ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

August 3~,1971

WALTER

R.

SEEGREN

V.

)

PCB71—106

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

ELLIS

E, FUQUA, ATTORNEY FOR WALTER R. SEEGREN

ROGER C,

GANOBCIK, ATTORNEY FOR THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

DISSENTING OPINION

(BY MR. KISSEL):

I disagree with

the opinion of the majority of the Board

and would grant the variance to the Petitioner.

This

case

is

identical to the variance granted to Wachta and Mota,

in which

the Board indicated that its policy was

to allow sewer connec-

tions certainly

in the case where

a building had been complete

and was ready

for occupancy before the date of the sewer ban

(March

31,

1971).

This is certainly the case here.

The Peti-

tioner had already completed two large apartment buildings and

he was merely waiting

for the sewer connection in order

to occupy

the buildings.

To deny him the right to use

the sewer system

after the expenditure of substantial sums of money,

~nd the total

reliance on his right to use

the sewers

is completely

contrary

to all principles of constitutional law,

as

I have previously

outlined in my dissenting opinion in the Wachta and Mota cases.

See Wachta and Mota d/b/a Belle Plaine Subdivision

v.

EPA,

PCB7I-77,

dated August

5,

1971.

The majority denies the variance here because the Petitioner

has installed

a septic field to handle

the wastes from the apart-

ments.

While this may in certain instances be an acceptable alter-

native to depositing wastes into an overloaded sewer system,

there

is no evidence in the record that

it is anything but an ~emergency”

use of the spetic field concept.

The clear testimony in the record

is that the engineer who designed the septic system thought of it

asnan emergency use only and not

to be

a permanent installation.

We do not know whether,

and what kind

of,,

problems will be caused

by the use of this alternative.

By forcing the Petitioner

(and

others who may follow this course), we may be creating more of

a

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health problem by keeping the wastes out of the treatment plants,

than if we allowed the wastes to flow into the plant.

To allow

the s~ptic system here without evidence

as to its effect is akin

to requiring horses be used instead of cars without evaluating

the effect of the horses on the treatment plants.

I, Regina E.

Ryan, Clerk of the Board, certify that Mr.

Richard

J.

Kissel submitted the above dissenting opinion on this

30th

day

of

August

,

1971.

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