ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
August
9, 1979
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
)
PROTECTION AGENCY,
)
Complainant,
v
)
PCB 78—235
ALUMAX EXTRUSIONS, INC.,
a Delaware
)
corporation qualified to do business
in the State of Illinois,
)
Respondent.
MR. JOHN
T.
BERNBOM, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL, APPEARED ON BEHALF
OF THE COMPLAINANT.
CHAPMAN
& CUTLER, ATTORNEYS AT LAW
(MR. DANIEL J. KUCEPA,
OF COUNSEL),
APPEARED ON BEHALF OF THE F~ESPONDENT.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE
BOARD
(by Mr. Werner):
This matter comes before the Board on the August 30, 1978
Complaint brought by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
(“Agency”)
which alleged that, from October
23, 1977 until the date
of
filing of the Complaint
(including, but not limited to, November 15,
1977 through November
23,
1977, and April 10,
1978)
,
the Respondent
caused or allowed the discharge of contaminants into Kress Creek
without an NPDES Permit, in violation of Rule 901 of Chapter
3:
Water Pollution Control Regulations and Sections 12(a), 12(b)
and
12(f)
of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act
(“Act”).
A hearing
was held on February
7,
1979.
The parties filed a Stipulation and
Proposal for Settlement on June
27,
1979.
Aluinax Extrusions,
Inc.
(“Alumax1t)
owns and operates an aluminum
processing plant near the City of West Chicago in Du Page County,
Illinois.
Alumax currently has separate waste collection systems for
domestic sewerage, process wastewater, and storm water.
While
domestic sewage is discharged into
a private disposal system
(septic
tanks and absorption fields), process wastewater
is collected by a
separate system and conveyed to the Respondent’s process wastewater
treatment plant.
After treatment, the process wastewater effluent
is discharged into Kress Creek, a tributary of the west branch of
the Du Page River, pursuant to NPDES Permit No.
111—0037681.
~c—i
~Q
—2—
Concomitantly,
a 36-inch storm sewer transports storm water from
the building structures to Kress Creek.
The stipulation indicates that,
on an occasion in November of
1977, oil-related contaminants were found in Kress Creek in the
general vicinity of the storm water and process wastewater discharge
points of Alumax and other nearby commercial and industrial plants.
(Stip.
2-3).
On November 16, 1977,
an Agency inspection near the
Respondent’s facility indicated that oil was being discharged from an
unpermitted storm sewer discharge point about 10 feet upstream of the
permitted discharge point from the Respondent’s treatment pond.
At
that time, the Agency inspector requested that the Respondent’s
employees take steps to contain and clean up the oil near the storm
sewer discharge.
The parties have stipulated that, without admitting
any liability,
and in the spirit of good faith and civic cooperation,
Alumax voluntarily spent $38,000 to clean up Kress Creek.
(Stip.
4).
The Company hired an outside contractor for dredging and pumping
operations,
removed the storm water discharge point to the creek,
repaired an oil trap within the plant,
and installed an oil skimmer
in the remaining storm water effluent to preclude the possibility of
any oil discharge into Kress Creek.
(Stip. 4-4a).
Subsequently,
Alumax submitted a sample of the oil from Kress Creek to an independent
laboratory for testing.
The independent laboratory analysis indicated
that the oil contained in the sample was not of the type used by
Aluniax in its aluminum processing operations.
(Stip.
4a)
On April
1, 1978, the Company retained
a professional consulting
engineer to investigate the possible existence of any sources
of oil
within its plant that could enter the storm water system.
In June of
1978, the consulting engineer ascertained that oil spillage from
trucks at the docks, oil drippage from the manufacturing presses, and
overflows and blowdowns from cooling water towers might possibly
cause some oil to enter the storm water system.
On June
17,
1978,
Alumax sent a letter to the Agency which described its program to
separate any possible oil from the storm water system, and to direct
such flows to the process wastewater collection system for treatment.
The Company believed that such work required no new NPDES Permit for
the storm water system,
but simply a modification of the existing
NPDES Permit for the process wastewater system
(to cover changes
in
discharge and volume)
.
Accordingly, the Respondent proposed to
submit
a construction permit modification within 30 days.
To
implement its plan,
Alumax hired an outside contractor in June,
1978
to jet flush all storm water
lines in the plant
in preparation for
the installation of separate process lines within the storm water
system lines to achieve
a separation of oil from the storm water.
However, because of other
job commitments and emergency work,
the
outside contractor did not complete the jet flushing until August 28,
1978.
(Stip.
5—6)
—3—
Because the Company assumed that the Agency would reply to its
letter of June 17, 1978, it delayed the submission of its request
for modification of the NPDES Permit and its application for a
construction permit while waiting for the Agency’s response.
However,
the Agency expected that the Respondent would automatically submit
the necessary applications without any reply from the Agency.
(Stip.
6).
When no applications were received after 30 days,
the
Complainant initiated this enforcement action against Alumax.
As an alternative method to achieve compliance,
Alumax
Extrusions,
Inc. has commenced discussions with the City of West
Chicago
(“City”)
pertaining to
a pre—annexation agreement under which
the sanitary sewer system of West Chicago would be extended to the
Company’s property and the process wastewater would be transported
to the City for treatment.
Upon completion of the sanitary sewer
extension and process wastewater connection, Alumax would cease the
discharging of treated process wastewater into Kress Creek and would
remove its treatment plant from service.
While negotiations with
the City of West Chicago are in progress, and while developing its
complete oil separation program, Alumax has kept the oil skimmer in
operation
to assure the separation of any possible oil from the
storm water effluent discharge.
The proposed settlement agreement provides that the Respondent
shall:
(1)
promptly follow a detailed compliance plan to achieve
separation of any oil from the storm water system
(the total
estimated cost of
the
installation and modification work is $31,400);
(2)
use its best efforts
to effectuate a pre-annexation agreement with
the City of West Chicago under which the City’s
sanitary sewer system
would be extended to the Company’s property and the process wastewater
would be transported to the City for treatment;
and
(3) pay a
stipulated penalty of
$1,000
.
The Board, after evaluation of the
proposed settlement agreement in light of Section 33(c)
of the Act
and Procedural Rule 331,
finds the Stipulation and Proposal for
Settlement to be acceptable.
Accordingly,
the Respondent
is hereby
ordered to promptly follow the detailed compliance plan delineated
in the Stipulation; use its best efforts to obtain a pre—annexation
agreement from the City of West Chicago; and pay the stipulated
penalty of $1,000
The Board has also considered the NPDES Permit issues
in light
of the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Citizens for
a Better
Environment v.
EPA, No.
78—1042, ______F.
2d
____
(7th Cir.
1979),
and finds that the Board has competent jurisdiction over the subject
matter in the Complaint pursuant to Sections 11(b),
12(f)
and 13(b)
of the Act and Board regulations established thereunder.
This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and
conclusions of law in this matter.
~
1
—4—
ORDER
It is the Order of the Illinois Pollution Control Board that:
1.
The Respondent shall follow the detailed compliance program
to achieve separation of any possible sources of oil within the
plant from the storm water system as delineated on pages
7 through
9
of the Stipulation.
2.
The Respondent shall use its best efforts to complete and
effect a pre-annexation agreement with the City of West Chicago,
Illinois, under which all process wastewater will be transported to
the City for treatment by means of an extension of the City’s
sanitary sewer system to be constructed.
Upon any such extension
and connection, the Respondent will terminate its present process
wastewater discharge to Kress Creek.
Any such extension shall be
pursuant to the requisite Agency permits and the Respondent shall
keep the Agency informed as to its progress in achieving the agreement
and the connection.
3.
Immediately upon receipt of this Board Order,
the Respondent
shall,
by certified check or money order payable to the State of
Illinois,
pay the stipulated penalty of $1,000
,
which is to be
sent to:
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
Fiscal Services Division
2200 Churchill Road
Springfield, Illinois
62706
4.
The Respondent shall comply with all the terms and conditions
with the Stipulation and Proposal for Settlement filed June
27, 1979,
which
is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.
I,
Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board, hereby certify th t the above Opinion and Order were adopted
on the
t~4~
day of
________________,
1979 by a vote of
________
Illinois Pollution