ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
July 7,
1995
CITY OF MT. VERNON,
)
)
Petitioner,
)
v.
)
PCB 96—1
)
(Provisional Variance—Water)
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
)
PROTECTION AGENCY,
)
)
Respondent.
ORDER QF THE BOARD
(by C.
A. Manning):
Pursuant to Section 35(b)
of the Environmental Protection
Act
(act)
(415 ILCS 5/35(b)), the City of Mt. Vernon
has
requested that the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
(Agency) recommend that the Board grant a provisional variance to
allow the City of Mt. vernon to continue operating in violation
of certain effluent limitations contained in its National
Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)
permit, 1L0027341,
during a period of repairs to its wastewater treatment facility.
Such request for a provisional variance and the Notification of
Recommendation were filed with the Board by the Agency on
Wednesday, July 5,
1995.
Pursuant to Section 35(b)
of the Act,
the Board must issue the variance within two
(2) days of this
filing.
Pursuant to Section 35(b)
of the Environmental Protection
Act
(Act)
(415 ILCS 5/35(b)), the Agency, by and through its
Director, Mary A.
Gade,
seeks a provisional variance for the City
of Mt. Vernon in order to allow it to continue operating during a
period of repairs to the inter—channel gates and the cleaning of
all channels at the wastewater treatment facility.
Specifically, the Agency recommends that we grant the City
of Mt. Vernon a (forty-five)
45 day provisional variance for its
facility located in Jefferson County,
from the requirements
pertaining to carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand
(CBOD5),
total suspended solids
(TSS), ammonia nitrogen, and phosphorus as
set forth in 35 Ill. Adm. Code 304.120(c), 304.123(b), 302.212
and 304.141(a), for the period beginning July
10,
1995
and
continuing for a period not longer than forty-five
(45)-days.
The Agency recommends that the Board grant the requested
provisional variance with specified conditions.
The Agency
agrees that the repairs are necessary.
The Agency anticipates
that the requested provisional variance would have minimal
environmental impact on the receiving stream.
The Agency is
unaware of any public water supplies that the requested
provisional variance would adversely impact.
The Agency
2
maintains that a grant of a provisional variance would violate no
federal laws.
The Agency finds that a denial of the requested
provisional variance would create an arbitrary or unreasonable
hardship on the petitioner.
Provisional variances are by their very nature temporary.
The responsibilities of the Agency and the Board in these short-
term provisional variances are different from the
responsibilities in standard variances.
(~
415 ILCS 5/35
(b)
&
36(c)).
In provisional variances it is the responsibility of the
Agency to make the technical determinations and finding of
arbitrary or unreasonable hardship.
The Board’s responsibility
is to adopt a formal order, to assure the formal maintenance of
the record, to assure the enforceability of the variance, and to
provide notification of the action by a press release.
Having received the Agency recommendation finding that a
denial of the requested relief would impose an arbitrary or
unreasonable hardship, the Board hereby grants the City of Mt.
Vernon a provisional variance from 35 Ill.
Adin.
Code 304
•
120(c),
304.123(b), 302.212 and 304.141(a)
for discharge from its Outfall
001,
on tho following oondition~:
1.
The provisional variance shall conuuence on July 10,
1995 and continue for a period not longer than forty-five
(45)—days;
2.
During this provisional variance, the following
effluent limitations shall be in effect:
Parameter
Daily Maximum
Monthly Average
CBOD5
40 mg/i
20 mg/i
TSS
48 mg/i
24 mg/i
Ammonia Nitrogen
N/A
15 mg/i
Phosphorus
8.0 mg/i
4.0 mg/i
These parameters shall be monitored at the same sample
frequency and sample type as specified in the NPDES Permit;
3.
During this provisional variance, the City of Mt.-
Vernon shall operate its wastewater treatment plant so as to
produce the best effluent practicable;
4.
The petitioner shall notify Byron Marks of the Agency’s
Marion Regional office by telephone,
at 618/993—7200, when
repairs are complete and all treatment units are returned to
service, and the petitioner shall confirm this notice in
writing within five
(5)
days, addressed as follows:
3
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
Bureau of Water
Wastewater Compliance Assurance Section
2200 Churchill Road
P.O. Box 19276
Springfield,
Illinois
62794—9276
Attention:
Barb Conner
The City of Mt. Vernon shall execute a copy of a Certificate
of
Acceptance of
this provisional variance and forward
that
copy
to the Agency addressed as is the written notice required in the
above condition; the petitioner shall forward that copy within
ten (10) days of the date of this order of the Board, and the
Certificate of Acceptance shall take the following form:
CERTIFICATION
I
(We),
hereby accept and agree to be bound by all terms
and
conditions
of the ordcr of the Pollution
Control Board in PCB 96-1, July 7,
1995.
Petitioner
Authorized Agent
Title
Date
IT IS SO ORDERED.
I, Dorothy N. Gunn,
Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board
do hereby certify
t1?~3
the above order was adopted on the
______
day of ____________________________,
1995, by
a vote of
7-0.
Dorothy M.
9iij~in, Clerk
Illinois PoUution Control Board
