ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    September 20, 2001
     
    BRIDGESTONE/FIRESTONE OFF-ROAD
    TIRE COMPANY,
     
    Petitioner,
     
    v.
     
    ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
    PROTECTION AGENCY,
     
    Respondent.
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    PCB 02-31
    (Permit Appeal – Air)
     
    ORDER OF THE BOARD (by T.E. Johnson):
     
    On September 10, 2001, Bridgestone/Firestone Off-Road Tire Company
    (Bridgestone/Firestone) timely filed a petition asking the Board to review an August 6, 2001
    determination of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Agency).
    See
    415 ILCS
    5/40.2(a) (2000); 35 Ill. Adm. Code 105.302(e). On August 6, 2001, the Agency issued a Clean
    Air Act Permit Program (CAAPP) permit with conditions. The permit was issued after review of
    a permit application of Bridgestone/Firestone under Section 39.5 of the Environmental
    Protection Act (Act) (415 ILCS 5/39.5 (2000)). The CAAPP permit application concerns
    Bridgestone/Firestones’s off-road rubber tire manufacturing facility located at Veterans Parkway
    and Fort Jesse Road, Bloomington, McClean County, Illinois.
     
    Section 40.2(a) of the Act (415 ILCS 5/40.2(a) (2000)) allows several persons to appeal
    Agency CAAPP permit determinations: permit applicants; persons who participated in the
    Agency’s public comment process under Section 39.5(8) of the Act (415 ILCS 5/39.5(8) (2000));
    and persons who could obtain judicial review under Section 41(a) of the Act (415 ILCS 5/41(a)
    (2000)). 415 ILCS 5/40.2(a) (2000);
    see also
    35 Ill. Adm. Code 105.302(c).
    Bridgestone/Firestone is the CAAPP permit applicant. Bridgestone/Firestone appeals on the
    grounds that permit condition 7.3.6 unreasonably separates the facility’s tire assembly machines
    into separate groups, each with a different emission limit. In the petition, Bridgestone/Firestone
    requests a stay of effectiveness for the August 6, 2001, permit.
     
    The Board accepts the petition for hearing, but reserves ruling on the request for stay of
    effectiveness until the Agency has the opportunity to address the issue. The Agency’s response
    to the request for stay, if any, is due on or before October 4, 2001.
     
    Bridgestone/Firestone has the burden of proof. 415 ILCS 5/40.2(a) (2000);
    see also
    35
    Ill. Adm. Code 105.112(a). Hearings will be scheduled and completed in a timely manner,
    consistent with the decision deadline (
    see
    415 ILCS 5/40.2(c) (2000)), which only
    Bridgestone/Firestone may extend by waiver (
    see
    35 Ill. Adm. Code 101.308). If the Board fails
    to take final action by the decision deadline, “the permit shall not be deemed issued; rather, the
     
    2
    petitioner shall be entitled to an Appellate Court order pursuant to Section 41(d) of this Act [415
    ILCS 5/41(d) (2000)].” 415 ILCS 5/40.2(c) (2000). Currently, the decision deadline is January
    8, 2002.
    See
    35 Ill. Adm. Code 105.114. The Board meeting immediately before the decision
    deadline is scheduled for December 20, 2001.
     
    Unless the Board or the hearing officer orders otherwise, the Agency must file an answer,
    including the entire record of its determination, within 30 days after it is served with the petition.
    35 Ill. Adm. Code 105.302(f). If the Agency wishes to seek additional time to file the record, it
    must file a request for extension before the date on which the record is due to be filed. 35 Ill.
    Adm. Code 105.116. The record must comply with the content requirements of 35 Ill. Adm.
    Code 105.302(f).
     
    IT IS SO ORDERED.
     
    I, Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control Board, certify that the above
    order was adopted on September 20, 2001, by a vote of 6-0.
     
     
    Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk
    Illinois Pollution Control Board
     

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