ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
August
15,
1988
MODERN DROP FORGE COMPANY,
)
Petitioner,
v.
)
PCB 88-125
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION AGENCY,
Respondent.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by J.D. Dumelle):
This matter comes before the Board upon
the August 12, 1988
receipt of
an Agency Recommendation filed by the Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency (Agency).
On August
18,
1988 the Agency received
a request
for
provisional
variance from Petitioner, Modern Drop Forge
Company.
The
requested provisional variance sought permission
to
allow exceedence
of site—specific operational noise levels by
operating forging hammers throughout
the night, six nights per
week, during the current period
of extremely hot weather.
Petitioner’s current Site—Specific Operational Levels are
as
follows:
“2)
Modern
Drop
Forge
Company
located
at
139th
Street
and Western
Avenue
in
blue
Island,
Illinois Shall:
A)
Operate
only
twenty—one
for.ging
hammers at any one time;
and
B)
Operate
its
forging
hammers
only
during
the
hours
of
6:00
a.m.
through
midnight.
Mondays
through
Fridays,
and
6:30
a.m.
until
7:30
p.m. on Saturdays.”
The Agency recommendation notes that owing to the extreme
temperatures experienced
this summer, some employees have fainted
from the high temperatures occurring during day—time hours.
Other employees have “walked off the
job and refused
to work
during periods
of extreme heat.”
Petitioner has stated
they are
raced with the prospect
of either, operating during nighttime
hours during periods
of extreme
heat,
or completely shutting down
91—335
—2—
operations during those
times.
Petitioner has already received
requests from the employees’ union to reschedule operations
for
cooler nighttime hours.
There are approximately 1,600 residences potentially exposed
to noise
in
the immediate vicinity of
the company’s operation.
The Agency Recommendation states
that the IEPA agrees with
Petitioner that refusal
to grant the requested variance would
place an arbitrary and unreasonable hardship upon Petitioner.
The Agency concurs that there
is no known technology providing an
economical or technically feasible means of
reducing noise
emissions.
In reviewing the Petition the Agency considered
the
following mitigating factors as asserted by Petitioner:
“First,
the
Petitioner
currently
operates
until
midnight,
six
nights
a
week.
Thus,
by
definition,
the
Petitioner
currently operates
its
forging
hammers
during
nighttime
hours.
Second,
the
Petitioner
proposed
that
it
be
authorized
to operate
throughout
the night
for
a
45 day period when
local
weather
forecasts
call
for
daytime
temperatures
in
excess
of
90°F.
Thus,
nighttime
operations
will
be
limited
to those times when forecasted daytime
temperatures
are
excessive.
Third,
in
1981
when
the
company
filed
its
Petition
for
a
Site—Specific
Operational
Level
authorizing
nighttime
operations,
a
petition
was
circulated
throughout
the community surveying
the nearby residents and found only one person
who
at
that
time
objected
to
the
sound
emanating
from
the
Petitioner’s
nighttime
operations.
In addition,
the Petitioner
will
monitor
local
public
reaction
to
the
provisional
variance
and
report
back
to
the
Agency
concerning
public
reaction
within
fifteen days
of the effective date.”
The Agency recommendation urges this Board
to grant
the
requested provisional
variance from current Site—Specific
Operational Levels;
the Board concurs.
Modern Drop Forge Company
is hereby granted
a provisional
variance from its Site—Specific Operational Level
limits subject
to the following conditions:
a.
This variance shall commence on the date of the Board
Order
and continue for
45 days.
91—336
—3—
b.
During
the variance period,
the Petitioner
is authorized
to
operate up to twenty—one forging hammers on:
Mondays between the hours of 4:00 a.m.
and 12:30
p.m.
and also between the hours
of 6:30 p.m.
and midnight.
Tuesdays through Fridays between the hours of midnight
and
12:30 p.m.
and also between the hours
of 6:30 p.m.
and midnight.
Saturdays between the hours
of midnight and
12:30 a.m.
Sundays
no forging hammers are
to operated.
c.
The Petitioner
shall only schedule nighttime operations
for any week following
the five day National Weather
Service Forecast on Wednesdays predicting temperatures
in excess of 90°F, for any Friday,
Saturday, or Sunday,
during this five day forecast,
for the City of Chicago.
d.
The Petitioner
shall,
after
issuance of this provisional
variance, notify the surrounding residential community
(consisting
of approximately 1600 residents) via First
Class U.S.
Mail of the reason
for and temporary change
in hours
for nighttime operations.
In addition,
the
Petitioner
shall include
in the letter
its phone number
and explain that every fifteen days commencing with the
date of
this provisional variance,
it must
report any
effects
(complaints) concerning
these temporary
nighttime operations to the Illinois Environmental
Protection Agency.
e.
The Petitioner shall make
a written record of
all phone
calls received regarding these temporary nighttime
operations noting
the callers:
name, address, phone
number
and comments.
Any anonymous calls would only
require
a record of
the comments made.
At the
conclusion of each fifteen day period this provisional
variance
is
in effect, the Petitioner shall
send this
written record
to
the following address:
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
Division of Land Pollution Control
Noise Technical Advisor
2200 Churchill Road
P.O. Box 19276
Springfield, Illinois 62794—9276
f.
Within 10 days of the date of this Order, Petitioner
shall execute
a Certificate of Acceptance and Agreement
which
shall be sent
to the address indicated above.
91—337
—4—
This variance shall be void
if Petitioner fails
to
execute and forward the certificate within the ten day
period.
The ten day period shall be held
in abeyance
during any period that this matter
is being appealed.
The form of said Certification shall
be as follows:
CERTIFICATION
I,
(We), Modern Drop Forge Company,
having read the Order of
the Illinois Pollution Control Board,
in PCB 88—125,
dated August
15,
1988, understand and accept the said Order,
realizing that
such acceptance renders all terms and conditions thereto binding
and enforceable.
Petitioner
By:
Authorized Agent
Title
Date
IT IS SO ORDERED.
I, Dorothy M.
Gunn, Clerk
of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board, hereby certify that the above Opinion and Order was
adopted on the
/$‘~
day of
?~-ç~~~r
,
1988 by
a vote
of
1—c
.
Dorothy
M. ~unn,
Clerk
Illinois Pollution Control Board
91—338