ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
December
3,
1981
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
)
PROTECTION AGENCY,
)
Complainant,
v.
)
PCi 80—191
CITY OF BENTON,
a municipality,
)
and JAMES
P. ODOM, an
individual,
Respondents.
CHRISTINE ZEMAN, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL, APPEARED ON BEHALF OF THE
COMPLAINANT.
RONALD J.
GIACONE, ATTORNEY AT LAW, APPEARED ON BEHALF OF RESPONDENT
CITY OF BENTON.
ELMER JENKINS, ATTORNEY AT LAW, APPEARED ON BEHALF OF RESPONDENT
JAMES
P. ODOM.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by N.E.Werner):
This matter comes before the Board on the October 14, 1980
Complaint brought by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
(“Agency”).
On October
23,
1980, Respondent James P. Odom (“Odom”) filed a
Motion to Dismiss the Agency’s Complaint and a Motion to Strike a
portion of the Complaint.
On November 6,
1980, the Agency filed a
Motion for Leave to File Objection Instanter and an Objection to the
Motions to Dismiss and Strike,
On November 20,
1980, the Board
entered an Order granting the Agency’s motions and denying Respondent
Odom’s motions.
On November 24,
1980, Respondent City of Benton (the ~CityN)
filed a Motion to Dismiss the Complaint against the City.
On
December
3,
1980, the Agency filed an Objection to the Motion to
Dismiss the Complaint against the City of Benton and a Memorandum
of Law.
On December 4,
1980,
the Board entered an Order denying the
City’s Motion to Dismiss the Complaint.
On December 22,
1980,
Respondent Odom filed an Objection to the
Hearing Officer and the Hearing Officer sent in a letter asking to
be allowed to withdraw from this case.
This case was subsequently
assigned to a new Hearing Officer.
44—151
On March
9,
1981, the Agency filed a Motion to Amend the
Complaint,
Proposed Order,
and an Amended Complaint.
Count
I of the Amended Complaint alleged that,
intermittently
from August
1,
1976 until the filing of the Complaint (including, but
not limited to, August 24,
1976, February 21, 1979,
and July 24, 1980),
the City allowed discharges of untreated wastewater from a broken main
influent sewer line to its sewage treatment plant to directly enter
the receiving stream, Sugar Creek, an Illinois water,
causing the creek
to contain unnatural sludge or bottom deposits,
floating debris, and
unnatural color or turbidity in violation of Rules 203(a) and 402 of
Chapter
3: Water Pollution Control Regulations
(‘~Chapter3”)
and
Section 12(a)
of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act
(“Act”),
Count II alleged that,
from August
1,
1976 until the filing of
the Complaint, discharges of effluent from the City’s broken sewer
line to Sugar Creek contained settleable solids, floating debris,
and
sludge solids
in violation of Rule 403 of Chapter
3 and Section 12(a)
of the Act.
Count III alleged that, from August
1,
1976 until the filing of
the Complaint,
Respondent Odom (who owns the property on which the
break in the City’s sewer line occurred) refused to allow the City’s
employees access to the broken sewer
line, thus allowing the
discharge of untreated wastewater from the City’s broken sewer line
on Odom’s property to Sugar Creek causing the creek to contain
unnatural sludge, floating debris, and unnatural color or turbidity
in violation of Rules 203(a) and 402 of Chapter
3 and Section 12(a)
of
the Act.
Count IV alleged that,
intermittently from August
1,
1976 until
the filing of the Complaint, Odom allowed discharges of effluent from
the City’s broken sewer
line on Odom’s property to Sugar Creek to
contain settleable solids,
floating debris, and sludge solids
in
violation of Rule 403 of Chapter
3 and Section 12(a) of the Act,
On March
17,
1981,
the new Hearing Officer granted the Agency’s
Motion to Amend its Complaint.
On March 26,
1981, Respondent Odom filed an Answer to the
Amended Complaint.
On April 27,
1981,
the City filed its Answer to
the Amended Complaint.
A hearing was held on October
14,
1981.
The parties filed a
Stipulation and Proposal
for Settlement on October 21,
1981.
The City of Benton, which has
a population of about
7,778
people,
owns and operates a sewage treatment plant
(the “plant” or
“facility”) consisting of a trickling filter wastewater treatment
system which
“is located just north of Petroff Road and West of
Illinois
57 in Franklin County, Illinois.”
(Stip.
2).
The main influent sewer line to the plant, which is owned by the
City,
consists of a 30” sanitary trunk sewer,
(Stip,
2),
It is
44~152
stipulated that, from August
1,
1976 until October
7,
1980, the main
influent sewer line to the plant was broken at a point located on
property just south of Petroff Road owned by Respondent Odom,
(Stip.
3).
The Agency has asserted that,
intermittently from August
1,
1976
until October
7,
1980, discharges of untreated wastewater from the
broken sewer
line entered Sugar Creek and caused the creek to contain
unnatural solids, floating debris,
and unnatural color or turbidity.
Both Respondents have indicated that “such discharges might or could
have occurred.”
(Stip.
3),
On October
7,
1980,
the leak of
unnatural wastewater from the City’s broken sewer
line to Sugar Creek
was stopped and the City completed repairing this broken sewer line
on October
10,
1980.
(Stip,
4).
A subsequent Agency inspection on
October 14,
1980 confirmed that this repair was,
in fact,
made,
(Stip.
4).
The parties have indicated that,
from August
1,
1976 until
October
7,
1980, there was a dispute between the City and Respondent
Odom pertaining to the issue of “whether or not the City of Benton
had a right to enter upon the property of Odom by way of easement
or
license” and this dispute about the right of entry
“hampered the
city’s access” onto Odom’s property and delayed the repair of the
broken sewer
line,
(Stip.
4).
Moreover, during the time period from the fall of 1976 until
October
7,
1980, Respondent Odom did nothing to repair the break
in
the sewer line pending the completion of his sporadic negotiations
with the City pertaining to property access by City employees,
(Stip.
4).
On August 15,
1981,
the Respondents finally agreed upon
the preliminary terms of an easement on Odom’s property to allow
access by City personnel to maintain and repair the sewer
line in
question.
Although “several tentative agreements were reached”,
actual access to the broken sewer
line was not approved by Odom
until October of
1980.
(Stip.
4).
The proposed settlement agreement provides that the Respondents
admit the applicable allegations
in the Complaint and agree to cease
and desist from further violations and pay a stipulated penalty
of
$500.00 each.
(Stip. 6~7),
In evaluating this enforcement action and proposed settlement
agreement,
the Board has taken into consideration all the facts and
circumstances in light of the specific criteria delineated in
Section 33(c)
of the Act,
The Board finds the settlement agreement
acceptable under Procedural Rule 331 and Section 33(c)
of the Act.
Accordingly,
the Board finds that the Respondents, the City of
Benton,
a municipality, and James P.
Odom, an individual, have
violated Rules 203(a),
402,
and 403 of Chapter
3:
Water Pollution
Control Regulations and Sections 12(a) of the Illinois Environmental
Protection Act.
The Respondents will be ordered to cease and desist
from further violations and pay
a stipulated penalty of $500.00 each,
44~153
—4—
This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of
fact and
conclusions of law in this matter.
ORDER
It is the Order of the Illinois Pollution Control Board that:
1.
The Respondents, the City of Benton,
a municipality, and
James P.
Odom,
an
individual, have violated Rules 203(a),
402,
and
403 of Chapter
3:
Water Pollution Control Regulations and
Section 12(a)
of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act,
2.
The Respondents shall cease and desist from further
violations.
3.
Within 45 days of the date of this Order, the Respondents
shall,
by
certified check or money order payable to the State of
Illinois, pay the stipulated penalty of $500,00 each which is to be
sent to:
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
Fiscal Services Division
2200 Churchill Road
Springfield, Illinois
62706
4.
The
Respondents shall comply with all the terms and
conditions of
the Stipulation and Proposal for Settlement
filed
on
October 21,
1981, which is incorporated by reference as
if fully
set forth herein,
I, Christan L, Moffett,
Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Control
Board, herep
certify than the above Opinion and Order were ~adopted
on the
~
day of
~-,
1981 by a vote of
___
Christan
L. Moffett,TC~~
Illinois Pollution Cor~t~,i
Board
44—154