ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

July

24,

1980

STEPAN CHEMICAL COMPANY,

Petitioner,

V.

)

PCB 79—161

ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY,

Respondent.

INTERIM ORDER OF THE

BOARD

(by

I. Goodman):

The hearing in this NPDES permit review

case

was held on

February 4,

1980 and all scheduled briefs were submitted by April

22,

1980;

nonetheless, the Board

finds that the parties have not

presented information sufficient for determining whether a

monitoring requirement and an effluent limitation for chemical

oxygen demand

(COD) are terms required to be included in Stepan’s

NPDES permit.

Stepan has not challenged the Agency’s contention

that 40 CFR Part 417, Subparts

I,

J, N,

P, and

R impose COD

effluent guidelines

for certain Stepan process streams.

Stepan

instead has argued that there is no way to test the COD

concentration of these process streams because they intermingle

with treatment plant process streams which are not subject to COD

limitations.

(Pet.

Reply Brief,

p.

8).

Sections 417.92,

417.102,

417.142,

417.162, and 417.182 of

Subparts

I,

J,

N,

P, and R respectively are guidelines

representing that degree of effluent reduction attainable by

applying “best practicable control technology”

(BPT) currently

available.

These sections allow an adjustment of effluent

limitations if factors related to an individual discharger’s

equipment, facilities,

or processes are “fundamentally different”

from the factors considered by the United States Environmental

Protection Agency (USEPA)

in establishing the BPT guidelines.

In order to reach a decision in this NPDES permit review,

the record must contain pertinent information as to whether

Petitioner’s inability to test its process streams for COD

concentrations is a factor which

is fundamentally different from

those factors considered by the USEPA in establishing the BPT

guidelines.

The Board, therefore, orders that each of the

parties submit a concise memorandum addressing whether there are

factors related to Petitioner’s equipment,

facilities, processes,

etc. which are fundamentally different from those considered by

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—2—

the USEPA, as noted above, which would enable the Board to

determine whether the COD limitations should be included as terms

of Petitioner’s NPDES permit.

The memoranda shall be submitted

to the Board within 60 days of the date of this Order.

IT IS

SO ORDERED.

I, Christan L.

Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution

Control Board, hereby certify that the above Order w

s adopted on

the

~44~

day of ~

,

1980 by a vote of

____

Christan L.

Moff

,

Clerk

Illinois Pollutio

ontrol Board