ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    April 16, 1998
    COMMONWEALTH EDISON
    COMPANY (Zion Power Station),
    Petitioner,
    v.
    ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
    PROTECTION AGENCY,
    Respondent.
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    PCB 98-141
    (Provisional Variance - Water)
    ORDER OF THE BOARD (by C.A. Manning):
    Pursuant to Section 35(b) of the Environmental Protection Act (Act) (415 ILCS 5/35(b)
    (1996)), Commonwealth Edison Company, Zion Power Station (petitioner) located in Zion,
    Lake County, Illinois, has requested that the Board grant a provisional variance from the
    effluent discharge requirements, as set forth in 35 Ill. Adm. Code 304.141(b) and 309.102.
    The request for a provisional variance and the notification of recommendation were filed with
    the Board by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Agency) on April 14, 1998.
    Pursuant to Section 35(b) of the Act (415 ILCS 5/35(b) (1996)), the Board must issue the
    variance within two days of this filing.
    Pursuant to Section 35(b) of the Act, the Agency, by and through its Director, Mary A.
    Gade, seeks a provisional variance to allow petitioner to treat and discharge two sub-waste
    streams not currently listed in its National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)
    Permit No. IL0002763. These two waste streams pertain to: (1) drain water from a closed
    heating system; and (2) water collected from a leaking heat exchanger that is part of the
    station’s heating/ventilation/air conditioning (HVAC) system. Petitioner proposes to add these
    to its radwaste treatment system and wastewater treatment system.
    All wastewater would be treated in accordance with petitioner’s existing NPDES
    permit. Petitioner has proposed to add these sub-waste streams to its permitted discharge in its
    application for renewal of its existing NPDES permit, but does not expect a renewal permit to
    be issued for at least another six months for various stated reasons.
    The Agency recommends that the Board grant the requested provisional variance with
    specified conditions. The Agency agrees that the modification is necessary. The Agency
    anticipates that the requested provisional variance would have minimal environmental impact
    on the receiving stream. The Agency is unaware of any public water supplies that the
    requested provisional variance would adversely impact. The Agency maintains that grant of a
    provisional variance would violate no federal laws. The Agency believes that denial of the
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    requested provisional variance would create an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship on the
    petitioner.
    Specifically, the Agency recommends that the Board grant petitioner a 45-day
    provisional variance for petitioner’s Lake County facility from the effluent discharge
    requirements, as set forth in 35 Ill. Adm. Code 304.141(b) and 309.102. This variance period
    shall commence on a date in April or May, 1998, when treatment of the earlier of either the
    closed heating system drain water or the water collected from the leaking heat exchanger in the
    heating ventilation air conditioning system begins and shall continue for 45 days, or until
    treatment is completed, or upon the issuance of petitioner’s NPDES permit, whichever occurs
    first.
    Provisional variances are by their very nature temporary. The responsibilities of the
    Agency and the Board in these short-term provisional variances are different from the
    responsibilities in standard variances. See 415 ILCS 5/35(b), 36(c) (1996). In provisional
    variances it is the responsibility of the Agency to make the technical determinations and
    finding of arbitrary or unreasonable hardship. The Board’s responsibility is to adopt a formal
    order, to assure the formal maintenance of the record, to assure the enforceability of the
    variance, and to provide notification of the action by a press release.
    Having received the Agency recommendation that a denial of the requested relief would
    impose an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship, the Board hereby grants petitioner a provisional
    variance from 35 Ill. Adm. Code 304.141(b) and 309.102, subject to conditions.
    In the interest of better public understanding of today’s action, the Board has added two
    explanatory sentences to the first condition of this provisional variance.
    1.
    The purpose of this provisional variance is to allow petitioner to add two waste
    streams to its existing radwaste treatment system and wastewater treatment
    system for treatment consistent with its NPDES Permit No. IL0002763. These
    waste streams are the closed heating system drain water and the water collected
    from the leaking heat exchanger in the HVAC system. The term of this
    provisional variance shall commence on a date in April or May of 1998 when
    treatment of the earlier of either the closed heating system drain water or the
    HVAC system wastewater begins and shall continue for 45 days, or until
    treatment is completed, or upon the issuance of petitioner’s NPDES permit to
    renew or replace NPDES Permit No. IL0002763, whichever occurs first.
    2. Petitioner shall continue to meet all other conditions and limits in its NPDES
    Permit No. IL0002763.
    3. Petitioner shall notify Matthew Wertman, Maywood Regional Office, by
    telephone, at 708/338-7900, at the start of and the completion of treatment of
    the two sub-waste streams. Petitioner shall confirm this notice in writing within
    five (5) days, addressed as follows:
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    Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
    Bureau of Water, Compliance Assurance Section
    Attn: Dan Ray
    1021 N. Grand Avenue East
    P.O. Box 19276
    Springfield, IL 62794-9276
    Petitioner shall execute a copy of a certificate of acceptance of this provisional variance
    and forward that copy to the Agency addressed as is the written notice required in the above
    condition; petitioner shall forward that copy within ten days of the date of this order of the
    Board, and the certificate of acceptance shall take the following form:
    CERTIFICATION
    I (We), _________________________________, hereby accept and
    agree to be bound by all terms and conditions of the order of the
    Pollution Control Board in PCB 98-141, April 16, 1998.
    ___________________________
    Petitioner
    ___________________________
    Authorized Agent
    ___________________________
    Title
    ___________________________
    Date
    IT IS SO ORDERED.
    Board Member K.M. Hennessey abstained.
    Board Member J.Theodore Meyer voted present.
    Section 41 of the Environmental Protection Act (415 ILCS 5/41 (1996)) provides for
    the appeal of final Board orders to the Illinois Appellate Court within 35 days of service of this
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    order. Illinois Supreme Court Rule 335 establishes such filing requirements. See 172 Ill. 2d
    R. 335; see also 35 Ill. Adm. Code 101.246, Motions for Reconsideration.
    I, Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control Board, hereby certify that
    the above order was adopted on the 16th day of April 1998 by a vote of 5-0.
    Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk
    Illinois Pollution Control Board

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