ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
February
2,
1989
MINNESOTA MINING AND
)
MANUFACTURING COMPANY,
)
)
Petitioner,
)
)
v.
)
PCB 88—14
)
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
)
PROTECTION
AGENCY,
)
)
Respondent.
JEFFREY C.
FORT AND JAMES J. DeNAPOLI, GARDNER CARTON & DOUGLAS,
APPEARED ON BEHALF OF PETITIONER; AND
SUSAN
J.
SCHROEDER, APPEARED ON BEHALF OF THE RESPONDENT.
OPINION
AND
ORDER
OF
THE
BOARD
(by
B.
Forcade):
This matter
is before the Board on the January 11, 1988
petition and July 12, 1988 amended petition for variance of
Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (‘3M).
3M seeks
relief from Board rules 215.204(c)
and 215.207, which relate to
volatile organic material
(“VOlt’)
emissions,
as they would apply
to 3M production lines at its Bedford Park plant.
The requested
variance term
is from the effective date of these rules, December
24,
1987, see 12 111. Reg.
815
(Jan.
8,
1988), until April 1,
1989.
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (“Agency”)
filed its variance recommendation on August 23, 1988,
and a
revision on September 21,
1988.
The Agency urges that the Board
grant the variance until April
1,
1989, subject to certain
conditions.
The public hearing occurred on November 10, 1988,
and no member of the public attended.
R.
5.
The parties chose
not to submit post—hearing briefs.
See R.
116—19.
I.
Background
3M owns and operates a tape manufacturing plant at Bedford
Park,
in Cook County.
The plant has 11 production lines applying
20
different
coatings
to
paper
and
synthetic
media.
The
plant
originally
had
no controls
for its
VOM
emissions.
R. 11—24.
3M has over the last several years taken several measures to
control
these emissions and maintain compliance.
Prior to 1975,
3M installed thermal oxidizers and reformulated some of its
coatings to control emissions of volatile organic chemicals of
96—13
—2—
regulatory concern at that time.
3M came
into compliance with
the more recent RACT
I regulations, see
3
Iii.
Reg.
iss.
30,
P.
9
(Apr.
13,
1979)
(formerly codified
in significant part at 35
Ill.
Mm.
Code
215.204
& 215.207
(1985)), during 1982.
3M’s mode of
compliance
involved
the installation of an activated carbon
absorption system on one production line, converting another
to
a
solventless coating system, then applying
the then—existing
internal offset rule
for
its uncontrolled production lines.
See
35
Ill. Mm.
Code 215.207
(1987).
3M employed computer
scheduling
of production
runs
to assure compliance,
and
frequently shut down production
runs emitting high levels of
VOM
when the computer
indicated
lower—emitting production runs would
not offset those emissions.
3M took additional
measures
to
assure future compliance by replacing
its thermal oxidizers
before
their obsolescence caused their
failure and by installing
an activated carbon control
on
a previously uncontrolled
line.
3M spent $17,000,000
in controlling
its emissions.
R.
11—29
&
79—80;
Ex.
1.
3M filed
the present action when
the Board
adopted
its RACT
Iii regulations.
See
12 Iii.
Reg.
BlD
(Jan.
8,
1988)
(effective
Dec.
24,
1987;
codified
in significant part as
35
Iii. Mm.
Code
215.207
(1988)).
The RACT III regulations changed
the basis
for
internal offsets
from
a volume—based
to
a solids—based
calculation.
Compare
35
Ill. Mm.
Code 215.207
(1988)
with
35
III. Mm.
Code 215.207
(1985).
3M was one of about
six Illinois
companies
whose compliance status this revision adversely
affected.
Increased production
line shutdowns and scheduling
problems would
have resulted.
In
its participation
in the RACT
III oroceedings,
3M proposed an alternative site—specific rule
that would
have imposed
an absolute numerical limit on
its VOM
emissions,
and offered
to install controls on
its only three
remaining uncontrolled
production lines:
2G,
3G, and 4G.
The
Agency opposed
this alternative,
and
the Board chose
not
to adopt
it.
R.
30—43;
Ex.
3—8.
Immediate compliance with
RACT
III
was
only possible by
a shutdown of production lines
2G,
3G, and
4G.
R.
51
& 93—99.
3M elected
to stay the effective date of the RACT
III revisions long enough
to come into compliance by filing the
instant petition
for variance.
R.
52;
see
Ill.
Rev.
Sta.t.
ch.
111 1/2, par.
1038(b)
(1988).
3M plans to reduce
its VOM emissions below
those permitted
by RACT III as part of
its compliance
plan.
3M plans
to donate
most of
the resulting
emissions credits
to the state
for
improvements
in local
air quality.
R.
57—58;
see
R.
69—71.
Under RACT
I,
3M’s allowable VOM emissions were about 13,000 tons
per year,
and
3M had actual emissions of about
9,000 tons.
RACT
III reduced
3M’s allowable emissions
to about
8,000
tons per
year, and
3M proposed
a numerical leveling as part of
its
proposed site—specific
rule that the Agency and Board
rejected.
3M presently intends
to install controls
on its three uncon-
trolled lines,
2G,
3G, and
4G and plans
to make
improvements
in
96—14
—3—
the controls existing
on lines
29 and 39,
to reduce its overall
emissions to about
4,000
to
5,000
tons per year.
R.
49—51,
54—
62,
69—74,
80,
88—95
& 99.
3M has already obtained
the necessary
construction permits
and acquired and
installed
the thermal
destruction control equipment
for lines
2G,
3G and 4G;
it planned
to have tested
those controls by this date;
and 3M intends
to
demonstrate compliance by April
1,
1989.
R.
82—88;
Ex.
11—16.
3M intends
to complete its continued voluntary efforts
with
regard
to lines
29 and
39 by April
1990.
R.
88—95.
3M has
further agreed
to
separately permit its one solventless
production line,
so
it will
not take emissions credits
for that
line.
Ten
3M lines are therefore subject
to
this proceeding and
Board
rules 215.204(c)
and 215.207.
and all will very soon have
some form of VOM emissions control.
R.
62,
64—65,
73—74
&
99.
II.
Discussion
3M requests variance relief from the effective date of RACT
III until April,
1989.
3M intends
full compliance by that date
and voluntarily plans
to continue
its efforts
to further
reduce
its emissions.
This
is commendable.
The Agency recommends that
the Board grant the requested variance relief with certain
conditions.
Agency Recommendation
at 12—14;
Agency Amended
Recommendation
at 1—3.
3M accepts
the Agency—requested
conditions.
R.
69.
The Agency maintains that “no increase
in
adverse environmental
or health effects will directly result from
3M’s operations during
the pendency of
the petition,”
id.
at
8,
and “agrees
that
3M cannot immediately comply,
...
so
that~
requiring
immediate compliance would
impose
an arbitrary and
unreasonable hardship on
3M.’
Id.
at
9.
The Agency believes
that
USEPA would approve this varfánce
if granted.
Id. at 3—9,
The Board
will grant
the requested variance from 35
III.
Mm.
Code
215.204(c)
&
215.207 from December
24,
1987 until April
1,
1989.
The Board
will
impose Agency—requested conditions on
the variance verbatim.
The
Board notes that the agreed
conditions would impose
a 2.9 pound
per gallon VOM emission
standard as calculated
under
Rule 215.207
ninety days after
installation or upon normal operation of new control equipment
on
any of production lines
2G,
3G,
4G,
29,
or
39.
3M projected at
hearing
that
it would complete the earliest installation on one
production line,
line
2G, on or about November
11,
1988.
3M
intended
to conduct
final
emissions testing
on
all three of lines
2G,
3G, and
4G on
or about December
19,
1988.
R.
82—88.
This
means that the condition emissions standard has applied
to
3M
since
about December
19,
1988,
or that
it will apply about
February
8,
1989.
The
foregoing constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and
conclusions of law
in this matter.
96—15
—4—
ORDER
The Board hereby grants the Minnesota Mining
and
Manufacturing Company
(“3M”)
a variance from 35
Ill. Adm.
Code
215.204(c)
and 215.207, as amended at 12
Ill.
Reg.
815,
840—42
(Jan.
8,
1988), for the period
from December
24,
1987 until April
1,
1989, provided
it fulfills the
following conditions:
I.
Compliance
for Line
69 will
be determined
according
to Section 215.204(c).
2.
Ninety
days
after
installation
of
new
control
equipment on any of Lines
2G,
3G,
4G,
29 and
39 or upon normal
operation of
the new control equipment on any of
Lines
2G,
3G,
4G,
29 and
39,
whichever
occurs
first
for each
line:
a.
Volatile
organic
material
from
the
“adhesive coating”
will
not by—pass
the
thermal
oxidizers
and
the
ther-
mal
oxidizers
will
achieve
95
destruction
efficiency
on
the
cap-
tured
volatile
organic
material,
except
during
malfunction
and
break-
down
as
authorized
by
the
IEPA
operating
permit.
b.
Lines
2G,
3G,
4G,
29
and
39
shall
be
operated
to
achieve
at
least
equi-
valence
with
2.9
lb.
VOM/~allon
using
the
formulas
contained
In
Section
215.207
for
each
product
manufactured,
exce~t
dur ing
mal-
function
and
breakdown
as
authorized
by
the
IEPA
operating
permit.
3.
Control
efficiency
of
the
carbon
absorp-
tion
units
on
Lines
29
and
39
will
be
documented
on
a
daily
basis.
The
thermal
oxidizer
to
be
installed
on
Lines
21-i
and
39
shall
have
a
destruction
efficiency
of
90,
except
during
malfunction
or
break-
down
as authorized
by the
IEPA operating
permit.
4.
3M
shall
submit
to
IEPA every quarter
a
report
describing
in
detail
the
program
made
in
the
previous
three
months
in
the
design
and
construction
of
the
thermal
oxidizers
and
the
improvements
made
to
the
carbon
absorption
units.
96—16
—5—
5.
a.
Quarterly reports
shall be
submitted
to
the
IEPA’s
regional
office
in
Maywood
and
the
Permit
Section
in
Springfield
within
20
days
of
the
end of the quarter.
Illinois
Environmental
Protection
Agency
Division
of
Air
Pollution
Control
The
Intercontinental
Center
1701 First Avenue
Maywood,
IL 60153
Illinois
Environmental
Protection
Agency
Division of Air Pollution Control
Permit Section
2200 Churchill
Road
Springfield,
IL
62702
b.
The
quarterly
report
shall
include
a
summary
of
the
daily
operations
of
the
coating
lines operating pursuant
to
Section
215.207
and
include
the
following
information:
i.
Weighted
average
VOM
content
of
coating
(lb/gallon,
less
water);
ii.
Weighted
average
control
efficiency
for VOM (percent);
iii
Actual VOM emissions (lb/day),
iv.
Allowable
VOM
emissions
(lb/day)
pursuant
to
Section
215.207; and
v.
Actual
VOM emissions
expressed
as
percent
of
allowable,
i.e.,
(actual
divided
by
allowable)
times
100.
c.
The
quarter
report
shall
include
a
summary
of
afterburner
and
carbon
absorption
malfunctions,
with
the
nature
and
duration
of
the
mal-
function,
and
a
description
of
measures
taken
to
prevent
future
occurrences.
96—17
-6-
6.
Within
45
days
after
the
date
of
this
Order,
3M shall execute
and
send
to:
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
Attention:
Susan
Schroeder
Enforcement
Programs
2200
Churchill
Road
Springfield,
IL
62794—9276
a Certificate
of Acceptance
and Agreement
of
this variance by which
it agrees
to be
bound
by
the
terms
and
conditions
contained
herein.
This variance
will
be
void
if
3M
fails
to
execute
and
forward
the
certificate
within
the
45—day
period.
The
45—day
period
shall
be
in
abeyance
for
any
period
during
which
the
matter
is
appealed.
The
form
of
the
certification shall be
as
follows:
CERTIF ICAT ION
I,
(We)
,
having
read
the
Opinion
and
Order
of
the
Illinois
Pollution
Control
Board
in PCB 88—14,
dated February
2,
1989,
understand
and accept
the
said
Opinion
and
Order,
realizing
that
such
acceptance
renders all terms and conditions
thereto binding
and enforceable.
Petitiorier
Authorized
Agent
Title
Date
IT
IS SO ORDERED.
I,
Dorothy
M.
Gunn,
Clerk of
the Illinois
Pollution Control
Board,
hereby
certify
that
the
~bove
Opinion
and
Order
was
adopted
on
the
~
day of ________________________,
1989,
by
a
vote of
7-o
.
//
~_~?1L.
/~
1.
-
~borothy
M./Gunn, Clerk
Illinois -Pollution Control
Board
96—IS