ill
i NO i
~‘
POLLUTI
ON
CONTROl,
ROAPI)
August
2(
,
19~~)i
I
N
Tin-;
MATTER
LI-’:
PETTTTON
OF
CONVERSiON
SYSTEMS,
)
AS
93—5
INC.
,
FOP
ADJUSTED
STANDAR)
FROM
)
(Adjusted
Standard)
35
iLL.
ADM.
CODE
PART
811
(MONOFILL)
ORDER OF THE
BOAPL)
(by J.
Anderson)
On July
2,
1992,
Conversion Systems,
Inc.
(CSI)
filed
a
motion regarding procedural matters that included
a request that
the Board determine whether an adjusted standard is an
appropriate procedural mechanism for CSI’s petition.
The
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
(Agency) does not object
to CSI’s motion, which accompanied CSI’s petition for an adjusted
standard from 35
Ill.
Adm.
Code 811
(monofill).’
The motion
asserts that this procedural iss~ewas raised by the Agency and
the disagreement has impeded the’ discussions between the Agency
and CSI.
On July 20,
1993,
the Agency filed a response and motion to
dismiss CSI’s petition.
On July 20, CSI filed a response to the
Agency’s motion to dismiss.2
On July 21,
1993,
the Agency filed
a motion for leave to file, which
is granted,
and a modification
to its motion to dismiss.
Letters of support for proceeding with
the adjusted standard were also received from Central Illinois
Public Service Company
(August
2,
1993, August 6,
1993);
Central
Illinois Light Company
(August
3,
1993);
and the City of
Springfield
(August
4,
1993).
On August
5,
1993, CSI filed a
motion for expedited decision,
which we need not rule on
in that
the decision is rendered today.
On the same day,
July
2,
1993,
CSI also filed a
companion petition,
docketed as AS
93-4,
for adjusted standard
from 35
Ill.
Adm.
Code 811
(liner).
The filings
in both dockets
addressed similar procedural matters,
some of which were
addressed
by separate orders of the Board on July 22,
1993.
In
like manner,
the Board will continue here to address the
remaining procedural
issue regarding whether the adjusted
standard
is the appropriate procedural mechanism.
~‘
We note that the Agency and CSI argued this same issue
in
a predecessor docket,
AS 92—9.
In that both CSI and the
Agency again argued the issue
in the present filings,
the Board
will
not review the arguments
in the AS 92-9 record on this
is
S U
e.
2
Alternative
tech
olo!,1re~.
The
Board
views
requests for approval
of
alternate technologies
from the
following
perspective:
a)
consideration
of
new alternate technologies
is
to
be encouraged;
b)
the Board
will
continue to make flexible
use
of
the adjusted
standard,
except
as expressly limited
by
the
statute,
as
a
procedural
vehicle
to bring issues before
it
for consideration on
the merits; and
c)
the merits
of
a petition
is
a separate and
distinct issue
from the procedure used.
Nature of relief sought.
CSI requests Board approval
of its
proposed Poz-O-Tec treatment process to be used on utility ash
and Flue Gas Desulfurization waste,
but limited to where new
landfills are receiving the waste generated by
a particular
utility.
We note that the definition of landfill
in the Board’s
landfill regulations presently does not regulate the surface
impoundments commonly used by most utilities for disposal.~
CSI requests that the Board allow the use of Poz—O—Tec
materials “to be disposed of
in
a monofill
chemical
waste
landfill
without the need for a liner, cap or leachate
collection system,
as has been a commercial practice for the past
seventeen years.t’
(Pet.
at
1.)
Arguments.
This Board order today is not to be construed as
reaching any conclusions about the merits of CSI’s proposal or
any of the merit—related arguments of the parties.
We also note
that we anticipate shortly seeking more information from CSI
pending a more detailed review of the petition.
The Agency’s arguments
in essence assert that an adjusted
standard cannot be granted on other than a site specific basis,
with the operator as a necessary party (although the Agency
acknowledges that the Board’s P1MW regulations allow for
technology-specific adjusted standards that are not site-
specific).
We note that the Agency’s legal arguments paralleled
those put forth
in the companion docket AS 93-4.
CSI argues that it cannot realistically supply site—specific
information regarding the hydrogeology or surrounding land uses
of each site utilizing its Poz—O-Tec,
and does not agree that
it
must do so.
CSI points out that all of the site specific
information the Agency has indicated as necessary must be
The supernatent discharged
from the utility surface
impoundments, commonly called ash lagoons,
is regulated by NPDES
permit.
The Board earlier had held
a number of hearings on
a
proposal of the utilities that included proposed amendments to
the landfill regulations that would regulate ash lagoon disposal,
but the utilities moved
to dismiss
the
proposal
prior to Board
action.
(In
the Matter
of:
IndustLy
Amendments to the
df ill
Regulations
(Parts 810—815J,
dismissal
order
April
9,
1992.)
presented
to
the
I\qen~
-y
before
any
waste
is
accepted
either
in
the
permit
process
or
by
the
report
i nq
required
for
onsite
facil
ities.
Board
c~~clusions.
The
Board concludes that CSI’s petition
for
an adjusted standard
is an appropriate procedural
approach.
While the Board appreciates the “site-specific” tradition,
we
find nothing
in the adjusted standard language,
implicitly or
otherwise,
precluding any person who has developed
a new
alternate technology from seeking approval for its use by others.
Section 28.1 does not limit petitioners to only owners and
operators applying on
a site—by-site basis.
The Board has
provided for,
and granted, adjusted standards
in
a number of
settings,
including those involving the developer or
manufacturer.4
We emphasize that the landfill regulations are drafted to
hold the owner or operator of
a specific site responsible for
compliance with the regulations and any applicable adjusted
standard in all respects,
up to and including compliance with the
non—degradation standard of no contaminant transport beyond 100
feet
in 100 years.
CSI’s petition for adjusted standard is accepted.
We
suggest that Board’s comments in Keystone,
(In the Matter of:
Petition of Keystone Steel and Wire Company for Hazardous Waste
Delisting,
(February
6,
1992,
pp.
8-10), AS 91-1.) may be
especially helpful here,
in that
in this proceeding and the RCRA
delisting in the Keystone proceeding, we share the experience of
dealing with a rather new use of the adjusted standard process.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
C.
A. Manning and B. Forcade dissented.
I,
Dorothy M.
Gunn,
Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board,
hereby certify, that the above order was adopted on the
~
day of
//~
~
,
1993,
by a vote of
_____
/
~.,
~
-
-
-~
Dorothy M.
Gunn,
Clerk
Illinois Pollution Control
Board
See e.
q.,
the adjusted standards
related to: new
alternate technologies
in the P1MW program; the diesel exhaust
program, where AS was granted
to engine manufacturer but vehicle
owner
responsible
for ongoing maintenance.