ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

February 6,

1975

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,

Complainant,

v.

)

PCB 74—384

E.

& D.

ROBINSON CONSTRUCTION,

INC.,

an Illinois corporation,

Respondent.

Mr. Jeffrey

S.

Herden, attorney for Complainant.

Mr. John

S.

Sloan, attorney for Respondent.

OPINION AND

ORDER

OF THE

BOARD

(by Dr. Odell)

On October

25,

1974,

the Environmental Protection

Agency

(Agency) filed its Complaint with the Pollution Control

Board

(Board)

against

E.

and D.

Robinson Construction,

Inc.

The Complaint alleged that Respondent, the owner of a solid

waste management site located in Section 14, Township 45 North,

Range 11 East in Lake County,

Illinois, operated its landfill

without an Operating

Permit

from the Agency.

These illegal

activities were allegedly carried out from July 27, 1974,

through October 25,

1974,

in continuing violation of Rule 202

(b) (1)

of the Solid Waste Regulations

(Chapter Seven).

A hearing was held on December 18,

1974,

in the Lake

County Courthouse in Waukegan, Illinois.

The landfill site

is owned by the First National Bank of Waukegan under land

trust

(R.l4);

the beneficial owners are Melba and Ervin

Robinson.

Ervin and his

son, David, operate the landfill site

and are the sole stockholders in the E. and D.

Robinson Con-

struction Company

(R.l7).

The evidence established that

Respondent did not have

a permit at the time of the hearing.

A permit application had been submitted to the Agency on October

2,

1974, but it was denied on December

3

(Resp. Ex.

1).

Grounds

for denial included Respondent’s failure to have a permit from

the Lake County Health Department

(Health Department)

and in-

sufficient data in the permit application to enable the Agency

to evaluate the landfill’s pollution potential

(Resp. Ex.l). A

request for a permit was made to the Health Department in July

1974

(Resp. Ex.

2), but a needed zoning change made necessary

an appeal to the Lake County Zoning Board of Appeals

(Zoning

Board)

(Resp.

Ex.

3).

Hearing on this zoning change was

scheduled for January

9,

1975

(R.ll),

but it is not known whether

the Zoning Board granted the zoning change.

15

379

---

—2—

Respondent offered testimony that it has attempted for

one and one-half years to get a permit

(R.27).

The Agency offer-

ed no evidence that any adverse environmental impact occurred

from the illegal operation of the landfill.

Respondent indicated

that non-putrescible building materials were deposited at this

site

(R.24).

Operations

at the landfill have now creased

(R.12);

the Respondent requested that the Board allow the site to operate

until

a permit is issued by the Agency

(R.25).

We find that E. and D.

Robinson Construction Company has

~

Rule

202(b) (1)

of Chapter Seven from July 27,

1974,

through October 25,

1974.

We assess

a penalty of $200.00.

The

amount would be greater but additional sums are better spent on

preparing the landfill for operation.

Also,

Respondent

is making

belated but sincere efforts to comply with the Regulations, and

there

is no evidence of environmental damage from the sit&s

illegal operation.

Finally, Respondent

is suffering an economic

hardship in that the site is now closed.

Ti’lhile we sometimes

structure our Orders to allow

a landfill to operate for a short

time while compliance

is being achieved, we will not do so here.

We cannot be assured that continued dumping of refuse at the site

would not have an adverse environmental impact on the area.

This constitutes

the findings of fact and conclusions of

law of the Board.

ORDER

IT IS

THE

ORDER of the Pollution Control Board that:

1.

Respondent cease and desist from operating its land-

fill site until

it has been issued an operating permit from the

Agency.

2.

Respondent pay a penalty of

$200.00 for its violation

of Rule 202(b) (1)

of Chapter Seven established in this Opinion.

Payment shall be by certified check or money order payable to the

State of Illinois, Fiscal Services Division, Environmental Protection

Agency,

2200 Churchill Road, Springfield,

Illinois 62706,

Payment

shall be made within

35 days of the adoption of this Order.

I, Christan L. Moffett, llerk of the Illinois Pollution Control

Board, hereby cert~fy hat the above Opinion and Order was ~dopted

on the

~J~4~’

day of

________________,

1975, by a vote of

4j

to

~