ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

September 15

,

1977

PEOPLE

OF

THE STATE OF ILLINoIS,

Complainant,

)

fCB

76~-235

JOHN

MCGUIRE, DIRECTOR OF THE ILLINOII

DEPART?~NT

OF CONSERVATION; LANGHORNE

BOND,

SECRETARY

OF THE ILLINOIS

DEPART~

MENT

OF

TRANSPORTATION; SOUTHWEST EXPNESS~

WAYS

CORPORATION and FRANKLIN

H. WEBE;~,

Respondents

OPINION

AND ORDER OF THE BOARD

(by

Satchell):

This

matter comes before the Bc~.I upon a complaint

filed

on

S~pteniber23,

1976 by the Pe~p1~

the State of

Illinois by

the Attorney

General of 1llino!~Wi~iamJ.

Scott,

An

amended

complaint

was filed on

October 22,

19~6,

Tie

amended complaint

alleged that

all Respondents

were

in violation of

Sections 9(a)

and 9(c)

of

the Environmental Protection Act

(Act)

and that

two Respondents,

the Illinois Department of Conservation

(IDOC)

and the

Illinois Department of

Transportation

(IDOT)

had vio-

lated reporting

requirements of Sections 47(b)

and

47(c)

of the

Act.

On

March 17, 1977 Respondents, Franklin H.

Weber and

Southwest

Expressways Corporation (Sout1f~st)were

dismissed by

the Board.

At a hearing on May 17, 1977

a Stipulation

and

Proposal

for Settlement

was

presented to the Board

for its

acceptance.

No testimony was given at the

hearing.

The

stipulation provides an extensive history

of the site

going back

to May of 1965.

An on and off again

lease between

Southwest

and the Illinois Department of

Public Works

(DPW)

traces a

history of illegal dumping at the site and

consequently

fires on

the site,

This lease agreement expired in

1970.

Since

that time

fires have continued to be a problem at

the site.

The

site has

since

1965 been under the control

of the

Division of

Waterways

(in addition to ownership by DPW) now the

IDOT,

On

January 1,

1974 ownership of the site was

transferred to IDOC.

The Environmental

Protection Agency

(Agency)

has

inspected the

site on

several occasions since July 1970.

The site

has never

received

proper cover,

On March

3, 1976 the

existence of a

smoldering

underground fire was noted,

Since April

1,

1976

the

IDOC

has

been consulting with the Agency on

how to best

---

eliminate the fire and put

a permanent end to the

recurring

fires.

After extensive efforts the fire was

extinguished

by November 8,

1976.

IDOC further agreed to place

a final

cover of non~combustib1ematerial of two to four

feet over

the entire premises.

In 1976 alone IDOC expended

more than

$52,000 in its attempts to control the subsurface fires,

ex

-

clusive of time spent by IDOC personnel

and legal fees

connected therewith,

IDOT and IDOC admit the alleged violations of

Sec-

tion 9(a)

and 9(c)

of the Act.

They ti~oadmit

violations

of

Section 47(b)

and 47(c)

of the Act

ni agree

in the future

to provide the reports required under these

sections of the

Act.

Copies~ofthese reports will be made

available to the

Attorney

General~soffice, the Cook County State’s

Attorney’s

office, Cook County Department of Environmental

Control for

the next two reporting periods.

IDOC hereby agrees to take all measures

feasible and

exercise

the utmost diligence to prevent anyone

from abandon-

ing,

disposing or dumping refuse or any other

waste materials

upon

the subject site.

Such measures shall

include, but not

be limited to, the following:

A.

Construct fencing, gates, earthen

berms or other

artificial barriers to prevent

entry of trucks

onto the subject property.

B.

Post warning signs along the perimeter

of the sub-

ject

property such as “No Trespassing”

and “No

dumping under penalty of

law,

violators

will be

prosecuted”.

C.

Institute a policy of prosecuting

violators by

referring all such matters to the Attorney

General’s

office for prosecution.

D.

Make arrangements with State police,

Cook County

Sheriff, Cook County Department of

Environmental

Control, and local police to provide “spot

checks”

of the premises whenever they

are in the area.

These measures are subject to similar reporting

requirements

as recited above,

Further agreements by IDOC include the development

and

implementation of a surveillance

and

monitoring program

con-

sisting of on site inspections and monitoring of

the site

---

with

portable

smoke

detection

instruments

and

combustible

gas

meters,

A

permanent

log of these activities

shall be kept and

made

available

for

inspection.

IDOC

also

agrees

that in the

event a fire on

the

subject

property is

detected

by the above

surveillance and

monotoring program

immediate

steps will be

taken to extinguish the

fire

by

methods

set

out in the stipu-

lation

or in the

alternative

a

method

suggested

by the Agency

and

approved

by

the

Attorney

General~s of

fico~

It is further

agreed

that

IDOC

agrees

to compile a

list

of

fire fighting

units

available

in the area to

combat

surface

fires on the

subject property.

This list will be ~ubmitted

to the afore-

mentioned

agencies.

These

same

agencies will

be

notified

immediately

when

a

fire

is detected by

telephone,

followed by

written

con~firmatiori

of

such

communications

Such notifica-

tions

shall

cease

after

December

31,

1978,

If

there

is threat

of

further

violation

of

the Act, IDOC agrees to contact the

individuals

whose

names and

addresses

are

set

out in the stipu-

lation,

IDOC

further

agrees

to

compact

the

material presently

on the site to the maximum extent reasonably

feasible prior to

placement

of new

and

additional

material

thereon.

IDOC agrees

to

prepare

and

develop an engineering

plan

and~schedule for the

placement

of

final

cover.

Such

cover

is

to

be placed as soon

as

the

weather

and

regulatory

requirements

reasonably permit.

Such

cover

shall

be

seeded

or

such

other

measures

taken as to

minimize

moisture

loss and

drying

out

of

the

cover.

It is also

agreed

that

IDOC

will

take

appropriate

measure~

to minimize

surface

and

fire

protection

water

run-off

from

the subject prop-

erty.

Earthen berms may be constructed for this

purpose.

Most

of these conditions are dated to within 45 days

after the filing

of

this settlement

with

the

Board.

The Board finds this settlement to

be

acceptable under the

Board~sProcedural Rule

331.

The

Board

does

find

the

IDOC

and

IDOT in violation of Sections 9(a), 9(c),

47(b)

and 47(c)

of

the Act.

The stipulation

does

not

discuss a penalty; however,

considerable

evidence

concerning the

factors

of Section 33(c)

of

the

Act was presented.

Considerable sums

of money and working

hours

have

been

spent

in

the

attempt

to put out the fires and

will

have

to continue to be made to bring the site

into com-

pliance.

Considering

all

the

factors

involved

the

Board finds

that no

penalty

is

necessary.

This

Opinion

constitutes the Board’s findings

of fact and

conclusions

of law in this matter.

ORDER

It is the Order of the Pollution

Control

Board that:

1.

The Illinois

Department of Conservation and the

Illinois

Department of Transportation are found

---

—4—

to have violated Sections 9(a),

9(c),

47(b)

and

47(c) of the Environmental Protection Act.

2.

The settlement proposed by the parties

is accepted

fully therein.

I,

Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution

Control Board, here~ycertify the

ove Opinion

and

Order were

a~optedon the

/~‘

‘

day of

~

~istanL.Moe~

Illinois Pollutio

ntrol Board