ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
May
19,
1983
DEL MONTE CORPORATION,
Petitioner,
v.
)
PCB 82—147
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION AGENCY,
Respondent.
LEON
3.
PARKER APPEARED ON BEHALF OF THE DEL MONTE COPORATION.
PETER
E.
ORLINSKY APPEARED ON BEHALF OF THE ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION AGENCY.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by W.J.
Nega):
This matter comes before the Board upon a December 17, 1982
petition for variance filed by the Del Monte Corporation
(Company).
The Company has requested a variance from Rule
205(n)(1)(B)(i)
and 205(n)(1)(B)(vi) of Chapter 2:
Air Pollution
Regulations (Chapter 2)
to allow it to delay compliance
with
the
emission limitation for volatile organic compounds
(VOCs)
discharged
from its sheet hasecoat, overvarnish, and end sealing
compound can coating operations.
On January 31,
1983, the Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency (Agency) filed a recommendation that
the variance be granted until December 31,
1984,
subject
to certain
conditions.
A hearing was held on March 25,
1983.
The Company owns and operates a can manufacturing plant
located at 15th Street and 4th Avenue in Rochelle,
Ogle County,
Illinois.
The plant is
located in an industrial
area, and the
nearest residents live about
2 blocks east of the Petitioner’s
facility.
The Agency has received no complaints
about the facility’s
operation and no one has objected to the variance.
The area has
been designated by the Agency as an attainment area for ozone and
during 1981 the 0.12 ppm standard for ozone was not exceeded.
The closest monitoring station
is about 21 miles
to the northeast
in Rockford.
The Petitioner’s facility manufactures cans which are
distributed to food canning plants throughout the United States
and any decrease in the number of cans produced “would affect
many thousands of persons, both seasonal
and year around who are
employed at the can plant and at the numerous canneries.”
(Pet.1).
Included in its Rochelle facility are two sheet basecoat/
overvarnish baking ovens and several end sealing machines.
In the sheet basecoat/overvarnish operation, sheets of tin plate
52-223
2
are first roller coated with protective coatings and then conveyed
through baking ovens where the coating is heat cured and volatile
organic compounds
(VOC5) are vented directly into the atmosphere.
After the baking and curing process
is completed,
the coated
tin sheets are cut to the desired size and formed into either
cylinders for can bodies or ends for these cylinders.
In the
end sealing operation, ends for the food containers are formed
from cut sheets of tin plate and a sealing compound is used to
seal both end caps of the cans.
The end sealing compounds,
which provide the requisite hermetic seal to form a vacuum and
prevent bacterial contamination and oxidation of food inside
the can, also emit VOCs which are vented directly into the
atmosphere.
Rule 205(j) of Chapter 2 requires that sheet basecoat/
overvarnish can coating operations and end sealing compound coating
operations must respectively be in compliance with Rule
205(n)(1)(B)(i) and Rule 205(n)(1)(B)(vi)
of Chapter
2 by December 31,
1982.
Rule 205(n)(1)(B)(i)
of Chapter
2 limits VOC emissions
from basecoat/overvarnish coatings to
2.8 lb/gal.
Rule
205(n)(1)(B)(vi) of Chapter
2 limits VOC emissions from end
sealing compound coatings to 3.7 lb/gal.
In
1982, the Company used approximately 86,427 gallons of
protective coatings in its sheet basecoat/overvarnish operations.
The average VOC content of these coatings was 4.0 lb/gal.
Accordingly, VOC emissions in 1982 from these operations were 172.85
tons.
If Rule 205(n)(1)(B)(i)
of Chapter
2 had been in effect
in 1982, the Company’s VOC emissions from this process would have
been limited to 120.9 tons.
Similarly, the Petitioner used an estimated 21,848 gallons
of protective coatings
in its end sealing operations in 1982.
The average VOC content of such coatings was 4.165 lb/gal.
Thus, VOC emissions from the end sealing operations
in 1982 were
45.5 tons.
If Rule 205(n)(1)(B)(vi) of Chapter
2 had been in
effect in 1982,
the Company’s VOC emissions from end sealing
operations would have been limited to 40.4 tons.
Del Monte Corporation alleges that it has been unable to meet
the compliance date because acceptable alternate protective coatings
have yet to be developed.
The Petitioner has worked closely
with its coating suppliers for several years in evaluating a
large number of candidate coatings.
Although some reductions
in VOC content have been achieved,
the desired levels of emissions
have not yet been reached.
The Company is planning to achieve
compliance with the applicable regulations by expeditiously
proceeding with:
(1) an intensive test program to evaluate sheet
base coatings with lower VOC content;
(2)
replacement of the current
sheet base coatings with lower VOC substitute coatings;
(3)
replacement of a non—conforming (high VOC content) end sealing
compound with a lower VOC, high solids compound which has demonstrated
promise during preliminary field trials;
(4) replacement of one
3
of the sheet base coatings with an ultra violet cured coating
which doesn’t contain volatile materials
(this relatively new
technology coating will require a substantial capital
investment
for specialized equipment); and
(5)
use of internal offsets
pursuant to Rule 205(n)(4)
of Chapter
2.
Based upon these facts, the Board
finds that Del Monte
Corporation has been diligently attempting to comply with the
VOC limitation and that
it continues to do so,
It
is unlikely
that the Petitioner’s discharges would cause or contribute
to
a viOlation of the ozone standard since
its episode action plan
should provide sufficient safeguards during periods of high
ozone concentration.
It
would be unreasonable for the Board to
impose substantial costs upon the Petitioner to attain immediate
compliance when there
is substantial probability of new technology
being developed during the variance period which would allow
compliance
to be attained at a much lower cost.
The Board will condition this variance upon the use of
protective coating materials which have a VOC content less than
or equal to the presently used materials,
A preferable technique
would be to impose a limitation upon the total emissions of VOCs
as well.
Unfortunately, the information presented
in the record
is insufficient to establish such a limitation.
The only figures
given are for 1982 emission levles.
No indication
is given
as
to potential,
or even expected,
levels, despite the fact that
an increase
in production
(as may he expected
in a period of
economic recovery) will result in increased emissions.
In the
future,
such petitions should include historical monthly emission
levels
(for the last five years,
especially during the ozone
season of May to October,
if possible), projections of
emission
levels during the period of variance,
and potential emissions
based upon production capacity.
However,
the Board finds that denial
of the requested variance
would cause an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship upon the Company
and concludes that variance should he granted subject to the
conditions recommended by the Agency, which were not objected to
by the Petitioner.
This Opinion constitutes the Board’s
findings of fact and
conclusions of law in this matter.
ORDER
Del Monte Corporation
is hereby granted a variance from
Rule 205(n)(1)(B)(i)
and Rule 205(n)(1)(B)(vi) of Chapter
2:
Air Pollution Regulations until December
31,
1984,
subject to the
following conditions:
1.
Del Monte Corporation shall expeditiously proceed with
the development and testing of protective coating materials
which have
a VOC content less than the presently used
materials.
During the period of this variance,
the average
yearly VOC content from sheet hasecoat/overvarnish can
52-225
4
coating operations
shall
not exceed 4.0
lb/gal
and the average yearly VOC content from end sealing
compound coating operations
shall not exceed 4.165
lb/gal.
2.
No later than June 19,
1983,
and every third month
thereafter,
Del Monte Corporation shall submit written
reports
to the Agency detailing all progress made
in
achieving compliance with Rule 205(n)(1)(B)
of Chapter
2.
These reports shall include information on the
quantity and VOC content of all coatings utilized
during the reporting period,
a description of the status
of the reformulation program,
and any other information
which may reasonably be requested by the Agency.
The reports shall be sent to
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
Ai.r Pollution Control
Region
1
—
Field Operations Section
1701 South First Avenue
Maywood,
Illinois
60153
3.
On or before June
19,
1983,
Del Monte Corporation
shall apply to the Agency
for all requisite operating
permits pursuant to Rule 103(b)(6)(A)
of Chapter
2.
4.
Within 45 days of the date of
this Order,
Del Monte
Corporation shall execute
a Certification or Acc~pLance
and Agreement to be bound to all terms and conditions
of the variance.
Said Certification shall
be submitted
to the Agency at 2200 Churchill Road, Springfield,
Illinois
62706.
The 45—day period shall be held
in abeyance
during any period that this matter is being appealed.
The form of said Certification shall
he
as follows:
CERTIFICATION
I,
(We)
___
____________
hereby accepts and agrees to be bound by all terms and conditions
of the Order of the Pollution Control Board in PCB 82—147,
dated May 19, 1983.
Petitioner
—
Authorized Agent
Title
Date
5
IT
IS
SO
ORDERED.
I, Christan L.
Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Control
Board, hereby cert4fy that the above Opinion and Order
was
adopted
on
the
___
~.
day
of
1983byavoteof’~___
___.
1
~
~
Christan L. Moffet~/~C1erk
Illinois Pollution Càntrol Board
52-227