March 23, 2007

Dorothy Gunn, Clerk

Illinois Pollution Control Board

James R . Thompson Center

100 W

. Randolph, Ste 11-500

Chicago, Illinois 60601 (Via COOL)

CLERK'

IVIED

American Bottom Conservancy-Sierra Club

MAR 2 3 2007

P.O

. Box 4242 Felnllow Heights, IL 62208

Re: R 07-8 Proposed Amendments to Solid Waste Landfill Rules

Dear Clerk Gunn :

American Bottom Conservancy and Sierra Club participated in the first hearing on this

rulemaking, but we were unable to participate in the second

. Some of our concerns from tie first

hearing have been alleviated, but others remain

. This rulemaking still appears to lower the

frequency of monitoring, the number of wells to be monitored annually, and the munber of

constituents for which monitoring is required

. While we understand the financial constraints on

the Agency, protection of our water quality-both surface and groundwater-should be

of

paramount importance

. Delaying detection of contamination can multiply the costs of

remediating the situation many times over . It could also result in contamination that is beyond

remediation . Our water is too precious a resource .

The National Solid Waste Management Assn . provided figures indicating savings to the industry

should the rulemaking proceed in its current form

. By dropping total organic carbon from the

indicator list, there is a savings of $96 per well. By changing quarterly sampling of phenols to

scmi-annual, the savings would be $44 per well per year . That would result in a total savings,

according to NSWMA, of $2800 per year per facility, or S 143,000 for the 51 actively permitted

operating landfills in the state . The proposed rulemaking's total savings to the industry,

according to the Assn., would be

$52,500 per year per facility . Given that more frequent

monitoring of more wells and constituents would undoubtedly result in earlier detection of

contamination, that cost should be borne by the industry and passed on to its customers as the cost

of doing business

. That could raise waste collection bills by a few cents per month-a small

price to pay for protection of water quality . The state and counties-taxpayers-could well have

to pick up the cost of cleaning up contaminated sites should companies go out of business, such

as has happened in the Metro East and elsewhere. More frequent monitoring of all wells (not on

a rotating basis, which could allow for faster migration of undetected contaminants) could be

viewed as an insurance policy to protect water quality, residents and taxpayers

.

The timeline of 180 days for alternate source determination is too long and should be shortened .

We also strongly urge the Board to require that the alternate source determination assessment

report be submitted to the Agency in all cases so that the public is informed that there is

contanunation and can evaluate and comment on the report and the probable source

Pollut

ofControl

Board

---

We appreciate Board Member Andrea Moore's request to put the rulemaking in language

understandable by the public

. We were unable to review the changes submitted in the last errata

sheet, but understand there will be an additional comment period and look forward to

commenting with more particularity

.

Thank you for your consideration of our comments .

xathy Anrfria

Kathy Andrea

Chair, Illinois Sierra Club Waste & Recycling

President, American Bottom Conservancy

cc Timothy Fox, Hearing Officer

---

Washington University School of Law

Campus Box 1120

One Brookings Drive

St

. Louis, NIO 63130 .4899

See `,LL.

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Interdisciplinary

Environmental Clinic

RECEIVEDCLERK'S

OFFICE

MAR 2 3 2007

Pollution

STATE OF

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