ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    July
    10, 1975
    CORPS OF ENGINEERS, ROCK ISLAND
    )
    DISTRICT,
    Petitioner,
    vs.
    )
    PCB 75—265
    ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
    )
    Respondent.
    OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
    (by Mr. Henss):
    The Rock Island District of Corps of Engineers filed
    Petition for Variance seeking relief from Rules
    102 and 205
    of the Illinois Air Pollution Control Regulations until about
    July
    3,
    1976.
    Petitioner requires variance in order to con-
    tinue the use of vinyl paints containing branched ketones
    and aromatic solvents.
    These paints are used
    in Petitioner’s
    maintenance painting program for protection of submerged steel
    on locks and dams.
    Petitioner
    is
    a governmental agency responsible for main-
    tenance on Lock and Dam 13, located approximately
    2 miles north
    of Fulton,
    Illinois and Lock and Dam 15, Rock Island,
    Illinois.
    An important part of such maintenance
    is the painting of steel
    hydraulic structures for corrosion protection.
    Petitioner
    states that the vinyl resin based paints now used are the only
    known paints developed which provide effective protection for
    submerged steel on the locks and dams.
    They are also the only
    known paints which can be spray applied at temperatures below
    50° 1’.
    The various vinyl resin paints used by Petitioner are spray
    applied in ambient air at the rate of approximately 40 gallons
    per day.
    Petitioner estimates that 75
    of the branched ketones
    and aromatic solvents enter the ambient air within 30 minutes
    after application and the remaining 25
    within 24 hours.
    in order to meet air pollution regulations Petitioner began
    using methyl normal butyl ketone in its vinyl paints in 1972
    in place
    of
    methyl
    isobutyl ketone and methyl
    isoarnyl ketone.
    18
    —
    86
    —2—
    However, when evidence indicated that the replacement solvent
    produced peripheral neuropathy in humans after prolonged ex-
    posure, Petitioner suspended use of the solvent.
    Investigations
    are now being conducted to determine
    if the solvent
    is indeed
    the offending compound.
    The Department of Army Construction Engineering Research
    Laboratory at Champaign,
    Illinois is developing and testing
    substitute paint formulations designed to comply with existing
    air pollution regulations.
    Petitioner expects such paints
    to
    be available in about 12 months.
    On April
    16, 1975 the U.
    S.
    Supreme Court handed down its
    Opinion in Train, Administrator,
    Environmental Protection Agency,
    et al
    vs. Natural Resources Defense Council
    Inc.
    ,
    et al,
    43
    USLW 4467
    (U.
    S.
    No.
    73—1742)
    .
    In brief, the U.
    S.
    Supreme
    Court ruled that the Clean Air Act authorizes the various
    states
    to grant variances from implementation plan requirements
    if such variances do not interfere with the attainment or
    maintenance of national ambient air quality standards.
    The Petition in the instant case is not adequate under the
    Train decision.
    There are no data bearing on the quality of the
    ambient air which is
    affected by Petitioner’s emissions.
    Nor
    is
    there any statement
    in the record indicating whether the grant of
    the variance would interfere with attainment or maintenance of
    ambient air quality standards.
    We grant Petitioner
    to and in-
    cluding September
    19, 1975 to supplement the Petition by supplying
    the missing information.
    The Corps of Engineers should fully
    address those issues involving air quality in such manner that
    the
    Board can determine whether the variance is allowable under
    the recent U.
    S.
    Supreme Court decision.
    If the additional
    information is not filed,
    the Petition will be subject
    to dismissal.
    ORDER
    it
    is the Order of the Pollution Control Board that
    Petitioner be allowed to and including September 19,
    1975
    to
    file additional information in conformance with this Opinion.
    I, Christan
    L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
    Board, hereby certif
    the above Opinion and Order was adopted
    the
    /~‘ day of
    ________,
    1975 by a vote of
    _________
    Chris an
    L. Moffett,
    k
    Illinois Pollution C
    rol Board
    18—
    87

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