ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    December 19, 1996
    UNITED STATES TOBACCO
    MANUFACTURING CO.,
    Petitioner,
    v.
    ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
    PROTECTION AGENCY,
    Respondent.
    )
    )
    )
    )
    )
    )
    )
    )
    )
    )
    )
    PCB 97-108
    (Provisional Variance - Air)
    OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD (by C.A. Manning):
    Pursuant to Section 35(b) of the Environmental Protection Act (Act) (415 ILCS
    5/35(b)), United States Tobacco Manufacturing Co. (USTMC) has requested that the Illinois
    Environmental Protection Agency (Agency) recommend that the Board grant a provisional
    variance to allow USTMC to continue operating its facility while maintenance is performed to
    the regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO) which is part of its pollution control system. Such
    request for a provisional variance and the notification of recommendation was filed with the
    Board by the Agency on Wednesday, December 18, 1996. 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 USTMC a four (4) day provisional
    variance for its Cook County facility from 35 Ill Adm. Code 218.Subpart TT for the period
    commencing February 10,1997 and expiring on February 14, 1997.
    The Agency’s provisional variance recommendation states that USTMC operates a
    facility located at 11601 Copenhagen Court, Franklin Park, Cook County, Illinois which
    processes tobacco.
    Upon receipt of the request, the Agency issued its recommendation, notifying the
    Board that due to unforeseen, temporary and uncontrollable circumstances, failure to grant the
    requested 45-day provisional variance would impose an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship on
    the petitioner.
    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. (See 415 ILCS 5/35(b) & 36(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
    2
    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 that a denial of the requested relief would
    impose an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship, the Board hereby grants the petitioner a
    provisional variance from 35 Ill Adm. Code 218.Subpart TT for the period February 10,1997
    and continuing until the required repairs are completed, or after four (4) days have elapsed,
    whichever comes first, subject to the following conditions:
    1.
    The term of this provisional variance shall commence on February 10, 1997 and
    will expire on February 14, 1997;
    2.
    The RTO may be shut down for a single period not to exceed 24 hours;
    3.
    The USTMC shall notify the Agency’s Maywood, Illinois Regional Office by
    telephone, at 708/338-7900, before the RTO is taken off line and again after the
    RTO is brought back on line;
    4.
    During the shutdown, USTMC shall keep the following records, and submit
    such records to the Agency within seven (7) days of bringing the RTO back on
    line:
    a.
    Actual amounts of VOM emitted to the atmosphere;
    b.
    A detailed report of all maintenance performed on the RTO;
    c.
    The actual time the RTO was shutdown and the actual time the
    RTO is restarted and brought back on line; and
    d.
    A list of all associated emission units in operation during the
    times reported in paragraph c above.
    5.
    USTMC shall submit the records to:
    John Stefan
    Bureau of Air
    2200 Churchill Road
    P.O. Box 19276
    Springfield, Illinois 62794-9276
    Section 41 of the Environmental Protection Act (415 ILCS 5/41 (1994)) provides for
    the appeal of final Board orders to the Illinois Appellate Court within 35 days of the date of
    service of this order. The Rules of the Supreme Court of Illinois establish filing requirements.
    (See also 35 Ill. Adm. Code 101.246 “Motions for Reconsideration.”)
    3
    IT IS SO ORDERED.
    I, Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control Board, hereby certify that
    the above order was adopted on the _____ day of ___________, 1996, by a vote of
    ______________.
    ___________________________________
    Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk
    Illinois Pollution Control Board

    Back to top