ILLINOIS
    POLLUTION CONTROL BOARE)
    August
    26,
    1993
    CITY OF MONMOUTH,
    Petitioner,
    v.
    )
    PCB 93—155
    (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)), the Illinois Environmental
    Protection Agency
    (Agency), by and through its Director, Mary A.
    Gade,
    seeks a provisional variance for City of Monmouth in order
    to allow it to continue operating during a period of wastewater
    treatment plant tertiary filters repairs at the North Monmouth
    plant.
    The Agency Recommendation was filed August
    25,
    1993.
    Specifically,
    the Agency recommends that we grant City of
    Monmouth a 45—day provisional variance for its Warren County
    facility from the suspended solids
    (TSS)
    effluent requirements,
    as set forth in 35
    Ill. Adm.
    Code 304.120(c)
    and 35
    Ill. Adm.
    Code 304.141(a),
    for the period from when the Petitioner begins
    repairs at its wastewater treatment plant,
    by removing its sand
    filters from service,
    and continuing until the Petitioner returns
    that unit to service, but not for longer than 45 days.
    The Agency recommends that the Board grant the requested
    provisional variance with specified conditions.
    The Agency
    agrees that the repairs are necessary.
    The Agency anticipates
    that the requested provisional variance would have minimal
    environmental impact on the receiving stream.
    The Agency is
    unaware of any public water supplies that the requested
    provisional variance would adversely impact.
    The Agency
    maintains that
    a grant of
    a provisional variance would violate no
    federal
    laws.
    The Agency finds that a denial of the requested
    provisional variance would create 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)
    &
    (c)
    (1992)
    (Ill.
    Rev.
    Stat.
    1991,
    ch.
    111½,
    pars.
    1035(b)
    &
    (c)).
    In provisional variances
    it
    is the responsibility of the Agency
    to make the technical determinations and finding of arbitrary or
    2
    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
    notification of the action by a press release.
    Having received the Agency recommendation finding that
    a
    denial
    of the requested relief would impose an arbitrary: or
    unreasonable hardship, the Board hereby grants Petitioner a
    provisional variance from 35 Ill.
    Adxn.
    Code 304.120(c)
    and
    35
    Ill.
    Adni.
    Code 304.141(a),
    on the following conditions:
    1.
    The term of this provisional variance shall commence
    when the Petitioner,
    City of Monmouth,
    initiates the removal
    of its sand filter at its wastewater treatment plant,
    it
    shall expire on the date the petitioner returns its
    wastewater treatment plant to service,
    or after 45 days have
    elapsed,
    whichever comes first;
    2.
    During the term of this provisional variance, the
    effluent from the Petitioner’s treatment plant shall not
    exceed concentrations of
    40
    ing/l TSS on a monthly average;
    3.
    The Petitioner shall notify Ken Newman of the Agency’s
    Peoria Regional office by telephone,
    at 309/693—5463, when
    it removes its sand filter unit from service and when it
    returns the unit to service, and the Petitioner shall
    confirm this notice in writing within five days, addressed
    as follows:
    Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
    Division of Water Pollution Control
    Compliance Assurance Section
    2200 Churchill Road
    P.O. Box 19276
    Springfield,
    Illinois
    62794—9276
    Attention:
    Erin Rednour
    4.
    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 best effluent
    practicable; and
    5.
    During this provisional variance, petitioner shall
    continue to monitor,
    and maintain compliance with the other
    parameters,
    as addressed
    in NPDES Permit No.
    IL00362l8.
    6.
    The Petitioner shall execute a copy of a Certificate of
    Acceptance of this provisional variance and forward that
    copy to the Agency addressed as
    is the written notice
    required
    in the above condition;
    the Petitioner shall
    3
    forward that copy within
    10 days of the date of this Order
    of the Board,
    and the Certificate of Acceptance shall take
    the following form:
    CERTIFICATION
    I
    (We), __________________________________
    hereby accept and agree to be bound by all terms
    and conditions
    of the Order of the Pollution
    Control Board in PCB 93—155, August 26,
    1993.
    Petitioner
    Authorized Agent
    Title
    Date
    The Agency recommendation did not include the customary
    recommendation that the Board grant the provisional variance
    subject to conditions,
    and the Board does not add conditions to
    the grant.
    IT IS SO ORDERED.
    I,
    Dorothy M. Gunn,
    Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
    Board,
    do hereby certify that th~aboveorder was adopted by the
    Board on the
    ~2~--
    day of _________________________,
    1993,
    by a vote of
    c~-~)
    .
    Dorothy M. ~
    Clerk
    Illinois Pollution Control Board

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