ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
August
22,
1991
PEOPLE OF THE STATE
)
OF ILLINOIS,
)
Petitioner,
)
v.
)
PCB 89—157 (B)
(Enforcement)
CLYBOURN METAL FINISHING
)
COMPANY,~
)
Respondent.
CONCURRING OPINION
(by 3. Theodore Meyer):
I
agree
with the majority’s
order
in this
case,
assessing
costs
and
attorney’s
fees
against
respondent.
However,
I
am
disappointed that the affidavit of
costs
filed
by the Attorney
General did not include a full request for all costs incurred while
prosecuting this case.
Section 42(f) of the Environmental Protection Act (Act) allows
the
Board,
under
certain
circumstances,
to
award
“costs
and
reasonable
attorney’s
fees,
including
the
reasonable
costs
of
expert witnesses and consultants...”.
As
I pointed out in my July
11,
1991 concurrence
in this case,
I believe that “costs”
should
include all actual costs, including expenses such as administrative
and support staff time,
and overhead costs.
After all, the time
spent by complainant’s staff in prosecuting this case could have
been used to handle
other matters.
The affidavit filed by the
Attorney
General
included
just
$40
for clerical
costs,
and
no
figure at all for indirect costs
(i.e. utilities, office supplies,
rent,
etc.).
I note that in its proposed guidelines for the new
operating permit system under the Clean Air Act, the United States
Environmental Protection Agency
(USEPA) requires that state permit
programs include permit fees which cover all reasonable direct and
indirect costs of the permit program.
Among the considerations for
setting
these
fees
are
“any
associated
overhead
charges
for
personnel,
equipment,
buildings,
and
vehicles.”
(40
CFR
§70.9(b) (1), proposed at 56 Fed. Reg. 21712, 21779 (May 10, 1991).)
Additionally, federal funding grants include a figure for indirect
overhead
costs.
I
believe that
we. should
follow these
trends
towards
recovering
indirect
costs,
and
broadly
construe
the
statutory language of Section 42(f).
125—311
2
For these reasons,
I concur.
J.~heddoreMeyer
Board Member
I, Dorothy M.
Gunn,
Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board, hereby certify tha~theabove Concurring Opinion
was
filed
on the
,-~“~‘t
day of
4~’çe?~,’
,
1991.
2~
&x~//ie/~
D~rothyM. ,4~nn, Cle~’k
Illinois Pdl4ution Control Board
125—3 12