ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    February 7,
    1991
    A.KA.
    LAND,
    INC.,
    )
    Petitioner,
    )
    V.
    )
    PCB 90—177
    (Underground Storage Tank)
    ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
    )
    PROTECTION AGENCY,
    )
    Respondent.
    INTERIM ORDER OF THE BOARD
    (by B. Forcade):
    In this proceeding the arguments received have all started
    with the presumption that
    AKA
    is an “owner” or “operator”
    as
    those terms are defined in Subtitle I of
    RCRA,
    and then proceed
    to debate eligibility for certain deductible amounts.
    Subtitle
    I
    of RCRA appears to imply that those who owned
    a facility upon
    statutory adoption or those who operate such facility after
    adoption would be owners or operators.
    If one were to interpret
    the RCRA definitions of owner or operator to exclude those, such
    as AKA, who innocently acquire the property after statutory
    adoption and never operate it as a petroleum dispensing facility,
    what would the impact be on the USEPA approved Illinois program
    for UST control or on the likelihood of clean-up of unused
    underground storage tanks.
    If one were to interpret the RCRA
    definitions to include some category of innocent purchaser who
    never operated the facility would unanticipated RCRA regulatory
    compliance burdens be placed on this category of purchaser?
    Would UST program approval be jeopardized if those who never
    contributed to the fund were allowed to withdraw ftciu it?
    The Board requests additional information from the parties
    as to when and by what specific action
    AKA
    became an owner or
    operator as those terms are defined in Subtitle I or
    RCRA
    (was
    it
    by the act of purchasing the property, by the act of removing the
    storage tanks, etc.),
    and the implications of such a
    determination.
    Therefore,
    the Board orders the parties
    (and
    invites the Petroleum Marketer’s Association)
    to file memoranda
    responsive to the following questions:
    1.
    When and by what action did
    AKA
    become an owner or operator
    as those terms are defined in Subtitle I of RCRA?
    2.
    Will a Board determination finding owner or operator status
    have an impact on AKA,
    arid others similarly situated,
    regarding compliance with the RCRA Subtitle
    I regulatory
    program?
    Will it have an impact on program approval?
    118—25
    7
    2
    3.
    Will a Board Determination denying owner or operator status
    have any adverse impact on the ability of Illinois or USEPA
    to demand clean—up of underground storage tanks on the
    property of innocent purchasers containing such tanks?
    How
    would such clean-ups take place? How quickly?
    Because of the extremely short time frames involved, the Board
    will require these memoranda to be filed not later than 4:30
    P.M., Wednesday, February 13, 1991.
    The Board authorizes filing
    of one copy by facsimile machine at 312—814—3669, with an
    original and nine copies to follow by first class mail.
    IT IS SO ORDERED.
    Board member Jacob D.
    Dumelle was not present.
    Chairman John C. Marlin and Board members 3. Theodore Meyer
    and Joan G. Anderson concurred.
    Board member Michael
    L. Nardulli dissented.
    I, Dorothy M. Gunn,
    Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
    Boar~hereby certj,.fy that the above Order was adopted on the
    7
    day of
    ~
    ,
    1991, by a vote of
    ~/
    ~M~Z~7
    )2~.
    Dorothy M. ~&unn,Clerk
    Illinois P~1lutionControl Board
    118—258

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