ILLINOIS
POLLUTION
CONTROL BOARD
January
8,
1976
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS,
)
Complainant,
v.
)
PCB 75—116
CITIZENS UTILITIES COMPANY OF
)
ILLINOIS,
Respondent.
ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by Mr. Goodman):
This matter comes before the Pollution Control Board
(Board)
upon the motion filed by Respondent on December
18, 1975, to
modify the Interim Opinion and Order of the Board decided
December
4,
1975.
A hearing in this matter was held on October
20,
1975, at which
a “Settlement Stipulation’1 was submitted to the
Board.
The Stipulation provided that Respondent pay the sum of
$1,000.00 to the general revenue fund of the State of Illinois
“in lieu of
a civil penalty.”
In its Interim Opinion and
Order,
the Board rejected the Settlement Stipulation.
Respondent requests the Board to delete the following
language from its Interim Opinion and Order:
The Board finds that a penalty is appropriate here,
considering that the compliance program is one of
general upkeep and that the reason for violation
was apparently the result of Respondent’s failure
to properly maintain its public water supply facility.
Respondent asserts that such language constitutes
a finding of
violation and.penalty and, therefore, violates the provision in
the Settlement Stipulation voiding the Stipulation
if
the
Board rejects any portion thereof.
Respondent’s motion is denied.
As indicated in the Board’s
Opinion, parties can only enter into binding stipulations as
to
facts and not as
to legal conclusions.
Read as
a whole, the
Board’s Opinion indicates that,
based upon the facts stipulated
to,
the legal conclusion reached by the parties--that no civil
penalty was warranted——was incorrect.
However, the Order of
the Board does not find a violation and penalty.
The Order reads:
19— 573
(2)
It is the Order of the Board that the October
20,
1975,
Settlement Stipulation be and is,
hereby,
rejected.
The parties are herewith ordered to hear-
ing or amendment of their settlement proposal not
inconsistent with today’s Interim Opinion.
Therefore,
because the Order of the Board
in its December
4,
1975 Interim Opinion and Order does not constitute a finding of
violation and penalty, Respondent’s Motion
is denied.
IT
IS SO ORDERED.
I,
Christan
L. Moffett, Clerk of
the
Illinois Pollution
Control B~ard, hereby certify the above Order was adopted on
the
_____________
day of~~a.~t.M.*~O
,
1976 by a vote of
Illinois Pollution
19— 574