ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
September
8,
1983
ACME BARREL COMPANY,
)
Petitioner,
v.
)
PCB 82-135
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTIth
PROTECTION AGENCY,
Respondent.
MR.
BARRY GREENBURG,
FISCH, LANSKY AND GREENBURG, APPEARED
ON BEHALF OF PETITIONER;
MR. PETER E. ORLINSKY, ATTORNEY AT LAW, APPEARED ON BEHALF
OF RESPONDENT.
OPINION
AND ORDER
OF THE BOARD
(by D. Anderson):
This matter comes before the Board upon a variance
petition originally
filed November 16,
1982 by Acme Barrel
Company
(Acme),
requesting a variance from Rules 105 (a),
105(d),
202(b),
203(e)
and 502 of Chapter
2:
Air Pollution,
from Section 9 (a)
of the Environmental Protection Act
(Act),
and from certain conditions of its operating permit in order
to allow completion of a compliance program.
The variance
request pertains to an incinerator at a steel drum recycling
operation in Chicago.
The Illinois Environmental Protection
Agency
(Agency)
has recommended that the variance be granted
with conditions.
The essential pleadings are as follows:
November 16, 1982
Petition for variance
December 16, 1982
First Amended Petition
December 29,
1982
Second Amended Petition
February 22,
1983
Recommendation
March 14, 1983
Third Amended Petition
May 24,
1983
Fourth Amended Petition
July
11, 1983
Amended Recommendation
August 16,
1983
Fifth Amended Petition
A public hearing was held in Chicago on July 15,
1983.
Acme proceeded on the basis of the petition as modified
through the verified fourth amended petition without offer-
ing any evidence.
The Agency indicated that it agreed with
the facts alleged, and presented testimony
to support its
recommended conditions.
Acme acceded to these conditions,
except with respect to the recommended minimum temperature
of the afterburner, which is discussed below.
There is no
indication of any public participation, and the Board has
received no comments.
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The drum recycling plant is situated at 2300 West 13th
Street, Chicago.
It recycles up to 4000 drums per day by
burning them in an incinerator to remove residues along with
old paint and labels.
This aspect of the operation has been
the subject of the following previous Board cases:
1.
PCB 72—404,
10 PCB 301, December
13, 1973 (enforce-
ment action for air pollution).
2.
PCB 74—138,
13 PCB 207,
July
25,
1974
(variance
from Order in PCB 72-404).
3.
PCB 74—454,
15 PCB 621, February 27,
1975 (exten-
sion of variance in PCB 74—138).
Acme’s final variance extension expired on March
1,
1975.
Acme has taken several steps to improve emissions,
although some problems persist.
Acme was issued an oper-
ating permit at some point, but renewal was denied, resul-
ting in this variance request
(Third Amended Petition,
Amended Rec.
¶5).
Section 9(a)
of the Act prohibits emissions which tend
to cause air pollution or which violate Board rules.
The
following is
a summary of the regulations
involved in this
variance:
Rule
105(a)
Prohibition on operation during breakdown or
startup
105(d)
Reports of operation during breakdown or
startup
202(b)
Prohibition of visual emissions of opacity
greater than 30
203(e)
Particulate emission standards for incin-
erators
203(e) (3) Particulate emission standard of 0.2 grains
per standard cubic foot corrected to
12
carbon dioxide, applicable to existing
incinerators burning less than 2000 pounds of
refuse per hour.
502
Prohibition of open burning.
The operation produces visible and particulate emissions
from several sources,
including:
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1.
Ignition of drum materials on the chain before
entering the incinerator.
2.
Drums which emerge from the incinerator still
burning.
3.
Leakage around entrance and exit ports.
4.
Leakage from porous brick work.
5.
Direct emissions from the stack.
The Agency believes that these violate the standards of
Rules 202(b)
and 203(e) (2),
and that the burning of drums in
the open violates Rule 502.
Earlier efforts at compliance centered on draining and
cleaning of drums prior to incineration.
There have been
problems maintaining this equipment.
Furthermore,
it pro-
duces waste sludges which are difficult to dispose of.
It
appears now that it is environmentally preferable to incin-
erate as much of the contents as
is possible.
The original petition proposed
a compliance program
which is summarized as follows:
1.
Installation of internal baffles between the drum
burner and the afterburner to decrease the velocity
and increase the turbulence of the exhaust gases;
2.
Installation of an opacity monitor to notify the
operator to institute corrective measures when
opacity limits are approached;
3.
Installation of a variable speed drive on the
conveyor to allow the operator to decrease the
speed of loading when conditions so dictate.
4.
Introduction of
a training program to instruct
plant personnel on how to isolate drums heavily
laden with material and intersperse them with
drums with little material inside so as to main-
tain an average loading to the incinerator;
5.
Construction of an extension to the incinerator’s
vestibule so as to isolate the drum loading area
from the ash pit;
6.
Installation of a quenching system for the incin-
erator carrier chain;
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7.
Installation of an intermittent water spray system
at the incinerator’s exit.
This system was mostly constructed and tested during
the pendency of the petition.
Problems persisted with
emissions from entrance and exit doors and from the stack.
A consultant concluded that the problem stemmed from occa-
sional overloading of the incinerator with too many drums
containing large quantities of residues.
Although the drums
average only four pounds of residues each,
some contain
larger quantities of viscous materials,
such as undercoating.
The consultant concluded that the precise loading rate was
too difficult a problem to entrust to the laborers who were
responsible for loading drums onto the chain.
The consultant
recommended a system which monitored conditions in the
combustion chamber, afterburner and stack,
and automatically
regulated the speed of the chain and the flow of gas to the
burners.
Acme has committed itself to the construction of
this system, and requests a variance only through December
31,
1983.
The facility
is located in an area which is classified
as nonattainment for total suspended particulates.
Three
and one-half miles northeast of it the 1981 annual geometric
mean was 71 micrograms per cubic meter, close to the national
ambient air quality primary standard of
75 micrograms per
cubic meter.
Acme has an episode action plan which will
provide sufficient safeguards during periods of high atmos-
pheric pollutant levels
(Amended Rec.
¶15).
The Agency has indicated that the variance will have to
be submitted to the United States Environmental Agency as
a
revision to the state implementation plan.
The Agency
believes the revision would be approved if the variance
is
granted with the conditions recommended by the Agency.
The Board finds that, considering the short term of the
requested variance and the diligence with which Acme is now
pursuing its compliance program, that Acme would suffer
arbitrary or unreasonable hardship if
it were required to
cease operations pending completion of upgrading.
The Board
will grant the variance with conditions similar to those
recommended by the Agency.
Variances from the Act and from
permit conditions will be denied as unnecessary.
The Agency originally recommended that the afterburner
be maintained at 1800°F to assure complete combustion
(Rec.
¶11).
The Agency then recommended 1450°F, with a prohibi-
tion on burning drums containing pesticide residues
(Amended
Rec.
¶11).
Acme established that the 1450°F condition was
based on a typographical error
in a reference,
and that
1400°F was sufficient
(R.
27, Fifth Amended petition).
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—5—
Acme requested a variance through December
31, and
indicated that it would actually complete the project by
December 15.
However,
the Agency has recommended several
conditions which would extend through March
6,
1984.
The
Board will therefore grant the variance to this later date.
The parties have not indicated whether this is
a
hazardous waste treatment facility or whether Acme has
interim status
(35 Ill. Adm.
Code 700.105 and 721.107).
This variance should not in any way be construed as
a vari-
ance from any of the hazardous waste regulations.
This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact
and conclusions of law in this matter.
ORDER
Petitioner Acme Barrel Company is granted,
for its drum
recycling incinerator at 2300 West 13th Street, Chicago,
a
variance from Rules 105 (a)
,
105(d)
,
202(b),
203(e) (3)
and
502 of Chapter
2:
Air Pollution,
subject to the following
conditions:
1.
This variance will expire March
6,
1984.
2.
Within 35 days of this Order, Petitioner shall
apply to the Agency for all requisite operating
permits.
3.
At all times, Petitioner shall maintain the temp-
erature in its afterburner at no less than 1400°F.
4.
On or before March
6,
1984, Petitioner shall
install a continuous temperature recorder on the
afterburner.
5.
On or before March
6,
1984, Petitioner shall
install a continuous recorder on its opacity
monitor.
6.
Petitioner shall not incinerate any drums contain-
ing pesticide residues.
7.
On or before March
6,
1984, Petitioner shall
install an interlock system which automatically
shuts off the barrel feed when afterburner temp-
erature falls below 1400°F.
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8.
Within
35 days of this Order, Petitioner shall
submit a written operating manual to the Agency
detailing the implementation of the compliance
program specified in paragraph 7.
Enclosed in
said manual shall be
a list of types and quanti—
ties of all materials to be burned during the
variance period.
Said manual shall be sent to the
Agency at the following addresses:
Environmental Protection Agency
Division of Air Pollution Control
Control Programs Coordinator
2200 Churchill Road
Springfield, Illinois 62706
Environmental Protection Agency
Division of Air Pollution Control,
Region I
Field Operations Section
1701 South First Avenue, Suite
600
Maywood, Illinois 60153
9.
On or before March
6,
1984,
Petitioner shall have
stack tests for particulates and organics conducted
on the incinerator by an independent stack tester.
The Agency shall be notified in writing at least
14 days prior
to the tests, and shall have the
right to witness the tests and to review all the
test results.
10.
Within forty-five days of the date of this Order,
Petitioner shall execute and forward to the Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency, Variance Section,
2200 Churchill Road, Springfield, Illinois
62706,
a Certificate of Acceptance and Agreement to be
bound to all terms and conditions of this variance.
This forty-five day period shall be held in abeyance
for any period this matter
is being appealed.
The
form of the Certificate
shall be as follows:
CERTIFICATION
I,
(We,) ______________________,
having read and
fully understanding the Order in PCB 82-135,
hereby accept that Order and agree to be bound by
all of its terms and conditions.
SIGNED _______________________
TITLE
_________________________
DATE
__________________________
IT IS SO ORDERED.
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I, Christan L.
Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Control Board, hereby certify that the above Opinjon and
Order were adopted on the
~
day of
~
;~
•
1983 by a vote of
~
.
-~.
Christan L. Möffet~~Cierk
Illinois Pollution Control Board
54-17