1
BEFORE THE ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS
AMEREN ENERGY RESOURCES
)
GENERATING COMPANY,
)
DUCK CREEK POWER STATION,
)
)
Petitioner,
)
)
v.
)
PCB 2006-66
)
(CAAPP Permit Appeal)
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
)
PROTECTION AGENCY,
)
)
Respondent.
)
NOTICE
To:
Dorothy Gunn, Clerk
James T. Harrington
Illinois Pollution Control Board
David L. Rieser
100 West Randolph Street
McGuire Woods, LLP
Suite 11-500
77 West Wacker, Suite 4100
Chicago, Illinois 60601
Chicago, Illinois 60601
Bradley P. Halloran
Hearing Officer
Illinois Pollution Control Board
James R. Thompson Center
Suite 11-500
100 West Randolph Street
Chicago, Illinois 60601
PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that I have today filed with the Office of the Clerk of
the Illinois Pollution Control Board the
MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE THE
ADMINISTRATIVE RECORD ON A SET OF COMPACT DISCS
of the
Respondent, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, a copy of which is herewith
served upon the assigned Hearing Office and the attorney for the Petitioner.
Respectfully submitted by,
___/s/_______________________
Sally Carter
Assistant Counsel
Dated: January 30, 2006
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
1021 North Grand Avenue East
P.O. Box 19276
Springfield, Illinois 62794-9276
ELECTRONIC FILING, RECEIVED, CLERK'S OFFICE, JANUARY 30, 2006
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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I hereby certify that on the 30
th
day of January 2006, I did send, by electronic mail
with prior approval, the following instrument entitled
MOTION FOR LEAVE TO
FILE THE ADMINISTRATIVE RECORD ON A SET OF COMPACT DISCS
to:
Dorothy Gunn, Clerk
Illinois Pollution Control Board
100 West Randolph Street
Suite 11-500
Chicago, Illinois 60601
and a true and correct copy of the same foregoing instrument, by First Class Mail with
postage thereon fully paid and deposited into the possession of the United States Postal
Service, to:
Bradley P. Halloran
James T. Harrington
Hearing Officer
David L. Rieser
Illinois Pollution Control Board
McGuire Woods, LLP
James R. Thompson Center
77 West Wacker, Suite 4100
Suite 11-500
Chicago, Illinois 60601
100 West Randolph Street
Chicago, Illinois 60601
____/s/_____________________
Sally Carter
Assistant Counsel
ELECTRONIC FILING, RECEIVED, CLERK'S OFFICE, JANUARY 30, 2006
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BEFORE THE ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS
AMEREN ENERGY RESOURCES
)
GENERATING COMPANY,
)
DUCK CREEK POWER STATION,
)
)
Petitioner,
)
)
PCB No. 2006-066
v.
)
(CAAPP Permit Appeal)
)
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
)
PROTECTION AGENCY,
)
)
Respondent.
)
MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE THE ADMINISTRATIVE RECORD
ON A SET OF COMPACT DISCS
NOW COMES the Respondent, ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY (“Illinois EPA”), by and through its attorneys, pursuant to 35 Ill. Adm. Code
101.500 and moves the ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD (“Board”) to grant
the Illinois EPA leave to file scanned versions of the Administrative Record in this cause
on a set of compact discs.
1.
Petitioners filed their Petition with the Board on November 3, 2005,
seeking a review of certain permit conditions contained within the Clean Air Act Permit
Program (“CAAPP”) permit issued to Ameren Energy Resources Generating Company
(“Ameren” or “Duck Creek”) by the Illinois EPA on September 29, 2005. The permit
authorized the operation of an electrical power generation facility known as the Duck
Creek Power Station. The facility is located at 17751 North CILCO Lane in Canton,
Illinois. Formal notice of the appeal was served upon the Illinois EPA on November 4,
2005.
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2.
On November 17, 2005, the Board accepted Ameren’s Petition for
hearing. In addition, the Board ordered the Respondent to file the entire record of its
determination within 30 days of receipt of the Petition. If an extension of time to file the
record would be sought by the Respondent, the Board’s order instructed that such request
was also due within 30 days after the Illinois EPA received the Petition.
3.
On December 1, 2005, Illinois EPA counsel filed a Motion for Extension
of Time to File Record (“Extension Motion”) with the Board, observing that many permit
appeals are of a type that could most aptly be described as “protective appeals” that
frequently do not require the filing of an administrative record. However, counsel
recognized that some of the collective twenty-one appeals possessed a much greater
likelihood of proceeding to hearing, thus necessitating the filing of an administrative
record in those cases. Counsel also observed that the Extension Motion was due, in small
part, to the review time required for the remaining several hundred miscellaneous
electronic mail messages of Illinois EPA personnel that had not yet been reviewed for
information relied upon by the Illinois EPA in its permit decision.
4.
The more pressing matter underlying the Extension Motion involved the
logistics of providing the necessary copying and/or scanning of the Administrative
Record. As previously conveyed to the Board, this Administrative Record and the related
records pertaining to the twenty CAAPP permit appeals involving other electrical power
generation facilities in the State are quite voluminous. Duck Creek’s record consists
generally of five trial boxes of material. Approximately two boxes are particular to Duck
Creek alone, while three other boxes are more aptly characterized as general reference
material and documents relevant to the decisions underlying the issuance of all twenty-
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one CAAPP permits to the State’s electrical power generation facilities. The thrust of the
Extension Motion suggested that the Illinois EPA does not possess the support-staff to
make the necessary copies for filing before the Board, the assigned Hearing Officer and
opposing counsel. If the Respondent were to seek leave from the Board to file four
copies of the record, plus the original, the Respondent would still be mailing
approximately twenty-five trial boxes to the Board for Duck Creek alone. This scenario
does not include the five boxes that would still be required for opposing counsel and,
depending on the outcome of the settlement discussions, possibly the Hearing Officer as
well. The Board has not yet ruled on the Illinois EPA Extension Motion.
5.
Due to support staff constraints, counsel has researched the possibility of
hiring an outside contractor to perform the required copying and/or scanning. Counsel
has located a State-approved contractor that is willing to “scan” the record onto a set of
compact discs for each of the twenty-one CAAPP permit appeals involving the electrical
power generating facilities. However, the Board’s procedural rules are not entirely clear
on whether the Board will accept a scanned version of the administrative record on
compact disc. While Sections 105.116 and 105.212 of the Board’s procedural rules
require the Illinois EPA to file the entire record of its decision with the Board, these
sections do not specify the manner of such filing. The more applicable provision of
Section 101.302(d) provides that filing by electronic transmission is only allowed with
prior Board approval. While counsel for the Illinois EPA has received prior Board and/or
Hearing Officer approval for the electronic filing of briefs and/or pleadings, the Board’s
procedural rules do not define what constitutes an “electronic filing.” As it is not entirely
clear whether a scanned version of the administrative record on compact disc comports
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with the Board’s filing requirements, the Illinois EPA is seeking leave in the instant
motion.
6.
Additionally, the Board has previously expressed an interest for the
electronic filing of documents that are amenable to a search command with the Board.
Unfortunately, the Illinois EPA has recently learned that a searchable version of the
scanned compact discs would be cost prohibitive to the State of Illinois.
1
However, the
Illinois EPA will be providing a type of search mechanism through the bate stamping of
the documents that will take place prior to shipment of the documents to the scanning
service. In addition, future electronic filings, including any final briefing documents, will
be filed by the Illinois EPA in Word format, thereby providing the Board its desired
search function. Finally, it is worth noting that if the Illinois EPA were to file a more
traditional paper record with the Board, no quick search mechanism would exist for such
filing.
7.
Counsel for Petitioner has conveyed to the Illinois EPA that they have no
objection to a scanned version of the Administrative Record.
8.
Based on the foregoing, the Illinois EPA formally seeks leave to file its
Administrative Record with the Board on a set of compact discs. Specifically, the Illinois
requests leave to file five sets of compact discs with the Board containing the two trial
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Under the State contract, it costs the Illinois EPA a little over three cents a page to have a
document scanned by the contractor. To provide a searchable scanned document via optical
character recognition, it would cost the Illinois EPA approximately a dollar a page for a typical
written document. While the contractor does not provide a guarantee on the accuracy of this
function, it typically operates with 70 % degree of accuracy. If the Illinois EPA requested the
same search function on all handwritten documents in the Administrative Record as well, it
would cost approximately $1.65 per page. Counsel for the Illinois EPA estimates that there are
approximately 150,000 pages including countless handwritten documents in the Administrative
Record and the related records pertaining to the twenty CAAPP permit appeals involving the
other electrical power generating facilities in the State. The cost differential between the varying
degrees of searchable records and a non-searchable record is anywhere from $150,000 to
$247,500 versus $5,000.
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boxes of the Administrative Record that are particular to Duck Creek alone. In addition,
for the additional three trial boxes more aptly characterized as general reference material
and documents relevant to the decisions underlying the issuance of all twenty-one
CAAPP permits to the State’s electrical power generation facilities, the Illinois EPA
requests leave to file five sets of compact discs for all twenty-one CAAPP permit
appeals. This will avoid the needless duplication of the same general reference discs for
all twenty-one CAAPP appeals before the Board.
9.
The granting of this Motion for Leave to File the Record on a Set of
Compact Discs will ensure that this voluminous record is not only filed but will further
minimize any potential administrative burdens associated with the maintenance and
storage of hundreds of trial boxes for this appeal, together with the other twenty CAAPP
appeals before the Board and the assigned Hearing Officer.
WHEREFORE, the Illinois EPA respectfully requests that the Board grant this
Motion for Leave to File the Administrative Record on a Set of Compact Discs.
Respectfully submitted by,
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION AGENCY,
_________/s/__________________
Sally A. Carter
Assistant Counsel
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
1021 North Grand Avenue East
P.O. Box 19276
Springfield, Illinois 62794-9276
(217)782-5544
ELECTRONIC FILING, RECEIVED, CLERK'S OFFICE, JANUARY 30, 2006