ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

October 27,

1993

MARATHON OIL COMPANY,

Petitioner,

v.

PCB 93—200

(Provisional Variance)

ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL

)

PROTECTION AGENCY,

Respondent.

ORDER OF THE BOARD

(by C.

A. Manning):

Pursuant to Section 35(b)

of the Environmental Protection

Act

(Act)

(415 ILCS 5/35(b)), Marathon Oil Company has requested

that the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency

(Agency)

recommend that the Board grant a provisional variance to allow

several of Marathon Oil Company’s gasoline dispensing operations

(service stations) to continue operating even though they will

not have installed operational vapor recovery equipment by

November 1,

1993.

Such request for a provisional variance and

the Notification of Recommendation was filed with the Board by

the Agency on Tuesday, October 26,

1993.

Pursuant to Section

35(b)

of the Act, the Board must issue the variance within two

(2) days of this filing.

Specifically, the Agency recommends that we grant Marathon

Oil Company a forty—five

(45)—day provisional variance for seven

(7)

of its facilities located in Cook, Kane,

McHenry, and Will

Counties in the Chicago metropolitan statistical area from the

Stage II vapor recovery requirements, as set forth in 35

Ill.

Adm. Code 218.586,

for the period beginning November 1,

1993, and

continuing for forty-five

(45) days or until the required vapor

recovery equipment is installed, whichever comes first.

The

Agency’s recommendation states that six

(6) Marathon Oil Company

facilities are involved, but Board review of the company’s

request revealed seven

(7)

facilities.

The Agency’s provisional variance recommendation states that

Marathon Oil Company has requested a provisional variance on

behalf of numerous of its service stations in the Chicago area,

located as follows:

County

Number of Stations

Cook

4

Kane

1

McHenry

1

Will

1

The addresses of those stations are listed as follows:

---

2

County

City or Villac~e

Street Address

Cook

Des Plaines

10 W. Golf Road

Cook

Rolling Meadows

4200 Kirchoff Road

Cook

Northbrook

1795 Schermer Road

Cook

Hanover Park

1260 Lake Street

Kane

Aurora

1795 N. Farnsworth

McHenry

McHenry

4608 W. Crystal Lake Road

Will

Joliet

Glenwood & Republic

Upon receipt of the request, the Agency issued its

recommendation, notifying the Board that the failure to grant the

requested forty—five

(45)—day provisional variance would impose

an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship on Petitioner.

The Agency

recommendation states that Tokheim vacuum assist vapor recovery

equipment is still in the final stages of California Air Review

Board

(CARB)

approval and cannot be installed and delivered in

time to meet the November

1,

1993 deadline for compliance.

Provisional variances are by their very nature temporary.

The responsibilities of the Agency and the Board in these short-

term provisional variances are different from the

responsibilities in standard variances.

(~

415 ILCS 5/35(b)

&

(c)).

In provisional variances it

is the responsibility of the

Agency to make the technical determinations and finding of

arbitrary or unreasonable hardship.

The Board’s responsibility

is to adopt

a formal Order, to assure the formal maintenance of

the record, to assure the enforceability of the variance, and to

provide notification of the action by a press release.

Having received the Agency recommendation notifying the

Board that a denial of the requested relief would impose an

arbitrary or unreasonable hardship, the Board hereby grants

Petitioner a provisional variance from 35 Ill. Adm. Code 218.586,

subject to the following conditions:

1.

The term of this provisional variance shall commence on

November 1,

1993, and it shall expire on the date the

Petitioner completes the required installation of vacuum

assist Stage II vapor recovery equipment,

or after forty—

five

(45) days have elapsed, whichever comes first;

2.

The Petitioner shall notify the Agency of the

installation of the vapor recovery equipment,

by sending

notification addressed as follows:

Mr. Terry Sweitzer, P.E.

Manager, Air Monitoring Section

Illinois Environmental Protection Agency

Division of Air Pollution Control

P.O. Box 19276

Springfield, Illinois

62794—9276

---

3

IT IS SO ORDERED.

I, Dorothy N. Gunn,

Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control

Board, do hereby certify that the above order was adopted on the

~7’~

day of

__________________________,

1993, by a vote of

(2

Control Board