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
~
15 —380