IL~tNOIS
POLLUTION
CONTROL
BOARD
May
18,
1984
ILLINOIS
ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION
AGENCY,
)
Complainant,
PCB 81—11
LAKE COUNTY GRADING COMPANY,
a
)
Delaware corporation, and LAKE
)
COUNTY GRADING COMPANY OF
)
LIBERTYVILLE,
INC., an Illinois
corporation,
)
Respondents.
H.
ALFRED
RYAN,
ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL, APPEARED ON BEHALF OF
THE
COMPLAINANT.
DIVER, BOLLMAN, GRACH
& QUADE
(MR. THOMAS W. DIVER, OF COUNSEL)
APPEARED ON BEHALF OF THE RESPONDENTS.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by W.
J.
Nega):
This matter comes before the Board on the January 27,
1981
Complaint brought by
the
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
(Agency).
The Complaint alleged that the Lake County Grading Company
(LCGC) improperly operated its sanitary landfill, causing water
and air pollution, by accepting wastes not in compliance with its
permit restrictions and by allowing leachate to be discharged
into the Des Plaines River.
Additionally, LCGC allegedly did not properly:
(1)
spread
and compact refuse;
(2)
maintain the slope of the working face;
(3) provide sufficient equipment, personnel, and supervision;
(4)
place adequate daily,
intermediate, and final cover on the site;
(5)
collect and dispose of litter;
(6) monitor and control leachate,
dust and vectors, and
(7) supply the requisite water monitoring
data to the Agency~
A hearing was held on September 28,
1982.
The parties filed
a Stipulation and Proposal for Settlement on October 6,
1982.
58-75
On November 12,
1982, the Board entered an Order which
rejected the Stipulation and Proposal for Settlement because the
proposed settlement agreement contained insufficient information
pertaining to the financial condition of LCGC and the nature and
extent of the environmental harm.
Subsequently, three additional hearings were held on March
1,
1983; June
1,
1983,
and October 20,
1983.
At the hearing of
October 20,
1983,
the Respondent requested that the Board accept
the prior Stipulation,
as supported by the documents that were
additionally put into the record, as an updated and current
proposed settlement agreement.
The Complainant joined in that
request.
(R.
28_30).*
Accordingly, the Board will grant the
joint motion of the parties and consider the previous Stipulation,
as updated by supplementary documentation, to be the proposed
settlement agreement in question.
The Lake County Grading Company is a Delaware corporation
which is authorized to do business in Illinois.
The company
conducted sanitary landfill operations on approximately 56,4
acres of land located on the southeast corner of Illinois Routes
63 and 120, adjacent to the Des Plaines River in Warren Township,
Lake County,
Illinois,
(Stip.
2).
LCGC was originally established in
1934.
In
1965,
Mr.
Donald Vanderspool
(Vanderspool) and Mr. John Long
(Long) obtained
control of the firm.
At that time, LCGC was
a Subchapter
S
corporation.
(R~8-9),
Vanderspool and Long owned the company
until 1980, and then Mr. David Lundman (Lundman) acquired the
tractors, trucks, and other business assets of LCGC.
(R.
8).
Lundman subsequently appointed Mr.
Thomas Allen Rosenquist (Rosenquis
~,
who had worked as
a driver for Long and Vanderspool from 1972
until
1980,
as company manager.
(R.
11—12).
The previous business owners
(Vanderspool and Long) left the
business when they sold the assets in 1980, but stayed on for
about two months during the transition
period
to
teach
Rosenquist
how to
bid
on jobs and how to run the
company
as
its
manager.
(R.
11-12).
LCGC
had about ten employees
from 1972
until
1980
and there were about eighteen employees after Lundman, the new
owner, took over in 1980.
(R.
12).
On March
1,
1981,
a successor corporation known as the Lake
County Grading Company of Libertyville,
Inc.
(LCGC of Libertyville)
was incorporated in Illinois by Mr. David Lundman (who owned 100
*A11 references to the
record
(R.)
will
refer
to
the
trans-
cript of the October 20,
1983 hearing unless otherwise noted,
58-76
—3—
of the capital
stock in
the firm).**
At the time of this
incor-
poration,
Rosenquist was
neither an officer or
director of LCGC
of Libert~7iIle, hut he did
conduct the day—to-day management
chores to take care
of company business.
(R.
7).
On May 10,
1981,
Rosenquist bought
all the shares of LCGC of Libertyville
from Lundman.
(R,
7;
R.
23),
Rosenquist is presently the sole
shareholder and President
of LCGC of Libertyville and shares
the
responsibility for
management of daily operations with
a
manager
whom
he hired.
(R.
14).
As indicated
in Mr.
Rosenquist’s testimony, LCGC of Liberty—
yule
does not own
the 56.4 acres of land on which landfill
operations are
conducted.
(R.
24—25).
The land is still owned
by
Vanderspool and
Long.
LCGC of Liberytville rents the site
under
a lease which
continues to
a
date that is three years
following the termination
of landfill activities.
Vanderspool
and Long are merely
the landowners who lease the land to Rosen—
quist~scompany and
do not have any control over the operations
of LCGC of Libertyville.
(R.
24—28).
LCGC ordinarily
handled “non—putrescible construction and
demolition materials,
brush,
trees and other landscape wastes”
at
its landfill pursuant
to Agency Operating Permit No.
1972—29.
(Stip.
2),
Additionally,
LCGC had Supplemental Permit No, 75—15~
from the Agency which
authorized the acceptance of 200 cubic
yards per week of
cardboard and paper wastes (subject to the
conditions that
appropriate spreading,
compacting, and daily
cover,
as well
as
adequate control of litter by portable litter
fences,
be maintained),
(Stip.
2).
However,
it is stipulated
that LCGC improperly
accepted large amounts of wallboard contain-
ing gypsum,
in violation
of its Agency permit,
for a number of
years~
When the gypsum in
that
wallboard came into contact
with
rainwater and groundwater,
leachate generated by this wallboard
~SinceLCGCof
Libertyville is the
successor corporation to
LCGC, the Board has,
on its own motion, added LCGC of Libertyville
as a party respondent in
this proceeding.
Pursuant to the request
of the parties
to amend
the originally filed Stipulation to
substitute LCGC of Libertyville
for LCGC as the real party in
interest (R~29~3O),
the Board will dismiss LCGC as a party in
this action~ While
it is unclear
from
the record whether the old
corporation
(LCGC) was
ever officially dissolved
(R.
13—14) or is
merely inoperative,
it
is clear that all concerned persons, as
well
as the actual parties
involved, have received notice of the
proceedings in PCB
81~ll,
Mr. Rosenquist testified that Mr.
Vanderspool and Mr,
Long are aware of this proceeding.
(R.
27).
Moreover,
Mr, Long and Mr.
Vanderspool have received notice of
all hearings and are
represented by attorney William Clark, who
is of record in the
proceedings.
(R.
4;
R.
27—28).
LCGC
of
Libertyville has signed
the Stipulation and has already taken
various measures
Lo
bring the landfill
operations into compliance
with the applicable
regulations.
(R.
14—19).
58-77
contained suit ~s
and
emitted odors which were present in periodic
discharges of
~is
leachate into the Des Plaines River.
(Stip.
2).
The parties have
stipulated that Agency inspections revealed
that LCGC ~i) accepted
and disposed of drums or other containers
containing residues
of chemicals at the site on specified dates
between
November
18,
1980 and April
22,
1982
in
violation
of
its
permit,
Rule 302 of
Chapter
7:
Solid Waste Regulations (“Chapter 7”),
and Section 21(e)
of the Illinois
Environmental Protection Act
(“Act”);
(2)
failed to provide adequate measures to monitor and
control leachate on five occasions between August
5,
1980 and
January 22,
1981 in violation of Rule 314(e)
of
Chapter
7
and
Section 21(e) of the Act;
(3)
allowed the discharge of
contami-
nated leachate into the environment so as to cause water pollution
on eight dates between March
21,
1979 and June 25,
1980 in violation
of Rule 313 of Chapter
7 and Section
21(e) of the Act;
(4) operated
its site so as to cause the emission of unreasonable and objection-
able odors, causing air pollution, on numerous dates between
November 15,
1977 and January
7,
1981 in violation of Rule 312
of
Chapter
7 and
Sections
9(a) and 21(e) of the Act;
(5)
failed
to
properly control litter
or utilize portable litter fences on
thirteen separate
occasions between June 16,
1976 and April
22,
1982 in violation of its
permit,
Rule 302 of Chapter
7,
and
Section 21(e) of the Act;
and
(6)
failed to place adequate daily
cover over refuse on numerous dates between March
9,
1976
and
April
22,
1982 in violation of Rule 305(a) of Chapter
7 and
Section 21(e) cf the Act.
(Stip.
2—8).
Additionally, it is
stipulated that LCGC:
(1)
failed to
place the requisite intermediate
cover on refuse on various dates
between January 13,
1977 and March
30,
1982 in violation of Rule
305(b) of Chapter
7
and Section 21(e) of the Act;
(2) failed to
properly spread and compact refuse on seven specified dates
between March
9,
1976 and June
19,
1981 in violation of Rule
303(b;
of Chapter
7 and Section 21(e)
of the Act;
(3)
failed to
place proper final cover on January 11,
1970, February
8,
1978,
and September 18,
1981, in violation of Rule 305(c) of Chapter
7
and Section 21Cc,
of the Act;
(4) improperly maintained the slope
at the working face on June 16,
1976 and September 18,
1980 in
violation of Rule 303(c) of Chapter
7 and Section 21(e) of the
Act’
(5)
failed to properly control
dust on July 15,
1976 in
violation of Rule 314(f) of Chapter
7 and Section 21(a) of the
Act;
(6)
failed to provide sufficient
equipment, personnel and
supervision at the site on eight separate occasions between June
16,
1976 and September
18, 1981 in violation of Rule 304 of
Chapter
7 and Section 21(e) of the
Act; and
(7) received at its
site for disposal on April 22,
1982 more than 200 cubic yards of
paper and cardboard in violation of its permit,
Rule 302 of
Chapter
7,
and Section 21(e) of the Act.
(Stip.
2—8).
The proposed settlement agreement provides that the LCGC
admits various violations alleged in the Complaint and agrees to:
58-78
(1) cease and desist from further violations;
(2) provide
suffi—
dent personnel at the site;
(3)
promptly obtain and utilize the
necessary portable litter
fences;
(4) expeditiously remedy an
existing cover erosion;
(5) not accept any drums containing any
wastes,
residues, etc.
without first obtaining a supplemental
permit from the Agency;
(6) conduct specified water monitoring
and
sampling operations; and
(7) pay a stipulated penalty of
$5,150.
(Stip.
8—10),
Although the admitted
violations
all occurred before LCGC
of
Libertyville was incorporated on March
1,
1981 and before Rosen—
quist’s acquisition of the business on May 10,
1981,
the successor
corporation has
agreed to take all necessary measures to bring
the
site into
compliance.
(R.
14—19;
R.
22—28).
Portable litter
fences have
already
been installed;
substantial work has been
done to remedy
cover
erosion, and drums containing improper
residues are
no longer
accepted at the site.
(R.
14—17;
R.
18—19;
see:
Respondent~sExhibit #1).
In reference to the additional
information mandated by the
Board’s November
12,
1982 Order,
the parties have indicated that:
(1) LCGC of Libertyville
is financially capable of paying the
stipulated penalty of
$5,150 without impairing its financial
security
(R.
10~’11); (2)
no citizen complaints about annoying,
objectionable odors have been received by the Agency since 1979
because sulfide hearing gypsum
wallboard wastes are no longer
being deposited at the site
(P..
28);
(3) only authorized chemicals
for which supplemental permits and manifests were obtained were
disposed of at the site
(P..
21), and
(4)
the discharge of contam-
inated leachate into the Des Plaines
River
is not presently
occurring.
(R.
21;
see:
Agency
Group Exhibit A).
In evaluating this
enforcement action and proposed settlement
agreement,
as amended,
the Board has taken into consideration all
the facts and circumstances
in light of the specific criteria
delineated in Section
33(c) of the Act and finds the amended
settlement agreement
acceptable under 35
Ill. Adm.
Code 103.180.
The Board will dismiss
LCGC as
a party in this action and
substitute the successor
corporation, Lake County Grading Company
of Libertyville, mc,,
for the
original Respondent.
Accordingly,
the Board finds that the present Respondent, Lake County Grading
Company of Libertyville, Inc., has violated Rules 302,
303(b),
303(c),
304,
305(a),
305(b),
305(c),
306,
312,
313,
314(e),
and
314(f) of Chapter 7 and Sections
9(a),
21(a),
and 21(e) of the
Act,
The Respondent will he ordered to cease and desist from
further violations;
to
follow the specified compliance plan
set
forth in the Stipulation as amended, and to pay the stipulated
penalty of
$5,150~
This Opinion constitutes the
Board’s finding of fact and
conclusions of law in this matter.
58-79
—6—
ORDER
It is the Order of the Illinois
Pollution Control Board
that:
1.
Lake County Grading
Company
is
hereby
dismissed
as
the
party—respondent
in this
action
and
the
successor
corporation,
Lake County Grading Company of Libertyville, Inc.,
is
hereby
substituted
as
the Respondent in this case.
2.
The
Respondent,
Lake County
Grading
Company
of
Liberty-
yule,
Inc., has violated Rules 302,
303(b),
303(c),
304,
305(a),
305(b),
305(c),
306,
312,
313,
314(e), and
314(f)
of
Chapter
7
and
Sections
9(a),
21(a),
and
21(e)
of
the
Illinois
Environmental
Protection Act.
3.
The
Respondent
shall
cease
and
desist
from
further
violations.
4.
Within 45 days of the date of this Order,
the Respondent
shall, by certified check
or money order
payable
to
the
State
of
Illinois,
pay
the stipulated
penalty of $5,150 which is to be
sent to:
Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency
Fiscal
Services Division
2200 Churchill
Road
Springfield,
Illinois
62706
5.
The Board hereby
grants
the
joint
motion
of
the
parties
to accept
the Stipulation
and
Proposal
for
Settlement
filed
on
October
6,
1982,
as supported
by
the
supplementary
documents
that
have been additionally placed in the record, as an amended,
updated,
and current
proposed
settlement
agreement.
6.
The Respondent shall comply with
all
the
terms
and
conditions of the Stipulation and Proposal for Settlement filed
on
October
6,
1982, as
amended,
which
is
incorporated by reference
as if fully set forth herein.
7.
Within 45 days of the date
of this Order, Lake County
Grading Company of Libertyville,
Inc.
shall execute a Certification
of
Acceptance
and. Agreement to be
bound
to
all
terms
and
condi-
tions
of this Orders
Said Certification
shall
be
submitted
to
the Illinois Environmental
Protection Agency at 2200 Churchill
Road, Springfield,
Illinois
62706.
The 45—day period shall be
held in abeyance during any
period
that
this
mattter
is
being
appealed.
The form of said
Certification shall be as follows:
58-80
—7—
CERTIFICATION
I, (We),_~
____________________________,
having read
the Order of
the Illinois
Pollution Control Board in PCB 81—11
dated
May
3,
1984, understand and accept the said Order, realizing
that
such
acceptance
renders
all
terms
and
conditions
thereto
binding and enforceable.
Lake County Grading Company of Libertyville, Inc.
By:
Authorized Agent
Title
Date
IT IS SO
ORDERED.
Chairman Dumeile dissented.
I, Christan
L.
Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Control Board,
hereby certify that the above Opinion and Order
was a~,9ptedon the~ ~“-dayof
,
1984
by
a
vote
of
~
~
~4~b~-
Christan
L.
Moffé~Q Clerk
Illinois
Pollution
Control
Board
58-81