ILLINOIS

POLLUTION

CONTROL

BOARD

December

4,

1980

CENTRAL

 ILLINOIS PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY,

(Meredosia Power Station),

)

Petitioner,

v.

)

 PCB 80—187

ENVIRON~NTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY,

)

Resoondent.

OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD

(by

 I). Satchell):

This matter comes

before the Board upon a variance petition

filed October

10,

1980

by Central Illinois Public

Service Company

(CIPS).

 The petition

requests for the Meredosia Power Station

an

extensIon of a variance previously granted from the effluent

standards for copper

 (total),,

iron

 (total)

 and iron (dissolved)

of Rule 408(a)

 of Chapter

3:

 Water

Pollution for discharges

of

boiler chemical

cleaning

rinse

water

into

the

ash

 pond.

 On Novem-

ber 12, 1980 the

Illinois

Environmental Protection Agency

 (Agency)

recommended that the variance be granted with conditions.

No

hearing was held and no public comment has been received.

The Board has prev~ouslygranted

 a variance from the copper

and iron effluent standards

for

 cleaning rinse water from the

Meredosia Power Station

 (PCB 80-25.

Opinion

 and Order,

 38 PCB

49,

April

3,

 1980;

 38 PCB 279,

May 15r

 1980)~,

 The record and Opinion

and

Orders are incorporated

into

 this

proceeding by reference.

That variance expired September

13,

1980,

 which time CIPS had

expected to complete its

boiler cleaning~

 CIPS was unable to

carry out cleaning of boiler number

6

 (Unit

4)

 during the sched-

uled period, but

now expects

to

do so

by December 31,

 1980.

CIPS proposes to clean

 its boiler

tubes

 by filling them with

EDTA

(ethylenediaminetetraacetic

aci•d~

chelating

agent.

CIPS

will

haul

tanker

 truck the

spent

EDTA

solution,

 containing

most

of the metal

wastes~

for

treatment

away

from

the

site.

 will

then be necessary

rinse

the

boiler tubes.

 Because

the

volume

of

rinse

water,

is

not

practicable

haul

it

away.

CIPS

proposes

discharge

t:o

the

ash

pond

the

rinse

water

only.

Following

chemical

cleaning

the

boiler

 tubes

are

 exposed

down

to bare

metal

which

renders

 them highly sensitive to corrosion.

To

retard

this

corrosion

protective

 film

must

formed

on

the

tube

surfaces.

 This

done

operating

the

boiler

with

hydra-

zine

added

the

cooling

water.

Because

it

was

not

economical

operate

the

boiler

during

the

proposed

cleaning

period,

the

cleaning

 operation

could

not

carried

out

schedule.

40-~75

The

 boiler

cleaning was originally

scheduled

 to last a two

week period

 from August 30 to September 13.

 There are not

 quite

four weeks remaining

between December

4

and

 December

 31, the last

date of the

 requested

variance.

 There

is

no

 indication from the

Agency that the

 timing

of the scheduled

cleaning

 is of any conse-

quence.

 In order

to

avoid the possibility of a

further extension,

the variance will

be

granted through

December

 31, 1981, upon con-

dition that it

 allows

only a single cleaning

episode.

The Board

 finds

that CIPS would

suffer

 arbitrary

 and unreas-

onable hardship

if this variance were

denied,

 for substantially

the same reasons

set

forth in the Board~s

previous Opinion in

PCB 80-25.

 The variance

is granted with

the

 conditions set forth

below.

This

 Opinion

constitutes the Board~s

findings

 of fact and

conclusions of

law

in this matter.

Petitioner,

 Central Illinois Public Service

Company

(CIPS)

is granted for

its

Meredosia Power Station

 a variance

from

the

effluent standards

 for copper

 (total), iron

 (total)

 and iron

(dissolved)

of

 Rule

408(a)

 of Chapter

3:

 Water

Pollution,

 sub-

ject to the

 following

conditions:

1.

 This

 variance

will expire December 31,

1981 or upon

completion of

cleaning of boiler number

6

 (Unit 4),

whichever occurs

 first.

2.

 This

variance shall apply only to

discharge to the ash

pond of

boiler cleaning rinse water

resulting from a

single boiler

cleaning operation.

3.

 CIPS shall

notify the Agency prior to

starting and

upon

completion of boiler cleaning.

4,

 Petitioner

shall not discharge EDTA

boiler cleaning

solution into

the ash pond,

5,

 Petitioner

shall conduct a study to

determine treatment

capabilities

of the ash pond.

The

study

 shall include

as

a

minimum data on ph of the

ash pond,

 constituents

in the

metal cleaning waste rinses,

the concentration

of the

constituents and the

volume of cleaning waste

rinses discharged

to the ash

pond.

 A summary

 ô.’E rest~lt~

4O~

76

—3—

shall be sent to the Agency within ninety

 days of

completion of boiler cleaning.

6.

The

 Agency, pursuant to Rule 914 of Chapter

3:

 Water

 Pollution,

 shall modify NPDES Permit

 IL0000116 con-

sistent with conditions set forth in

 this Order.

7.

 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~~

 tandin

he

Order

PCB

80-187,

hereby

 that Order and

agree to be

 bound by all

its

terms

and

conditions.

SIGNED ________________________

DATE

 ___________________________

 ORDERED.

I, Christan

Moffett,

Clerk

of

the Illinois Pollution

Control Board,

hereby

certify

 that ,the

above Opinion and Order

were ~dopted on

the

day

of

 1980 by a vote

of

 4’~C

Illinois Pollution

 Control Board

40—77