ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
January
11,
1990
IN THE
MATTER
OF:
SAFE DRINKING WATER ACT
)
R88-26
REGULATIONS
)
(Rulemaking)
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
substanceu with USEPA public water supply rules adopted pursuant
to the federal Safe Drinking ;~aterAct
(SDWA).
?he term
“identical
in substance has recently 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 the federal
rule,
unless the Board extends
the tir~ebased
on a finding
that the
time
is insufficient and stating
the reasons.
On August
31,
1989,
the Board entered
an Order extending
the time.
The Board
estimated that
the rules would be adopted during December,
1989.
However, on January 10,
2.990,
the Illinois Environmental
Protection Agency
(Agency) requested a 30 day extension of the
public comment period because of
the complexity
of
this
rulemaking.
The Board has this day granted
the extension.
The
Board therefore needs
to again extend the time
for
adoption
of
these
rules.
As noted
in the August
31,
1989 Order,
the USEPA SDWA rules
are
in
40 CFR 141
et
seq.
These have been the subject
of
numerous
recent amendments,
including two major amendments on
June
29, 1989
(54 Fed.
Reg.
27526 and 27562).
It
is not
immediately obvious at what time the USEPA rules have or will
become,
as
a matter of
federal
law,
ripe for adoption
as
State
rules.
However,
on October
5,
1989,
the Board proposed
rules for
public comment corresponding
with
USEPA rules
through June
30,
1989.
The prop~salappeared on
December
1,
1989,
at
13
Ill.
Reg.
18690.
The public comment period was
to have ended on January
16,
1990,
but has been extended
30 days.
Many of the USEPA rules
involved date back
to December
24,
1975,
long before the mandates of
Sections 7.2 and 17.5 of
the
Act.
It
is
impossible
to literally comply with
the time
requirements
with
respect
to initial adoption of
an already
ongoing federal program.
Also,
the initial adoption of
a program
often involves
a
far greater effort.
The Board estimates that
it
will be able
to adopt final
regulations
in this matter during
March,
1990.
107—161
—2—
The Board also notes
that the number of federally-driven
programs involving large blocks of rules has suddenly expanded
from two (RCRA and UIC)
to at least five (by addition of
Pretreatment, UST,
and SDWA).
The Board has recently received
added funding
for expansion of staff
to manage
these large
rulemakings;
the Board believes that
it will
be able
to return
to schedule as its expanded
sta2.f gains experience.
The Board directs
that these reasons be published
in the
Illinois Register pursuant
to Section 7.2 of
the Act.
IT
IS SO ORDERED.
I, Dorothy
M.
Gunn, Clerk
of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board,
hereby certify~thatthe above Order was adoptedpn
the
//~-
day of
~
1990,
by
a vote
of
7~
I.
A
—~
/Th
I
Dorothy M./~unn, Clerk
Illinois Pt~llutionControl Board
107—162