ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL
BOARD
December 2,
1982
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
)
PROTECTION AGENCY,
Complainant,
v.
)
PCB 82—85
GILT EDGE FARMS, INC.,
a
)
Delaware corporation,
HUNTER
)
BARNEY and LANCE BARNEY,
)
Respondents.
STEPHEN
GROSSMARX,
ASSISTANT
ATTORNEY
GENERAL,
APPEARED
ON
BEHALF
OF
COMPLAINANT;
JOHN
B.
WHITON,
SNOW,
WHITON
SCHROEDER
AND
FISHBURN,
LTD.,
APPEARED ON BEHALF OF RESPONDENTS.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by D. Anderson):
This matter comes before the Board upon a complaint filed
June 23,
1982 by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
(Agency), naming as respondents Gilt Edge Farms, Inc., Hunter
Barney and Lance Barney.
The complaint alleged violations of
Sections
9 and 21 of the Environmental Protection Act
(Act),
Rule 102 of Chapter 2:
Air Pollution and Rules 201, 202,
301,
310 and 312 of Chapter
7:
Solid Waste, in connection with
a
hog operation in Stephenson County.
On October 13,
1982,
a
stipulation and proposal for settlement was filed.
On October 15,
a public hearing was held in Dakota.
No members of the public
attended and the Board has received no public comment.
On August 20,
1980 the Illinois Attorney General filed a
complaint in the Stephenson County Circuit Court alleging
violation by respondents of Section 9(a)
of the Act.
On May 8,
1981, respondents filed with the Board a petition for variance
from Section 9(a)
of the Act and related rules
(PCB
81—85).
On January 7 and March 19, 1982, the Board granted
a variance
with conditions.
On May 21,
1982, the Circuit Court action
was dismissed without prejudice.
This complaint was filed the
next month, alleging the same violations
as the Circuit Court
action, along with the violations of Section 21 of the Act and
the solid waste rules.
The hog raising operation in question is situated at
Afolkey Road and East School Brick Road about 2.5 miles southwest
of Dakota, Stephenson County.
The facility was described in
50-53
—2—
detail in the opinion accompanying the variance order.
At the
request of the parties, the record and opinion and order are
incorporated by reference from PCB 81-85.
The variance allowed respondents to operate while temporarily
outside the terms of Section 9(a)
of the Act and Rule 102 of
Chapter
2 from January
7 through December 31, 1982, during
which time respondents were to take certain steps to eliminate
odor problems.
The Board specifically disclaimed any retro-
active effect of the variance and conditioned the variance on
compliance with Chapter 7.
The following is
a summary of the allegations
of the
complaint:
Rule or
Section1
Time
Summary
§9(a)
August 20, 1977
Cause or allow the emission of
2:102
contaminants so as to cause
air pollution
§21(a)2
January 1, 1974—
June 23,
1982
Open dumping
§21(d)2
Conducting storage, treatment
or disposal without a permit
or in violation of Board rules
§21(e)2
Disposal, treatment or storage
of waste
at a site which
violates the Act or Board rules
7:201
Development of a new solid
waste site without a permit
7:202(a)
Operation of
a sanitary landfill
without a permit
7:301
Operation of a sanitary landfill
in violation of operating
standards
12:102 is Rule 102 of Chapter 2;
7:301 is Rule 201 of
Chapter
7.
Sections are sections of the Act.
2References to Section 21 are to the current version of the
Act, rather than the numbering in effect prior to September 3,
1981.
50-54
—3—
Rule or
Section
Time
Summary
7:310(b)
Acceptance of liquid wastes
without a supplemental permit
7:312
Operation of a sanitary landfill
so as to cause air pollution
The hog operation used to take cheese whey as feed at a
rate of as much as 30,000 gallons per day.
When whey was not
needed in this amount, the excess was dumped into lagoon #3.
This
is the basis of the allegations involving special waste
disposal in violation of the Act and Chapter
7.
Lagoon #3,
as
well as animal waste handling facilities, was thought to be the
source of odor in the variance.
These problems were to be
addressed by discontinuation of whey dumping, cleaning of
lagoon
#3, improved operating practices and the use of “Micro—
aid”,
a feed additive which is supposed to promote odorless
conditions in waste pits and lagoons.
The parties have asked that the Board find respondents
in
violation of Section 9(a)
of the Act and Rule
102 of Chapter
2
based on the record in the variance proceeding.
The Board
finds
these violations from August 20,
1977 through July
17, 1981,
the final specific date alleged for violation.
Respondents
also admit,
and the Board finds, violation of Section 21 of the
Act and Rules 201, 202, 301, 310 and 312 of Chapter
7 during the
period of January
1,
1974 through January
1,
1980.
The parties have specified that the stipulation is to
resolve all controversies regarding allegations “for the period
of the Complaint and that a new Complaint,
alleging the same
violations for the same period of time..., cannot be alleged.”
Insofar as the complaint alleges continuing violations up to
the date of filing,
the Board will find that respondents did not
violate Section 21 of the Act and Rules 201,
202,
301,
310 and
312 of Chapter
7 between January
1, 1980 and June 23, 1982;
and that respondents did not violate Section 9(a)
of the Act
and Rule 102 of Chapter 2 from July 17, 1981 through June 23,
1982, the date of filing of the complaint.
After January
7,
1982,
this
compliance with the air rules was pursuant to
variance.
The stipulation provides solely for a $5000 penalty;
the
compliance plan has been dealt with in the variance.
The
stipulation leaves the Agency in a position to file a new
enforcement action should further problems arise.
The parties have stipulated that it costs
$0.10 per gallon
to dispose of cheese whey in a permitted landfill.
Respondents
50-55
—4—
were thus saving as much. as
$3000. .per day in disposal costs by
improperly dumping the excess whey into lagoon #3.
The Board accepts the stipulation and proposed settlement
pursuant to 35
Ill. Adm. Code 103.180.
The Board finds the
penalty is necessary to aid enforcement of the Act.
In making
this determination the Board has considered the factors set
forth in Section 33(c)
of the Act.
This opinion constitutes
the Board’s findings of fact and conclusions of law in this
matter.
ORDER
1.
Respondents Gilt Edge Farms, Inc., Hunter Barney and
Lance
Barney have violated Sections
9 and 21 of the
Environmental Protection Act, Rule 102 of Chapter 2:
Air pollution, and Rules 201,
202,
301, 310 and 312 of
Chapter 7:
Solid Waste.
2.
Within thirty days of the date of this order, respondents
shall,
jointly and severally, by certified check or
money order payable to the State of Illinois, pay a
civil penalty of $5000 which is to be sent to:
State of Illinois
Fiscal Services Division
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
2200 Churchill Road
Springfield, Illinois 62706
IT IS SO ORDERED.
I, Christan
L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Control Board, hereby c~rtifythat the above opinion and order
were adopt~don the
“~
day of
~
..,
~
,
1982 by a
vote of
~
Christan L.
Moffet1~i,Clerk
Illinois Pollution Control Board
50-58