ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

April

15,

1982

KENNETH STEEL,

et al.,

)

)

Complainants,

v,

)

PCB 82—16

GEORGE BEUCHER, et a?.,

)

Respondents.

DISSENTING OPINION

(by

I.

Goodman):

The majority of the Board today found the Complaint in this

matter, which alleges a threat of water pollution

in Illinois,

not to be duplicitous or frivolous.

Formerly the Board has held

that only a definite danger of pollution,

i.e.,

the existence of

an emission source, constitutes

a “threat” of pollution pursuant

to Section 12(a) of the Act.

~p~4n field Sanitary District

V.

Environmental Protection Agency,

PCB 70—32,

1 Ill,

PCB Op.

181,

(1971)

and City of

DesPlaines

V.

Metropolitan_Sanitary~District,

60 Ill.

App.3d 995,

(1978),

377 N.E.2d 114

(PCB 76—157).

The

Board now has before it only the Respondents~preliminary develop-

mental plans.

As

such, these plans cannot provide

the

Board with

sufficient information for it to determine whether the environment

may be harmed.

In accepting this case, the Board must now antici-

pate what the Respondent will develop, let alone whether it may

be harmful.

Speculation in this case, and other cases

like it,

renders

it impossible

for the Board to arrive at an intelligent

decision.

Should a decision uphold the Respondents’ plans, does

that

infer that if those plans are adhered to,

the Respondent is

immune to prosecution even if their actual implementation harms

the environment?

Furthermore, it is questionable whether any

relief fashioned by the Board at this time could halt what the

Complainants see

as an environmental threa

.

Therefore,

I would

dismiss this action as frivolous.

Irvin G,

G od a

,

Board Member

i,

Christan L, Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution

Control Board, do her~4ycertify that the above Dissenting Opinion

was filed on the

c~c&~

day of

—,

1982.

c~.

A~rn~

Christan

L. Moffe

,~

Clerk

Illinois Pollutiox~CbntrolBoard

46—107