ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
May 19,
1988
IN THE MATTER OF:
)
PETITION TO AMEND 35
ILL.
ADM.
CODE PART 214,
SULFUR
)
R86—31
LIMITATIONS (CIPS Coffeen
Generating Station)
)
PROPOSED RULE.
FIRST NOTICE.
ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by J. Marlin):
This matter comes before the Board upon
a Motion for
Reconsideration
filed by Central
Illinois Public Service Company
(CIPS)
on April
21,
1988.
Specifically, CIPS asks the Board
to
reconsider
the rule that the Board proposed for Second Notice by
its Order
of March 10,
1988.
The Board notes that the Joint
Committee on Administrative Rules filed
its Certification of No
Objection on April
13,
1988.
On May
4, the Hearing Officer entered a Hearing Officer
Statement stating
that he had been
in contact with
representatives of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
(Agency) and the Monterey Coal Mine
(Monterey).
According
to the
Hearing Officer,
neither
the Agency nor Monterey object
to CIPS’
motion.
Monterey filed
a statement
to this effect on May 11,
1988.
The Hearing Officer also issued an Order
on May
9,
1988
in
which he ordered
CIPS
to file by May 13,
1988, proposed language
which would,
if adopted,
remedy CIPS’ problem concerning the
triggering of the monitoring actions imposed
by the rule.
Also,
CIPS was given the opportunity
to address the general
issue of
whether
it
is appropriate for the Board
to grant motions
for
reconsideration subsequent
to the Board’s proposing
a rule for
Second Notice.
The Hearing Officer ordered interested persons
to
file comments upon CIPS’
filing by May
18, 1988.
Monterey filed
a comment with the Hearing Officer on May
18,
1988.
The Board
accepts
this filing.
Although Monterey agrees with CIPS’
proposed change,
it believes that the Board should not have
to go
back
to First Notice
in order
to make that
change.
The Agency
filed
no comment.
In its motion, CIPS requests that
the Board alter
its
proposed rule
so that the ambient air monitoring and stack
testing will be triggered by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency’s approval
of
a State Implementation Plan revision which
allows CIPS
to emit
a level in excess of
55,555 pounds per any
hour.
The March 10th version
of the rule triggers the monitoring
89—367
2
actions upon CIPS operating
at
a level
in
excess
of 765 net
megawatts.
As
its motion
recounts, CIPS had expressed concern regarding
the timing
of the monitoring requirements
in its First Notice
comments:
CIPS
pointed
out
in
the
Comments
that
it
could
not
undertake
the
monitoring
program
the
Board
was
requiring
until
the
United
States
Environmental
Protection
Agency
(USEPA)
had
approved
the
higher
emission
limit
because
the
current
State
Implementation
Plan
(SIP),
at
least
in
USEPA’s
view,
contains
a lower emission limit
and
the
Board’s
monitoring
program
is
required
to
be
conducted
while
CIPS
is
operating,
or
at
least
able
to
operate,
at
the
new,
higher
limitation.
In
explaining
this
problem,
CIPS
pointed
out
that
in
its
pending
litigation with
USEPA
it anticipated
being constrained by
a Federal District Court
order
not
to exceed
the current
SIP
limit
of
55,555
pounds
of
sulfur
dioxide
per
hour.
CIPS
had
calculated
that
this
limit
equated
to
a
maximum
load
on
the Coffeen
Station
of
approximately
765
net
megawatts.
In
November,
1987,
CIPS
recalculated
this
and
determined that the emission limit equated
to
a ~,load limit
of
759
megawatts
based
on
the
worst case coal.
CIPS may
have erred
in not making clearer
to
the Board exactly what that means....
(CIPS’ Motion,
p.
2)
In
its March
10th decision,
the Board had sought
to remedy
the timing problem as
follows:
CIPS
is
currently
operating
under
a
load
limitation of 765 net megawatts
(MW)
in order
to
achieve
compliance
with
55,555
lbs.
standard.
The
Board
will
require
CIPS
to
begin
its ambient
air monitoring and modeling
program
6 months after
it begins operating at
a
level
in excess
of
765 net ~
By linking
the
timing
of
the
monitoring
and
modeling
program
to
an
event
within
CIPS’
control,
CIPS will not be
forced into non—compliance
89—368
3
with
either
a
Board
rule
or
a
federal
court
order.
(Proposed Opinion and Order, March
10,
1988, p~ 5)
CIPS now asserts
that when utilizing “normal quality of coal
from Monterey, CIPS would
be able
to exceed 765 megawatts without
ever exceeding the 55,555 pound limitation.”
(CIPS’
Motion,
p.
5).
In its motion,
CIPS also informs the Board
of the status
of
the federal enforcement action brought against
CIPS.
CIPS
now has
reached
agreement
on
a Consent
Order
with
USEPA
which
was
noticed
for
30
days
for
comment
in
the
March
23,
1988
Federal Register and will
be entered sometime
thereafter
by the District Court.
A copy of
the
Consent
Decree
is
attached
for
the
Board’s
information
as
Exhibit
A.
For
a
period
of
two
years
after
the
Court
enters
the
Consent
Decree,
it will
limit
emissions
from the Coffeen Station
to 55,555 pounds per
hour.
Of
course,
if during
that
two
years,
USEPA
approves
the
revised
emission
limit,
CIPS would
request
that
the Court modify the
Consent Decree and CIPS would expect USEPA
to
concur.
(CIPS’
Motion,
p.
2)
In
response to
the Hearing Officer’s Order, CIPS filed
proposed language which would resolve
its concerns regarding
the
timing of the monitoring
and stack
test.
In addition,
CIPS
asserted that nothing
in the Act
or Board
regulations precludes
the Board
from considering
a motion for reconsideration
subsequent
to
a Board’s Second Notice proposal.
In
fact,
CIPS
states that
there
is even
a policy need
to allow such motions at
this juncture
in light of the procedures enunciated
in the
Board’s Resolution 88—1.
The regulatory scheme set forth by Res.
88—1 provides
that the first
time the Board
takes
a substantive
position with regard
to
a rulemaking
is when
it proposes
a rule
for Second Notice.
Consequently,
if motions
for reconsideration
may not
be entertained
after
the Board proposes
a rule for Second
Notice,
then the public,
including the rule’s proponent, will
be
precluded from
responding
to the Board’s
substantive position
until
after
final adoption.
Such
a public response would
then
take
the form
of either another motion for reconsideration or an
appeal to the Appellate
Court.
In proposing the Second Notice version of
the rule,
it was
the intention
of
the Board
to cause
CIPS
to conduct ambient
air
monitoring after
it began emitting SO2
at levels
in excess of
currently allowed limits.
This would provide data to illustrate
89—3 69
4
the impact of the higher emissions
level upon the ambient air
quality.
Given
the record,
the Board believed that an operation
level of 765 net MW was equivalent
to an emission level
of
55,555
pounds per hour,
which
is the current emission limitation.
Since
an operating
level
is generally more
readily determinable than an
emission level,
the Board triggered
the monitoring upon CIPS’
operating
in excess of 765 net MW.
Now,
it
is apparent
from
CIPS’ motion that the 765 net MW trigger
is not appropriate.
CIPS proposed change
is consistent with the Board’s
intention concerning
this rulemaking.
The Board notes
that the
draft consent decree
if
entered by the Federal District Court,
would impose
a requirement
that CIPS
install,
by September
30,
1988,
a continuous emission monitor
(CEM)
which would measure
CIPS’
SO., emissions.
After
installation
of
a CEM, CIPS would be
able to aetermine,
with
relative ease,
Coffeen’s exact level
of
emissions at any point
in time.
Given all of
the circumstance involved,
the Board will alter
the proposed rule
in accordance with CIPS request.
Specifically,
the Board will delete the language concerning
765 net MW and add
the phrase
“is legally able and begins
to operate at an emission
rate greater
than 55,555 pounds
of sulfur dioxide per hour:
to
subsections
(b) and
(d).
Since ~JCARhas already issued
a
Certificate of No Objection on the Board’s version of the rule
which
is proposed for Second Notice,
the Board must propose this
new version of the rule for First Notice rather than proposing
a
second,
Second Notice.
While
such
a course of action does not
seem efficient,
it
is the path required
by JCAR and the Secretary
of State.
The Board hereby proposes the following rule for First
Notice
to
be published
in the Illinois Register:
TITLE 35:
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
SUBTITLE
B:
AIR POLLUTION
CHAPTER
I:
POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
SUBCHAPTER
C:
EMISSION STANDARDS AND LIMITATIONS
FOR STATIONARY SOURCES
PART 214
SULFUR LIMITATIONS
SUBPART X:
UTILITIES
Section 214.562
Coffeen Generating Station
a)
The emission standards
of this subsection shall apply
only
if the requirements
of subsections (b),(c),
and
(d) are fulfilled.
Notwithstanding
any other
limitation
contained
in this Part,
whenever the coal burned
is
mined exclusively from the mine that
is presently known
as Monterey Coal Company’s No.
1 Mine located south of
Carlinville,
emission
of sulfur dioxide
from Units
1 and
89—370
5
2 at the Central Illinois Public Service Company’s
(CIPS) Coffeen Generating Station
(Coffeen),
located
in
Montgomery
County, shall
not exceed either
of
the
following emission standards:
1)
29,572 kilograms of
sulfur dioxide
in any one hour
(65,194 lbs/hr);
and
2)
11.29 kilograms of sulfur dioxide per megawatt—hour
of heat input
(7.29 lbs/mmbtu).
b)
CIPS shall conduct an ambient sulfur dioxide monitoring
and dispersion modeling program designed
to demonstrate
that the emission standards
of subsection
(a)
will not
cause or contribute
to violations
of any applicable
primary or secondary sulfur dioxide ambient air quality
standard as set forth
in Section 243.122.
Such ambient
monitoring
and dispersion modeling program shall
be
operated
for
at least one year commencing
no later than
6 months after Coffeen is legally able and begins
to
operate at an emission rate greater
than 55,555 pounds
of sulfur dioxide per hour.
c)
No more than 15 months after
the commencement
of
the
ambient monitoring and dispersion modeling program of
subsection
(b),
CIPS shall apply for
a new operating
permit.
CIPS shall submit
to the Environmental
Protection Agency
(Agency), at the time
of the
application,
a report containing the results of the
ambient monitoring and dispersion modeling program
of
subsection
(b) and the results of all relevant stack
tests conducted prior to the report’s submission.
d)
No later
than six months after Coffeen
is legally able
and begins
to operate at
an emission rate greater
than
55,555 pounds of
sulfur dioxide per hour,
a stack
test
shall
be conducted
in accordance with Section
214.101(a),
in order
to determine compliance with
emission standards set forth
in subsection
(a).
After
the stack
test
is conducted,
the results shall
be
submitted
to the Agency within
90 days.
The
requirements of this subsection do not preclude the
Agency from requiring additional
stack
tests.
(Source:
Added at
Ill.
Reg.
effective
IT
IS SO ORDERED.
J.D. Dumelle concurred.
89—371.
6
I,
Dorothy
M. Gunn,
Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board,
hereby certify that the above Order was adopted
on
the
/9tL day of
________________,
1988,
by
a vote
of
7.
~.
Dorothy
M.
unn, Clerk
Illinois Pollution Control Board
89—372