ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    June 6, 1994
    PEOPLE OF THE
    )
    STATE OF ILLINOIS,
    )
    )
    Complainant,
    )
    v.
    )
    PCB 93—59
    (Enforcement)
    FREEDOM OIL
    COMPANY,
    )
    )
    Respondent.
    CONCURRING OPINION (by J. Theodore Meyer):
    I concur with the majority’s opinion,
    in both the May 5,
    1994 opinion and order and the June 6,
    1994 supplemental opinion
    and order.
    I agree that Freedom Oil violated 35 Ill.Adxn.Code
    731.162 and 731.163.
    I concur for two reasons.
    First,
    I am pleased that the
    People requested an award of costs and attorneys’
    fees pursuant
    to Section 42 of the Act, and that the request was pursued during
    this case.
    In the past, the People have often requested costs
    and attorneys’
    fees in their complaint, but failed to pursue that
    request by providing evidence that the alleged violation was
    wilful,
    knowing, or repeated.
    In this case, the People provided
    that evidence, and furnished an affidavit of costs and fees.
    As
    I have repeatedly stated,
    I believe that those who violate the
    Act should pay the costs of prosecution, when the General
    Assembly has made specific provisions for recovery of those
    costs.
    I hope that pursuing costs and attorneys’ fees will
    become the norm, when allowable,
    in enforcement cases.
    Second,
    I concur because I believe that the penalty imposed
    in this case should have been higher.
    As the majority states,
    Freedom Oil’s failure to comply with the regulations, the fact
    that the extent of contamination remains unknown because of that
    failure, and Freedom’s recalcitrance over a three-year period
    lead to a conclusion that the penalty must be sufficient to deter
    continuing and future violations at sites owned by Freedom.
    Given that the Act allows for penalties of up to $50,000 per
    violation, with an additional $10,000 for each day that a
    violation continues,
    I believe that $30,000 is insufficient to
    deter continuing and future violations.
    For these reasons,
    I concur.
    J. ¶L~eodore
    M4rer
    Board Member
    2
    I, Dorothy M.
    Gunn,
    Clerk
    of the Illinois Pollution Control
    Board, hereby certify that
    he above concurring opinion was filed
    on the
    ~/~4-~
    day of
    _______________,
    1994.
    I,
    Dorothy M.
    qunn,
    Clerk
    Illinois P~JlutionControl Board

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