ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
July 10,
1980
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
)
AGENCY,
Complainant,
v.
)
PCB 78—233
GRANITE CITY STEEL, DIVISION OF
NATIONAL STEEL CORPORATION,
Respondent.
PATRICK CHESLEY, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL, APPEARED ON BEHALF
OF COMPLAINANT.
RANDALL ROBERTSON,
ESQUIRE (LUEDERS, ROBERTSON
& KONZEN) APPEARED
ON BEHALF OF RESPONDENT.
OPINION OF THE BOARD
(by I.
Goodman):
This Opinion supports the Board Order herein of June 12,
1980.
On August 28,
1978 the Illinois Environmental Protection
Agency (Agency)
filed a complaint with the Board alleging that
Granite City Steel
(GCS) was violating Section
9(a) of the
Illinois Environmental Protection Act (Act) by causing or
allowing white ash to be emitted from its sinter plant.
On
July 20,
1979 a Stipulation and Proposal
for Settlement
(Stipulation) by the parties was submitted
to the Board.
The
Board’s interim order of August 23, 1979 rejected the Stipulation
on the ground that the contingent penalty therein did not aid in
the enforcement of the Act or induce compliance
with regulations
in that
it was designed solely to expedite private claims, a~
area over which the Board did not wish to extend its authority.
At
a public hearing on February
27, 1980 the parties hereto
submitted an amended Stipulation concerning which citizens
offered testimony.
At that hearing the hearing officer,
after
allowing oral argument, denied a motion to intervene by Mrs.
Florence Farmer.
That motion has been referred
to the Board
along with this case.
The amended Stipulation acknowledges that white ash falling
from the air is causing injury to property and unreasonably
interferes with the enjoyment of life in the area.
The Agency
will stipulate that GCS’s sinter plant
is causing the problem,
but GCS will not.
GCS, nevertheless, agrees to pay a penalty of
—2—
$10,000 and to institute an emission control program which
calls
for the replacement of the old baghouse on its sinter plant with
a
flew one.
The Agency believes that the program if followed will
eliminate the white ash problem.
The Board finds that the amended Stipulation satisfies the
requirements of Procedural Rule 331 and that the stipulated
penalty of $10,000 is necessary for the enforcement of the Act.
The Board affirms the hearing officer’s order to deny
Mrs. Florence Farmer’s motion
to intervene.
Procedural
Rule 310(a)
requires that petitions for intervention be made
‘t~upon
timely
written application and
subject to the necessity for conducting
an orderly and expeditious hearing
..“
Emphasis
added.
Rule
310(b)
requires that copies of petitions for intervention be
filed with the Board and each party within 48 hours prior to the
hearing.
The Board received the petition for intervention more
than one week after the third and last hearing in the matter;
therefore, the petition is untimely.
For the hearing officer to
have allowed intervention may have necessitated additional
hearings in the matter when the record had then been complete.
t~urthermore,the petition to intervene declares that Mrs. Farmer
was one of the complainants causing the Agency to institute this
enfOrcement action.
The Board notes that disallowing the
petition does not affect the jurisdiction of other tribunals
regarding claims of damage to Petitioner’s property, etc.
The Board accepts the amended Stipulation as presented at
the hearing of February 27,
1980 and incorporates the document by
reference as
if fully set forth herein.
This Opinion constitutes the findings of fact and
conclusions of law of the Board
in this matter.
I,
Christan
L, Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Control Boa~d,hereby certify that the above Opinion was adopted
o~the
Jo
day of
____________________,
1980 by a vote of
c~Id~
Christan L. Mo
i~j,çi,
C erk
Illinois Pollutith
Control
Board