III. Deletion Procedures

Deletion of a portion of a site from the NPL does not itself create, alter, or revoke any person's rights or obligations. The NPL is designed primarily for informational purposes and to assist Agency management. The following procedures were used for the proposed deletion of OU Nos. 1 and 2 of the RSR Site:

(1) EPA has recommended the partial deletion and has prepared the relevant documents.
(2) The State of Texas through TNRCC concurred by letter dated January 8, 1996, with this partial deletion.
(3) Concurrent with this national Notice of Intent for Partial Deletion, a notice has been published in a newspaper of record and has been distributed to appropriate federal, State, and local officials, and other interested parties. These notices announce a thirty (30) day public comment period on the deletion package, which commences on the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register and a newspaper of record.
(4) EPA has made all relevant documents available at the information repositories listed previously.

Upon completion of the thirty (30) day public comment period, EPA will evaluate all comments received before issuing the final decision on the partial deletion. EPA will prepare a Responsiveness Summary for comments received during the public comment period and will address concerns presented in the comments. The Responsiveness Summary will be made available to the public at the information repositories listed previously. Members of the public are encouraged to contact EPA Region 6 to obtain a copy of the Responsiveness Summary. If, after review of all public comments, EPA determines that the partial deletion from the NPL is appropriate, EPA will publish a final notice of partial deletion in the Federal Register. Deletion of OU Nos. 1 and 2 does not actually occur until the final Notice of Partial Deletion is published in the Federal Register.

IV. Basis for Intended Partial Site Deletion

The following provides EPA's rationale for deletion of OU Nos. 1 and 2 from the NPL and EPA's finding that the criteria in 40 CFR 300.425(e) are satisfied:

Background

The RSR Site is located in west Dallas, Texas and encompasses an area of approximately 13.6 square miles. The RSR Site is very diverse and includes large single and multi-family residential neighborhoods, multi-family public housing areas and some industrial, commercial and retail establishments. Contamination at the RSR Site originated from the operation of a secondary lead smelter facility located in the heart of west Dallas for approximately 50 years. Specifically, contamination of the RSR Site resulted from the fallout of historical air emissions from the smelter stack, from the use by residents of lead slag and battery casing chips as fill material in residential driveways and yards and from the disposal of smelter wastes in several disposal areas, including two locations operated as local municipal landfills. Lead, cadmium and arsenic are the primary contaminants of concern at the RSR Site.

In order to expedite Superfund response actions at this large site, especially with regard to the residential areas, EPA divided the RSR Site into five Operable Units (OUs), Figure 1:

OU No. 1 includes private residential properties and high risk locations such as schools, church play areas, parks, and day care facilities. Industrial, commercial, and retail establishments are not included in OU No. 1. OU No. 1 is bounded on the north and east by the Trinity River, on the south by Ft. Worth Avenue, and on the west by State Highway Loop 12 (Walton Walker Blvd.) and the Dallas city limits at the levee (approximately \1/2\ mile west of Loop 12). OU No. 1 includes primarily single and multi-family housing and has a population of approximately 17,000.

Operable Unit No. 2 is an area owned and operated by the Dallas Housing Authority (DHA), which encompasses approximately 460 acres within the RSR Site. The OU No. 2 site is bounded by Westmoreland Road to the west, Hampton Road to the east, Canada Drive to the north and Singleton Boulevard to the south. OU No. 2 includes primarily public multi-family housing, schools, parks, recreation facilities, and a day care center.

For approximately 50 years, secondary lead smelting operations were conducted at the smelter facility located near the center of the RSR Site. An extensive review of available historical information concerning the smelter's operation indicates that from approximately 1934 until 1971, the lead smelting facility was owned and/or operated by Murph Metals, Inc. or its predecessors. In 1971, RSR Corporation acquired the lead smelting operation and operated the smelter under the name Murph Metals until March 1984 when a Federal Trade Commission divestiture order resulted in the acquisition of the smelter in May 1984 by the current owner, Murmur Corporation. In 1983, the City of Dallas declined to renew the smelter's operating permit. This decision was based on the smelter's historic operational practices and changes in the City's zoning ordinance restrictions. As a result, the smelter closed in 1984 and has not operated since that time.

The smelter facility currently consists of two properties separated by Westmoreland Road. The smelter building, stack and other associated buildings, which are no longer in use, are situated on one property (OU No. 4), while a disassembled battery wrecking building and abandoned disposal areas exist on the property across Westmoreland Road (OU No. 5). Currently, Murmur Corporation is conducting the only active site operations, which consist of a lead manufacturing and fabricating facility producing lead shot and lead sheets for hospital x-ray rooms.

As a result of a lawsuit brought by the City of Dallas and the Texas Air Control Board against RSR Corporation and Murph Metals, in 1983 RSR/Murph by court order was required to fund a cleanup of the residential community within one-half mile of the smelter. The cleanup was conducted from 1984 through 1985 and required the removal and offsite disposal of soils in residential areas and public play areas and day care centers that exceeded approximately 1,000 ppm lead concentration. The cleanup action conducted from 1984 through 1985 exceeded recommendations made by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and was considered a protective and appropriate action at that time.

Concerns about lead contamination in the west Dallas area re- emerged in 1991 when TNRCC (formerly the Texas Water Commission) began receiving complaints from area residents about residual slag piles and battery chips allegedly originating from the former RSR Corporation facility in areas beyond the original cleanup area. In addition, in 1991 the CDC lowered the blood lead level of concern. Consequently, TNRCC requested that EPA re-evaluate the areal extent of smelter contamination in west Dallas.

On May 10, 1993, EPA proposed to add the RSR Corporation Site to the National Priorities List (NPL) of Superfund sites (58 Fed. Reg. 27,507). The final listing was published in the Federal Register on September 29, 1995 (60 FR 50435).

OU NO. 1 Response Actions

EPA began soil sampling in west Dallas in 1991 to determine the presence of soil contamination from the RSR smelter. Results indicated that areas previously cleaned in the 1980s were not recontaminated and did not require further cleanup, but that contamination existed beyond the area formerly addressed in areas near the smelter and in areas where battery chips were used as fill. Consequently, EPA initiated an emergency removal action in the residential and high risk areas (designated OU No. 1) consisting of removal and offsite disposal of soils and debris contaminated in excess of the residential removal action cleanup levels of 500 ppm lead, or 20 ppm arsenic, or 30 ppm cadmium. EPA conducted removal activities at 420 residential properties and high risk areas at OU No. 1 of the RSR Site from October 1991 to June 1994.

In addition to the removal action, EPA conducted a remedial investigation and a baseline human health risk assessment at OU No. 1 to determine the extent of contamination and long-term cleanup goals for OU No. 1. On May 9, 1995, based on the results of these studies and the completion of the removal action EPA, issued a ROD for OU No. 1 presenting EPA's decision that no further CERCLA action is necessary to protect human health and the environment.

All of the response actions at OU No. 1 were conducted using funds from the Hazardous Substance Superfund.

OU NO. 2 Response Actions

On August 9, 1993, EPA entered into a CERCLA Administrative Order on Consent (AOC), Docket No. 6-21-93, with DHA, under which DHA agreed to conduct a remedial investigation and feasibility study (RI/FS) and, in addition, to conduct demolition and removal actions at OU No. 2. Under the AOC, DHA was required to perform the removal and demolition activities in the same manner and in accordance with the removal action performed by EPA at the residential areas in OU No. 1. Pursuant to the AOC, DHA excavated and removed contaminated soils with concentrations equal to or in excess of residential action levels, and disposed of those soils in appropriate and permitted offsite landfills. In addition, DHA demolished 167 buildings using methods approved by EPA to prevent public exposure to contaminants that may have been contained in the building materials. DHA's demolition and removal actions were performed with the oversight and approval of EPA and were completed in March 1995. TNRCC also provided oversight support, and DHA coordinated and received approval from TNRCC for the disposal of materials to offsite landfill facilities.

Concurrent with DHA's investigation and removal activities, EPA conducted a human health risk assessment for OU No. 2. Based on the results of these studies and on the completion of the removal and demolition activities, on May 9, 1995, EPA issued a ROD for OU No. 2 presenting its decision that no further CERCLA action is necessary to protect human health and the environment at OU No. 2.

Community Involvement

Public participation activities for OU Nos. 1 and 2 have been satisfied as required in CERCLA Section 113(k), 42 U.S.C. Sec. 9613(k), and Section 117, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 9617. The Remedial Investigation Reports, Baseline Human Health Risk Assessment Reports and the Proposed Plans for OU Nos. 1 and 2 were released to the public on November 18, 1994. These documents as well as other documents and information EPA relied on or considered in recommending that no further action was necessary at these OUs were compiled for OU Nos. 1 and 2 and were made available to the public on or before November 18, 1994. Such documents have been available to the public in the three RSR Site information repositories. The notice of the availability of the Proposed Plan and supporting documents was published in The Dallas Morning News on November 14, 1994. The public comment period was held from November 18, 1994 through January 18, 1995. A Public meeting was held on December 1, 1994, to receive public comments from the community. In addition, legal and technical representatives from EPA participated in a radio talk show on January 15, 1995, to receive public comments and answer questions from citizens. Responses to all comments received during the public comment period are included in the Responsiveness Summary attached to the RODs for OU Nos. 1 and 2.

On May 9, 1995, EPA issued a ROD for OU No. 1 and a ROD for OU No. 2 presenting EPA's decisions that no further action is necessary at OU Nos. 1 and 2 of the RSR Site in Dallas, Texas for protection of human health and the environment. EPA's decisions are based on information contained in the final Administrative Records for OU Nos. 1 and 2. The final Administrative Records for the two OUs are available at the RSR Site information repositories.

Current Status

Based on the successful completion of EPA's and DHA's removal actions and the extensive investigations and risk assessments performed for both OU No. 1 and OU No. 2, there are no further response actions planned or scheduled for these OUs. Pursuant to the NCP, a five-year review will not need to be performed at OU Nos. 1 and 2.

While EPA does not believe that any future response actions in OU Nos. 1 and 2 will be needed, if future conditions warrant such action, the proposed deletion areas of the RSR Site remain eligible for future Fund-financed response actions. Furthermore, this partial deletion does not alter the status of OU Nos. 3, 4, and 5 of the RSR Site which are not proposed for deletion and remain on the NPL.

EPA, with concurrence from the State of Texas, has determined that all appropriate CERCLA response actions have been completed at OU Nos. 1 and 2 and protection of human health and the environment has been achieved in these areas. Therefore, EPA makes this proposal to delete only OU Nos. 1 and 2 of the RSR Corporation Superfund Site from the NPL.

Dated: March 25, 1996.
A. Stanley Meiburg,
Acting Regional Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 6.

Appendix A--Docket Information

Deletion Docket--Notice of Intent for Partial Deletion of the RSR Corporation Superfund Site, Dallas, Texas; Operable Units Nos. 1 and 2 From the Superfund National Priorities List

• RSR Corporation Superfund Site Administrative Record Index, Operable Unit No. 1, May 9, 1995.
• RSR Corporation Superfund Site Administrative Record Index, Operable Unit No. 2, May 9, 1995.
• Concurrence letter dated January 8, 1996, from the State of Texas through the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission agreeing with EPA's proposal to delete OU Nos. 1 and 2 of the RSR Site from the National Priorities List.
• Notice of Intent for Partial Deletion of the RSR Corporation Superfund Site, Operable Units Nos. 1 and 2, from the National Priorities List.

RSR Corporation Superfund Site, Dallas, Texas; Site Coordinate Boundaries

The RSR Corporation Superfund Site Operable Unit No. 1 is generally bounded by the following longitude and latitude coordinate points: