ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    February 23, 1989
    IN THE MATTER OF :
    )
    PROPOSED SITE SPECIFIC RULE
    )
    R87—34
    CHANGE FOR THE CITY OF ROCK
    ISLAND’S PUBLIC WATER SUPPLY
    TREATMENT PLANT DISCHARGE
    )
    35 ILL ADM. CODE 304.217
    )
    ORDER OF THE BOARD (by 3. Anderson):
    Section 27(a) of the Environmental Protection Act (“Act”)
    has recently been amended by P.A. 85—1048 to give the Board
    exclusive authority in deciding whether an EcIS should be
    performed for a rulemaking. Since that change became effective
    January 1, 1989, Resolution 89—1 sets forth the procedure that
    the Board will utilize for ruleniakings which were filed prior to
    1989 and for which an EcIS determination had not been made by the
    Department of Energy and Natural Resources (“DENR”). In part,
    the amendments to the Act provides:
    (Tihe Board shall determine whether an
    economic impact study should be conducted.
    The Board shall reach its decision based on
    its assessment of the potential economic
    impact of the rule, the potential for
    consideration of the economic impact absent
    such a study, the extent, if any, to which the
    Board is free under the statute authorizing
    the rule to modify the substance of the rule
    based upon the conclusions of such a study,
    and any other considerations the Board deems
    appropriate. The Board may, in addition,
    identify specific issues to be addressed in
    the study.
    Section 27(a) of the Act. (as amended by P.A.
    85—1048)
    It is upon these criteria that the Board must make its EcIS
    determination in this matter.
    On September 29, 1987, the City of Rock Island (“Pock
    Island”) filed a petition with the Board for site specific
    exception from 35 Ill. Adrn. Code 304.124(a), Additional
    Contaminants. As of January 1, 1989, no EcIS determination had
    been made in this proceeding. On January 24, 1989, pursuant to
    96—439
    —2—
    RES 89—1, the Hearing Officer requested comment on the necessity
    for the preparation of an EcIS in this matter. Comments were
    filed by Rock Island, DENR and the Illinois Environmental
    Protection Agency (“Agency”) on February 17, 1989.
    DENR requests the Board determine that the preparation of an
    EcIS is not necessary in this proceeding. As DENR comments:
    The Department of Energy and Natural Resources
    (DENR) believes that a formal economic impact
    study is not necessary for the proceeding P87—
    34. While the petition for a site specific
    rulemaking was deficient in economic and
    environmental information, a significant
    amount of data was entered into the record at
    the hearing. The economic and environmental
    information provided at hearing was, for the
    most part, in response to pre—filed questions
    by the Department and the Agency.
    For a site specific regulatory petition, the
    burden should be placed on the petitioner to
    provide adequate economic data and information
    regarding the environmental impacts and
    technical feasibility of its proposal. This
    is necessary so as to allow DENR to conserve
    its limited budgetary resources for state—wide
    proceedings or for those exceptional cases
    where an independent study would be of genuine
    value to the Board in rendering its decision.
    It is the Department’s position that a formal
    study is not warranted in this proceeding in
    light of the economic and environmental
    information put into the record at the hearing
    on February 8, 1989. If the Board determines
    that additional information is required, the
    cost and responsibility of gathering that
    information should be borne by the petitioner.
    The Agency concurred in DENR’s comments and further stated
    that the economic impact of the proposed rule can be adequately
    addressed without an EcIS “provided that Rock Island properly
    addresses the economic requirements” (p. 2).
    For its part, Pock Island urges the Board to order an EcIS,
    “notwithstanding the, fact that it believes that it has submitted
    sufficient data into the record to allow the Board to make this
    decision” (p. 2).
    After consideration of the above comments and the proposal
    for rulemaking, the Board presently believes that the
    96—440
    —3—
    presentation of economic information at hearing should be
    sufficient for its consideration of the economic impact of the
    proposed rule. The Board the.refore finds that the preparation of
    an EcIS need not be conducted in this matter at this time. Rock
    Island’s suggestion that an EcIS be required appears, on its
    face, to be unwarranted. As Rock Island notes, the central issue
    in this case is the economic reasonableness of the general
    requirement not its technical feasibility; the Board observes
    that this is precisely why the record in this proceeding already
    contains much economic information which is ample to serve as a
    basis for the Board’s determination in this regard.
    IT IS SO ORDERED.
    I, Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
    Board, hereby certify that the above Order was adopted on
    the 2~”~/day of
    ______________,
    1989, by a vote of
    _________
    ~Dorothy
    M. ~f~unn,Clerk
    J~
    Illinois póllution Control Board
    96—44 1

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