ILLINOIS POLLUTION
CONTROL BOARD
February 10,
1983
WILL COUNTY
PRODUCE
COMPANY
AND
)
S
& T
COMPANY,
)
Petitioner,
PCB
82—129
ILLINOIS
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
)
AGENCY,
Respondent.
ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by
J~Anderson):
On January 24,
1983 the Company moved for reconsideration
of the Board’s Order of January 13,
1983 granting an 18—month
variance from certain noise rules.
On February
7,
1983 the
Agency moved the Board to grant the full
5 year variance
requested by the
Company.
The motion for reconsideration
is
denied, but the Board will supplement its remarks concerning
the nature of the forms of relief available to the Company
in
its situation.
Variance relief under the Act contemplates that during
the variance period the
polluter
will come into full compliance
with applicable regulations.
Site
specific regulations, on
the other hand, acknowledge
that
the general
rules cannot and
should not be met by a particular source, and establish
limitations appropriate
to
the
individual situation.
The Company
here
does not
seek
a variance to gain
additional time to achieve compliance,
Rather,
it
seeks a
5 year “waiver of enforcement”
on
the grounds that its noise
violation
is de
minimis
and it
has
expended substantial sums
to lower its noise emissions,
Presumably, assuming no change
in its situation, the Company would apply for another
5 year
waiver at the end of that period, and
another,
and another,
based on the same arguments.
The Act does not allow for the
granting of such “waivers of
enforcement for de
minlmis
violations”.
51~133
2
It
is regrettable that the Company has misconstrued the
PCB 77—133 stipulation relating to variance relief.
The Board
hopes that it has now been made clear that the Company’s
options are to achieve compliance during the 18—month variance
period
(although, of course, further variance relief may be sought
if unavoidable compliance delays should occur),to seek a site—specific
rule change,
or to take its chances on the filing and results of
future enforcement actions
for even de minimis violations
of the
general rule,
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Board Member Nels Werner and Chairman J,D. Dumelle dissented.
I, Chrsitan L,
Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Control Board, hereby certify that the above Order was adopted
on the
J~
day of
1983 by a vote of~-
Illinois Pollution Cânt.rol Board
51-134