Illinois Association of

1115 S. 2nd Street

Springfield, IL 62704

Aggregate Producers

(217)

241-1639

John

Henriksen, Executive Director

Fax

Glenda

Schoening, Office Manager

Email: iaap@hansoninfosys.com

May 26, 2005

RECEIVED

CLERK’S OFFICE

Dorothy

Gunn,

Clerk

MAY 27

2005

Illinois

Pollution

Control Board

—Jarnes--R--ThornpsonCenter---

-~

----sTAlE-OF-lW NOIS—~

100 W. Randolph, Suite

11-500

Pollution Control Board

Chicago,

IL 60601

Re:

Proposed

Amendments to

35

111.

Adm.

Code 901

Proposed New 35 Iii.

Adm.

Code

910

Illinois

Register Volume 29, Issue

16

(April

15, 2005)

Docket

R03-009

Dear

Ms.

Gunn:

•

The

following

comments

are

submitted

by

the

Illinois

Association of

Aggregate

Producers

(IAAP)

regarding

the

above-referenced

rulemaking.

The

Illinois

Association

of

Aggregate

Producers (IAAP) represents companies that produce crushed stone, sand, gravel, silica sand and

agricultural lime

--

materials used for building and maintaining roads, bridges,

homes, hospitals,

schools and commercial buildings, for manufacturing glass and as soil additives.

The

LAAP’s

115

producing

members

range

in

size

from

“mom

and

pop”

operations

that

manufacture

less than

100,000 tons of these products

each year to

companies that produce well

over

20,000,000

tons

annually.

Illinois

aggregate

producers

employ about

5,000

workers

and

•

support personnel at over 400 surface and

underground mines and currently operate in 80 out of

102 Illinois counties.

In

2004,

this industry

produced over

111

million tons of crushed stone,

sand and gravel.

Since

1995,

blasting

operations

at

aggregate

mines

have

been

regulated

by

the

Illinois

Department of Natural Resources, Office ofMines and Minerals

(IDNIR) in accordance with the

Section

6.5

of the Surface Mined-Land Conservation and

Reclamation Act (215

ILCS

715/6.5).

Since

1982,

blasting

operations

at

surface

coal

mining

operations

have

been regulated by this

agency in

accordance with

Section

3.13

of the

Surface

Coal

Mining Land

Conservation

and

Reclamation Act. (225 ILCS 720/3.13).

IDNR has promulgated a comprehensive set of regulations that subject these blasting operations

to air blast or ground vibration monitoring, or both, as necessary to prevent property damage

and

protect public safety. IDNR

regulations protect the general public from the impacts of air over

pressure resulting from blasting operations

at mines. Both the aggregate mining and coal mining

blasting regulations

are

enforced by

a highly trained,

technologically proficient inspection staff

using state-of-the-art monitoring equipment.

Buy The Goods And

Services Of Our Associate Members

---

As

outlined in

Section

25

of the Illinois

Environmental

Protection Act

(415

ILCS

5/25),

the

Illinois Pollution Control Board (Board).

.

.

“may adopt

regulations prescribing limitations on

noise

emissions

beyond

the

boundaries

of

the

property

of

any

person

and

prescribing

requirements

and

standards

for

equipment

and

procedures

for

monitoring

noise

and

the

collection,

reporting

and

retention

of data resulting

from

such monitoring.”

Pursuant

to this

--

-

-~mtofnilemaldngauthority;-the-Board--has

-elected--to-regulate highly~impulsive--soimd--from~

blasting

operations

at

mines.

Although

blasting

operations

at

aggregate

and

coal

mines

are

currently

regulated by IDNR,

the Board

is

seeking

to

maintain an

essentially

duplicative

and

overlapping regulatory program for these operations, pursuant to 35111. Adm. Code 901.109.

Moreover, the Board has elected not to regulate other sources of noise even though these sources

of noise

are

currently

unregulated

by the

State.

For

example,

the Board

has

elected not to

regulate sound emitted from:

•

Emergency warning devices and unregulated safety reliefvalves.

•

Lawn care maintenance equipment and agricultural field machinery used during the day.

•

•

Equipment being used for construction.

•

Land used for automobile and motorcycle racing; and, any land used for contests, rallies,

time trials, test runs or similar operations of any self-propelled device during the day.

Although the IAAP acknowledges the Board’s authority to decide what activities

are subject to

limits

on noise emissions, this authority is not unlimited.

Specifically, the JAAP contends that it

is unreasonable to regulate sound generated by blasting operations, operations

already

subject to

a comprehensive State regulatory

program, while electing not to regulate other sources of noise.

Therefore,

the

IAAP

respectfully

submits

that

Section

901.107

of

the

Board’s

rules,

the

regulations identli~ringthose activities

not subject

to

Board

noise regulations,

be

amended

to

state

as follow:

h)

Section

901.104

shall

not

apply

to

impulsive

sound

produced

by

explosive

blasting activities conducted on any Class C land used as specified by LBCS

Codes 8300

and

8500 SLUCM codes

852 and

851,

but ~uehoperations

shall be

governed by Section

901.109.

LBCS

Code 8300 refers to coal mines; LBCS

Code 8500 refers to aggregate mines.

As outlined

previously,

blasting

operations

at

coal

and aggregate

mines

are

currently

regulated by IDNR’s

comprehensive regulatory programs.

Amending Section 901.107(h)

as outlined above allows the

Board

to

regulate

non-mining blasting

activities, pursuant

to

Section

901.109,

am!

leaves

the

regulation

of

blasting

operations

at

mines

to

IDNR.

Given

the

flexibility

of

the

Board’s

rulemaking authority, pursuant to

Section 25 of illinois Environmental Protection Act, the

Board

should amend Section 901.107 in order to defer to IDNR’s comprehensive regulatory scheme.

---

Tn the event that~

the :Board~

elects~to

;continue regulating blasting

operations asso~iated~

Wit.

~the

illinois mining industry,

the IAAP submits

that

Section 901

109

must be ~amended

to

bring the

~Board~s~re~u1atoryprogram.in

ha

mony:withthe~prograM eniOrced by

1DN$.

•

In

response to

the IAAP’s previous

comments in this rulemaking,

the

Board

amended Section

_______

-

9~1.

109(b)4o ~

Flertzz)_instrumertts(laboratory-grade

monitoring devices

not used in

the

field)

and

60 Hertz

(Hz)

instruments (mcrnitorirtg devices no

longer manufactured)

(Sees

Board’s Ma~eh

15,2005,

Opinion

and

Order)

Iri

addition,

the Board

amended Section 901

109(b) to bring the

air blast levels

at

both Class A and Class B

land to

133

dB, the limit employed ~nationwide

to iimit air over pressure

from the

detonation of explosives

Although

these

changes ‘hulped to

bring

Section

901

109L

closer ~tothe

regulatory

standards

enforced by IDNR, a further review of the proposed rulemaking

has

revealed other changes that

must be made m ~the

Board’s

rules

,

I

~,,

Eirst~SectIon’901

109

(e)

pi~ovides

that

allowable

sound limits of

blastmg

operations priori

to

7

00

am must be

reduced by

10

dB

Given that decibel imuts are logarithmic, a

123

4R limit

represents approximately only 30

of

133 dB. In order to address concerns about night blasting

operations, Section 901

109 (c) should be amended to read as follow

All

blasting shall be

conducted between

sunrise

and sunset

except in

emergency

situations

where

unscheduled

blasting

is

required

to

ensure

operator

or. public:

safety.

~

~

~

~

This

change reflects the fact

that

sunrise is often well before 7:00

am

during the

smiler,

the

time

that aggregate mining

operations

are most active,

and~stabbsb.es

a ban

on night

blasting

m

the

absence of a true emergency.

Second,

the

regulatory

focus in Section 901.109 must be shifted from property lines to

protected

structures.

Regulating noise levels

at the property line is irrelevant to ensuring public health and

safety.

Thus, Section 901.109 should be amended by replacing all references to “receiving Class

A

or

B

land”

with

“protected

structure”

and

then

further

amended

by adding a definition of

“protected structure” as follows:

“Protected Structure” means any dwelling, public building, school,

church orcommercial

or institutional building.

Protected structures do not include:

Structures owned bythe operator;

and

Structures subject to a waiver from airblastand ground vibration requirements

granted to the operator.

These changeswill ensure that Section 901.109 focuses

on protecting public health and

safety.

---

I

Third,

new Part

910

(35

ill.

Code. 910) purports

to

establish

measurement

procedures

for

the

enforcement:Of 35

IILAdim

Code 900~

and

901.,

procedures

that would includemonitoring to

enforce

the

limits

spééifled

90l;109. However,

none

of themethods

described

in.

Part

910 will

monitor highly impulsive sound from blasting.

~

Sec~tion

90l:~

109

tequir~

the

use~of~

blasting seismogràph~with

a low frequency rëspoñse•of 10

.:~Ieftz.:~

Highly impulsive

sound fróm:biasting. can only be

accurately

;mOnitored.by~:using~

this

.iype of~fiatrespon~e~sdund~pressure:leve1microphónean4

recording device.

‘Absent..the use~of

such•

deviCe,

any

:.

d;~tueasurement~

procedures

purpOrting

to~ShOW ..~cornpliaiice,or

liOn-

~comphance,

with the performance standards established by Section 901

109

are meaningless

In

addition to

submitting these

comments,

the IAAP

hereby

requests

a .pub1i~hearing for~ithe

above-captioned rulemaking,

pursuant to

Section

5-40

of the Illinois Administrative Procedure

~Act~5 ILCS’l00/5~40).~Giventhcünportancë

Ofthe concerns Outlined above, a.pubIic

hearing!is

wartanted

for

the above-captionedrulemaking

:ecutive Director

.

of Aggregate Producers

.

.

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•