ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

March 7.

1996

COMMONWEALTH EDISON

)

(DRESDEN STATION),

)

)

Petitioner,

)

)

v.

)

PCB96-188

)

(Provisional Variance

-

Water)

ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL

)

PROTECTION AGENCY,

)

)

Respondent.

)

ORDER OF

THE BOARD

(by C.A. Manning):

Pursuant to Section

35(b)

of the Environmental

Protection Act (Act) (415 ILCS

5/35(b)),

Commonwealth Edison Company (Commonwealth Edison) has requested that the Illinois

Environmental Protection Agency (Agency) recommend that the Board grant a provisional

variance to

allow Commonwealth Edison

‘s Dresden generating station to continue operating

during essential maintenance on the electrical feeder line to the cooling pond lift station.

This

provisional

variance is being requested because Commonwealth Edison needs to take the lift

station out ofservice thereby requiring that the station’s thermal discharge bypass the cooling

pond and

be

directly sent to the Illinois

River.

This request for a provisional variance and the

notification ofrecommendation 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 ofthis filing.

Specifically, the Agency recommends that we grant Commonwealth Edison

a 7-day

provisional variance for its

facility located in Grundy County from the temperature standards as

set forth in

35

Ill. Adm.

Code 302.211(d), 304.141(c) and from the Board’s order in PCB 79-134,

July 9,

1981.

This

7-day period shall commence after April

1,

1996 but no later than

April

15,

1996.

Upon receipt ofthe request, the Agency

issued its recommendation notifying

the Board

that failure to grant the requested 7-day provisional

variance would impose 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.

(See

415

ILCS 5/35(b)

& 36(c).)

In provisional variances

it is the responsibility ofthe

gency to make the technical

determinations and finding of

arbitrary or unreasonable hardship.

The Board’s responsibility is to adopt a formal order, to

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2

assure the formal maintenance of the 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

302.211(d), 304.141(c) and from the

Board’s order in

PCB 79-134, July

9,

1981,

subject to the following conditions:

1.

The variance shall commence after April

1,

1996 but no later than April

15,

1996

when Commonwealth Edison removes the electrical feeder line to the cooling

pond lift station and shall continue for a period of seven (7) days or until the unit

is returned to service, whichever occurs first;

2.

Commonwealth Edison shall notify Matthew Wertman or Jay Patel at the

Agency’s Maywood Regional

Office via telephone at (708) 338-7900 when the

electrical repairs begin and when the repairs are completed.

Written confirmation

of each notification shall be sent within five

(5)

days to the following address;

Illinois Environmental Protection Agency

Bureau ofWater,

Compliance Assurance Section

2200 Churchill Road

P.O.

Box 19276

Springfield, IL

62794-9276

Attention: Dan Ray

3.

For the period ofthis provisional variance, Commonwealth Edison shall not

as specWed in

Commonwealth Edison’s NPDESpermit special Condition

No.2B; and

4.

Commonwealth Edison shall continuously monitor water temperature at the I-

and dam.

Commonwealth Edison shall execute a copy ofa certificate ofacceptance of this

provisional variance and forward that copy to the Agency addressed as is the written notice

required in the above condition.

Commonwealth Edison shall forward that copy within ten (10)

days ofthe date ofthis order ofthe Board, and the certificate ofacceptance shall take the

following form:

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3

CERTIFICATION

I (We), _____________________, hereby accept and

agree to be

bound by all terms and conditions ofthe order ofthe Pollution

Control

Board in PCB 96-188, 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 the7~-’

day of

,i~i~Lz

,

1996,

by a vote of

~

4L~J

Clerk

Control Board

Dorotl

Illinois Pollü

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