ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

December 2, 1993

THORNTON OIL COMPANY,

)

Petitioner,

v.

)

PCB 93—241

)

(Provisional Variance)

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)), Thornton Oil Company has requested

that the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Agency)

recommend that the Board grant a provisional variance to allow

several of Thornton Oil Company’s gasoline dispensing operations

(service stations) to continue operating even though they did not

install operational vapor recovery equipment by November 1, 1993.

Such request for a provisional variance and the Notification of

Recommendation was filed with the Board by the Agency on Tuesday,

November 30, 1993. Pursuant to Section 35(b) of the Act, the

Board must issue the variance within two (2) days of this filing.

Specifically, the Agency recommends that we grant Thornton

Oil Company a forty-five (45)-day provisional variance for

sixteen (16) of its facilities located in Cook, DuPage, Kane,

Lake, and Will Counties in the Chicago metropolitan statistical

area from the Stage II vapor recovery requirements, as set forth

in 35 Ill. Adm. Code 218.586, for the period beginning November

1, 1993, and continuing for forty-five (45) days or until the

required vapor recovery equipment is installed, whichever comes

first.

The Agency’s provisional variance recommendation states that

Thornton Oil Company has requested a provisional variance on

behalf of numerous of its service stations in the Chicago area,

located as follows:

County

Number of Stations

Cook

9

DuPage

4

Kane

1

Lake

1

Will

1

The addresses of those stations are listed as follows:

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2

County

City or Village Street Address

Cook

Blue Island

12052 South Western Avenue

Cook

Cicero

2351 Cicero Avenue South

Cook

Forest Park

601 South Harlem Avenue

Cook

Franklin Park

2640 )‘lannheim Road

Cook

Oak Forest

14805 South Cicero Avenue

Cook

Orland Park

7600 West 159th Street

Cook

Palatine

100 East Dundee Road

Cook

Park Ridge

1118 Touhy

Cook

Streamwood

2 North Barrington Road

DuPage

Addison

800 West Lake Street

DuPage

Bensenville

1225 Devon Avenue

DuPage

Bloomingdale

190 East Lake Street

DuPage

Villa Park

250 East Roosevelt Road

Kane

North Aurora

322 South Lincoln Way

Lake

Round Lake Beach 180 East Rollins Road

Will

Joliet

1801 West Jefferson Street

Upon receipt of the request, the Agency issued its

recommendation, notifying the Board that the failure to grant thE

requested forty—five (45)—day provisional variance would impose

an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship on Petitioner. The Agency

recommendation states that installation of Stage II vapor

recovery equipment at the Thornton Oil Company facilities is not

possible by the November 1, 1993 deadline for compliance because

Thornton Oil Company has contracted for the installation of vapor

recovery equipment, but that equipment and the crews necessary tc

install it was not available before the compliance deadline.

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) &

(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 notifying the

Board that a denial of the requested relief would impose an

arbitrary or unreasonable hardship, the Board hereby grants

Petitioner a provisional variance from 35 Ill. Adm. Code 218.586,

subject to the following conditions:

1. The term of this provisional variance shall commence on

November 1, 1993, and it shall expire on the date the

Petitioner completes the required installation of vacuum

assist stage ii vapor recovery equipment, or after forty-

five (45) days have elapsed, whichever comes first;

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3

2. The Petitioner shall notify the Agency of the

installation of the vapor recovery equipment, by sending

notification addressed as follows:

Mr. Terry Sweitzer, P.E.

Manager, Air Monitoring Section

Illinois Environmental Protection Agency

Division of Air Pollution Control

P.O. Box 19276

Springfield, Illinois 62794—9276

IT IS SO ORDERED.

I, Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control

Board, do hereby certify that the above order was adopted on the

~ day of ______________________________, 1993, by a vote of

~ç.-

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—~

I

)

Dorothy M. ~Gunn, Clerk

Illinois Pollution Control Board