ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
June~23,1992
IN THE MATTER OF:
)
R91—3
SAFE DRINKING WATER ACT UPDATE
)
(Identical
in Substance Rules)
(7—1—91 through 12—31—91)
)
EXTENSION OF TIME
ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by J. Anderson):
Section 17.5 of the Environmental Protection Act
(Act)
requires the Board to adopt regulations which are “identical in
substance” with USEPA drinking water rules adopted pursuant to
Sections 1412(b),
1414(c),
1417(a), and 1445(a)
of the Safe
Drinking Water Act
(P.L. 93-523),
as amended
(SDWA).
The term
“identical in substance” has been defined in Section 7.2 of the
Act.
Section 7.2(b)
of the Act requires the Board to adopt a
rule within one year of adoption of federal rule, unless the
Board extends the time based on a finding that the time is
insufficient and stating the reasons.
It appears that adoption
of the regulations in this docket, already once delayed
(as
explained below), must be further delayed.
The Board is
therefore entering this Order to extend the time.
The USEPA SDWA rules are located at 40 CFR 141 through 143.
These have been the subject of three recent amendments:
56 Fed.
Reg. 636
(Jan.
8,
1991),
56 Fed. Reg. 1556
(Jan.
15,
1991)
and 56
Fed.
Reg.
3578
(Jan.
30,
1991),
in addition to two subsequent,
closely—related federal actions,
at 57 Fed. Reg. 1850
(Jan.
15,
1992)
and 57 Fed. Reg.
24744
(June 10,
1992).
The federal
amendments of January
8,
1991, January 15,
1991, January 15,
1992,
and June 10, 1992 relate to total coliform monitoring.
The
federal amendments of January 30,
1991 are the federal Phase II
rules,
instituting maximum contaminant levels and monitoring
requirements for numerous criteria.
By our order of January 9,
1992,
the Board found that delays
in preparing draft text of a proposed rule warranted an extension
of time.
A Notice of Public Information appeared in the Illinois
Register on February 14,
1992,
at 16 Ill. Reg.
2708.
That notice
explained the delay and estimated that the Board would prepare a
Proposal for Public Comment by March
1,
1992 and complete this
rulemaking by June 4,
1992.
The Board adopted a Proposal for
Public Comment on March 11,
1992,
which appeared at 16
Ill. Reg.
5582,
on April
10,
1992.
Because of unusual difficulties in adapting the federal SDWA
regulations to the Illinois program, further delay in adopting
final rules is unavoidable in this matter.
First,
the Board has
received numerous public comments in response to this proposal
and is engaged in an extensive review of the proposal as a
134—393
2
result.
Second, this is a complex rulemaking,
and clarification
of numerous issues by USEPA is necessary to assuring the
resulting rules are identical in substance to the federal
regulations.
The Agency and the Board have addressed questions
to USEPA for this purpose.
The Board received draft answers in
June to questions addressed to USEPA in November,
1991, and
answers to questions addressed in September,
1991 are still
outstanding.
The unusual posture of this proceeding and the need
to afford USEPA more time to respond with clarifications will
result in additional delay in adopting these rules.
The Board
projects that we will be able to complete Board action on this
rulemaking by October 1,
1992,
for subsequent publication in the
Illinois Register.
For the foregoing reasons, the Board hereby finds that an
extension of time is necessary.
Pursuant to Section 7.2(b)
of the Act, the Board will submit
a copy of the text of this order for publication in the Illinois
Register as expeditiously as possible.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
I, Dorothy M. Gunn,
Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board, do~erebycertify that the above order was adopted on the
__________
day of
~~A~-YI~
,
1992, by a vote of
7-~~
~.
~
Dorothy N. Gi~nn, Clerk
Illinois Pollution Control Board
134—394