ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
April 1, 2004
GREAT LAKES DREDGE & DOCK
COMPANY,
Petitioner,
v.
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION AGENCY,
Respondent.
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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