ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    March 18, 1999
    DYNACHEM, INC.,
    Petitioner,
    v.
    ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
    PROTECTION AGENCY,
    Respondent.
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    PCB 99-131
    (Permit Appeal - RCRA, NPDES)
    ORDER OF THE BOARD (by C.A. Manning):
    On March 15, 1999, DynaChem, Inc. (DynaChem) filed a petition for review which
    seeks review of two distinct permitting situations. Each permitting situation involves
    DynaChem’s chemical manufacturing facility located on Maple Grove Road, Georgetown,
    Vermilion County, Illinois. The Board’s disposition of each portion of the petition follows the
    description of the relief sought below.
    DECEMBER 15, 1998 CLOSURE PLAN LETTER
    The first situation involves a December 15, 1998 letter which the Illinois
    Environmental Protection Agency (Agency) characterized as “an approval of a request to
    modify a RCRA [Resource Conservation and Recovery Act] closure plan.” Pet. Exh. E, p.1.
    In the first two sections of its petition, DynaChem requests that the Board strike paragraphs 5
    and 6 of the letter; paragraph 5 recommends that certain of the units remain idle until the
    Agency certifies their clean closure, and paragraph 6 imposes certain testing conditions. Pet.
    1-5.
    The Board strikes and dismisses this portion of the petition as untimely filed. Section
    40 (a) (1) of the Environmental Protection Act (Act) (415 ILCS 5/40 (a)(1) (1996)), confers
    jurisdiction on the Board to hear petitions for review of permits provided they are filed within
    35 days of the Agency decision. Any appeal of the December 15, 1998 letter would be due to
    be filed no later than January 19, 1999. The Board has no jurisdiction to hear this late appeal
    of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) closure plan letter.
    STATUS OF APRIL 23, 1996 PERMIT APPLICATION
    In the third portion of its petition, DynaChem requests that the Board declare a permit
    “deemed issued” pursuant to Section 39 (a) of the Act (415 ILCS 5/39(a) (1996)). The permit
    at issue is one DynaChem applied for under the National Pollution Discharge Elimination
    System (NPDES). DynaChem alleges that it applied for an NPDES permit to discharge
    stormwater on April 23, 1996, and that the Agency held a public hearing concerning the
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    application on April 30, 1998. DynaChem asserts that because the Agency failed to issue the
    permit within 180 days of that date,
    i.e.,
    on or before October 27, 1998, the Board should
    determine that the permit is to be “deemed issued.”
    As the Act does not specify a procedure or deadline for determinations that permits are
    “deemed issued,” the Board will not dismiss this portion of DynaChem’s petition at this time.
    The Board accepts this matter for hearing today to facilitate management of further
    proceedings in this case. In so doing, the Board in no way intends to foreclose any arguments
    the parties may wish to make concerning issues of jurisdiction, waiver, or any other issue
    which may be involved in this appeal.
    Hearings shall be scheduled and completed in a timely manner pursuant to the applicable
    statutory decision deadline or as extended by waiver (see 415 ILCS 5/40(a)(2) (1996), 35 Ill.
    Adm. Code 101.105). Unless otherwise ordered by the hearing officer, the Agency shall file the
    record of its review of the permit application within 14 days of notice of the petition. See 35 Ill.
    Adm. Code 105.102.
    Finally, descriptors in the captions on any future orders entered in this matter will not refer
    to the action as a RCRA permit appeal, but instead only as an NPDES permit appeal.
    IT IS SO ORDERED.
    I, Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control Board, hereby certify that
    the above order was adopted on the 18th day of March 1999 by a vote of 6-0.
    Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk
    Illinois Pollution Control Board

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