ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    April 1, 2004
     
    GREAT LAKES DREDGE & DOCK
    COMPANY,
     
      
     
    Petitioner,
     
    v.
     
    ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
    PROTECTION AGENCY,
     
    Respondent.
    )
    )
    )
    )
    )
    )
    )
    )
    )
    )
    )
    )
     
     
     
     
     
     
      
    PCB 04-143
    PCB 04-145
    (UST Appeal)
    (Consolidated)
     
     
     
    ORDER OF THE BOARD (by J.P. Novak):
     
    In this order, the Board accepts for hearing an amended petition filed March 29, 2004, in
    PCB 04-145. The Board also consolidates that case with PCB 04-143, another underground
    storage tank (UST) appeal, which the Board previously accepted for hearing.
     
    In PCB 04-145, as allowed by the Board’s March 4, 2004 order, Great Lakes Dredge &
    Dock Company (Great Lakes) timely filed an amended petition on March 29, 2004, asking the
    Board to review a determination of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Agency).
    See
     
    415 ILCS 5/40(a)(1) (2002); 35 Ill. Adm. Code 105.402. The site at issue here is Great Lakes’
    leaking UST facility at 9320 South Ewing Avenue, Chicago, Cook County. The amended
    petition was accompanied by a motion to consolidate the case with the related appeal PCB 04-
    143, in which the Board accepted a February 23, 2004 petition for hearing through its March 4,
    2004 order.
     
    PCB 04-143 contests the Agency’s January 14, 2004 rejection of Great Lakes’ October
    2003 first amendment to the Site Investigation Budget. The Agency determined that various
    costs exceeded those required to meet the minimum requirements of Title XVI of the
    Environmental Protection Act (415 ILCS 5 (2002)) and Board regulations. For the same site and
    incident, PCB 04-145 contests the Agency’s February 9, 2004 rejection of Great Lakes’ October
    2003 corrective action plan and associated budget. The Agency determined that the corrective
    action plan failed to address certain soil contamination, included excessive investigation
    practices, and proposed excavation of “unrelated” contaminated soil. Since the plan was not
    approved, the associated budget was rejected because the Agency could not determine whether
    the proposed costs were excessive.
     
    Great Lakes appeals the Agency’s February 9, 2004 determination on the same grounds it
    appeals the Agency’s January 14, 2004 determination: that the Agency’s determination was
    arbitrary, capricious, and without statutory authority. The Board accepts the amended petition in
    PCB 04-145 for hearing. The Board also grants Great Lakes’ motion and consolidates PCB 04-

     
    2
    143 and PCB 04-145 for purposes of hearing, but not necessarily for decision. As a practical
    matter, however, the due date for the Board to decide this consolidated docket, as discussed
    below, will be determined based on the February 23, 2004 filing date of the initially-filed
    petition.
     
    Great Lakes has the burden of proof.
    See
    35 Ill. Adm. Code 105.112(a). Hearings will
    be based exclusively on the record before the Agency at the time the Agency issued its
    determination.
    See
    35 Ill. Adm. Code 105.412. Hearings will be scheduled and completed in a
    timely manner, consistent with the decision deadline (
    see
    415 ILCS 5/40(a)(2) (2002)), which
    only Great Lakes may extend by waiver (
    see
    35 Ill. Adm. Code 101.308). If the Board fails to
    take final action by the statutory decision deadline, Great Lakes may deem its request granted.
    See
    415 ILCS 5/40(a)(2) (2002). Currently, the decision deadline is June 22, 2004 (the 120th
    day after the February 23, 2004 filing of the petition accepted for hearing in PCB 04-143).
    See
     
    35 Ill. Adm. Code 105.114. The Board meeting immediately before this decision deadline is
    scheduled for June 17, 2004.
     
    Unless the Board or the hearing officer orders otherwise, the Agency must file the entire
    record of its determination by April 28, 2004, which is 30 days after Great Lakes filed the
    amended petition in PCB 04-145.
    See
    35 Ill. Adm. Code 105.410(a). If the Agency wishes to
    seek additional time to file the record, it must file a request for extension before the date on
    which the record is due to be filed.
    See
    35 Ill. Adm. Code 105.116. The record must comply
    with the content requirements of 35 Ill. Adm. Code 105.410(b).
     
    IT IS SO ORDERED.
     
    I, Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control Board, certify that the Board
    adopted the above order on April 1, 2004, by a vote of 4-0.
     
    Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk
    Illinois Pollution Control Board

    Back to top