ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
November
3,
1988
GENERAL TIRE,
INC.,
Petitioner,
v.
)
PCB 88—87
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
)
AGENCY,
Respondent.
DANIEL
F. O’CONNELL,
ESQ.
OF GARDNER, CARTON AND DOUGLAS,
APPEARED ON BEHALF OF THE PETITIONER.
DEBORAH
A.
STONICH,
ESQ.
AND BOBELLA J. GLATZ,
ESQ., ASSISTANT
ATTORNEYS GENERAL, APPEARED ON BEHALF OF THE RESPONDENT.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by M. Nardulli):
This matter comes before the Board upon a May 16,
1988
Petition for Variance filed
on
behalf of General Tires,
Inc.
(hereinafter “General”).
The Petitioner seeks
a variance from
35
Ill.
Adm.
Code Sections 215.462 and 215.465 (hereinafter “Green
Tire Rules”)
to allow it time to install and operate
a water—
based outside lubricant spraying system for its green tire
spraying operation at its Mount Vernon plant.
The duration of
the requested variance would be until December 31,
1989.
General
is also seeking variance
from the requirement
to file a
compliance plan by December
31, 1986 pursuant to Section
215.466(c).
The duration of this variance would be until
December
31, 1987.
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
(hereinafter
“Agency”) filed a recommendation to grant
the variance,
subject
to conditions,
on September 21,
1988.
Public hearing was held
in
this matter on September
28,
1988
in Mount Vernon,
Jefferson
County.
Two people testified
for General.
The Agency did not
present any witnesses.
No
members of the public were present.
At hearing,
the parties agreed that
no written briefs would be
submitted.
The Statutory Decision Deadline was extended by the
Petitioner
until November
11,
1988.
Based on the
record,
the Board finds that the request
for
variance should be granted subject
to the conditions recommended
by the ~.gency.
Compliance with the rule would impose an
arbitrary or unreasonable hardship on the Petitioner.
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BACKGROUND
General operates a tire manufacturing plant three miles
north of Mount Vernon
in Jefferson County.
In 1986, over 1,400
workers were employed at the plant.
The area surrounding the
plant
is rural with the nearest residence approximately one—
quarter mile from the plant.
All of Jefferson County
is
considered an attainment area for ozone.
The nearest ambient air
monitoring station
is located
in Effingham,
approximately 70
miles
to the north.
During
the 1987 ozone season,
the two
highest ozone readings for Effingham were 0.103 ppm and 0.102 ppm
——
both below the standard 0.124 ppm.
The variance petition involves the sidewall lubricant
spraying operation for passenger tires manufactured
in the
plant.
There are four spray booths at the plant.
In the
spraying process,
every
“green”,
or uncured,
tire is sprayed with
a measured amount of three different lubricants.
An inside
lubricant,
an outside tread lubricant and an outside sidewall
lubricant are applied.
General’s inside
and tread lubricants
contain no VOM’s and are therefore
in compliance with Sections
215..462(b)(1)
and 215.462(b)(2)
respectively.
The sidewall
lubricant
is
the issue
in this proceeding.
General’s current sidewall lubricant
is
a solvent—based
lubricant generally composed
of solids and 93
Unocal Chemical’s
rubber solvent.
This lubricant does not qualify as
a low VOM
lubricant
as described
in Section 215.462(b).
The total VOM
emissions from the plant during 1987 were 408 tons.
General previously filed
a petition for variance from the
Green Tire Rules on December
30,
1986.
That variance request was
assigned docket number PCB 86—224 and denied by the Board on
December 17,
1987 because the Petitioner failed to commit
to
a
definite compliance plan.
COMPLIANCE PLAN
General intends
to achieve compliance with Section 215.462
by converting
the existing equipment and operations
for applying
sidewall lubricants
to the green tires
to allow
for
the use of
a
water—based lubricant.
Th•is conversion will require the purchase
and installation of two new spray
booths,
a tire drying
enclosure,
a dehumidifier
and transport conveyers.
General has
committed
to completing
the installation and utilization of the
water—based
system according
to the following schedule:
—
Begin construction
and site preparation
December 30,
1988
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—
Complete fabrication
of spray booths and
dehumidifier
February 28,
1989
—
Complete final
checkout of spray
booths and
dehumidifier, and ship
March 31,
1989
—
Complete fabrication
of conveyors and
mechanical assemblies
April
29,
1989
—
Complete final
checkout of conveyors
and mechanical
assemblies,
and ship
May
31, 1989
—
Begin installation of
spray booths,
dehumidifier
and enclosures
June 30,
1989
—
Being
installation of
conveyors,
mechanical
assemblies, wiring and
controls
August
31,
1989
—
Complete installation
September 30,
1989
—
Complete debugging of
mechanical and electrical
systems
October
31,
1989
—
Complete production
shakedown and release
system for production
December 31,
1989
One
of the existing solvent—based spray booths will
be
retained
to apply sidewall lubricant to low—volume tire lines
which cannot be manufactured using water—based lubricants.
General will limit production through this booth so that total
VOM usage for General’s outside spraying operations will not
exceed 10
by volume
of
total outside lubricant usage.
In their petition, General
reviewed other means
of
compliance
it had examined.
These alternatives included
the
elimination of
the use of any outside lubricant in its tire
production,
the installation of add—on control systems
to limit
VOM emissions from the green tire spraying operations and
alternate water—based processes.
It was determined
that the
present compliance plan would be the most technically feasible
and financially sound.
However, by the time all of the
alternatives were examined and
the technical difficulties were
93—29 1
—4—
solved,
it became necessary
to seek
a variance from the Green
Tire Rules
to allow time
to install the system.
HARDSHIP AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
In its petition for variance, General maintains that
compliance with the Green Tire Rule during the requested period
for variance would
result
in
a arbitrary or unreasonable hardship
on General.
General maintains that despite diligent efforts it
was unable
to identify
a technically feasible and economically
reasonable plan for complying until December of
1989.
General
states that the only way that they could presently comply with
the Green Tire Rules would be to shut down the spraying
operations, which would mean they could not produce tires and as
a result would shut down the plant until
the new spray equipment
is installed.
Contrasting with the issue
of hardship
is
the issue of
environmental impact.
The materials emitted from the General
plant have
a solvent odor.
However, because of the isolated
location of the plant,
no odor complaints have been
recorded.
The granting of the variance will have
a short term adverse
effect on the air quality of Jefferson County and the surrounding
region.
However,
the area should
still be an attainment area for
ozone.
Further,
the granting of the variance will commit General
to compliance with the Green Tire Rules after December 31,
1989.
This compliance will significantly reduce the amount of
VOM emitted from the
facility.
AGENCY RECOMMENDATION
In its variance recommendation of September
21,
1988,
the
Agency acknowledges that General has attempted to come
into
compliance with
the Green Tire Rules and has negotiated the
details
of the compliance plan with the Agency.
The Agency
recommends grant of the variance subject
to the following
conditions:
1.
Petitioner shall not cause or
allow the emission
of volatile organic material
to exceed
408 tons
per year from its sidewall green tire lubricant
spraying operation.
2.
Petitioner shall submit progress reports to the
Agency every three months.
CONCLUSION
The Board
finds that General would
suffer an arbitrary and
unreasonable hardship
if the requested variance
is not granted.
93—292
—5—
Further,
the environmental
impact of granting the variance
is
considered to be minimal.
Accordingly,
the variance will be
granted with conditions consistent with this Opinion.
This Opinion constitutes
the Board’s finding of fact and
conclusion of law
in this matter.
ORDER
1.
Petitioner, General Tires,
Inc.,
is hereby
granted variance from 35 Ill. Adm. Code
215.466(c)
until December
21, 1989 for
its
plant
in Jefferson County,
Illinois.
2.
Petitioner, General Tires,
Inc.,
is hereby
granted variance from 35 Ill. Adm. Code
215.462 for its facility located
in
Jefferson County, Illinois,
until December
31,
1989,
subject to the following
conditions:
A.
Petitioner shall
not cause or allow the
emission of volatile organic material
to
exceed
408 tons per year from its
sidewall green tire lubricant spraying
operation.
B.
During the term of this variance,
Petitioner shall submit quarterly written
reports to the Agency detailing all
progress made
in achieving compliance.
The first quarterly report shall be due
thirty (30) days from the date
of this
Order.
The quarterly reports shall
include quarterly VOM emission data from
the Jefferson County plant’s lubricant
spraying operations.
The reports shall
be submitted to
the Agency at the
following addresses:
Air Pollution Control Division
Illinois Environmental Protection
Agency
2200 Churchill Road
Springfield,
IL
62706
C. Within 45 days
of the date of
this Order,
93—293
—6—
Petitioner shall execute and forward to
Thomas
0’ Donnell, Jr., Enforcement
Attorney,
Illinois Environmental
Protection Agency,
2200 Churchill Road,
Springfield,
Illinois 62708,
a
Certification
of Acceptance and Agreement
to be bound
to all terms and conditions
of this variance.
The 45—day period
shall
be held in abeyance during any
period that this matter
is being
appealed.
Failure
to execute and forward
the Certificate within 45 days renders
this variance void and of no force and
effect as
a shield against enforcement of
rules from which variance was granted.
The form of said Certificate shall be as
follows:
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 88—87, November
3,
1988.
Petitioner
Authorized Agent
Title
Date
Section 41
of the Environmental Protection Act,
Ill.
Rev.
Stat.
1987 ch.
111l,~par1041, provides for appeal
of final Orders
of the Board within 35 days.
The Rules of the Supreme Court of
Illinois establish filing requirements.
IT
IS SO ORDERED.
93—294
—7—
I, Dorothy
M.
Gunn, Clerk
of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board, hereby certify that the abov
Opinion
and Order was
adopted on the
~
day
of _____________________________
1988,
by
a vote
of
_____________
~
~.
Dorothy
M.
,?‘unn, Clerk
Illinois P~’1lutionControl Board
93—295