ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    June 10, 1987
    NATURAL GAS PIPELINE COMPANY
    )
    OF I~MERICA,
    Petitioner,
    V.
    )
    PCB 87—78
    )
    ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
    )
    PROTECTION AGENCY,
    )
    )
    Respondent.
    ORDER OF THE BOARD
    (by B. Forcade):
    On June
    3,
    1987, Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America
    (hereinafter “NGPCA”)
    filed a petition for hearing concerning
    denial
    of permit.
    This matter
    is accepted
    for hearing.
    The
    Board wishes clarification as to whether the liquid industrial
    waste injected into disposal Well No.
    1
    is
    a hazardous waste.
    The Board also request that NGPCA file
    a copy of the April
    29,
    1987,
    Illinois Environmental Protection Agency letter denying
    a
    permit.
    Hearing must
    be scheduled within
    14 days of
    the date of
    this
    Order
    and completed within 60 days of the date of this Order.
    The hearing officer shall
    inform the Clerk of the Board
    of the
    time and location of the hearing as expeditiously as possible but
    at least
    40 days
    in advance of hearing so that public notice of
    hearing may be published.
    After hearing,
    the hearing officer
    shall submit an exhibit list, and all actual exhibits
    to the
    Board within
    5 days of the hearing.
    Any briefing schedule shall
    provide
    for final filings as expeditiously as possible and
    in no
    event later than
    70 days from the date of this Order.
    If after appropriate consultation with the parties, the
    parties fail to provide an acceptable hearing date or
    if after an
    attempt the hearing officer
    is unable
    to consult with the
    parties,
    the hearing officer shall unilaterally set a hearing
    date
    in conformance with the schedule above.
    This schedule will
    only provide the Board
    a very short time period
    to deliberate and
    reach
    a decision before the due date.
    The hearing officer
    and
    the parties are encouraged to expedite this proceeding as much as
    possible.
    Within 10 days of
    accepting this case,
    the Hearing Officer
    shall enter
    a Hearing Officer Scheduling Order governing
    completion of the record.
    That Order
    shall set
    a date certain
    for each aspect of the case including:
    briefing schedule,

    —2—
    hearing date(s), completion
    of discovery (if necessary)
    and pre—
    hearing conference
    (if necessary).
    The Hearing Officer
    Scheduling Order may be modified by entry of a complete new
    scheduling order conforming with the time requirements below.
    The hearing officer may extend this schedule only on a
    waiver of the decision deadline by the petitioner and only for
    the equivalent or
    fewer number of days that the decision deadline
    is waived.
    Such waivers must be provided
    in writing to the Clerk
    of the Board.
    Any waiver must
    be an
    “open waiver”
    or
    a waiver of
    decision until
    a date certain.
    Because of requirements regarding the publication of notice
    of hearing, no scheduled hearing may be canceled unless the
    petitioner provides an open waiver
    or
    a waiver
    to a date at least
    75 days beyond the date of the motion to cancel hearing.
    This
    should allow ample
    time for
    the Board
    to republish notice of
    hearing and receive transcripts from the hearing before the due
    date.
    Any order
    by the hearing officer granting cancellation of
    hearing shall
    include a complete new scheduling order with
    a new
    hearing date
    at least 40 days
    in the future
    and at least
    30 days
    prior
    to the new due date and the Clerk of the Board shall
    be
    promptly informed
    of the new schedule.
    Because
    this proceeding
    is the type for which the Illinois
    Environmental Protection Act sets a very short statutory deadline
    for decisionmaking, absent a waiver, the Board will grant
    extensions
    or modifications only in unusual circumstances.
    Any
    such motion must set forth
    an alternative schedule for notice,
    hearing, and final submissions,
    as well
    as the deadline for
    decision, including response time to such a motion.
    However, no
    such motion shall negate
    the obligation
    of the hearing officer
    to
    establish a scheduling Order pursuant to the fourth paragraph of
    this Order,
    and
    to adhere
    to that Order
    until modified.
    IT
    IS SO ORDERED
    Chairman J.D. Dumelle concurred.
    I, Dorothy
    M. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
    Board, hereby certify
    that the above Order was adopted on
    the
    /O~-day of
    _____________________,
    1987,
    by a vote
    of
    ~,—O.
    Illiis
    Control Board
    l8-43i

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