ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
March
22, 1973
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
#72—284
V.
#73—46
FERGUSON AND LANGE FOUNDRIES,
INC.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by Mr. Seaman):
By complaint filed on July 6,
1972,
the Environmental
Protection Agency
(“Agency”)
charged Ferguson and Lange Foundries,
Inc.
(“Ferguson and Lange”)
,
owner and operator of
a foundry at
1039 West Willow Street,
in the City of Chicago, County of Cook,
and State of Illinois since on or about August 25, 1971, Ferguson
and Lange has operated said foundry in violation of Rule 3-3.111
of the Rules and Regulations governing the control of air pollution
according to Section 49(c)
of the Environmental Protection Act
(ch.
111 1/2, Illinois Revised Statutes, Section 1049(c)).
Furthermore, Ferguson and Lange were charged with operating its
foundry in such a manner so that it caused or allowed the discharge
of contaminants into the environment so that either alone or in
combination with sources it causes or tends to cause air pollution
in Illinois in violation of Section
9 (a)
.
Finally, Ferguson and
Lange are charged by the Agency with constructing and installing
equipment capable of causing or contributing
to air pollution,
or
designed
to prevent air pollution without a permit granted by the
Environmental Protection Agency,
in violation of Section
9(b)
of
the Environmental Protection Act
(ch.
111
1/2, Illinois Revised
Statutes,
Section 1009(b)).
The Respondent filed a Petition For Variance on July 6,
1972
and indicates that on or before March
1,
1973,
his control
equipment will be ready for stack testing.
He is requesting
a
variance until March 31,
1973.
We see no objection to this.
The record in this case indicates that the Attorney General’s
office withdrew the following charges with regard
to paragraph
3,
and we quote:
“We are withdrawing count, paragraph
three.
We are
not asking the Respondent to admit to that since we have no proof
of
it and no citizen witnesses of any kind.”
Paragraph three of
the complaint is referred to above as the violation of Section
9(a)
of the Environmental Protection Act.
The record consists of some
forty-six
(46)
pages and the Respondent in effect admits to the
charges by the Agency.
The Respondent’s testimony is more by way
of mitigation than defense.
The Attorney General presented no
case in rebuttal since there were no
facts in contention.
7
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365
—2—
The witness who testified in behalf of Respondent testified
that approximately $155,000 to $160,000 has been or will be spent
in order to control the pollution of the foundry.
Testimony also
indicated that the Respondent had a difficult time obtaining the
necessary natural gas, necessary to the efficient operation of
his control equipment,
causing further delay.
According to
Respondent’s testimony,
stack tests would commence on March
1,
1973
and be completed by March 31,
1973.
In summary, we find that the undisputed evidence indicates
that the Respondent did violate the Act and Rules as aforementioned
in the Agency’s complaint.
Because of the effort, difficulty of
control,
and large expenditure of capital that the Respondent
has made,
we will order Respondent to pay a nominal penalty to
the State of Illinois for such violations and remind him that we
may not be
so lenient if such violations persist in the future.
This opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of
fact and
conclusions of law.
IT IS THE ORDER OF the Pollution Control Board:
1.
Respondent shall pay to the State of Illinois within
thirty-five
(35)
days from the receipt of this Order, the
sum of $200 as a penalty for the violations
found in this
proceeding as set forth in the Stipulation.
Payment shall be
made by certified check or money order payable to the State
of Illinois, and shall be sent to Fiscal Services Division,
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency,
2200 Churchill
Drive, Springfield,
Illinois 62706.
2.
Respondent shall cease and desist from the aforesaid violations
of the Act.
3.
Respondent
is hereby given
a variance up to and including
March
31,
1973,
and he
shall report the results of the stack
tests to the Environmental Protection Agency.
I, Christan Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollutior~Control Board,
certify that the above Order was adopted on the
1”~
day of1~4.~_)\~
1973, by a vote of
4/-~
Christan Moffett, Cl~)~
Illinois Pollution C~,?rol Board
7
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366