TLLTNOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    July 20, 1995
    ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL,
    )
    PROTECTION AGENCY,
    )
    )
    Complainant,
    v.
    )
    AC 95—22
    )
    (TEPA #169—95—AC)
    )
    (Administrative Citation)
    CLAYTON G. POPE and
    )
    KAREN N.
    POPE,
    )
    Respondents.
    ORDER OF THE BOARD:
    (by J.
    Yi)
    On March
    23,
    1995
    the Tliinoin Environmental Protection
    Agency (Agency)
    filed this administrative citation against
    Clayton G. Pope and Karen N. Pope alleging violations of Section
    21(p) (1)
    of the Environmental Protection Act
    (Act)
    (415 ILCS
    5/21(p)(1)(1994)..)
    Respondents did not file a Petition for
    Review with the Clerk of the Board within 35 days of the date of
    service as allowed by Section 31.1(d) (2)
    of the Act.
    Pursuant to
    Section 31.1(d) (1)
    of the Act, on Nay 4,
    1995, the Board entered
    a Default Order finding the respondents in violation of the
    Section 21(p) (1)
    of the Act as alleged in the administrative
    citation.
    On June
    12, 1995 the respondents filed a motion to review
    and/or appeal the penalty and alleged wrongdoing described in the
    administrative citation.
    In support of the motion, the
    respondents state that they have tried to keep the property clean
    and that they are not running a dump on the property.
    Additionally, the respondents state that they have posted “no
    dumping” signs at the property and live 25 miles from the
    property so it is difficult to keep it clean.
    Furthermore, the
    respondents assert that they asked the person farming the
    property to watch out for this sort of thing and that it isn’t
    fair to punish them for someone else’s wrongdoing.
    The Agency
    has not responded as of the date of this order.
    Section 41 of the Act and the Board procedural rules provide
    for an appeal of final orders of the Board within 35 days of the
    issuance or those orders.
    The Board entered the detault order on
    Nay 4,
    1995.
    Therefore this motion was to be filed on or before
    June 8,
    1995.
    The Board received the motion, dated June
    1,
    1995,
    on June 12,
    1995.
    Thus the motion was filed late.
    Regardless of whether the Board accepts the late filing, the
    respondents have neither raised the defense of uncontrollable
    -J
    circumstances nor denied that the alleged open dumping occurred
    on their property.
    The Board has held that the property owners
    are responsible for open dumping causing the occurrence of
    litter.
    (See,
    IEPA v. Omer Thomas, January 23,
    1992
    AC 89-215;
    IEPA v.
    A.
    J.
    Welin, PCB 80—125, May 13,
    1982, 47 PCB 7; IEPA V.
    Village of Port Byron, PCB 72-67, October
    24,
    1982,
    6 PCB 9; EPA
    V. Dobbeke et al., PCB 72-130, August 22,
    1972,
    5 PCB 219; EPA v.
    Village of Darnad, PCB 74-381, March
    6,
    1975,
    16 PCB 13; and
    ~PA
    v. Maney et al., PCB 79-262, August 31,
    1990,
    39 PCB 363.
    The
    Board has also found that the Act,
    by its terms, does not
    envision a properly issued administrative citation being
    dismissed or mitigated because a person is cooperative after its
    issuance or voluntarily cleans up the site.
    (See,
    IEPA v. Jack
    Wright,
    (August 30, 1990), AC 89—227,
    114 PCB 863 and IEPA v.
    Dennis Grubaucih,
    (October 16,
    1992), AC 92-3,
    136 PCB 425.)
    Additionally, the Board’s authority to vacate a default
    order is limited by statute, which has built-in time constraints
    for the complainant, the respondent and this Board.
    Section
    31.1(d) (1) states:
    If the person named in the administrative citation fails to
    petition the Board for review within 35 days from the date
    of service, the Board shall adopt a final order, which shall
    include the administrative citation and findings of
    violation as alleged in the citation, and shall impose the
    penalty specified in subdivision
    (b) (4)
    of Section 42.
    The respondents failed to respond to the Agency’s “Administrative
    Warning Notice” issued July 15, 1994 and failed to respond to
    this administrative citation which was issued March 16, 1995 and
    received by respondents on March 22,
    1995.
    The Board in this
    case, based on these facts, declines to exercise any authority it
    may have to vacate a default order after the statutory time to
    appeal the administrative citation has expired.
    The motion is
    denied.
    IT IS SO ORDERED.
    I, Dorothy N. Gunn,
    Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
    Board,.,hereby certi~3flhatthe above order was adopted on the
    c~?a~dayof
    NA.-e
    _--
    ,
    1995, by a vote of
    ~ —o
    ~77
    (7
    (J
    ~
    ~
    ‘
    Dorothy N./5i~1nn,clerk
    Illinois rcfLlution
    Control Board

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