of entire sites does not communicate the successful cleanup of portions of those sites. Total site cleanup may take many years, while portions of the site may have been cleaned up and may be available for productive use. Some potential investors or developers may be reluctant to undertake economic activity at even a cleaned-up portion of real property that is part of a site listed on the NPL. Therefore, EPA will delete portions of sites, as appropriate, and will consider petitions to do so. Such petitions may be submitted by any person, including individuals, business entities, States, local governments, and other Federal agencies. Partial deletion will also be governed by 40 CFR 300.425(e). State concurrence will continue to, thus, be a requirement for any partial deletion.

EPA will consider partial deletion for portions of sites when no further response is appropriate for that portion of the site. Such portion may be a defined geographic unit of the site, perhaps as small as a residential unit, or may be a specific medium at the site, e.g., groundwater, depending on the nature or extent of the release(s). Again, EPA wishes to emphasize that the primary purpose of the NPL is to serve as an informational and management tool. Whether property is part of an NPL site is unrelated to CERCLA liability because neither NPL listing nor deletion assigns liability to any party or to the owner of any specific property. Liability under CERCLA is determined under CERCLA section 107, which makes no reference to NPL listing or deletion. Listing or deleting a site from the NPL does not create CERCLA liability where it would not otherwise exist. As with entire sites, deleted portions of sites remain eligible for further Fund- financed remedial actions should future conditions warrant such action. Whenever there is a significant release from a site or portion of a site deleted from the NPL, the site or portion may be restored to the NPL without application of the Hazard Ranking System. See 40 CFR 300.425(e)(3).

Dated: October 24, 1995.
Elliott P. Laws,
Assistant Administrator.
[FR Doc. 95-27069 Filed 10-31-95; 8:45 am]
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