ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

February

3,

1972

CITY

OF

FLORA

V.

)

#

72—33

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

Opinion and Order of the~Board

(by Mr.

Currie)

The City of Flor~asks permission to open burn

100 to 150

wooden reels discarded each month by an industrial

concern.

The

petition does

not allege facts sufficient

to justify relief

even if proved,

and weftherefore dismiss

it without prejudice

to the filing of

a more complete petition.

See City of Jacksonville

v.

EPA,

#70—30,

Jan.

27,

1971.

The only statement of hardship is that

the amount of land

needed for burying the reels would make the expense

“prohibitive”

and that stacking the reels would be unsightly and unhealthy.

To say the expense

is prohibitive is not enough;

some estimate

of the cost must be given to enable us to have information on

which we can base

a decision.

See City of Jacksonville,

supra.

Nor does

the specification of allegedly unsatisfactory alternatives

exhaust the possibilities.

Nothing at all is said about the

possibility of reusing the reels or of selling them for some other

kind of use.

Nothing is said to rebut

the possibility that what

is

a waste to the company may be

a valued resource to somebody

else.

See Decker Sawmill

v.

EPA,

#

71-73

(July

8,

1971); Forest

Preserve District v.

EPA,

#71-304

(Jan.

6,

1972).

We must

also

note the strong presumption

in favor of obedience to the rules

and regulations duly adopted on the basis

of extensive evidence

as

to costs and benefits,

and the general statutory principle that

the

cost of disposing of waste is

a legitimate cost of doing

business.

Nor do we

find sufficient on the other

side of the

case

the general allegation that no harm will be done by open

burning because there are no homes within

1500 feet.

There are

some things that might cause serious problems even under those

conditions,

and additional allegations are necessary.

3

—

607

---

We note with

some hope that the request is not for

a

permanent allowance

to burn in the open unaided, but only until

July

1972 when an air-curtain destructor

is to be used.

While

this would very much improve the situation,

we point out that

the present rules allowing use of such

a device in lieu of a

traditional incinerator apply only to landscape wastes

at present,

and that therefore any further variance request should include

a request for permission to utilize the destructor for the

wastes

in question.

In dismissing at this

time we hope

to save the parties

the

time

and expense of

a hearing in which the necessary facts

might not be developed

and an incomplete record made.

We hereby

dismiss the petition without prejudice to the filing of

a more

complete application.

I, Christan Moffett, Clerk of the Pollution Control Board, certify

that the Board adopted the above Opinion and Order this

~3~g

day of February,

1972 by

a vote of

~

c~

3

—

608