ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    March 7,
    1996
    UNITED
    STATES TOBACCO
    )
    MANUFACTURING
    COMPANY,
    )
    )
    Petitioner,
    )
    )
    v.
    )
    PCB96-187
    )
    (Provisional Variance
    -
    Air)
    ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
    )
    PROTECTION AGENCY,
    )
    )
    Respondent.
    )
    ORDER OF
    THE BOARD (by C.A. Manning):
    Pursuant to
    Section 35(b) ofthe Environmental Protection Act (Act) (415 ILCS
    5/35(b)),
    United States Tobacco Manufacturing
    Company (USTMC) has requested that the Illinois
    Environmental Protection Agency (Agency) recommend that the Board grant a provisional
    variance to allow USTMC’s tobacco processing facility to continue while modifications are being
    made to
    its capture and control equipment.
    This provisional variance is being requested because
    USTMC needs to change out the heat exchange bed media in the regenerative thermal oxidizer
    (RTO).
    This request for a provisional variance and the notification ofrecommendation
    (Recommendation) was filed with the Board by the Agency on Tuesday, March
    5, 1996.
    Pursuant to Section
    3
    5(b)
    ofthe Act, the Board must issue the variance within two (2) days of
    this filing.
    The Recommendation was accompanied by a motion to file the Recommendation
    instanter, which recites that it was due to be filed on February
    22,
    1996.
    The Agency’s motion
    is
    based on a 30-day filing requirement set forth in its
    own rules at 35
    111. Adm. Code
    180.302.
    The
    Board has no rules
    in this regard.
    Section 3 7(b) provides only that “if
    the Agency fails to take
    final action within 30-days after the receipt ofthe request, the person seeking
    a provisional
    variance
    may initiate a proceeding under subsection (a) ofSection
    35”
    j~. a “regular” variance
    proceeding.
    The Agency’s motion for leave to file is
    accordingly denied as unnecessary.
    As to the provisional variance itself,
    specifically, the Agency recommends that we grant
    USTMC a
    10-day provisional variance for its facility located at
    11601
    Copenhagan Court,
    Franklin Park, Cook County, Illinois from the volatile organic material emissions requirements
    for “Other Emission Units~ofthe air pollution control requirements, as set forth in 35 Ill.
    Adm.
    Code
    218, Subpart TT, specifically, 35 Ill. Adm. Code 2 18.986(a), for the period beginning
    March 22,
    1996,
    and expire on March 31,
    1996 when the emission capture
    and control
    equipment, specifically, the RTO is modified.
    2
    Upon receipt ofthe request, the Agency
    issued its recommendation, notifying the Board
    that failure to grant the requested 10-day provisional variance would impose an arbitrary or
    unreasonable
    hardship on the petitioner.
    Provisional variances
    are by their very nature temporary.
    The responsibilities ofthe
    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 ofthe 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 ofthe record, to assure the enforceability ofthe variance, and to
    provide notification ofthe action by a press release.
    Having received the Agency recommendation notifying the Board that a denial ofthe
    requested relief would impose an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship, the Board hereby grants the
    petitioner a provisional variance from 35
    Ill. Adm.
    Code 2 18.986(a), subject to the following
    conditions:
    1.
    The term of
    this
    provisional varianceshall commence on March
    22, 1996 and
    expire on March 31,
    1996;
    2.
    Should USTMC fail to
    complete the modification ofthe RTO prior to the onset
    of the 1996 ozone season on April
    1,
    1996, it shall shut down any emission units
    controlled by the RTO until such time as the RTO is fully operational and can
    control emissions pursuant to
    35 Ill.
    Adm. Code 218.986(a); and
    3.
    The petitioner shall notify theAgency upon installation andstartup ofthe
    RTO, by sending notjflcation addressedasfollows:
    Mr. Brooke Peterson
    Bureau ofAir
    Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
    2200 Churchill Road, P.O. Box 19276
    Springfield, IL
    62794-9276
    The certificate ofacceptance shall take the following form:
    3
    CERTIFICATION
    I (We), ______________________, hereby accept and agree to be
    bound by all terms and conditions of the order ofthe Pollution Control
    Board in PCB 96-187, March 7,
    1996.
    Petitioner
    Authorized Agent
    Title
    Date
    IT IS SO ORDERED.
    I, Dorothy M.
    Gunn, Clerk ofthe Illinois Pollution Control Board, hereby certify that the
    above order was adopted on the
    1~
    day of
    ~
    ,1996,
    by a vote of
    I
    -~
    .
    ~,
    Dorothy M. G~ji~i,
    Clerk
    Illinois Polluti~Control Board

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