ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    August 3, 1995
    CITY OF WHITE HALL,
    )
    Petitioner,
    V.
    )
    PCB 96—27
    (Provisional Variance—Water)
    ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
    )
    PROTECTION AGENCY,
    )
    )
    Respondent.
    ORDER OF 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 White Hall has
    requested that the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
    (Agency) recommend that the Board grant a provisional variance to
    allow the City of White Hall to continue operating 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, August 2, 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 White Hall in order to allow it to continue operating during a
    period of repairs to its package activated sludge plant.
    This recommendation is essentially that the Board extend a
    previously—granted provisional variance that expired July 20,
    1995. The docket number of the previous provisional variance was
    PCB 95—138, granted on May 4, 1995.’
    Specifically, the Agency recommends that we grant the City
    of White Hall a (forty—five) 45 day provisional variance for its
    facility located in Greene County, from the requirements
    pertaining to carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand (CBOD5) and
    total suspended solids (TSS) as set forth in 35 Ill. Adm. Code
    304.120(c) and 304.141(a), for the period beginning July 22, 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
    1This provisional variance commenced on June 6, 1995 when
    the package activated sludge plant was removed from service.
    2
    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
    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 White
    Hall a provisional variance from 35 Ill. Adm. Code 304.120(c) and
    304.141(a), on the following conditions:
    1. The variance shall commence on July 22, 1995 and
    continue for a period not longer than forty—five (45)-days;
    2. The petitioner shall notify John Wells of the Agency’s
    Springfield Regional office by telephone, at 217/786—6892,
    when it returns the package activated sludge plant to
    service and the petitioner shall confirm this notice in
    writing within five (5) days, addressed as follows:
    Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
    Bureau of Water
    Wastewater Compliance Assurance Section
    2200 Churchill Road
    P.O. Box 19276
    Springfield, Illinois 62794—9276
    Attention: Mark T. Books
    3. During this provisional variance, the City of White
    Hall shall meet monthly average effluent limits of 25
    milligrams per liter (mg/i) for CBOD5 and 40 mg/i for TSS.
    The City of White Hall shall also meet daily maximum
    effluent limits of 50 mg/l for CBOD5 and 80 mg/i for TSS;
    4. During this provisional variance, the City of White
    Hall shall perform the necessary painting and repairs to the
    3
    package activated sludge treatment plant as expeditiously as
    possible so as to minimize the period of time that the plant
    is out of service.
    The City of White Hall 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 order of the Pollution
    Control Board in PCB 96-27, August 3, 1995.
    Petitioner
    Authorized Agent
    Title
    Date
    IT IS SO ORDERED.
    I, Dorothy N. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
    Board, ~iohereby certify t t the above order was adopted on the
    k~L’dayof _____________________________, 1995, by a vote of
    __________
    7’)
    Dorothy ~J~G~inn,Ci’erk
    Illinois(31bllution Control Board

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