ILLINO:..

POLLUTIO!\~ CONTROL

BOAR)

October

13,

 1.977

ILLINOIS POWER COMPANY,

)

Petitioner,

v.

)

 PCB 76—74

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,

)

Respondent.

OPINION

AND

 ORDER OF THE BOARD

 (by Dr.

 Satchell):

This variance petition was originally filed with the

Board March 16,

 1976.

 The Illinois Power Company asks for

variance from Rule 203(f) of the Chapter

 3: Water Pollution

Regulations

as

 it applies to boron.

The

facility for which

the variance is sought is Petitioner’s fossil-fueled electric

power generating station, Wood River, East Alton, Madison

County, Illinois.

 Variances for this same facility were the

subjects of proceedings

 in PCB 74-9,

 PCB 74-423 and PCB 75-221.

In the first two cases Petitioner was granted research vari-

ances;

 in the latter case Petitioner was granted a variance

until

 March

 15, 1976 subject to several conditions.

 On June 3,

1976 the Board denied without a hearing this variance request

because of a lack of a corporate approved compliance plan.

The Board incorporates that Opinion by reference for purposes

of background information.

 On appeal this case was remanded

for

hearing.

Petitioner is now pursuing what has been labeled alter-

native

13.

 Petitioner has pursued a regulatory change, R76—18,

now pending before the Board.

 This change,

 if approved, will

allow an exception to the boron water quality standard for the

drainage of Illinois Power’s

 lagoon discharge until it reaches

the confluence of Wood River Creek and the Mississippi River.

This would allow Petitioner to build its new lagoon and con-

tinue to use the effluent route to the Mississippi River as it

now exists.

 The record of R76-l8 has been incorporated into

this proceeding by Board Order on September 15, 1977

 in lieu

of holding duplicative hearings.

 Petitioner now asks the

Board to grant a variance from March 15,

 1976 to either

 (a) the

date of favorable Board action in R76—18,

or

(b)

 a date not less

than one year after the date of Board action denying the request

in R76—l8.

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—2--

PetiLdoner has been

purs~

:~c~

answer

.ts

boron

problems

since

early

 1974 as

~.:~essed

the

c:~iier

Board

grant of research variance:;

 in PCB 74—9

aisi

 PCB 74-

423.

 Petitioner~s

research

failed

to produce an economical

treatment plan

CR.

 38—44)

 and has left

Petitioner with only

the alternative of routing the effluent to the Mississippi

River where

the

applicable standards would be

met.

The

cost

of

construction of Petitioner’s new ash lagoon using

alternative B,

 i.e. gravity flow to Wood River Creek and

thence

to

the Mississippi River,

 is $485,971.

To

determine the environmental effects of illinois

Power’s boron effluent Petitioner hired Drs. Donald

 R. Tindall

and Waiter E.

 Schmid, both professors

 in the Department of

Botany at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Illinois,

to

undertake

 an environmental

survey.

 Their testimony states

that

“boron

is generally acceptLd as an essential element for

plants.

On

the

other hand,

it

has

also been used as

 a non—

selective herbicide, but only

in

 ~ncentrations up to several

orders

of magnitude

greater

th~:IPC’s

theoretical maximum

concentration”

(R.

 58).

 They

 ~luded that “the boron con-

centration present in IPC’s

die

harge has not had any dis-

cernible effect on the

observed

terrestrial and aquatic

community,

 which is typical

in constituents, maturity and

quantity

 arid in all

other

respects to those

 foteici in this

region”

(R.

63,

 64).

James

A.

 Smithson, a staff aquatic biologist for Illinois

Power

also

testified.

 Mr. Smithson found in a literature

search that there are no toxic effects of boron on fish even

at twenty times Illinois Power’s theoretical maximum boron

level

(R.

 143).

 Smithson also did a biological survey of

Wood

River

Creek upstream and downstream of the unnamed tribu-

tary.

 The unnamed tributary

 (the Illinois Power ditch)

 had a

greater diversity and number of aquatic organisms than did

Wood River Creek

(R.

 148-149).

The Board

 finds that Petitioner has shown that it would

suffer

arbitrary and unreasonable hardship if denied this

variance.

The

control of boron at this site is economically

not

feasible

(R.

 38-40) and to date no environmental damage

has been proven,

 The Board will grant this variance subject

to an

interim

standard.

 In R76-18 there are currently two

numbers proposed for a boion water quality standard for this

unnamed

tributary and the designated section of Wood River

Creek.

 Petitioner proposes a st~Lndardof

 25 mg/l.

 The Agency

proposes

5

mg/i.

 During calendar year 1976 Petitioner took

53 24-hour composite samples

(R.

 29).

 Within this time period

2816

—3—

the average boron measure

was 4,3

mg/l

(R.

 30).

 Four

of the

53 samples measured over 10

mg/i

(R

31,

 32).

T~e

area

affected

by

this petition is

small

and is not

used

agri-

culturally.

 The Board will adopt

10

mg/l of boron as an

interim standard.

This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact

and conclusions of law in this matter.

ORDER

the

order

the

Pollution

Control

Board

that

Illinois Power is granted a variance for its fossil—fueled

electric

power

generating

station,

Wood

River,

East

Alton,

Madison County, Illinois from Rule 203(f)

 of the Chapter 3:

Water Pollution Regulations

as

it

applies to boron from

March 15,

 1976 until either

the date

of the Board~sadoption

of a change

 in R76-l8 or one year from the date of the Board’s

action denying any change in

Rule 203

as proposed in R76-18.

During the interim the facility

shall

not exceed the interim

water quality standard of 10

mg/i

boron.

Petitioner shall, within

thirty

 (30) days of the date

of this Order, execute and forward to the Environmental

Protection Agency,

 2200 Churchill Road, Springfield, Illinois

62706,

 a Certificate of Acceptance in the format shown as

follows:

CERTIFICATE OF

ACCEPTANCE

I,

 (We), ________________________,

 having read the

Order of the Illinois Pollution Control Board in PCB 76-74,

understand and accept said Order, realizing that such accep-

tance renders all terms and conditions thereto binding and

enforceable.

SIGNED. ________________________

TITLE __________________________

DATE ___________________________

I, Christan L.

 Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution

Control Board, hereby certify the

 bove Opinion and Order were

adopted on the

~

 day of

__________,

 1977 by a vote of

istan

Moffe

Illinois Polluti

28-17