ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
March 25,
1993
PEOPLE OF THE STATE
)
OF ILLINOIS,
)
Complainant,
)
v.
)
PCB 91-53
(Enforcement)
ENAMELERS
AND
JAPANNERS,
)
INC.,
an
Illinois
corporation,
)
Respondent.
DISSENTING OPINION
(by J. Theodore Meyer):
I dissent from the majority’s order reinstating this case.
Section 42(f)
of the Environmental Protection Act provides that
the Board may award attorney’s fees and costs to the Attorney
General where a person has committed a wilful, knowing, or
repeated violation.
(415 ILCS 5/42(f)
(1992).) A review of the
proposed settlement agreement reveals that although the complaint
asks that the Board impose costs and attorney’s fees,
the
settlement agreement does not even mention costs and fees.
There
is no indication that the issue of costs and fees was discussed
during negotiations, or in any other way considered or sought.
By not seeking to recover the expenses incurred in bringing this
enforcement action, the Attorney General is allowing polluters a
free ride.
Once again,
the taxpayers are pulling the cart,
while
polluters are riding in the cart.
Because the proposed settlement agreement does not even
mention
costs and fees,
I believe that it is unacceptable.
Therefore,
I dissent from the majority’s order reinstating this
case.
I, Dorothy N.
Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Control Board, hereby certify that the above dissent was filed on
the
~
day of
_____________,
1993.
~
A.
Dorothy N. ~unn, Clerk
Illinois P~L1utionControl Board
0
~O-0
189