ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    July 8, 1998
    COMMONWEALTH EDISON
    COMPANY (Zion Power Station),
    Petitioner,
    v.
    ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
    PROTECTION AGENCY,
    Respondent.
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    PCB 99-3
    (Provisional Variance - Water)
    ORDER OF THE BOARD (by C.A. Manning):
    Pursuant to Section 35(b) of the Environmental Protection Act (Act) (415 ILCS 5/35(b)
    (1996)), Commonwealth Edison Company, Zion Power Station (petitioner) located in the City
    of Zion, Lake County, Illinois has requested that the Board grant a provisional variance from
    35 Ill. Adm. Code 304.141(b) and 309.102, which prohibit any discharge not specifically
    allowed by permit. The request for a provisional variance and the notification of
    recommendation were filed with the Board by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
    (Agency) on July 6, 1998. Pursuant to Section 35(b) of the Act (415 ILCS 5/35(b) (1996)),
    the Board must issue the variance within two days of this filing.
    Pursuant to Section 35(b) of the 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 treat
    and discharge one sub-waste stream not currently listed in its National Pollution Discharge
    Elimination System (NPDES) Permit No. IL0002763. This waste stream pertains to drain
    water from a closed heating system that is part of the station’s heating/ventilation/air
    conditioning (HVAC) system. Petitioner proposes to add this to its radwaste treatment system
    and wastewater treatment system.
    All wastewater would be treated in accordance with petitioner’s existing NPDES
    permit. Petitioner has proposed to add this sub-waste stream to its permitted discharge in its
    application for renewal of its existing NPDES permit, but does not expect a renewal permit to
    be issued for at least another three months for various stated reasons.
    The Agency recommends that the Board grant the requested provisional variance with
    specified conditions. The Agency agrees that the modification is necessary. The Agency
    anticipates that the requested provisional variance would have minimal environmental impact
    on the receiving stream. The Agency is unaware of any public water supplies that the
    requested provisional variance would adversely impact. The Agency maintains that grant of a
    provisional variance would violate no federal laws. The Agency believes that denial of the
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    requested provisional variance would create an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship on the
    petitioner.
    Specifically, the Agency recommends that the Board grant petitioner a 45-day
    provisional variance for its Lake County facility from the effluent discharge requirements, as
    set forth in 35 Ill. Adm. Code 304.141(b) and 309.102. This variance period on shall
    commence on June 24, 1998, when treatment of the closed heating system drain water in the
    heating ventilation air conditioning system begins and shall continue for 45 days, or until
    treatment is completed, or upon the issuance of petitioner’s NPDES permit, whichever occurs
    first.
    This recommendation is essentially that the Board extend a previously-granted
    provisional variance that expired June 26, 1998. The docket number of that provisional
    variance was PCB 98-141, granted on
    April 16, 1998
    .
    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
    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’s recommendation that a denial of the requested relief
    would impose an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship, the Board hereby grants petitioner a
    provisional variance from 35 Ill. Adm. Code 304.141(b) and 309.102, subject to the following
    conditions. In the interest of better public understanding of today’s action, the Board has
    added two explanatory sentences to the first condition of this provisional variance:
    1.
    The purpose of this provisional variance is to allow petitioner to add one waste
    stream to its existing radwaste treatment system and wastewater treatment
    system for treatment consistent with its NPDES Permit No. IL0002763. This
    waste stream is the closed heating system drain water in the HVAC system.
    The term of this provisional variance shall commence on June 24, 1998, when
    treatment of the closed heating system drain water begins and shall continue for
    45 days, or until treatment is completed, or upon the issuance of petitioner’s
    NPDES permit to renew or replace NPDES Permit No. IL0002763, whichever
    occurs first.
    2.
    Petitioner shall continue to meet all other conditions and limits in its NPDES
    Permit No. IL0002763 while the closed heating system drain water is
    discharged from outfall 001a.
    3.
    Petitioner shall notify Matthew Wertman, Maywood Regional Office, by
    telephone, at 708/338-7900, at the start and completion of treatment of the two
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    sub-waste streams. Petitioner shall confirm this notice in writing within five (5)
    days, addressed as follows:
    Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
    Bureau of Water, Compliance Assurance Section
    Attn: Dan Ray
    1021 N. Grand Avenue East
    P.O. Box 19276
    Springfield, Illinois 62794-9276
    Petitioner shall execute a copy of a certificate of acceptance of this provisional variance
    and forward that copy to the Agency addressed as is the written notice required in the above
    condition; petitioner shall forward that copy within ten (10) days of the date of this order of
    the Board, and the certificate of acceptance shall take the following form:
    CERTIFICATION
    I (We), _________________________________, hereby accept and
    agree to be bound by all terms and conditions of the order of the
    Pollution Control Board in PCB 99-3, July 8, 1998.
    ___________________________
    Petitioner
    ___________________________
    Authorized Agent
    ___________________________
    Title
    ___________________________
    Date
    IT IS SO ORDERED.
    Board Member K.M. Hennessey abstained.
    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 172 Ill. 2d
    R. 335; see also 35 Ill. Adm. Code 101.246, Motions for Reconsideration.
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    I, Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control Board, hereby certify that
    the above order was adopted on the 8th day of July 1998 by a vote of 4-0.
    Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk
    Illinois Pollution Control Board

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