ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

August 30, 1983

OLIN CORP.,

Petitioner,

v.

)

PCB 83—123

ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL

)

PROTECTION AGENCY,

Respondent,

ORDER OF THE BOARD (by J. Anderson):

On July 28, 1982, Olin Corp. (Olin) filed a request for

provisional variance with the Illinois Environmental Protection

Agency (Agency). On August 29, 1982 the Agency, pursuant to

Sections 35(b) and 37(b) of the Environmental Protection Act

(Act), filed. its Recommendation with the Board that provisional

variance be denied for lack of showing of arbitrary or

unreasonable hardships

This provisional variance request incorporates by reference

the petition for “regular” variance from Rule 502 of Chapter 2:

Air Pollution pursuant to Section 35(a) of the Act. This

petition was received by the Board July 29, 1983 and docketted

as PCB 83—102. In PCB 83—102, Olin sought a one-year variance

from the open burning rule to allow for test—firing of ammunition

into fuel oil tanks in fulfillment of a research and development

contract with the Department of the Air Force. Said testing is

to be performed at a test range two miles northwest of Marion,

Williamson County. The instant, PCB 83—123 provisional variance

is requested for “such period of time of the grant or denial of

the variance petition from the Board.”

The

Board

notes that, while Section 35(b) requires

provisional variances to be “issued within 2 working days of

notification from the Agency” that compliance would impose an

arbitrary or unreasonable hardship, Section 35(b) does not impose

such a deadline for Board action to deny a provisional variance

upon Agency recommendation that the Board so do, or an explicit

duty on the Board to ratify Agency denials. Without accepting

any implicit duty which may exist, the Board will comment upon

this case as a companion to PCB 83—102, in which expedited

consideration was requested.

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2

The Agency has recommended denial of this petition on the

merits. This situation is virtually identical to that in SCA

Chemical Services, Inc. v. IEPA, PCB 82-60, May 4, 1982. Without

reaching the merits, the Board finds that this provisional

variance is improperly before the Board, given the pendancy of

PCB 83—102, for the reasons outlined at some length in SCA.

Rather than repeat these reasons verbatim, the Board will instead

direct its Clerk to serve a copy of the SCA Order upon the parties

along with this one,

IT IS SO ORDERED,

I, Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution

Control ~

hereby ertify that the above Order was ado,pted

on the ~O day of

.

,

1983 by a vote of ~~—O

C ristan L. Moffe~ Clerk

Illinois Pollutio~-~ontrolBoard

53-296