ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
August 20,
1981
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
)
PROTECTION AGENCY,
)
Complainant,
v.
)
PCB 78—212
CATERPILLAR TRACTOR COMPANY,
a California corporation,
)
Respondent.
MR. WILLIAM E.
BLAKNEY, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL, APPEARED ON
BEHALF OF THE COMPLAINANT.
MR. STEVEN
C. HOFFMAN, ATTORNEY AT LAW, APPEARED ON BEHALF OF THE
RESPONDENT.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by N.E.Werner):
This matter comes before the Board on the August
8,
1978
Complaint brought by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
(“Agency”).
Count
I of the Complaint alleged that, from October, 1977 until
March,
1978, the Respondent, the Caterpillar Tractor Company
(“Caterpillar Tractor” or the “Company”),
intermittently discharged
effluents from the wastewater treatment facility (“facility”) of its
East Peoria tractor assembly plant which exceeded the limitations
for oil and grease established by its NPDES Permit No.
IL 0002291
in violation of Rule 901 of Chapter
3:
Water Pollution Control
Regulations (“Chapter
3”) and Sections
12(a) and 12(f) of the
Illinois Environmental Protection Act (“Act”).
Additionally, Count
I alleged that, on January
9,
1978,
January 23, 1978,
February 13,
1978, and February 20,
1978,
the
Respondent discharged effluents which exceeded the cyanide limits
in its NPDES Permit in violation of
Rule 901 of Chapter
3 and
Sections 12(a)
and 12(f)
of the Act.
Count II alleged that, on February 16,
1978, Caterpillar
Tractor discharged effluent from its facility which contained a
cyanide concentration level of 0.5 mg/i in violation of Rules 401(c)
and 408(a) of Chapter
3 and Section 12(a) of the Act.
43—157
—2
Count III alleged that the Respondent failed to notify the
Agency within
5 days after the Company became aware of its
non—compliance with the effluent limitations in its NPDES Permit
in violation of the
terms
of this NPDES Permit,
Rule 901 of Chapter
3,
and Sections 12(a) and 12(f) of the Act.
A hearing was held on June 16,
1981 at which the parties
submitted an unsigned copy of the Stipulation and Proposal for
Settlement
(“Stipulation”).
The parties filed an executed copy
of this Stipulation on July
7,
1981 which was substantially
identical* to the initially submitted unsigned copy of the Stipulation.
Caterpillar Tractor owns and operates a tractor assembly manu-
facturing plant which is located at 600 West Washington Street in
East Peoria,
Illinois.
(Stip.
1).
The Company,
as part of its
plant operations, utilizes a wastewater treatment facility which
discharges effluents into the Illinois River pursuant to NPDES
Permit
No.
IL 0002291.
(See: Exhibit A).
The parties have stipulated that a grab sample from the
Respondent’s discharge at its East Peoria plant was collected by the
Agency on February 16,
1978 and, when analyzed,
this sample
contained a cyanide concentration of 0.5 mg/l.
(Stip. 6).
Subsequently, after numerous discussions between the Agency
and the Company’s technical personnel, Caterpillar Tractor adopted
various measures to comply with the conditions in its NPDES Permit
pertaining to allowable concentrations of oil, grease, and cyanide,
and the reporting of excursions.
(Stip.
6-8).
To control oil and grease discharges,
the Company repaired
broken oil lines,
stopped leaking oil, eliminated the recirculation
of decanted liquids and sludges back through the primary separators
of its wastewater treatment plant, eliminated plugged filters,
changed oil treatment overflow pipes, added prepared clay to the
influent
(“to provide better absorption and removal of oil
in the
primary separators”), and reworked its “Heat Treat quench pits”
to eliminate the overflowing of oil into sewers,
(Stip.
6-7).
In order to better control cyanide discharges, the Respondent
made “hundreds of sample analyses...in all areas throughout the
plant”, but discovered no major source or use of cyanide except for
*However, additional information was provided by the attachment of
three exhibits.
Exhibit A is
a copy of the Respondent’s NPDES
Permit.
Group
Exhibit
B
consists
of
the
Company’s
monthly
Discharge
Monitoring Reports.
Group Exhibit C includes reports of non—complying
discharges.
43—158
—3—
“small quantities in duplicating machines which would not normally
find their way” into the sewer system.
(Stip.
7).
However, “during
the sampling program it was discovered that certain combinations of
chlorinated solvents, amines and nitrates
(all of which are used
in
varying amounts in the plant) will indicate small quantities of
cyanide when analyzed by standard methods”.
(Stip.
7).
The Company also inaugurated a “formalized system of direct
reporting to a responsible manager”
in order to see that any
excursions are promptly reported within
5 days after the analyses of
samples are completed.
(Stip.
7-8).
The proposed settlement agreement provides that the Company
agrees to cease and desist from further violations and pay a
stipulated penalty of $1,000.00
.
(Stip.
8—9).
In evaluating this enforcement action and proposed settlement
agreement, 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.
The Board finds the settlement agreement
acceptable under Procedural Rule 331 and Section 33(c)
of the Act.
Accordingly, the Board finds that the Respondent, the Caterpillar
Tractor Company, has violated Rules 401(c),
408(a), and 901 of
Chapter 3:
Water Pollution Control Regulations and Sections 12(a)
and 12(f)
of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act.
The Company
will be ordered to cease and desist from further violations and pay
the stipulated penalty of $1,000.00
This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and
conclusions of law in this matter.
ORDER
It is the Order of the Illinois Pollution Control Board that:
1.
The Respondent, the Caterpillar Tractor Company, has
violated Rules 401(c), 408(a), and 901 of Chapter 3:
Water Pollution
Control Regulations and Sections 12(a) and 12(f) of the Illinois
Environmental Protection Act.
2.
The Respondent
shall cease and desist from further violations.
3.
Within 35 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 $1,000.00 which is to be
sent to:
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
Fiscal Services Division
2200 Churchill Road
Springfield, Illinois
62706
43—159
—4—
4.
The Respondent shall comply with all the terms and
conditions of the Stipulation and Proposal for Settlement filed
on July 7,
1981, which is incorporated by reference as if fully set
forth herein.
I,
Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board, herqby certify that the ~bove Opinion and Order wer~adopted
on the
~C’1’~
day of
_____________,
1981 by a vote of
3’L
—.
(~)
~
~-Th-4~th’
-
Christan L.
Moffett(,
~erk
Illinois Pollution
on rol Board
43—160