ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    August 12,
    1976
    NORTHWESTERN
    MALT
    & GRAIN CO.,
    )
    Petitioner,
    v.
    )
    PCB 76—123
    ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
    )
    Respondent.
    OPINION
    AND
    ORDER OF THE BOARD
    (by Dr. Satchell):
    Petitioner, Northwestern Malt and Grain Co., filed a
    Petition for Variance May
    3,
    1976 from Rule 203(d) (9) (B) (iii) (c)
    of the Board’s Air Pollution Control Regulations.
    This Rule
    states, in pertinent part, that Petitioner is required to have
    air control equipment that will remove not less than 98
    of air-
    borne particulate matter generated by internal transfer before
    discharge to the atmosphere.
    Froedtert Malt Corporation purchased the above named
    facility, located at 4600 West Cortland Street,
    Chicago, Illinois
    in Cook County, in 1972 at which time the plant had received a
    City of Chicago citation for dust pollution.
    Petitioner enumer-
    ates an impressive list of items alleged to have been done since
    purchase to abate particulate matter emissions and states that
    it
    “.
    .
    .
    has spent large sums of money
    to meet and exceed Air
    Quality Standards in order to be an asset to the City, County
    and State.’t
    Under present conditions,
    61,220 pounds
    (30.61
    tons)
    per year of grain dust is being discharged and Petitioner
    feels the present cyclones and the Carter-Day RJ144 bag col-
    lectors are doing an excellent dust removal job from this
    old upgraded plant.
    Petitioner states that the expenditure
    of about $150,000 to $175,000 needed to meet the Rule would
    be a severe hardship.
    The equipment installed in 1974 more
    than likely was adequate to meet the then existing standards,
    but failed to meet the standards of the newer rules which
    require compliance on or before April
    30,
    1977.
    Petitioner’s application for an operating permit was
    denied
    because
    it did not contain a compliance plan;
    also,
    no compliance plan was included in its Petition for Variance.
    23— 313
    —2—
    The plant operates eight hours per day, five days a week and
    fifty weeks per year producing barley malt.
    Hopper cars bring in
    the barley which is unloaded, stored, conveyed to soaking tanks,
    germinated,
    dried,
    stored, cleaned and loaded into hopper cars for
    shipment.
    About 2,500,000 bushels are processed each year.
    The
    subject of the request for variance is five,
    roof—mounted simple
    cyclones which collect chaff and dust from various binning operations.
    Their efficiency of collection is 70
    (Agency Rec.
    2)
    compared to
    the efficiency required of 98
    plus.
    Agency personnel observed
    emissions from the cyclones determining the opacity was 15-20;
    the
    emissions were fairly continuous; and that,
    using Table 6.4.1 of
    Ap-42, about
    83 tons of particulates are emitted from the cyclones
    each year.
    The protein-rich material collected in the cyclones is sold
    for animal feed at $30 per ton;
    thus, complete retention would add
    $2,490 gross income.
    (Agency Rec.
    3.)
    The closest
    (several miles away) ambient air monitoring site
    is Austin with a 1975 annual geometric mean of
    92 micrograms per
    cubic meter.
    However,
    the number of samples at this site did not
    meet the minimum statistical criteria for annual mean calculation.
    Other stations in the area, with their 1975 readings are:
    Oak Park
    (approximately
    3 miles southwest of
    Petitioner’s plant):
    53 ug/m3
    Steinmetz H.S.
    (approximately
    3 miles northwest
    of Petitioner’s plant):
    67 ug/m3.
    There have been citizen complaints regarding emissions from Petitioner’s
    facility
    (Agency Rec.
    4).
    Petitioner contends that:
    (1)
    it has spent large sums for
    control,
    (2) the cyclones are handling only a small portion of the
    total dust,
    (3)
    it has spent excessive amounts to upgrade the plant,
    and
    (4)
    it cannot afford the additional $150,000
    to $175,000 cost
    to install the bag collectors.
    Petitioner’s contentions are not
    supported by any figures.
    The Agency recommends the Petition for
    Variance be denied.
    On the record before it,
    the Board notes: the
    15 to 20
    opacity;
    citizen complaints;
    a contribution to a probable violation of ambient
    air quality; available technology;
    no compliance plan or indication
    that Petitioner ever intends to comply; and finally,
    the lack of
    hard evidence that compliance would cause an arbitrary or unreason-
    able hardship.
    The Board shall deny the Variance.
    This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and
    conclusions of law in this matter.
    23—314
    —3—
    ORDER
    The Board denies the Variance from Rule 203(d) (9) (B) (iii)
    (c)
    of Chapter
    2, Air Pollution Control Regulations sought by North-
    western Malt and Grain Co. for its Chicago malt-producing plant.
    IT IS SO ORDERED.
    I, Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
    Control Board, hereby certify the above Opinion and Order
    were adopted£~the
    j~1~
    day of
    ______________,
    1976 by
    a vote of
    ~
    Illinois Pollution
    1 Board
    23—315

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