ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

May 28,

1987

MORTON THIOKOL, INC~,

)

MORTON CHEMICAL DIVISION,

)

Petitioner,

v,.

)

PCB 86—223

ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL

)

PROTECTION AGENCY,

)

Respondent,.

DISSENTING OPINION (by B~Forcade):

I respectfully dissent from the majority~

In this proceed-

ing,

I do not feel the petitioner has demonstrated

that the

environmental harm

is,

in

fact,

minimal,.

The applicable water quality standard for mercury is 0~0005

mg/i (0~5ug/l)~

35 Ill~Adm,. Code 302~407~The Illinois Envir-

onmental Protection Agency’s (“Agency”)

intensive survey of the

receiving stream

in this proceeding shows apparent violations of

the mercury water quality standard (Agency

Rec,., Attachment A,

Table 2)~ Mercury is present in Morton Thiokol’s effluent and

the highest recorded ambient mercury value is downstream of

Morton Thiokol:

A—i

Approximately 30 yds~

O~25

ugh

upstream from the

Morton Chemical discharge,

Ringwood, Mcflenry Co,.

C—O

Morton Chemical discharge

0b25

ugh

Ringwood, McHenry Co~

C—i

Approximately

C,.l mile

078

ugh

downstream from the

Morton Chemical discharge,

Ringwood, Mcflenry Co,.

C—2

Approximately D~5mile

0.28

ugh

downstream from the

Morton Chemical discharge,

0~5mile SE of Ringwood,

Mcflenry

Co,.

(Agency Rec.,

Attachment A,

Table

2

& Appendix A)

78-186

---

—2—

The 0.78 ugh

value reported

at location

C—.

certainly appears to

be a violation of the 0.5 ugh

water quality standard for

mercury~

I do not believe that this data positively demonstrates that

Morton Thiokol’s effluent is causing or contributing to water

quality violations for mercury~ It does, however, raise serious

questions about whether the environmental impact from that

effluent is indeed “minimal,.”

In the absence of more definitive information on the source

of the mercury and the magnitude of the problem,

I cannot support

a grant of variance which may add to the problem.

The petitioner has the burden to demonstrate that the

economic burden outweighs the environmental

harm,.

Since the

environmental harm has not been demonstrated to be “minimal,” the

petitioner has not made his case,.

S,.~\

I, Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk of

the Illinois Pollution Control

Board, hereby certify that the a

ye Dissenting Opinion was sub-

mitted on the

j/24

day of

_______________,

l987~

fr~.

___

Dorothy M/Gunn, Clerk

Illinois Pollution Control Board

78-187