RECEIVED
CLERK’S
OFFICE
DEC
2
7
2001
BEFORE THE ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
STATE
~F IWNOIS
Pollution Control Board
SITE REMEDIATION PROGRAM
AMENDMENTS TO
35
IL. ADMIN. CODE
740
TO:
Ms. DorothyM.
Gunn
Clerk ofthe Board
Illinois Pollution Control Board
James R. Thompson Center
100 West Randolph Street
Suite 11-500
Chicago, Illinois 60601
(VIA FEDEX
-
OVERNIGHT)
Mr. Amy Jackson
Hearing Officer
Illinois Pollution Control Board
James R. Thompson Center
100 West Randolph Street
Suite 11-500
Chicago, illinois
60601
(VIA FEDEX
-
OVERNIGHT)
PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that today I have filedwith the Office ofthe Clerk of
the Pollution Control Board the attached Public Comments ofthe Illinois Chapter ofthe
American Institute ofProfessional Geologists in the above-titled matter, a copyofwhich
are hereby served upon you.
Respectfully submitted,
ILLINOIS CHAPTER
AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF
PROFESSIONAL GEOLOGISTS
Dated: December 21, 2001
Illinois Chapter, AIPG
Clayton Group Services
3140 FinleyRoad
Downers Grove, Illinois
60515
(630) 795-3200
By:
~
RonaldB.
St. Jdb~JPresident
IN THE MATTER OF:
)
)
)
)
RO1-27
(Rulemaking
-
Land)
)
)
NOTICE OF FILING
RECEIVED
CLERK’S OFFICE
BEFORE THE POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
DEC 27
200i
OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS
STATE
QF lLLJNOj~
Pollution
Control Board
IN
THE MATTER OF
)
)
SITE REMEDIATION PROGRAM
)
RO1-27
AMENDMENTS
TO
)
(Rulemaking
-
Land)
35
IL.
ADMIN.
CODE 740
)
PUBLIC COMMENTS OF THE ILLINOIS CHAPTER OF THE ILLINOIS
INDIANA
SECTION OF THE
AMERICAN
INSTITUTE OF PROFESSIONAL
GEOLOGISTS
IN OPPOSITION TO CERTAIN PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO
THE
POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD’S
FIRST
NOTICE
PROPOSAL TO AMEND 35 IL.
ADMIN.
CODE 740
My name is Ronald St. John, and I serve as President of the Illinois Chapter ofthe Illinois
Indiana Section ofthe American Institute ofProfessional Geologists
(Illinois Chapter).
The Illinois Chapter respectfully submits its comments on the above-titledmatter.
We oppose the Pollution Control Board’s proposed amendment to
35
Illinois
Administrative Code (IAC) Section
740.405
(b) because it is in conflict with the
Professional Geologist Licensing Act
(225
ILCS
745).
We re4uestthat the Pollution
Control Board delete the proposed amendment to
(35
JAC 740.405 (b)) in its entirety and
allow the matter to be addressed by the General Assembly.
The Pollution ControlBoard’s proposed amendment allows Licensed Professional
Geologists
(LPGs) to conduct Site Remediation Program (SRP) activities under the
supervision of a Licensed Professional Engineer (LPE).
The General Assembly
authorized the regulation and licensing ofProfessional Geologists, and in doing so, did
not require LPGs to practice under the supervision of an LPE.
We hope that the Pollution
Control Board will agree, as it stated in the First Notice forthe
35
IAC Part 732
regulations that it,
“will not allowLPGs
to practice in those areas spec~flcally
reserved
for LPEs,
nor will itallow LPGs to practice in violation ofthe Engineer Act or the
GeologistAct.”
The proposed amendment is also unnecessary because it does not make any material
difference in the current situation as anyone may conduct SRP activities under the
supervision ofan LPE, and there is
no benefit to the public to specifically identify LPGs
in the regulation.
Also, theproposed amendment does not clarify what it means to be supervised by an LPE
as defined in the Environmental Protection Act, where an LPE is “a person, corporation,
or partnership licensed to under the laws ofthis State to practiceprofessional
engineering”.
The potential
exists for the proposed amendment to
create confusion that
LPGs may be supervised by professional engineering corporations and partnerships in
1
addition to Professional Engineers.
Furthermore, the Professional Engineering Licensing
Act defines “Direct Supervision/Responsible Charge” as work prepared under the control
ofa licensed professional engineer orthat work as which the professional engineer has
detailed professional knowledge.
This suggests that an LPE does not need to personally
supervise the work performed, but does need to have detailed professional knowledge of
the work.
It appears that the amendmentwas proposed in an attempt to include LPGs in the SRP
regulations.
However, the Pollution Control Board has determined that the
Environmental Protection Act limits the role ofthe LPG in the SRP.
The Pollution
Control Board has made it clear that itbelieves that the Environmental Protection Act
would have to be amended to allow LPGs to conduct certain activities specifically
reserved forthe LPEs in the Environmental Protection Act.
We request the Pollution
Control Board to allow us to petition the General Assembly to make changes to the
Environmental Protection Act to include LPGs in the Site Remediation Program.
There were comments speculating on the intent ofthe General Assembly with regards to
the role ofthe LPG, but the commenter did not include some ofthe background that is
important to
understandingwhy the General Assembly did not include LPGs in Title
XVII to the Environmental Protection Act.
A brief discussion ofthe timing ofthe
Professional Geologist Licensing Act in relationto
amendments to the Environmental
Protection Act is providedbelow.
The Site Remediation Program was added as Title XVII to the Environmental Protection
Act in 1996.
The General Assembly made the SRP law immediately effective and could
not have included LPGs because there were no
licenses issued
at that time.
TheProfessional Geologist Licensing Act was approved August 18,
1995,
and was to
become effective on July 1,
1996.
However, the implementing regulations were not
finally adopted until October 1, 1997.
These regulations
established the requirements for
application for licensure.
Applications for initial licensure were due by April
1,
1998.
Subsequently, the Department ofProfessional Regulation began issuing licenses.
At the time ofthe passage ofTitle XVII ,the regulations implementing the LPG licensing
program had not been issued, and the Department ofProfessional Regulation could not
issue licenses to Professional
Geologists.
It is likely that the General Assembly did not
include Professional Geologists in the Title XVII becausethere were no licenses issued to
Professional Geologists prior to
1998.
2
