ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
July 10, 1997
MOBIL OIL CORPORATION,
Petitioner,
v.
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION AGENCY,
Respondent.
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PCB 98-7
(Provisional Variance - Air)
ORDER OF THE BOARD (by C.A. Manning):
On June 10, 1997, Mobil Oil Corporation (petitioner) filed a request with the Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency (Agency) recommending that it be granted a provisional
variance to allow its facility in Will County to continue operating its conventional fuels
refinery while tests are conducted on the fluidized catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) carbon
monoxide (CO) boilers. Such request for a provisional variance and the notification of
recommendation were filed with the Board by the Agency on Tuesday, July 8, 1997. Pursuant
to Section 35(b) of the Environmental Protection Act (Act) (415 ILCS 5/35(b) (1996)), the
Board must issue the variance within two (2) days of this filing.
Pursuant to Section 35(b) of Act (415 ILCS 5/35(b) (1996)), the Agency, by and
through its Director, Mary A. Gade, seeks a provisional variance to allow petitioner to
perform testing necessary to develop an alternative emissions monitoring program to determine
the operating conditions for the CO boilers and bypass valve that will provide assurance that
the emissions units are complying with the CO emission limitations.
Upon receipt of the request by the petitioner, the Agency issued its recommendation,
notifying the Board that due to unforeseen, temporary, and uncontrollable circumstances,
failure to grant the requested provisional variance would impose an arbitrary or unreasonable
hardship on the petitioner.
Specifically, the Agency recommends that we grant petitioner a 45-day provisional
variance for its Will County facility from the air pollution control requirements, as set forth in
35 Ill. Adm. Code 216.361(a), 212.123, and 212.381. This variance period shall begin on
June 23, 1997, and expire on August 6, 1997.
Provisional variances are by their very nature temporary. The responsibilities of the
Agency and the Board in these short-term provisional variances are different from the
responsibilities in standard variances. See 415 ILCS 5/35(b) & 36(c) (1996). In provisional
variances it is the responsibility of the Agency to make the technical determinations and
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finding of arbitrary or unreasonable hardship. The Board’s responsibility is to adopt a formal
order, to assure the formal maintenance of the record, to assure the enforceability of the
variance, and to provide notification of the action by a press release.
Having received the Agency recommendation that a denial of the requested relief would
impose an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship, the Board hereby grants the petitioner a
provisional variance from 35 Ill. Adm. Code 216.361(a), 212.123, and 212.381, with the
following conditions:
1.
The term of this provisional variance shall begin on June 23, 1997, and expire
on August 6, 1997.
2.
Actual testing of the bypass valve shall occur over only a three day period
between June 23, 1997, and August 6, 1997.
3.
The petitioner shall notify Kunji Patel at the Agency’s Springfield office upon
commencement of the bypass valve testing, and upon completion of the testing.
Such notification shall be addressed as follows:
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
Bureau of Air
Attention Mr. Kunji Patel
2200 Churchill Road
P.O. Box 19276
Springfield, Illinois 62794-9276
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Section 41 of the Environmental Protection Act (415 ILCS 5/41 (1996)) provides for
the appeal of final Board orders to the Illinois Appellate Court within 35 days of service of this
order. Illinois Supreme Court Rule 335 establishes such filing requirements. See 145 Ill. 2d
R. 335; see also 35 Ill. Adm. Code 101.246, Motions for Reconsideration.
I, Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control Board, hereby certify that
the above order was adopted on the 10th day of July 1997, by a vote of 6-0.
