ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    May
    5,
    1994
    DOUGLAS
    FURNITURE
    )
    CORPORATION,
    Petitioner,
    v.
    )
    PCB
    94—142
    (Provisional
    Variance)
    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)), Douglas Furniture Corporation has
    requested that the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
    (Agency)
    recommend that the Board grant a provisional variance to
    allow Douglas Furniture Corporation to continue operating
    although it will operate its afterburner at a lower temperature
    than required in Special Condition
    1 of its operating Permit
    Number 77—10—0075.
    Such request for a provisional variance and
    the Notification of Recommendation was filed with the Board by
    the Agency on Tuesday, May 3,
    1994.
    Pursuant to Section 35(b)
    of
    the Act, the Board must issue the variance within two
    (2) days of
    this filing.
    Specifically, the Agency recommends that we grant Douglas
    Furniture Corporation a forty—five (45)—day provisional variance
    for its Cook County facility from the requirements that it
    operate its pollution control equipment within the limits of its
    permit, as set forth in 35
    Ill. Adm. Code 201.141 and 201.149,
    for the period beginning April
    18,
    1994 and continuing until
    Douglas Furniture Corporation has repaired its afterburner or
    until forty-five (45)—days have elapsed, whichever comes first.
    This recommendation is essentially that the Board extend a
    previously-granted forty-five (45)-day provisional variance that
    expired March
    3,
    1994.
    The Agency’s provisional recommendation states that Douglas
    Furniture Corporation operates a Type 0 waste incinerator/waste
    boiler (“incinerator system”) at 5020 West 73rd Street, Bedford
    Park,
    Cook County,
    Illinois.
    Douglas Furniture Corporation
    asserts that it must operate its afterburner at a lower
    temperature than specified by its permit until
    it can repair the
    afterburner and install a second afterburner.
    Upon receipt of the request, the Agency issued its
    recommendation, notifying the Board that due to unforeseen,
    temporary and uncontrollable circumstances, failure to grant the
    2
    requested forty—five (45)—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 responsibil-
    ities in standard variances.
    (See 415 ILCS 5/35(b)
    & 36(c)).
    In
    provisional variances it is the responsibility of the 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 of the record, to
    assure the enforceability of the variance, and to provide notifi-
    cation of the action by a press release.
    Having received the Agency recommendation notifying the
    Board that a denial of the requested relief would impose an
    arbitrary or unreasonable hardship, the Board hereby grants the
    petitioner a provisional variance from the requirements of
    Special Condition 1 of its operating Permit Number 77-10-0075,
    35
    Ill. Adm. Code 201.141 and 201.149 beginning April 18,
    1994,
    subject to the following conditions:
    1.
    The term of this provisional variance shall commence
    April 18,
    1994 and it shall expire on the date the
    petitioner, Douglas Furniture Corporation, completes repairs
    to its plant, by replacing warped and worn out parts and
    installing a new afterburner unit,
    or after forty-five
    (45)
    days have elapsed, whichever comes first;
    2.
    The petitioner shall notify the Agency upon completion
    of all repairs.
    This notification shall be sent to:
    Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
    Division of Air Pollution Control
    Permit Section
    2200 Churchill Road
    P.O. Box 19276
    Springfield, Illinois
    62794—9276
    Attention:
    Donald E. Sutton
    3.
    The petitioner shall perform the necessary maintenance
    and modification work as expeditiously as possible and
    operate its plant during the term of this provisional
    variance in a manner that assures the afterburner combustion
    chamber is preheated to at least 600 degrees
    F, before any
    waste is loaded into the incinerator.
    After reaching
    preheat temperature, the temperature in the afterburner
    combustion chamber shall be slowly raised by gradually
    loading paper, cardboard,
    or light wood until the
    temperature is over 1000 degrees F.
    The average temperature
    3
    in the afterburner combustion chamber shall be maintained at
    1000 degrees F but not less than 800 degrees F during
    incineration, except during off—hour burn—down cycle period.
    4.
    Petitioner shall maintain records of incinerator system
    temperature for the duration of the provisional variance,
    such records shall be made available to Agency personnel
    upon request.
    5.
    Petitioner shall obtain all necessary permits from the
    Agency prior to commencement of any construction or
    modifications to the incinerator system.
    IT IS SO ORDERED.
    I, Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
    Board, do hereby certify that the above order was adopted on the
    ...~ii day of ___________________________,
    1994, by a vote of
    Dorothy M.,q’Gunn, Clerk
    Illinois ~ôllution Control Board

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