ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

March 15,

1973

CITY OF CHRISTOPHER,

Petitioner,

vs.

)

PCB 72—456

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,

)

Respondent.

Mr.

Carrel Owens, Attorney for Petitioner

Mr.

Thomas

J.

Immel, Assistant Attorney General

for the EPA

OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD

(by Mr. Henss)

Petitioner City

of Christopher requests

a variance

from our

Open Burning Regulation

for

the purpose

of allo~~ingits residents

to burn their

“domestic waste”

in open barrels.

The residue

from such burning would be picked up periodically and taken

to

a

landfill.

Petitioner

claims that

it would be

a hardship on

the

citizenm~of Christopher to comply with the Open Burning Regulation

because:

a)

the City has

a large pop’iation of elderly persons on

fixed

incomes who would be required

to pay

an increased

sum for

removal

of their domicile waste,

b)

the City would be recuired

to

spend large sums

of money

to improve alleys

so garbage pickup

could occur,

c)

the City

is not large enough to operate

i

garbage

pickup service without charging

a large sum of money.

The Environmental

Protection Agency has recommended that the

variance petition be denied.

Upon hearing,

it was stipulated

that about

1/5 of

the population

of Christopher receives social security

or medicare benefits.

The

hearing further established

that

a County landfill

is located about

six miles from town.

The City pays the County

$1 per capita

for

use of

the

landfill by Christopher residents.

Two refuse disposal

services are available in Christopher.

They haul refuse

to the

landfill at

a cost per household

of about $2.50 per month.

Mayor Smith and Councilman

Trogolo both

testified

in favor

of the variance

petition,

stating it was

too burdensome

to haul

leaves,

papers and limbs

to the landfill

and that th~burning

of

this type

of material was not

a problem.

Citizens

of the community

testified

to

the same effect.

7

—

299

---

—2—

Mayor Pro

Tern Dalton Bradley and Chief

of Police Barclay,

however,

told

an

EPJ\ invostipator

that compliance with the Open

Burninp

.Rec~ulation

had

resulted

in

a reduction of odor complaints

from citizens and

the removal of

unsicihtly burning barrels.

Petitioner

did not establish the quantity

of contaminants

to

be

emitted,

any plans

for future control

of emissions

or

a time

schedule

for bringing

the activity into

compliance.

The EPA

estimated

that

the emissions from

the allowance

of

the Petition

would include

71

lbs.

per day of particulates,

379

lbs.

per day

of carbon monoxide and

134

lbs.

per day of hyorocarhons.

~‘edo not feel that

it is

a hardship to dispose

of domicile

wastes

throuph

the landfill method.

The cost and inconvenience

of this

rncthod of disposal

seem nominal when compared to

the

benefits gained to the community through eliminating odors,

unsightly burning barrels and creating

a more healthful atmosphere.

Therefore,

we deny the variance request

for the open burning

of

domestic waste or domicile waste.

Some of

the witnesses

also discussed

their problems

in the

disposal of

leaves and branches.

Such complaints exist

in other

communities

of like

size.

They are not unique

to the City of

christopher.

We have relaxed the leaf burning ban once and the

debate continues.

The petition did not reauest

a variance

for

the purpose of burning landscape waste,

however,

the remarks

of

the witnesses will be appropriately considered

in any future

hearing

to amend that Regulation.

ORDER

It is ordered that the Petition

for Variance

from the Open

Burning Regulation

for the purpose of burning domestic waste

or

domicile waste

is hereby denied.

I,

Christan

L. Moffett,

Clerk of

the Illinois Pollution Control

Boar~

hereby certify

the above Opinion and Order was adopted this

1~~day

of March,

1973 by

a vote

of

3/

to

~.

QL~

7

—

300