ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    September 20, 2001
     
    JERSEY SANITATION CORPORATION, an
    Illinois corporation,
     
    Petitioner,
     
    v.
     
    ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
    PROTECTION AGENCY,
     
    Respondent.
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    PCB 00-82
    (Permit Appeal – Land)
     
     
     
    ORDER OF THE BOARD (by G.T. Girard):
     
    On August 14, 2001, the Board received a motion for reconsideration filed by the Illinois
    Environmental Agency (Agency). On August 20, Jersey Sanitation Corporation (Jersey
    Sanitation) filed a motion to strike the motion for reconsideration or in the alternative for an
    evidentiary hearing “to further explore the facts pertinent to whether” the motion for
    reconsideration was timely filed. On September 7, 2001, the Board received from the Agency a
    motion to file
    instanter
    a response to the motion to strike. On September 17, 2001, the Board
    received Jersey Sanitation’s motion for leave to file a reply to the response to the motion to
    strike. The Board hereby grants the Agency’s motion to file
    instanter
    and Jersey Sanitation’s
    motion for leave to file a reply, along with the reply; but denies Jersey Sanitation’s motion to
    strike or for an evidentiary hearing.
    In the motion to strike the motion to reconsider, Jersey Sanitation argues that the motion
    to reconsider was not timely filed based on the Board’s procedural rules. The Board’s
    procedural rules at 35 Ill. Adm. Code 101.300(b)(2) provide that “if a document is filed by U.S.
    Mail subsequent to a filing deadline, yet the postmark date precedes the filing deadline, the
    document will be deemed filed on the postmark date . . . .” Jersey Sanitation argues that because
    the filing deadline was August 1, 2001, a filing postmarked August 1, 2001 is not timely filed
    because the postmark does not “precede” the filing deadline.
    According to the motion to reconsider, the Agency received the Board’s opinion and
    order on June 27, 2001. The envelope containing the motion to reconsider was postmarked
    August 1, 2001, 35 days after the date the Agency received the Board’s opinion and order. In
    addition, the certificate of service indicates that the motion to reconsider was served on August
    1, 2001, by regular U.S. Mail. The Agency in its response to the motion to strike argues that the
    motion to reconsider was timely filed. The Agency points to the Board’s second-notice opinion
    and order in Revision of the Board’s Procedural Rules: 35 Ill. Adm. Code 101-130, R00-20
    (November 2, 2000) to support its contention. In that opinion the Board stated that documents
    sent by U.S. Mail that are received after a filing deadline will be deemed filed on the postmark
     
     
     
    2
    date. Revision of the Board’s Procedural Rules: 35 Ill. Adm. Code 101-130, R00-20 (November
    2, 2000) slip op at 17.
    The Board disagrees with the interpretation of our procedural rule urged by Jersey
    Sanitation. A filing can be received in the Board’s office on the 35th day and be timely filed.
    To rule that a filing cannot be mailed on the 35th day would defeat the purpose of the Board’s
    procedural rule that allows filings to be mailed to the Board. Therefore Jersey Sanitation’s
    motion to strike is denied and the request for evidentiary hearing is also denied.
    Jersey Sanitation has also asked for additional time to respond to the Agency’s motion to
    reconsider. However, the Board will deny Jersey Sanitation’s request for additional time
    because, after careful consideration of the Agency’s arguments, the Board will today deny the
    Agency’s motion to reconsider the Board’s decision on June 21, 2001, for the following reasons.
    In ruling on a motion for reconsideration, the Board will consider factors including new
    evidence or a change in the law, to conclude that the Board’s decision was in error. 35 Ill. Adm.
    Code 101.902. ). In Citizens Against Regional Landfill v. County Board of Whiteside, PCB 93-
    156 (March 11, 1993), we observed that "the intended purpose of a motion for reconsideration is
    to bring to the court's attention newly discovered evidence which was not available at the time of
    hearing, changes in the law or errors in the court's previous application of the existing law.”
    Korogluyan v. Chicago Title & Trust Co., 213 Ill. App. 3d 622, 627, 572 N.E.2d 1154, 1158 (1st
    Dist. 1992). The Board finds that the Agency’s motion to reconsider presents the Board with no
    new evidence, change in the law, or any other reason to conclude that the Board’s June 21, 2001
    decision was in error. Therefore the motion to reconsider is denied.
    IT IS ORDERED.
    Board Member E.Z. Kezelis dissented.
    Section 41(a) of the Environmental Protection Act provides that final Board orders may
    be appealed directly to the Illinois Appellate Court within 35 days after the Board serves the
    order. 415 ILCS 5/41(a) (2000);
    see
     
    also
    35 Ill. Adm. Code 101.300(d)(2), 101.906, 102.706.
    Illinois Supreme Court Rule 335 establishes filing requirements that apply when the Illinois
    Appellate Court, by statute, directly reviews administrative orders. 172 Ill. 2d R. 335. The
    Board’s procedural rules provide that motions for the Board to reconsider or modify its final
    orders may be filed with the Board within 35 days after the order is received. 35 Ill. Adm. Code
    101.520,
    see also
    35 Ill. Adm. Code 101.902, 102.700, 102.702.
     
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    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 5-1.
     
     
    Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk
    Illinois Pollution Control Board
     

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