ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
January
8
,
1976
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS,
)
Complainant,
v.
)
PCB 75-79
AURORA REFINING COMPANY,
an
)
Illinois corporation,
Respondent.
Jeffrey
S.
Herndon, Assistant Attorney General, Attorney for
Complainant
Bruce
A.. Brown, Goldsmith,
Dyer,
Thelin,
Schiller
& Dickson,
Attorney for Respondent
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by Mr. Young):
This case arises out of
a four count Complaint, filed
by the People of the State of Illinois
(People) on February
19,
1975 alleging
that Respondent, Aurora Refining Company,
an Illinois corporation
(Aurora)
owned and operated certain
facilities
located in or near 533 1/2 Rathbone Street, Aurora,
Kane County,
Illinois in violation of the Environmental Pro—
tection Act
(Act)
and the Air Pollution Regulations
(Chapter
2)
as follows:
Count
I alleged that Aurora operated a rotary
furnace,
a reverberatory furnace and a baghouse
without first obtaining operating permits from
the Environmental Protection Agency
(Agency)
in
violation of Rule 103(b)
of Chapter
2 and Section
9(b)
of the Act from on or about May
1,
1973 un-
til filing of the Complaint; and,
Count II alleged that Aurora caused or allowed
construction of new air pollution control equip-
ment,
specifically, two baghouses, without first
obtaining a construction permit from the Agency
in violation of Rule 103(a)
of Chapter
2 and
Section
9(b) of the Act from on or after January
1,
1973 until filing of the Complaint; and,
Count III alleged that Aurora operated its rever-
beratory furnace and rotary furnace to cause or
allow the emission of particulate matter into the
19—
561
—2—
atmosphere in amounts which violated the limita-
tions imposed by Rule 203(a)
of Chapter
2 from
on or about January 16,
1975 until filing of
the Complaint;
and,
Count IV alleged that
Aurora caused or allowed
the emission of contaminants as defined in Section
3(d)
of the Act in violation of Section
9(a) of
the Act from on or about January
16,
1975 until
filing of the Complaint.
Two hearings were held in this matter~ the first on June
30,
1975 and the second on September 29,
1975.
At the first
hearing,
a Stipulation covering Counts
I,
II and III was
entered into the record;
a Stipulation relative to Count IV
was entered into the record at the September
29,
1975 hearing.
In the Stipulation entered on June 30,
1975 the parties agreed
that Count III of the Complaint be dismissed without prejudice
to Complainant.
Rule 333 of our Procedural
Rules provides that
no case pending before the Board shall be disposed of or modified
without an order of the Board and the agreement of the parties
hereto to dismiss Count IIIof the Complaint is
a nullity.
The parties stipulated that at the request of the Illinois
Attorney General’s Office, Aurora performed several tests to
determine the existence of excessive particulate matter, which
tests showed no violation of any regulation.
Based upon the
foregoing, Count III will be dismissed.
The Stipulation contains the following information con-
cerning the facility which is operated by Aurora at 533
1/2
Rathbone Street, Aurora,
Kane County,
Illinois;
the installation
includes
a rotary and
a reverberatory furnace, each of which
is equipped with a baghouse to control the emission of particu-
lates from the furnace.
In contemplation of purchase of an
additional furnace,
a third baghouse has been installed.
Aurora admits that beginning on or about August 18,
1974
through March
5,
1975, Aurora constructed two new baghouses
without first obtaining construction permits from the Agency
in violation of Rule 103(a) of Chapter
2 and that from August
18,
1974 until May 28,
1975, Aurora operated its facility without
first obtaining an operating permit issued by the Agency in
violation of Rule
103(b) of Chapter
2.
The parties stipulate that Aurora has obtained all required
permits from the Agency
(Stip.
6/30
p.
2);
that Aurora has
fully cooperated in reaching
a resolution of the instant action
(Stip.
6/30 p.
2).(Stip. 9/29 p.
2);
that Aurora has made sub—
stantial expenditures to eliminate an inherited problem,
that
Aurora has made substantial efforts
to reduce or eliminate air
19—562
—3—
pollution problems; that Aurora has sustained an after-tax loss
for the past four years
in part due to expenditures for pollution
control equipment
(Stip.
6/30 p.
2) (Stip.
9/29 p.
3); and,
that
Aurora has agreed to install certain other control equipment
in accordance with an Agreement entered into by and between the
parties
(Stip.
9/29 p.
3).
The parties recommend that because of the good faith efforts
to comply and the present financial condition of Aurora that no
penalty be assessed for the admitted violations.
On the basis of the foregoing and the Stipulations of June
30,
1975 and September
29,
1975, which constitute the entire
record in this matter, we find that Aurora did violate the Act
and Regulations
as charged in Counts
I,
II and IV of the Complaint
by constructing and/or operating of air pollution control equip-
ment in violation of Rules
103(a)
and 103(b)
of the Air Pollution
Regulations and Section 9(a)
of the Environmental Protection Act
and by causing or threatening or allowing the emission of con-
taminants into the environment of the State of
Illinois in vio-
lation of Section 9(a)
of the Act.
No penalty
is assessed for
these violations.
This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and
conclusions of law in this matter.
ORDER
1.
Respondent, Aurora Refining Company, is found to have
constructed and operated air pollution control equipment without
first obtaining permits from the Agency in violation of Rules
103(a)
and. 103(b)
of the Air Pollution Regulations
(Chapter
2)
and Section 9(a)
of the Environmental Protection Act and caused
or threatened or allowed the emission of contaminants into the
environment of the State of Illinois
in violation of Section 9(a)
of the EnvirOnmental Protection Act from January 16,
1975 to
March
5,
.1975.
2.
Respondent, Aurora Refining Company,
shall comply with
and do all things agreed in terms
3 through
9 of the Agreement
as set forth in the Stipulation of September 29,
1975 by and
between Respondent Aurora Refining Company and the Complainant
People of the State of Illinois which
is hereby incorporated
into this Order by reference as if fully set forth herein.
3.
Count III of
the Complaint is dismissed without prejudice.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
19— 563
—4—
I, Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Control Board, hereby ce,~tifythe above Opinion and Order
were adopted on the
3’
~
day
of
~
.
1976
by
a vote of
4-b
Illinois Pollution
19—
564