ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
September 12,
1991
CITY OF FAIRBURY,
Petitioner,
v.
)
PCB 91—169
)
(Provisional Variance)
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
)
PROTECTION AGENCY,
)
Respondent.
ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by J.C.
Marlin):
This matter comes before the Board on receipt of an Agency
Recommendation dated September 11,
1991.
The recommendation
refers to a request from Petitioner,
City of Fairbury,
for a
provisional variance from the ammonia nitrogen
(NH3), biochemical
oxygen demand
(BOD5), and suspended solids
(TSS)
effluent
requirements,
as set forth
in 35
Ill. Adm. Code 304.120,
304.122,
and 304.141(a),
for the period from September
10,
1991,
and
continuing until the Petitioner returns its wastewater treatment
facilities to service,
but not for longer than 45 days.
The Board granted the City of Fairbury a previous
provisional variance in PCB 91-114 on July 11,
1991.
The Agency recommends that the Board grant the requested
provisional variance with specified conditions.
The Agency
agrees that the repairs are 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 a grant of a provisional variance would violate no
federal laws.
The Agency finds that a denial of the requested
provisional variance would create an arbitrary and unreasonable
hardship on the Petitioner.
The responsibilities of the Agency and the Board in these
short—term provisional variances are different from the
responsibilities
in standard variances.
See Ill.
Rev.
Stat.
1989,
ch.
111½,
pars.
1035(b)
&
(c).
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 finding that
a
126—105
2
denial of the requested relief would impose an arbitrary and
unreasonable hardship, the Board hereby grants Petitioner a
provisional variance from 35 Ill. Adm.
Code Ill.
304.120,
304.122,
and 304.141(a), on the following conditions:
1.
The term of this provisional variance shall commence on
September 10,
1991,
and it shall expire on the date the
Petitioner returns its wastewater treatment plant to
service, or after 45 days have elapsed, whichever comes
first;
2.
During the term of this provisional variance, the
effluent from the Petitioner’s treatment plant shall not
exceed concentrations of 20 ing/l NH3
(daily maximum
concentration or 45 mg/l BOD5 or 45 mg/l TSS
(each on
a
monthly average concentration basis);
3.
The Petitioner shall notify Steve Baldwin of the
Agency’s Champaign Regional office by telephone,
at 217—
333—8361, when it returns wastewater treatment facilities to
service,
and the Petitioner shall confirm this notice in
writing within five days,
addressed as follows:
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
Division of Water Pollution Control
Compliance Assurance Section
2200 Churchill Road
P.O. Box 19276
Springfield, Illinois
62794—9276
Attention:
Nark T. Books
4.
The Petitioner shall return to service as soon as
possible and operate its plant during the term of this
provisional variance in a manner that assures the best
treatment practicable;
and
5.
The 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; the Petitioner shall
forward that copy within
10 days of the date of this Order
of the Board,
and the Certificate of Acceptance shall take
the following form:
126—106
3
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 91-169,
September
12,
1991.
Petitioner
Authorized Agent
Title
Date
IT IS SO ORDERED.
J.D. Dumelle concurred.
I, Dorothy N. Gunn,
Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board,
do hereby cer
fy~iatthe above Order was adopted on the
/~7~-~
day of
~
C-~’c
I
,
1991, by a vote of
7-0
.
/~~K/
~
/~.
z~”~-~
Dorothy N. $~nn,Clerk
Illinois p~1lutionControl Board
126—107