ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    February 14, 1973
    ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
    )
    #72—112
    V.
    U.
    S.
    SCRAP
    CORP.,
    A
    corporation
    )
    HERMAN
    TAVINS,
    ASST.
    ATTORNEY
    GENERAL,
    FOR
    THE
    ENVIRONMENTAL
    PROTECTION
    AGENCY
    JAMES REGAS, FOR U.
    S.
    SCRAP
    CORP.
    INTERIM
    OPINION
    AND
    ORDER
    OF
    THE
    BOARD
    (BY
    SAMUEL
    T.
    LAWTON,
    JR.):
    On
    February
    8,
    1973,
    the Pollution Control Board received a
    two page transcript of the hearing held in this case.
    The errors
    found in this transcript require us to take corrective action.
    The complaint,as filed, apparently included the wrong address
    of the respondentTs facility.
    Through some strange misreading of
    our decision in Environmental Protection Agency v. Mystik Tape,
    #72-180, counsel for
    the
    complainant decided that he was precluded
    from filing an amended complaint.
    He therefore moved
    to dismiss
    the complaint,
    stating that a new complaint would be filed against
    the same facility within two weeks.
    Contrary to our procedural
    rules, the Hearing Officer granted the motion to dismiss.
    The Mystik Tape case dealt with the pleading of dates
    in
    complaints which alleged violations
    “to the close of the record”.
    We there forbade such pleadings, and no more.
    Misunderstandings of a decision can occur.
    However, what is
    inexcusable is
    a Hearing Officer’s failure to know the limits of
    his authority,
    especially when that authority is so clearly stated
    in the Pollution Control Board’s Procedural Rules.
    Rule 308(f)
    states:
    7.—77
    “The Hearing Officer shall rule upon all motions, except
    that he shall have no authority to dismiss or decide
    a
    proceeding on the merits, or for failure to state a
    claim, or for want of jurisdiction, or to strike any
    claim or defense for insufficiency or want of proof.
    The
    Hearing Officer shall refer any such motion to the Board.
    The Board may decide such motions at any time, but its
    inaction shall not stay proceeding nor preclude the Board
    from granting or denying the motion at a later time.”
    We trust that henceforth Hearing Officers will read the
    rules, and be familiar with the extent of their authority.
    ORDER
    It is the Order of the Board that:
    1.
    The Hearing Officer’s grant of the motion to dismiss
    is vacated.
    2.
    That leave is granted to the Complainant to file an
    amended complaint for the purpose of correcting the
    original complaint as to the respondent’s address.
    I, Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
    Board, certify that the above Interm Opinion and Order was adopted
    by the Board on the
    i’4~’
    day
    of~/
    ,
    1973,
    by a vote
    of
    3
    to
    ~
    .
    —2—
    7 —78

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