ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
August 30,
1990
IN THE
MATTER
OF:
THE PETITION OF BORDEN CHEMICALS
AND PLASTICS OPERATING LIMITED
)
PARTNERSHIP
(FORMERLY BORDEN
CHEMICAL COMPANY) FOR A SITE-
)
R86—14
SPECIFIC RULE CHANGE REGARDING
)
(Rulemaking)
WASTEWATER DISCHARGES INTO AN
UNNAMED TRIBUTARY OF LONG
POINT SLOUGH
PROPOSED RULE
SECOND NOTICE
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE
BOARD
(by B.
Forcade):
This matter
comes before the Board on a petition filed March
31,
1986 by Borden Chemicals Company, now before the Board as
Borden Chemicals and Plastics Operating Limited Partnership
(“Borden”).
(See Order of August
4,
1988.)
Borden seeks site—
specific
relief from the Board’s effluent limitations for total
dissolved solids (“TDS”) and for chloride and from the require-
ment
that no effluent shall
cause a violation of applicable waLer
quality standards.
35
Ill. Mm.
Code 302.208 and 304.105.
Borden’s discharges originate at its Illiopolis, Illinois plant
and are primarily attributable to wastewater from the air
pollution control equipment which Borden began operating
in 1978.
On June
7,
1990,
the Board adopted for second First Notice,
its Proposed Rule, Opinion and Order
in this site—specific
rulemaking.
Notice was published
in the Illinois Register as
Part 303.431
at
14
Ill. Reg.
9784,
effective June
22,
1990 and
Part 304.211 at
14
Ill. Rea.
9700,
effective also June
22,
1990.
The 45—day comment period ended on August
6,
1990.
The
Board has received comments
from both the Illinois Environmental
Protection Agency (“Agency”)
and Borden.
It
is on this basis
that the Board now proceeds
to Second Notice.
Procedural History
The merit hearing was held on December
10,
1986
in
Springfield,
Illinois.
The Economic Impact Study
(“EcIS”) was
filed by the Department
of Energy and Natural Resources
(“DENR”)
on October
17, 1988.
The hearing on the
EcIS was held on January
10,
1989.
On February
22,
1989,
the Agency filed
its comments
and Bcrden filed
its Response
to Hearing Officer’s Request
for
Information.
The Board’s First Notice Opinion and Order
was
issued on February
8,
1990.
On April
12,
1990,
the Agency
submitted comments
to the Board’s First Notice Opinion and
11
!~
—
~
1
Q
—2--
Order.
On April
18,
1990, Borden filed its Response to the
Agency Comments
to First Notice.
As a result
of First Notice
Comments,
the Board deemed
it appropriate
to issue
a second First
Notice Opinion and Order on June
7,
1990,
to which
the Agency and
Borden responded on August
6,
1990.
On August
8,
1990,
comments
were also received from the Administrative Code Unit
of
the
Office of
the Secretary of State suggesting minor language
changes.
Discussion
Three principal issues were raised in the second First
Notice comments:
(1)
the particular section(s)
of the Board’s
regulations which should be amended
to provide site—specific
relief;
(2) the specific numeric limitations for chloride and
total dissolved solids
(“TDS”); and
(3)
the use of average
monthly limitations
for these discharges.
The Board will address
each of these issues separately.
1.
Form of Regulatory Relief
In the second First Notice Opinion, and Order dated May 24,
1990,
the Board proposed amendments
to the water quality
provisions
of
35
Ill.
Adm. Code
303 and to the effluent standards
of
35
Ill. Adm. Code
304.
This represented a change from the
Board’s
First Notice Opinion and Order of February
8,
1990, which
provided regulatory relief by amending only Part
304 Effluent
Standards.
The second First Notice proposal specifically
incorporated
the Agency’s suggestions
in First Notice Comments
filed April
12,
1990 that:
(1)
relief should be structured.in
the form of amendments
to both Part
303 and Part
304;
and
(2)
monthly average effluent limitations should be established
in
addition to the specified maximum daily concentrations.
(See
R86—l4,
second First Notice Opinion and Order, pp.
2—4, May
24,
1990.)
The second First Notice proposal provided new Section
303.431 and 304.211 as follows:
Section 303.431* Long Point Slough and Its Unnamed
Tributary
The general use water quality standards
for total
dissolved solids and for chloride contained
in Section
302.208
shall
not apply to Long Point Slough and its
unnamed
tributary,
which receive discharges
from the
Illiopolis,
Illinois facility of Borden Chemicals and
Plastics Operating Limited Partnership,
from the outfall
of that facility to the point
of
the confluence of
the
unnamed tributary downstream with the Sangamon River.
Instead
this water
shall comply with
a total dissolved
solids standard of
2,500 mg/l and a chloride standard of
800 mg/l.
Ii4-~21i
—3—
Section 304.211
Discharges From Borden Chemicals and
Plastics Operating Limited Partnership
Into an Unnamed Tributary of Long Point
Slough
The effluent standards
for total dissolved solids and
chloride discharged from the Illiopolis,
Illinois
facility of Borden Chemicals and Plastics Operating
Limited Partnership into an unnamed tributary of Long
Point Slough shall comply with the following effluent
limitations as measured at the point of discharge to the
unnamed tributary:
Total Dissolved
2,500 mg/i daily maximum
Solids
2,200 mg/i monthly average
Chloride
800
mg/i
daily maximum
700 mg/i
monthly average
In comments
filed on August
6,
1990,
the Agency suggested
that,
in lieu of new Sections 303.431 and 304.211 above,
amendment of Part 303 alone “adequately addresses the changes
in
both water quality and effluent standards applicable
to Borden’s
Illiopolis facility.”
Agency Recommendation,
p.
3.
The Agency
recommended structuring the requested relief with the following
regulatory language:
Section 303.431
Long Point Slough and
Its
Unnamed Tributary
a.
This
second
applies
only
to
Long
Point
Slough and
its unnamed tributary from the
point
of
Borden
Chemicals
and
Plastics
Operating
Limited
Partnership’s
Illiopolis
Plant’s
discharge
to
the
confluence
of
Long
Point
Slough
and Old
River.
b.
The General
Use
water
quality
standards
for
total
dissolved
solids
and
for
chloride
contained
in
Section
302.208
shall
not apoly
to
Long
Point
Slough and
its
unnamed
tributary
as described above
in
subsection
(a)
.
Instead,
this water
shall
c~p1y
with
a
total
dissolved
solids
standard
of
3000
mg/i
and
a
chloride standard of 900 mg/l.
—4—
c.
Section 304.105
shall
not
apply
to
total
dissolved
solids
and
chloride
discharge
by
Borden
Chemicals and Plastics Operat-
ing
Limited
Partnership
as
described
in
subsection
(a),
so
long
as
effluent
discharged
from
the
facility
complies
with
the
following
effluent
limitations
as measured at
the point
of discharge
to
the unnamed tributary:
Daily Maximum
Total Dissolved Solids
3000 mg/l
Chloride
900 mg/i
As can be seen,
the proposed Section 303.431(c)* would impact
the
regulatory provision found
in Section 304.105 that effluent
discharges shall
not cause
a violation of
an applicable water
quality standard.
The Agency’s proposed subparagraph
(C)
would
provide relief for Borden from this requirement governing
effluent discharges as an amendment to Part 303, Water Use
Designations and Site—Specific Water Quality Standards.
This
relief from effluent limitations may also be placed, within Part
304, Effluent Standards.
The regulatory structure proposed by the Agency has been
used in the past in the case of Marathon Petroleum Company,
R87—2
Opinion and Order,
Sept.
13,
1989.
However,
the Board
is
persuaded that the format used in the second First Notice
proposal
is more appropriate here, and
it
is consistent with the
relief
fashioned in the Board’s recent rulemaking, Site—Specific
Limitation
for the Modine Manufacturing Company Facility,
Ringwood,
Illinois, R87—36, Opinion and Order, May
24,
1990.
The
Board also notes
that to restructure the relief
at this late date
might require
a
third First Notice and consequent
delays for
procedural objectives only.
As stated in the Board’s May 24,
1990 Opinion and Order
(p.
3)
in this matter,
the Agency has also
indicated that USEPA might also find acceptable
the regulatory
structure proposed at second First Notice,
and,
therefore,
further language revisions would appear unnecessary at this
time.
2.
Numeric Limitations
on
Effluent Discharges
The separate comments received from both the Agency and
Borden both support
a modest
increase in the numeric limitations
for TDS and chloride concentrations.
Rather than
the initially
*
The Agency’s August
6,
1990 filing referred to Section 303.341
which
the Board concludes was
a typographical error.
I 1~-~)22
—5—
proposed daily maximums of 2,500 mg/l and 800 mg/i for TDS and
chloride,
respectively,
~he participants strongly recommend that
the limitations be set
at
3,000 mg/i for TDS and 900 mg/l for
chloride.
The Board has previously found that absence of
significant environmental harm and the extreme costs of
compliance support the permanent relief requested.
Furthermore,
Borden has provided historical data showing that the initially
proposed numeric limitations would be exceeded periodically
resulting in violations of the newly established standards.
The
Board
thus
finds that the numeric limitations
should be increased
as
requested by the participants.
3.
Monthly Average Limitations
At second First Notice,
the Board proposed a substantial
change from the First Notice proposal
in direct
response to the
Agency’s comments filed on April
12,
1990.
The Board
imposed’
monthly average effluent limitations
as requested by the
Agency.
Now, after
further consideration and discussion with
Borden,
the Agency has concluded that monthly average limitations
are not necessary
to protect the receiving stream.
Borden also
opposes the imposition of this requirement.
The Board observed at second First Notice that “some level
of monthly average limitations are ordinarily appropriate in
conjunction with daily maximum limitations
to regulate the total
effluents received into waters of the State.”
Opinion and Order,
May 24,
1990
(p.
4).
While this remains
true,
the participants
are
in agreement that the lack of environmental harm supports
a
finding
that monthly average limitations are not required here.
Since
the Agency asserts that the daily maximum discharge “does
not impair
the water quality
of
the receiving stream,” the Board
will concur with the Agency’s revised position.
(See Agency
Comments,
August
6,
1990,
p.
2.)
Conclusion
As
a result
of second First Notice Comments and for the
foregoing reasons,
the Board finds
that
the Agency and Borden
have provided sufficient
support
for increasing
the numeric
limitations
for
TDS and chloride discharges and
for deleting the
monthly average
limitations.
The Board therefore proposes for
second notice the following amendments
to Parts
303 and
304:
Section 303.431
Long Point Slough and
Its Unnamed
Tributary
The general use water quality standards
for total
dissolved solids and
for chloride contained in Section
302.208 shall not apply
to Long Point
Slough and its
unnamed tributary, which
receive discharges from the
114- ~23
—6—
Illiopolis, Illinois facility of Borden Chemicals and
Plastics Operating Limited Partnership, from the outfall
of
that facility to the point of the confluence of the
unnamed tributary downstream with the Sangamon River.
Instead this water shall comply with a total dissolved
solids standard of
3,000 mg/l and a chloride standard of
900 mg/i.
Section 304.211
Discharges From Borden Chemicals and
Plastics Operating Limited Partnership
Into an Unnamed Tributary of Long Point
Slough
The effluent standards for total dissolved solids and
chloride discharged
from the Illiopolis,
Illinois
facility of Borden Chemicals and Plastics Operating
Limited Partnership into an unnamed tributary of Long
Point Slough shall comply with the following effluent
limitations as measured at the point
of discharge
to the
unnamed tributary:
Total Dissolved
3,000 mg/l daily maximum
Sol&ds
Chloride
900 mg/i
daily maximum
ORDER
The Board hereby proposes for Second Notice the following
amendments
to
35
Ill. Adm. Code
303 and 304 and directs the Clerk
to file these with the Secretary of State.
Section 303.431
Long Point Slough and Its Unnamed
Tributary
The general use water quality standards
for total dissolved
solids and for chloride contained in Section 302.208 shall
not
apply
to Long Point Slough and its unnamed tributary,
which
receive discharges from the Illiopolis,
Illinois facility of
Borden Chemicals and Plastics Operating Limited Partnership,
from
the outfall of that facility to the point of the confluence
of
the unnamed tributary downstream with the Sangamon River.
Instead this water shall comply with a total dissolved solids
standard of 3,000 mg/i and
a chloride standard
of 900 mg/l.
Section 304.211
Discharges From Borden Chemicals and Plastics
Operating Limited Partnership Into an Unnamed
Tributary of Long Point Slough
I
l’/,—~~24
—7—
The effluent standards
for total dissolved
solids and chloride discharged from the
Illiopolis, Illinois facility of Borden
Chemicals and Plastics Operating Limited
Partnership into an unnamed tributary of Long
Point Slough shall comply with the following
effluent limitations as measured at the point
of discharge
to the unnamed tributary:
Total Dissolved
3,000 mg/i daily maximum
Solids
Chloride
900 mg/i
daily maximum
IT
IS SO ORDERED.
I, Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board, hereby certify that the above Pro~posedRule,
Second Notice
Opinion
and
Order was adopted on the
—~~~day
of
,
,
1990,
by a vote of
_________.
i~.
,‘~-~-
Dorothy
M. ,~ünn,Clerk
Illinois PS-llution Control Board
I i~--~)25