ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    August 20,
    1993
    PRECOAT METALS,
    )
    Petitioner,
    )
    v.
    )
    PCB 93—149
    )
    (Provisional Variance)
    ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
    )
    PROTECTION AGENCY,
    )
    )
    Respondent.
    ORDER OF THE BOARD
    (by C. A. Manning):
    Pursuant to Section 35(b)
    of the Environmental Protection
    Act
    (Act)
    (415 ILCS 5/35(b)), the Illinois Environmental
    Protection Agency (Agency), by and through its Director, Mary A.
    Gade,
    seeks a provisional variance for Precoat Metals in order to
    allow it to continue operating during malfunction of the prime
    coater afterburner.
    The Agency Recommendation was filed August
    18,
    1993.
    Specifically, the Agency recommends that we grant Precoat
    Metals a 45—day provisional variance for its Cook County facility
    from the volatile organic emissions limitations,
    as set forth in
    35 Ill. Adm. Code 218.207(b) (1)
    and in permit no. 72110973, for
    the period from August 20,
    1993 to October
    3,
    1993.
    The Agency’s provisional variance recommendation states that
    Precoat Metals operated a coil coating line at Chicago,
    in Cook
    County, Illinois.
    In an attempt to increase the destruction
    efficiency of the prime coater afterburner on its coil coating
    line number 4,
    a high temperature limit shut-off switch failed to
    automatically shut down the afterburner, the unit overheated and
    the afterburner became inoperable.
    Upon receipt of the request, the Agency issued its
    recommendation, notifying the Board that failure to grant the
    requested 45—day provisional variance would impose an arbitrary
    or unreasonable hardship on Petitioner.
    Provisional variances are by their very nature temporary.
    The responsibilities of the Agency and the Board in these short-
    term provisional variances are different from the
    responsibilities in standard variances.
    See 415 ILCS 5/35(b)
    &
    (c)
    (1992)
    (Ill. Rev. Stat.
    1991,
    ch.
    111½,
    pars. 1035(b)
    &
    (c)).
    In provisional variances it is the responsibility of the Agency
    to make the technical determinations and finding of arbitrary or
    unreasonable hardship.
    The Board’s responsibility is to adopt a
    formal Order, to assure the formal maintenance of the record, to
    OIL~.6-O
    175
    2
    assure the enforceability of the variance, and to provide
    notification of the action by a press release.
    Having received the Agency recommendation notifying the
    Board that a denial of the requested relief would impose an
    arbitrary or unreasonable hardship, the Board hereby grants
    Petitioner a provisional variance from 35 Ill. Adm. Code
    218.207(b) (1)
    and from special conditions l(a)(i),
    l(b)(i),
    1(b)
    (ii)
    of the permit
    #
    72110973 from August 20,
    1993 to October
    3,
    1993,
    subject to the following conditions:
    1.
    The term of this provisional variance shall commence on
    August 20,
    1993 and expire on October 3,
    1993.
    2.
    During the term of this provisional variance, the
    Petitioner’s shall utilize the afterburner, to the extent
    feasible, especially when using primer coatings which exceed
    2.6 pounds of VOC per gallon.
    3.
    Precoat will determine the temperature and subsequent
    level of control that can currently be achieved by the
    malfunctioning afterburner and will provide this information
    to the Agency within 10 business days after the date of this
    order.
    4.
    Precoat will utilize primer coatings that contain lower
    levels of
    VOC
    per gallon during the period of this
    provisional variance, to the extent feasible.
    5.
    Precoat will use off-shift labor and equipment and any
    other means, to the extent necessary and feasible, to
    expedite the repair of the prime coater afterburner.
    6.
    Precoat will maintain rcords of all coatings used
    during the period of this provisional variance, including
    the VOC content of the coatings, and the resultant
    emissions.
    7.
    Precoat will provide this information to the Agency
    upon termination of the provisional variance.
    The Agency recommendation did not include the customary
    recommendation that the Board grant the provisional variance
    subject to conditions, and the Board does not add conditions to
    the grant.
    IT IS SO ORDERED.
    OIL~.6-OJ76
    3
    I, Dorothy N. Gunn,
    Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
    Board, do hereby certify that the ab~eorder was adopted by the
    Board on the
    L~O’~
    day of _________________________,
    1993,
    by a vote of
    __________.
    0
    Dorothy M. G~jnh;Clerk
    Illinois Po~1utionControl Board
    OU~6-O
    177

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