ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

February 3,

1994

DART

CONTAINER CORPORATION,

Petitioner,

V.

)

PCB 94—47

(UST Fund)

ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL

PROTECTION AGENCY,

Respondent.

ORDER OF THE BOARD

(by C.A. Manning):

On January 28,

1994, the Dart Container Corporation

(“Dart”)

filed a petition for review of an Illinois Environmental Protection

Agency (“Agency”) final UST Fund reimbursement decision.

Dart also

filed a motion to waive the recycled paper filing requirement. That

motion is hereby granted.

The Agency issued an invoice voucher on

December 13,

1993 accompanied by Attachment A which contains the

stated reasons for deductions,

and the final reimbursement check

was

issued

by

the

Comptroller

on

December

28,

1993.1

The

reimbursement determination concerns Dart’s facility located at 310

South Evergreen, North Aurora, Kane County,

Illinois. This matter

is hereby accepted for hearing.

The

hearing must

be

scheduled

and

completed

in

a

timely

manner,

consistent

with

Board

practices

and

the

applicable

statutory decision deadline

or the waiver provisions of 35 Ill.

Adm.

Code

101.105.

The

Chief

Hearing Officer

shall

assign

a

hearing officer to conduct hearings.

The Clerk of the Board shall

promptly

issue

appropriate

directions

to

the

assigned

hearing

officer consistent with this order.

The assigned hearing officer shall

inform the Clerk of the

Board of the time and location of the hearing at least 40 days in

advance of hearing so that public notice may be published.

After

1The Board

must

state

its reservations about

the Agency’s

statement,

on its invoice voucher, that “for purposes of appeal,

this voucher constitutes the Agency’s final decision as of the date

the check was issued by the Comptroller.”

Given the past history

of the UST Fund,

in which there have been long delays in payment

because the UST Fund was exhausted,

the Board

is concerned by a

scenario in which the Agency’s obligation to make a final decision,

which

cannot be amended

(see

Illinois

Environmental

Protection

AcTencv

v.

Pollution Control Board

(November 23,

1993),

No.

5-92-

0468),

is extended while the invoice voucher is awaiting payment by

the Comptroller.

(~

also Guether v. IEPA,

(February 3,

1994) PCB

93—232.)

---

2

hearing,

the

hearing

officer

shall

submit

an

exhibit

list,

a

statement

regarding

credibility

of

witnesses

and

all

actual

exhibits

to

the Board

within

five

days

of

the

hearing.

Any

briefing schedule shall provide for final filings as expeditiously

as possible and, in time—limited cases, no later than 30 days prior

to the decision due date, which is the final regularly scheduled

Board meeting date on or before the statutory or deferred decision

deadline.

In this case, pursuant to Section 40(a) (2) of the Act,

the statutory decision deadline

is May

28,

1994;

therefore,

the

decision due date is May 19,

1994.

If

after

appropriate

consultation

with

the

parties,

the

parties

fail to provide an acceptable hearing date or

if after

attempting to do so, the hearing officer is unable to consult with

the parties, the hearing officer shall unilaterally set a hearing

date in conformance with the above schedule.

The hearing officer

and the parties are encouraged to expedite this proceeding to the

extent possible.

This order will not appear in the Board’s opinion volumes.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

I, Dorothy N.

Gunn,

Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control

Board~hereby cert

that the above order was adopted on the

_____

day of

/

,

1994, by

a vote of

~

~.

~

Dorothy N.

9çmnn,

Clerk

Illinois Po1~utionControl Board

~~_1