ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    October 3, 1996
    CATERPILLAR INCORPORATED,
    MOSSVILLE ENGINE CENTER,
    Petitioner,
    v.
    ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
    PROTECTION AGENCY,
    Respondent.
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    PCB 97-60
    (Provisional Variance - Water)
    ORDER OF THE BOARD (by C.A. Manning):
    Pursuant to Section 35(b) of the Environmental Protection Act (Act) (415 ILCS
    5/35(b)), Caterpillar Incorporated (Caterpillar) has requested that the Illinois Environmental
    Protection Agency (Agency) recommend that the Board grant a provisional variance to
    Caterpillar. Caterpillar’s request for a provisional variance and the Agency’s notification of
    recommendation was filed with the Board on October 1, 1996. Pursuant to Section 35(b) of
    the Act, the Board must issue the variance within two (2) days of this filing.
    The Agency, by and through its Director, Mary A. Gade, seeks a provisional variance
    for Caterpillar in order to allow it to continue operating while tests are conducted to determine
    the effectiveness of ultraviolet radiation as a means of disinfection at its sanitary wastewater
    treatment facility.
    Specifically, the Agency recommends that we grant Caterpillar a 45-day provisional
    variance for its Peoria County facility from the fecal coliform effluent requirements, as set
    forth in 35 Ill. Adm. Code 302.209 and 35 Ill. Adm. Code 304.141(a). This variance period
    shall begin on October 7, 1996 when chlorinating has ceased, and continue until the date
    necessary to determine the proper sizing of the ultraviolet unit, but not longer than 45 days.
    The Agency recommends that the Board grant the requested provisional variance with
    specified conditions and agrees that the repairs are necessary. The Agency states that the
    requested provisional variance would have minimal environmental impact on the receiving
    stream and is unaware of any public water supplies that the requested provisional variance
    would adversely impact. According to the Agency, no federal laws would be violated if the
    provisional variance is granted by the Board. The Agency believes that a denial of the
    requested provisional variance would create an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship on the
    petitioner.
    2
    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 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 notification of the action by a press release.
    Having received the Agency recommendation that a denial of the requested relief would
    impose an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship, the Board hereby grants the petitioner a
    provisional variance from 35 Ill. Adm. Code 302.209 and 35 Ill. Adm. Code 304.141(a), on
    the following conditions:
    1.
    The term of this provisional variance shall commence on October 7, 1996
    when chlorinating has ceased, and continue until the date necessary to determine
    the proper sizing of the ultraviolet unit, but not longer than 45 days.
    2.
    During the term of this provisional variance, Caterpillar’s effluent fecal
    coliform shall not be limited. All other effluent limits in the Caterpillar’s
    NPDES Permit No. IL0001414 shall remain in force and in effect during the
    variance period
    .
    3.
    The petitioner shall notify Lyle Ray of the Agency’s Peoria Regional office by
    telephone, at 309/693-5463, when chlorinating has ceased and again when
    chlorinating has resumed. Petitioner shall confirm this notice in writing within
    five (5) days, addressed as follows:
    Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
    Attention: Erin Rednour
    Division of Water Pollution Control
    Compliance Assurance Section
    2200 Churchill Road
    P.O. Box 19276
    Springfield, Illinois 62794-9276
    4.
    The petitioner shall operate its plant during the term of this provisional variance
    in a manner that assures the best effluent practicable. Additionally , Caterpillar
    shall perform the pilot study as expeditiously as possible to minimize the time
    period that discharge is not chlorinated.
    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 forward that copy within ten (10) days of the date of this
    order of the Board, and the certificate of acceptance shall take the following form:
    3
    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 97-60, October 3, 1996.
    ___________________________
    Petitioner
    ___________________________
    Authorized Agent
    ___________________________
    Title
    ___________________________
    Date
    IT IS SO ORDERED.
    Section 41 of the Environmental Protection Act (415 ILCS 5/41 (1994)) provides for
    the appeal of final Board orders within 35 days of the date of service of this order. The Rules
    of the Supreme Court of Illinois establish filing requirements. (See also 35 Ill. Adm. Code
    101.246 “Motions for Reconsideration.”)
    I, Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control Board, hereby certify that
    the above order was adopted on the _____ day of ___________, 1996, by a vote of
    ______________.
    ___________________________________
    Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk
    Illinois Pollution Control Board

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