ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

September 18,

1980

ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

)

AGENCY,

Complainant,

V.

)

PCB 79—256

ESL, INCORPORATED, AND WASTE

MANAGEMENT OF

ILLINOIS, INC.,

)

Respondents.

INTERIM ORDER OF THE

BOARD

(by J.D.

Dumelle):

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency

(Agency)

and

ESL, Incorporated

(ESL)

and Waste Management of Illinois,

Inc.

(Waste Management)

filed a Stipulation and Proposal for

Settlement on August 18,

1980.

The First Amended Complaint

(Complaint) filed by the Agency on December

6,

1980,

alleged,

among other things,

that ESL and Waste Management had violated

certain provisions of the Environmental Protection Act

(Act)

and

Chapter

7 of the Board Regulations

(Solid Waste Rules).

Hearing was held on August 18,

1980,

at which time the

Stipulation and Proposal

for Settlement was entered into

evidence.

Thereafter,

several members of the public testified

and objected to the stipulation.

The Board cannot accept the Stipulation and Proposal for

Settlement in its present form for three reasons.

First, Count IV of the Complaint alleges a violation of

Section 12(d) of the Act which proscribes depositing

“contaminants upon the land...

so as to create

a water pollution

hazard.”

At the hearing,

several witnesses referred to their

drinking water as having recently become unfit to drink or to

bathe in or to do laundry due to its bad taste, odor and

unsanitary condition (R.43,45,49—51).

However,

the Proposal for

Settlement does not offer any remedy for this.

The Board cannot

determine from the record the cause of the poor water quality and

if a cease and desist order would be a sufficient remedy or

whether new wells or water supply main lines would have to be

constructed if Respondents are the cause.

Second, adverse health effects are alleged in Count III to

establish a violation of Section 9(a) of the Act, proscribing air

pollution.

Several residents from the area testified as to the

---

—2—

need to leave their homes,

asthma attacks, nausea,

vomiting, and

the inability to use outside recreational areas due to the

discharge of odors from the lagoons allowed by Respondents

(R.13-18,21,34,37—39).

However, the record is unclear as to

whether these health effects have abated or whether they are

permanent.

Therefore,

it is impossible for the Board to

determine whether a cease and desist order is sufficient to

remedy this aspect of the problem or whether previously deposited

materials must be removed.

Third, due to the above—noted deficiencies, the Board

cannot determine whether the proposed penalty is appropriate.

For these reasons,

the Proposal for Settlement is hereby

rejected and the case is remanded to the Hearing Officer for

further proceedings.~

IT

IS SO ORDERED.

I, Christan L. Moffett,

Clerk of the Illinois Pollution

Control Board, hereby certify tha

the above Interim Order was

a~ptedon the

~

day ~

1980 by a vote of

QJiu~d/?2

~4/t&

Christan L. Moff

Clerk

Illinois Polluti

Control Board