ILLINOIS

POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

February

14, 1972

DECATUR MEMORIAL HOSPITAL

V.

)

#

71—359

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

Opinion of the Board

(by Mr.

Currie):

Decatur Memorial Hospital

seeks

a variance

to permit operation

of

a coal—fired boiler

~which has emitted smoke

in excess of

Ringelmann

#2” until April

15,

1972, when the boiler will be con-

verted to oil

and gas.

Continued operation during the conversion

is alleged to

be necessary

“to insure

a reserve boiler during the

cold season

to April

15, and to allow operation of

a coal boiler

as

the primary boiler during actual conversion.”

A reserve

is

required by

the Hospital Licensing Act.

The Agency recommends

the petition be granted on certain conditions with which we agree,

except that

the time remaining

is so short as to make

the posting

of bond hardly worth the trouble.

The Agency also

“notes with

displeasure”

that neither

a letter of intent nor

an emission control

program was submitted under the 1967 regulations, butwe

do not

have enough information to determine whether or not there was

a

particulate violation such that filing was required.

We cannot

therefore

impose

a penalty as

a condition of the variance as we

have done

in cases

of unjustified failure to file.

E.g., Molex

Corp.

v.

EPA,

#71—200

(Jan.

6,

1972).

We agree with the Agency that

there is an evident need

for operation

of the boiler during the

interim to avoid possible interruption of hospital service,

and

that the apparent harm from continued operation during that time

is not so great as to justify

a shutdown.

We note that we do not

expressly or impliedly sanction the use of any coal-fired boilers

for reserve

or other purposes after April

15,

1972.

Once again we observe that

the Agency’s recommendation was

received on the

90th day after the petition was

filed,

the very

day on which we are expccted

to make

a decision.

We do not

believe this practice

of late filing permits

is ample time to make

intelligent decisions, much

less to seek additional information if

the recommendation indicates the need.

Moreover,

the 90-day rule

prescribes the outside limit for decision; we should in fairness

to the parties do what we

can to decide cases

in less

time whenever

possible.

Simple cases

like this

one should not require

90 days

to decide.

3

—

633

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ORDER

Decatur Memorial Hospital,

Inc.,

is hereby granted

a variance to

permit smoke emissions

in excess of regulation limits from a coal

fired Lasker boiler until April

15,

1972, provided the following

conditions

are met:

1.

The Hospital shall obtain

an installation permit from

the Agency as required by

the regulations;

and

2.

No later than May

1,

1972,

the Hospital

shall submit to

the Agency and to the Board

a report indicating

the date

of completion and

the number of hours

the boiler was

operated from receipt

of this order until

the project

is

completed.

I, Christan Moffett, Clerk of

the Pollution Control Board, certify

that the Board adopted the above Opinion of the Board this

14th

day of February,

1972 by

a vote of

5-0.

3

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634