ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
November 15,
1979
OLIN CORPORATION
(JOLIET),
Petitioner,
v.
)
PCB 79—29
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
Respondent.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by Mr. Goodman):
Petitioner filed its Petition for Variance and for Amend-
ment of the State Implementation Plan
(Petition) on February
13,
1979 and a supplement
(Amended Petition)
thereto on May
3,
1979, which on May 10,
1979 the Board ordered construed as an
amendment
to the petition.
On June 15, 1979 the Agency recom-
mended the Board grant the variance.
A hearing was held on June 26, 1979 on the amendments
Petitioner sought to make to the State Implementation Plan
(SIP),
at which time a joint stipulation and memorandum were
received into the record
(R.7).
Petitioner owns
and operates
a facility
in Joliet which
manufactures
a variety of phosphate products using
four phos-
phoric acid production
lines constructed between 1948 and
1954.
Each production
line consists
of four digestor tanks,
one of which has
no cooling capabilities and
is independently
mixed, and one rock slurry tank.
Particulate emissions from
these twenty tanks are presently uncontrolled and emitted to
the atmosphere through twenty stacks.
Stack tests upon the
aggregate of emissions from the twenty stacks indicate particu-
late emission rates of 140 lbs./hr. and 433 tons/yr.; Rule
203(a)
of the Board’s Air Pollution Control Regulations limit
such rates
to 46.6
lbs./hr. and 144 tons/yr.
Petitioner’s facilites also contain four tripolyphosphate
drying kilns, two each housed in separate buildings
“A” and
“B”,
which were constructed between 1948 and 1954.
All par—
ticulate emissions are presently exhausted to separate low
efficiency cyclones and water scrubbers.
Stack tests upon
the aggregate of emissions from kilns in building A indicate
rates
of 33.5
lbs./hr. and 76.2 tons/yr.; Rule 203(a)
limits
such rates to 13.2 lbs./hr. and 34.4 tons/yr.
Stack tests
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upon the aggregate of emissions
from kilns
in building B indi-
cate rates of 36.6
lbs./hr. and 115,3 tons/yr.; Rule 203(a)
limits such rates
to 13.2 lbs./hr. and 41.6 tons/yr.
The Agency has determined that control
of such aggregated
sources
will, reduce ambient concentrations
of total suspended
particulates
in
the
Joliet
area,
which
is
designated
nonattain—
mont
for total suspended particulates, by approximately 404.5
tons/hr.
Petitioner had expected to achieve compliance with
Rule 203(a) by August,
1979; the Agency therefore excused
Petitioner from submitting monitoring or modeling data regar-
ding ambient air quality violations.
One
of those facts
set forth
in the Stipulation
is that
Petitioner and the Agency have agreed upon the issues of
aggregation of sources and emission standards applicable to
Petitioner’s phosphoric acid and sodium tripolyphosphate
(STPP)
facilities
in Joliet
(Petition, Ex.A).
Another of
those facts
is that
at the time the Board’s Air Pollution
Control Regulations were enacted, Petitioner was
in violation
of Rule 203(b) due to the fact that Petitioner’s phosphoric
acid plant and STTP facilities were not then considered aggre-
gated although they were properly aggregable
(Stipulation,
Par. 5).
In such circumstances where either no variance had been
granted from compliance with Rule 203(b) or construction or
modifications sufficient to achieve compliance with Rule 203(b)
has not occurred before the effective date of Part
2
of the
Air Pollution Control Regulations, Rule 203(c)
specifies that
Rule 203(a)
shall apply to existing process sources rather
than Rule 203(b).
Petitioner, although having been granted
operating permits
in 1973 and 1974
(treating the sources here-
in
as individual existing ones), had neither been granted a
variance from Rule 203(b) by the Board nor begun construction
or modification to comply with Rule 203(b) on the date the
regulations became effective,
e.g., December 31,
1973
(Agency
alleges April
14,
1972).
(See Air Pollution Control Regula-
tions, Rule 208.)
The Board thus finds that Rule 203(a)
applies and not Rule 203(b).
In Union Carbide
v.
EPA, PCB 73-13
(November
8,
1973),
the Board expressed
its policy of determining on a case by
case basis whether sources should be aggregated.
The parties
stipulate that Petitioner’s four phosphoric acid plant
lines
and four kilns A
(North and South) and B (North and South) are
single emission sources for aggregation
(Stipulation,
Pars.
7,
9 and 10).
The Board
finds that these sources are single
emission sources regardless of whether they are aggregable
and that any loss of plant efficiency due to aggregation is
irrelevant to whether the sources are to be considered single
emission sources.
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Petitioner seeks
a variance in order to aggregate both
the four phosphoric acid production lines and four STTP kilns.
Technology exists to aggregate the kilns within each building
but not to aggregate buildings
A and B, which are over 300
feet apart
(Recommendation, Par.7).
Petitioner has agreed to
complete by August
3,
1979 the installation of Venturi scrub—
bers and of high efficiency hot cyclones with allied support
equipment (Recommendation,
Pars.
10 and 11).
The Board finds
that denial of the proposed variance would constitute an arbi-
trary and unreasonable hardship on petitioner considering the
low level
of environmental harm and Petitioner’s good faith
efforts
in the past.
Any such variance, however,
is condi-
tioned in its effect upon the Agency’s submitting same to the
U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency as an amendment to the
SIP See PPG Industries,
Inc.
v.EPA,
PCB 78—210,
(3/15/79).)
The Agency intends
to so submit the variance
(Recommendation,
Par.
14).
This Opinion constitutes the findings
of fact and conclu-
sions of law of the Board
in this matter.
ORDER
It
is the Order of the Illinois Pollution Control Board
that Olin Corporation
(Joliet)
is hereby granted a variance
from Rule 203(a)
and
(c)
of Chapter 2:
Air Pollution Control
Regulations
for a period of
six months from the date of this
Order,
subject to the following conditions:
1)
Petitioner
is ordered
to submit to the Agency within
six months of the date of this Order a certification of
compliance with Rule 203(a), with Section
111.
of the
Clean Air Act, and with Section 9.1 of the Environmental
Protection Act.
2)
Petitioner
is hereby notified that its noncompliance with
the provisions of this variance may subject
it to civil
penalties pursuant to Section 120 of the Clean Air Act.
3)
Within 45 days of the adoption of this Order, the Olin
Corporation
(Joliet) shall execute and forward to the
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency,
2200 Churchill
Road,
Springfield, Illinois
62706 a Certification of
Acceptance and Agreement to be bound to all terms and
conditions of this Order.
The 45 day period shall be
held
in abeyance during any period this matter
is being
appealed.
The form of said certification shall
he
as
follows:
36—10 1
—4—
CERTIFICATION
I
(We),
___
____
___
,
having read and fully
understanding the Order of the Illinois Pollution Control Board
in PCB 79-29, hereby accept said Order and agree
to be bound
by all of the terms and conditions thereof.
SIGNED
________________________
TITLE
-
DATE
______
___________________
4)
The Agency
is authorized to submit this variance to the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as an amendment to
the SIP under Section 110(a)(3)
of the Clean Air Act.
I, Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Control
Board,
ho e4y certify the above Opinion and Order were
adopte~3on the
/
day of
______________,
1979 by a vote
of
‘4~-O
Christan L. Moffet~j~lerk
Illinois Pollution Control Board
36—102