ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
October 29,
1992
ATWOOD INDUSTRIES,
INC.,
)
Petitioner,
PCB 91—52
v.
)
(Permit Appeal)
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
)
PROTECTION AGENCY,
)
Respondent.
ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by B. Forcade):
On October 15,
1992, Atwood filed a joint status report along
with a motion to file the status report instanter.
The motion to
file
instanter
is
granted.
The
status
report
states
that
negotiations have been continuing with the Illinois Environmental
Protection Agency
(Agency) and several issues have been resolved.
Atwood
believes
that
given
the
significant
progress
of
the
meetings,
the matter will be resolved without a hearing.
Atwood
requests the Board to require the parties to file additional status
reports on or before January 15,
1993.
The Board notes that the decision deadline in this matter has
been waived only until March
1, 1993.
Given the decision deadline,
if
a
hearing
is
needed,
all
hearings must
be completed before
January 30, 1993,
in order for the Board to receive the transcripts
in adequate time to reach its final decision.
Failure to adhere to
this schedule could
jeopardize the Board’s
ability to meet the
decision deadline.
The Board order of March 28,
1991 accepting this matter for
hearing provided that:
Within
10
days
of
accepting
this
case,
the
hearing
officer shall enter
a hearing officer scheduling order
governing completion of the record.
That order shall set
a
date certain
for each aspect of the case including:
briefing
schedule,
hearing
date(s),
completion
of
discovery
(if necessary)
and pre—hearing conference
(if
necessary).
***
Any order by the hearing officer granting cancellation of
hearing shall
include
a
complete new scheduling order
with
a new hearing date at least 40 days in the future
and
at least
30 days prior to the new due date and the
Clerk of the Board shall be promptly informed of the new
schedule.
U
37-0037
The hearing officer accepted this case on April
8,
1991.
The
only scheduling order
in this matter was filed on May
18,
1992,
more than
a year after the hearing officer’~ acceptance
of the
case.
This
schedule established the
completion
dates
for
the
hearing
scheduled
for
July
8,
1992.
This
hearing
was
later
cancelled and a new scheduling order was not filed.
On July
1,
1992, Atwood filed a request to reschedule the hearing.
No hearing
is scheduled and the hearing officer has not submitted a scheduling
order.
The Board is concerned with cases where a scheduling order
has not been filed especially in cases with a decision deadline.
The Board will not allow a deadline case to remain on its docket
without a schedule for completion.
(See Kelley-Williamson v. IEPA
(September
3,
1992), PCB 92—10.)
The hearing officer is instructed to establish a schedule by
which all hearings are to be
completed on or before January
30,
1993 and submit
a
scheduling order to the Board.
However,
the
hearing officer is authorized to modify the scheduling of hearings
by filing
a new scheduling order with the Board
in the event an
appropriate waiver is received.
If an additional waiver is filed,
the Board would expect the filing of an updated status report on or
before January 15,
1993.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
I, Dorothy M.
Gunn,
Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board,
hereby certify that~beabove order was adopted on the
~27~7
day of
/~
(fc~
,
1992, by a vote of
0137-0036
Illinois
Control Board