ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
August 14,
1986
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
)
PROTECTION AGENCY,
)
)
Complainant,
)
v.
)
PCB 78—139
VICKERY MANOR SERVICE CORPORATION
)
and NORTH HILLS MUTUAL SEWER
)
ASSOCIATION,
)
Respondents.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD (by B. Forcade):
This matter comes to the Board on a May 5, 1978, complaint
filed
by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (“Agency’)
against Vickery Manor Service Corporation
(‘Vickery Manor’)
regarding
its sewage treatment plant near Mundelein, Illinois.
The complaint,
as later amended,
claims violations of the
Environmental Protection Act (“Act’)
and Board regulations
relating to water pollution,
including failure
to meet a
construction and compliance schedule;
failure to submit
monitoring report forms;
failure
to meet effluent limits;
and
failure
to properly maintain its plant.
The initial hearings
were held
in February and March of
1981.
Briefly, respondent
admitted it had “technically deviated from the terms of its NPDES
permit,” but claimed that compliance was
an economic
impossibility.
On August 26, 1981, Vickery Manor filed a request
for delay of decision to allow time for settlement discussions.
On December 23,
1981, Vickery Manor filed with the Board a copy
of its Application to the Illinois Commerce Commission (‘ICC’)
for an Order Canceling its Certificate of Convenience and
Necessity.
In the period
of time from late 1981 to the present,
the parties and the customers of Vickery Manor appear
to have
worked reasonably diligently to achieve
a solution to both the
environmental and economic problems presented.
That solution was
first submitted to the Board
in a June
13,
1986, motion for
expedited hearing and Board review of Settlement Agreement.
A
hearing on that settlement agreement was held July 22,
1986.
The proposal for settlement
is premised on the participation
of North Hills Mutual Sewer Association (“NHMSA’),
a not—for—
profit corporation formed by residents served by Vickery Manor’s
facility.
It
is
the intention of the settlement agreement that
NHMSA takeover
the assets, facility and operations of Vickery
Manor.
Accordingly, NHMSA’s motion
to intervene as a party
respondent (Settlement,
par. C,
p.
6)
is granted.
The settlement
72-1
agreement provides that Vickery Manor admits
to each violation
in
the Amended Complaint and agrees to pay a $250.00 civil
penalty.
In return
for Vickery Manor’s admissions and agreement
on the civil penalty,
the Agency agrees to the substitution of
NHMSA for Vickery Manor.
NHMSA agrees
to implement a compliance
program,
outlined on pages 7—9 of the agreement, which should
greatly improve the condition of the facility.
This case has presented a very difficult problem.
The
environmental difficulties could
be easily remedied with a proper
infusion of
capital.
However,
the economic facts in this
situation and legitimate ICC concerns
in establishing fees and
rates have placed constraints on the source of that funding.
Today’s settlement agreement provides
an innovative and
appropriate approach to the funding difficulties.
The Board has
reviewed the Stipulation and Proposal for Settlement in light of
the facts and circumstances of this case and the factors of
Section 33(c)
of
the Illinois Environmental Protection Act.
The
Board finds that the stipulation and proposal for settlement
presents a just and equitable solution to
a very difficult
problem and will accept that document as written and direct that
its terms be carried
out.
This settlement clearly anticipates future action before the
Illinois Commerce Commission which will
be premised,
in part, on
the stipulation and proposal
for settlement,
as well
as the
Board’ Order.
Therefore,
the Board will not redraft that
document into the normal format of
a Board Order.
Instead,
the
Board specifically adopts each and every provision of the
statement of facts as
the Board’s findings of
fact.
Further,
the
Board adopts each and every provision of the proposal for
settlement as the Board’s conclusions of law and orders that
those provisions be carried
out.
For clarity,
the Clerk of the
Board
is directed
to attach
a copy of the Stipulation and
Proposal for Settlement
to this Order.
Those provisions which
run from the date
of the Board Order approving the document shall
run from August 14,
1986.
This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and
conclusions
of law on this matter.
ORDER
The Board accepts the attached Stipulation and Proposal for
Settlement and directs that its terms be carried out.
IT
IS SO ORDERED.
72-2
I, Dorothy
M.
Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board, hereby certify that the~,aboveOpinion and Order was
adopted on the
/&“~-
day of ~
,
1986,
by
a vote
of
________.
I
~
Dorothy M. GZñ, Clerk
Illinois Pollution Control Board
72.3