ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

March

67

1980

ILLINOIS

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,

Complainant,

v,

)

PCB

79-77

RANDOLPH COUNTY

LANDFILL

AND SALVAGE,

INC

a Delaware corporation;

S

& L SANITATION,

INC.,

a Missouri corporation;

ROGER

L, RINNE;

LARRY G. HENDERSON;

and JOHN C. HENDERSON,

Respondents.

MR. PATRICK J. CHESLEY, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL, APPEARED ON

BEHALF OF THE COMPLAINANT.

MR. ARLIE E.

TRAUGHEER, ATTORNEY AT LAW, APPEARED ON BEHALF OF

RESPONDENTS RANDOLPH COUNTY LANDFILL AND SALVAGE, INC.,

LARRY G. HENDERSON, AND JOHN

C.

HENDERSON.

MR. GERALD

S.

REED, ATTORNEY AT LAW, APPEARED ON BEHALF OF

RESPONDENTS

S

& L SANITATION,

INC. AND ROGER L.

RINNE.

OPINION

AND

ORDER OF THE BOARD

(by Mr. Werner):

This matter comes before the Board on the April

5,

1979

Complaint brought by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency

(“Agency”).

On May 17, 1979, the Agency

filed

a Motion to Amend

its Complaint and an Amended Complaint.

On May 24, 1979,

the Board

granted the Complainant’s Motion to Amend the Complaint.

The Amended Complaint alleged that,

on various specified dates,

the Respondents operated a solid waste management site with:

(1) inadequate daily cover;

(2) improper unloading,

spreading and

compacting of refuse;

(3) insufficient equipment, personnel and

supervision;

(4)

inadequate final cover;

(5)

unauthorized acceptance

of sludges;

(6) uncollected litter; and

(7)

inadequate measures

to

control leachate,

in violation of Rules

301,

303(a),

303(b),

304,

305(a),

306,

310(b)

and 314(e)

of Chapter

7:

Solid Waste Regulations

(“Chapter

7”)

and Section

21(b)

of the Illinois Environmental Protec-

tion Act

(“Act”).

(Stip.

3—6).

On July

2, 1979,

Respondents Larry

G.. Henderson and John C.

Henderson filed a Motion to Dismiss the Complaint against them.

On

July

5,

1979, the Agency requested an extension of time until July 20~

1979

to file a Response to the Respondent’s Motion to Dismiss.

37—455

---

On July 12,

1979, the Board granted the Agency’s motion.

The Agency

filed

an Objection to the Motion to Dismiss on July 12,

l979~.

On

July 26, 1979,

the Board denied

the

motion of Respondents Larry

G.

Henderson and John C. Henderson that they be dismissed from

this

case.

A hearing was held on November 5,

1979.

The Agency,

Randolph

County Landfill

& Salvage,

Inc., Mr. John C. Henderson, and Mr.

Larry G. Henderson entered into a stipulation and filed their State-

ment of Stipulated Settlement on November 13,

1979,

Respondents

S

&

L Sanitation, Inc.

and Mr.

Roger Rinne did

not

enter into

the

stipulation.

Randolph County Landfill and Salvage, Inc.

(“Randolph”)

is

a

Delaware corporation which owns

a 60 acre tract of

land located

about 1-1/2 miles southeast of Sparta, Randolph County,

Illinois.

(Stip.

2).

It

is stipulated that Randolph operated a solid

waste

management site

(“site”) on this tract of land until sometime

shortly after the summer of 1977 when it leased the site to

S

& L

Sanitation,

Inc.

(“S

& L”), which then proceeded to operate

the

sanitary landfill on this~propertyuntil

1978,

(Stip.

3;

R. 15-16;

R.

47-48).

Various compliance problems arose during the period

when S

& L operated the site.

However, these problems were subse-

quently corrected after Randolph came back in, resumed control over

the

site,

and took over actual operations.

(Stip,

6).

Mr.

Roger

L.

Rinne, Mr. John C. Henderson, and Mr. Larry 0.

Henderson are on

the

Board of Directors of S

&

L.

Mr. Rinne

owns

51

of the common stock of

S

& L; Mr. John Henderson owns 24-1/2

of

the

common stock of S

& L; and Mr. Larry Henderson owns 24-1/2

of

the

common stock of S

& L.

(R,

15;

R.

21;

R.

23—24).

5

& L has

no

preferred stock or other classes of stock outstanding,

John

Henderson and Larry Henderson are brothers,

Mr.

Rinne is the

Pres-

ident of S

& L, John Henderson is the Vice-President, and Larry

Henderson is the Secretary-Treasurer.

Mr. Larry G. Henderson

was

a

Director of

S

& L and an Officer of S

& L

(i.e., Secretary-Treasurer)

at

all times material to the Amended Complaint up until approximately

July of 1978.

(Stip.

2).

S

& L Sanitation, Inc.,

a Missouri

corporation

formed in

1975,

is

currently in bankruptcy.

(See: Board

Order of January 24, 1980 in PCB 79-76).

Mr. Clarence S. Henderson

(the father of John and Larry

Henderson)

has been the Chairman of the Board of Directors of

Randolph

for the past

2 years

and, prior to

that,

was the

President

of Randolph.

(R.

46-47),

Mrs. Clarence S. Henderson is currently

President of Randolph.

Mr. Claude Fraley,

the brother-in-law of

Clarence Henderson,

has worked for Clarence Henderson since 1931

and his son,

Mr.

Marvin Fraley,

is the main equipthent operator at

the landfill site.

(R.

32;

R.

50).

At the hearing, there was conflicting testimony.

Mr. Roger

L.

Rinne testified that,

as President of S

& L,

the majority of his

time was spent in management of the routes and collection crews,

and

that

he had very little participation in the day-to-day operations

—3—

of the landfill.

(R. 59-60;

R.

63-64).

Mr. Rinne stated that he

delegated his authority to John Henderson to control matters at the

landfill, since the site was on the property owned by John Henderson’s

father and the Henderson family was around the landfill at all times

and had first-hand knowledge of what was going

on.

(R,

17-18;

R,

60).

On the other hand, Mr. .John C. Henderson,

P,E,, testified that his

primary duty was to provide technical assistance

when permits were

needed for

S

& L

(and not

to

manage the day—to-day corporate oper-

ations),

(R.

28-29),

Mr. Henderson stated that Mr. Rinne controlled

the operation of this site with the assistance of Mr. Earl Bryant,

the

landfill manager.

(R.

24-28).

In ascertaining the liability of S

& L Sanitation,

Inc. and

Mr.

Roger

L. Rinne, the Board notes that

S

& L, as

a closely-held

corporation, appears to have been,

in

essence,

a loosely—run family

business with close ties,

interlocking working relationships, and

numerous informal interpersonal and reciprocal business arrangements

with Randolph County Landfill and Salvage,

Inc.

On cross—examination, Mr.

Rinne admitted that he was personally

involved with the landfill operations to the extent that he:

(1)

delegated the day-to-day operations to John Henderson;

(2) sent

in Mr. Earl Bryant when there were problems;

(3)

fired Marvin

Fraley;

(4)

called the Agency to come out and make inspections to

see

if problems had been rectified; and

(5) was personally present

at the site on at lease

4 occasions when the Agency inspected it in

a period of a little over a year.

(R,

64-65).

The testimony at the hearing indicated that whenever compliance

problems developed and were brought to Mr. Rinne~sattention, he

acted in good

faith

to take whatever actions he felt necessary to

attempt to correct the situation.

However, these good

faith efforts

were apparently unsuccessful, and the compliance problems were only

rectified after Randolph came back in and took over the landfill

operations.

It

is stipulated that:

(1)

conditions at the site have

greatly improved since Randolph has resumed control over the sanitary

landfill, and

(2) Randolph is currently operating the site in

substantial compliance with the Board’s Solid Waste Regulations and

the Act.

(Stip.

6).

The

Board believes that the record conclusively demonstrates that

Mr.

Rinne, who owns

51

of the common stock of S

& L and has legal

control over the corporation, in his capacity as a Director and

President of S

& L had actual knowledge and notice of various

violations of the Board~sSolid Waste Regulations and the Act.

Accordingly,

the Board will impose

a penalty of $500.00 against

Respondent Roger L. Rinne.

While

S

& L is clearly liable for its corporate acts,

the firm

is currently in bankruptcy.

Because the imposition of punitive

measures against this corporate entity would merely serve to reduce

the funds ultimately available for distribution to creditors, the

Board will assess no penalty against

5

& L Sanitation,

Inc.

37—457

---

—4--

The proposed settlement agreement provides that the Respondents

admit the allegations charged in the Amended Complaint and agree to

pay various

stipulated penalties.

In evaluating the enforcement

action and the proposed settlement agreement, the Board has taken

into consideration all the facts and circumstances in light of the

specific criteria delineated in Section 33(c)

of the Illinois

Environmental Protection Act.

The Board finds the stipulated agree-

ment acceptable under Procedural Rule

331 and Section 33(c)

of the

Act.

The Board finds that all of the Respondents have violated

Rules

301, 303(a), 303(b),

304,

305(a), 305(c)

,

306,

310(b)

and

314(e)

of Chapter

7:

Solid Waste Regulations and Section 21(b)

of

the Act.

The stipulated penalties

of $250.00 are assessed against

Randolph County Landfill and Salvage,

Inc. and Mr.

John C. Henderson

A stipulated penalty of $100.00 is assessed against Mr. Larry

0.

Henderson.

A penalty of $500.00 is

imposed against Mr.

Roger

L.

Rinne,

This Opinion constitutes

the

Board’s findings of fact and

ORDER

It is the Order of the Illinois Pollution Control Board

that:

1.

Respondents Randolph County Landfill

& Salvage, Inc.,

S

& L Sanitation,

Inc.,

Roger

L.

Rinne, Larry

G. Henderson, and

John C.

Henderson have violated Rules

301,

303(a),

303(b),

304,

305 (a)

,

305(c)

,

306, 310 (b)

,

and 314 Ce)

of Chapter

7:

Regulations and Section 21(b)

2.

Respondent Randolph County Landfill

& Salvage, Inc.

pay a stipulated penalty of $250.00

3.

Respondent John C. Henderson shall pay a stipulated penalty

4.

5.

Respondent

Roger L. Rinne shall pay a penalty of $500.00

6.

Within 45 days of

the date of this

Order,

the Respondents

Illinois, pay the previously indicated penalties, which are to be

Illinois Environmental Protection Agency

2200 Churchill Road

Springfield, Illinois

62706

---

—5

7.

Respondents Randolph County Landfill

& Salvage,

Inc.,

Larry 0.

Henderson, and John C. Henderson shall comply with

all the

terms

and conditions

of the Statement of Stipulated Settlement

filed on November 13, 1979, which is incorporated by reference as

if fully set forth herein.

Dr. Satchell concurs.

Mrs. Anderson abstains.

I, Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of

the

Illinois Pollution Control

Board,

h reby certify that

th

above Opinion and Order were adopted

on the ~~~day

of

1980 by a vote of

~.

I

Pollutioi

Board

37—459