ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
March
9,
1995
THE AMOCO OIL COMPANY AND
)
THE CITY OF WOOD RIVER
)
)
Petitioners,
)
v.
)
PCB 94—384
)
(Provisional Variance—Water)
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
)
PROTECTION AGENCY,
)
Respondent.
ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by M. McFawn):
On March 8,
1995, respondent filed a motion to modify the
Board’s final order of December 16,
1994.
The December 16th
order granted a request for a provisional variance based on the
NotificatIon of Recommendation filed by the Agency.
The respondent requests that the Board modify the order by
revising condition number one
(1)
to read March,
1995.
The
request recites that
“the modification requested is for a new effective
start date for the provisional variance.
The start
date currently written into the variance is between
January and February 1995.
Due to a delay in the shop
performance testing of the new aeration equip~nentby
the manufacturer,
the co—petitioners are hereby
requesting a new effective variance start date of March
1995.
The specifications for the project require that
the aeration equipment pass a shop performance test
before the City of Wood River and the Engineer, Metcalf
& Eddy,
can approve the installation of the equipment
in the aeration tank.
The shop performance testing of
aeration equipment is ongoing and scheduled to be
completed by March
15,
1995.
Under this new
construction schedule the aeration tank dewatering and
wastewater diversion to the Amoco Storage Lagoons could
begin on March 16 or 17,
1995 and the installation of
the aeration equipment could begin on March 20,
1995....The delay in the construction schedule is
a
disappointment but necessary to ensure that the
manufacturer supplies equipment which meets the project
specifications.”
The motion to modify is granted. For the convenience of the
parties, the modified order is set out in its entirety below:
Pursuant to Section 35(b)
of the Environmental Protection
Act (Act)
(415 ILCS 5/35(b)), the Illinois Environmental
2
Protection Agency (Agency), by and through its Director, Mary A.
Gade,
seeks a provisional variance for Co—Petitioners in order to
allow them to continue operating during a period of wastewater
treatment plant modifications.
Specifically, the Agency recommends that we grant Amoco a
thirty
(30)-day provisional variance for from the
biochemical
oxygen demand
(CBOD5)
and suspended solids
(TSS)
effluent
requirements,
oil and grease,
phenol, and fecal coliform limits
as set forth
in 35 Ill. Adm. Code 305.102(b)
and 304.141(a)
as
they pertain to Outfall No.
2
in Amoco’s NPDES permit, commencing
upon the date in March 1995 when the dewatering of the aeration
tank and diversion of wastewater to the Amoco Storage Lagoon
begins, and continuing for no longer than 30 days.
The Agency recommends that the Board grant the requested
provisional variance with specified conditions.
The Agency
agrees that the repairs are 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 a grant
of a provisional variance would violate no
federal
laws.
The Agency finds that a denial of the requested
provisional variance would create an arbitrary or unreasonable
hardship on the petitioner.
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.
(~
415 ILCS 5/35
(b)
&
36(c)).
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 recommendation finding that a
denial of the requested relief would impose an arbitrary or
unreasonable hardship, the Board hereby grants the co—petitioners
a provisional variance from 35 Ill. Adm. Code 305.102(b)
and
304.141(a),
on the following conditions:
1.
The term of this provisional variance shall commence
upon the date in March 1995 when the dewatering of the
aeration tank and diversion of wastewater to the Amoco
Storage Lagoon begins, and continuing for no longer than 30
days.
2.
The co—petitioners shall notify Chris Port at the
3
Agency’s Collinsville Regional Office via telephone at
618/346—5120 when the aeration tank is removed from service
and when the unit is returned to service. Written
confirmation of each notification shall be sent within five
(5) days to the following address;
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
Bureau of Water
Wastewater Compliance Assurance Section
2200 Churchill Road
P.O.
Box 19276
Springfield, Illinois
62794—9276
Attention:
Barbara Conner
3.
If
a discharge from the Amoco Oil Storage Lagoon should
occur,
the City of Wood River shall notify Iaren
Tsikteris
of Illinois American Water Company-Granite City via
telephone at 618/277—7450 or 618/874—8145,
immediately.
4.
During the term of this provisional variance, the City
of Wood River shall perform the necessary repair work on the
aeration tank as expeditiously as possible to avoid
discharging from the Amoco Storage Lagoon.
5.
Should a discharge from the Amoco Storage Lagoon occur
during the provisional variance period, the following
parameters shall be sampled daily at the Amoco Oil Outfall
No.
002 and reported to the Agency.
Parameters
Daily Maximum
Monthly Average
CBOD5
N/A
100 mg/i
TSS
N/A
50 mg/i
Oil and Grease
N/A
25 mg/i
Phenols
4 mg/l
2.5 mg/i
In addition to those parameters,
there shall be no
applicable limit for fecal coliform and the special once a year
sampling requirement shall be waived.
The Co-Petitioners shall execute a copy of a Certificate of
Acceptance of this provisional variance and forward that copy to
the Agency at the above address. The Co—Petitioners 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:
4
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 94—384, December 16,
1994 as
modified, March
9,
1995.
Petitioner
Authorized Agent
Title
Date
IT IS SO ORDERED.
I, Dorothy M. Gunn,
Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
Boa~Q,~
do hereby certify that the above order was adopted on the
7~’-
day of ___________________________,
1995, by a vote of
~o.
Dorothy )~//Gunn, Clerk
Illinois (pollution Control Board