ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

April

7,

1971

CITY OF SPRINGFIELD

V.

)

PCB

#70

—

55

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

Supplemental Comments

by Samuel

R. Aldrich, Board

Member

I support and voted for

the Opinion Of The Board

(by Mr.

Currie)

but

I disagree with

the distinction made between municipalities

and industries or individuals, paragraph

2, page

6 of the opinion.

The opinion states:

“If the City were

a private individual or

corporation,

we think

a penalty

in the amount of perhaps $20,000

would be appropriate.”

The fine levied by

the Board was $1,000

and the justification for not assessing $20,000 was that it

punishes

the relatively innocent public and uses up municipal

revenues which are limited.

The iflference is that assessing a

penalty against an individual or corporation

is different,

In

my view this is an oversimplification.

While it can be argued with

some justification that

the penalty on an individual or industry

cannot be as easily passed along directly to users

of the goods or

services because of possible competition by other suppliers,

the

aggregate effect of assessing larger penalties will

be to increase

the burden on the public

as surely as in the case of penalties

for municipalities.

~

~

Samuel

R. Aldrich

Member,

Illinois Pollution Control Board

I Regina E.

Ryan,

Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control Board

certify that Dr.

Samuel

R. Aldrich submitted the above opinion on

7

day of April,

1971.

Illinois

lution Control Board

1

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406