ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
June
2,
1983
CATERPILLAR TRACTOR COMPANY,
)
Petitioner,
v.
)
PC3
79—180
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY,
Respondent.
INTERIM ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by
J.
Anderson):
On May
6,
1983,
Caterpillar moved to dismiss this appeal on
the grounds that on April
18,
1983 the Agency had issued
a permit
“incorporating the components of the agreement between the parties”
resolving the issues of this appeal.
This motion indicates that confusion still exists concerning
the ability of the Agency to modify a permit by issuing yet
another permit during the pendency of
its appeal to the Board.
In Album,
Inc.
v.
IEPA, PCB 81—23,24
(March
19,
1981 as reaffirmed
May
1,
1981),
the Board considered the effect of the Agency’s
purported “issuance”
of
a new permit covering the same operation
of the same facility which was the subject of an earlier,
still
pending, permit denial appeal.
The Board found that the earlier
issued permits “could not be nullified by Agency modification or
reissuance until dismissal of the petitions.”
To put this more clearly, the Board finds that the Agency has
no jurisdiction to issue any subsequent permits once the disputed
permit has been appealed to the Board,
just as the Board has no
authority to modify its Orders once they have been appealed to
the courts.
The April
18,
1983 “permit’
“issued” to Caterpillar
is
a nullity.
It is clear from this and other recent cases that, once
settlement negotiations have been concluded between the Agency
and the contesting permittee,
the permitteewishes
the Board
in some fashion to insure that the Agency will
in fact issue
the “negotiated” permit exactly as agreed to between the parties.
The Board has held that
it
will not rubberstamp a “negotiated”
permit which is presented to
it
with the bare assertion that
“this
is what we have agreed upon”.
Should the parties wish to
have a permit appeal resolved by a Board Order that a particular
negotiated permit
issue,
a stipulation and proposal for settlement
should be presented at hearing setting out sufficient technical
—2—
facts and legal assertions to allow the Board to exercise
its independent judgment and to make proper
findings
of
fact: and
conclusions
of
law.
While the Board notes that the court system does
not always
impose such requirements to its acceptance of settlements,
the Board believes that for
it to do otherwise would he
to
unlawfully delegate
its statutory charge to “determine,
define,
and implement the environmental control standards applicable
in
the State
of Illinois”
fSection 5(b) of the Act.
As Caterpillar’s motion to dismiss was based on the faulty
premise that the April
18,
1983 “permit” would be in effect upon
dismissal of this action,
decision on the motion will
he deferred
until June 30,
1983.
The parties
are directed to file any
supplements to the motion on or before June
20,
1983.
IT
IS SO ORDERED.
I, Christan L.
Moffett, Clerk of
the Illinois Pollution
Control Board,~hereby certify that the above Order
was adopted
on the _________________day of
~
____
,
1983
by a vote of
_____
L.
Illinois Pollut
Control Board
52-268