ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

January

7, 1993

GENERAL CHEMICAL

CORPORATION,

(Chemical Manufacturing Plant),

Petitioner,

)

v.

)

PCB

92—217

(Variance)

ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL

PROTECTION AGENCY,

Respondent.

ORDER

OP

THE BOARD (by B. Forcade):

On December 31, 1992, General

Chemical

Corporation (General)

filed a petition for an air variance for its facility located &t

2500 Kingshighway, East St.

Louis,

St.

Clair

county, Illinois.

In

the

petition, General states that it

waives

hearing on this

matter. (Petition at p. 9)

However, a hearing

is rquired

for

an air variance

and

cannot be

waived. Therefore

this matter

is

accepted

for hearing.

Hearing must be scheduled within 14 days

of

the date of

this

order and completed within 60

days of the date

of this order.

The

hearing officer shall inform

the

Clerk of the BOard of the

time and location of the hearing at least

40 days

in

advance of

bearing

so

that public notice of

hearing

may be

published. After

hearing, the hearing officer

shall

subsit an

exhibit

li.t and all

actual exhibits

to the

Board within 5

days of the

bearing. Any

briefing schedule shall provide for

final filing.

-as

expeditiously

as

possible

and

in

no

event later than 70

days fro.

the date of

this

order.

If after appropriate

consultation

with the

parties, the

parties fail to provide an acceptable hearing data or

if

after an

attempt the hearing officer is unable to consult with the

parties,

the hearing officer

shall unilaterally

set a bearing

date in conformance

with the schedule above. This

schedule

will

only provide

the Board a very short

time period to deliberate and

reach a

decision before the due date. The bearing officer and

the

parties

are encouraged to expedite this

proceeding

as ~ch as

possible.

Within 10

days

of accepting this case,

the

Hearing Officer

shall

enter a

Hearing Officer Scheduling order governing

completion of the record. That order shall

set a date

certain

for each aspect of the case including: briefing schedule,

hearing date(s), completion of discovery (if necessary)

and pre—

hearing conference

(if necessary). The Hearing Officer

Scheduling order may be modified

by entry of

a

complete new

scheduling order conforming with the time

requirements below.

0138-0335

---

2

The hearing officer

may

extend

this’

schedule only on a

waiver of the decision deadline by

the

petitioner and

only for

the equivalent or

fewer number of days

that the

decision deadline

is waived. Such waivers must be provided in writing

to the

Clerk

of the

Board. Any waiver must be an ~cp.n waiv.r or a waiver of

decision

until

a date certain.

Any

waiver

shall extend

the time

deadline of Section 104.180 regarding’

filing the Agency

recommendation by the equivalent number

of days,

but

in

any

circumstance the

recommendation

must be filed

at

least 20

days

before the bearing.

Because of requirements regarding the publication of notice

of hearing, no scheduled bearing may be aancsll.d unless the

petitioner provides an open

waiver

or a

waiver to a

date !at least

120 days beyond the date

of the motion to

cancel bearing. This

should

allow ampl. time

for

the Board to republish notice

of

hearing and receive

transcripts from

the bearing

before

the

due

date.. Any

order by the bearing officer

granting

cancellation of.

hearing

shall

include a complete new

scheduling order

with a new

hearing

date at

least

40 days in the

future

and at

least

3O~days

prior to the new du. dat. and the Clerk of the Board

shall be

promptly informed of the new

schedule.

Because this proceeding

is th. type

for which

the Illinois

Environmental Protection Act sets a very abort statutory deadline

for making a

decision, absent a

waiver, thS Board

will

‘grant

extensions or modifications

only in

unusual cir~tanoe..

t.

Any

such motion must set

forth an alternativ,

schedule

*

for

notice,

bearing, and final

su~issions, as

well as

the idesdithe for

decision, including

response tim.

to such a

motion.

however, no

such motion

shall

negate

the obligation of the hearing

officer

to

establish a Scheduling order

pursuant to the requirements of this

order, and to adhere to that order

until

modified.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

I, Dorothy K.

Gunn,

Clerk of

the Illinois ‘Pollution

Control

Board,

hereby cart

that

the

above order

was

adopted

‘on the

7tZ dayof

,i993,byavoteof~_.

Dorothy K. ~tinn,

~.

Clerk

,~i

Illinois Pd~lution Control

Board

0138-0336