ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    October 18,
    1979
    IN THE MATTER
    OF:
    )
    AMENDMENTS TO THE AIR
    )
    R78—2
    POLLUTION CONTROL REGULATIONS
    PERTAINING TO OPEN BURNING
    IN DISASTER AREAS
    PROPOSED OPINION OF THE BOARD
    (by Mr.
    Dumelle):
    This proceeding was initiated by an emergency rulemaking
    petition filed by the Agency on April 13, 1978.
    On that
    same day the Board adopted emergency amendments to Rules
    501(i) and 501(j) of Chapter
    2: Air Pollution.
    The Board’s
    Order was published in Environmental Register #170 on April
    21,
    1978.
    The Agency filed
    a similar proposal on January
    31,
    1979 after expiration of the Order.
    The Board adopted
    another emergency Order on February 1,
    1979 which was published
    in Environmental Register #189 on February
    9, 1979.
    Joint
    technical
    arid
    economic impact hearings were held on the
    Agency’s proposals on August 29,
    1979 in Springfield, and
    September 12,
    1979 in Chicago.
    On September 20,
    1979 the
    Board adopted
    a Proposed Order to permanently amend Rules
    501(i) and 501(j).
    The Proposed Order was published in
    Environmental Register #201 on October 1,
    1979.
    This Proposed
    Opinion supports the Board’s two emergency Orders and the
    Proposed Order.
    NEED FOR THE REGULATION
    Open burning of refuse was prohibited under Rule 2-1.2
    by the Air Pollution Control Board
    (APCB) unless a variance
    was obtained from the APCB’s Technical Secretary.
    This rule
    was maintained in effect by Section 49(c)
    of the Act.
    The
    Board reaffirmed this prohibition but provided a permit
    system with specific exemptions
    to allow open burning of
    landscape waste in certain areas with an air curtain destructor
    or a comparable device
    (In
    the Matter of: Open Burning Regulations,
    R70—11,
    2
    PCB 373—383, September
    2,
    1971).
    On May 17,
    1973
    the Agency asked the Board to amend the Open Burning Regulations
    to permit burning of “clean” wastes resulting from floods,
    large storms or other similar disasters.
    On June 28, 1973
    the Board adopted amendments to allow this burning whenever
    a
    disaster
    was declared pursuant to the U.S. Disaster Relief
    Act of
    1970,
    Public Law 91—606.
    In evaluating disasters
    declared by the Governor, the Board stated as follows:
    “The record clearly did not support the inclusion of
    the Illinois Disaster Relief Act in the Agency’s proposal.
    In fact Roy Brown testified that,
    to his knowledge,
    the
    35—549
    —2—
    Illinois Disaster Relief Act is not used unless the
    U.S. Disaster Relief Act is also invoked.
    Therefore,
    broadening
    the Regulation in this manner would not
    actually broaden the use of this open burning procedure,”
    (In the Matter of: Proposed Amendments to Open Burning
    ~~iations,
    R73—7,
    9 PCB 275,
    276, September 13,
    :L973).
    On March 23 and 24,
    1978 a severe ice storm struck
    24
    counties
    in Central Illinois.
    Governor Thompson declared
    these counties to be a disaster area and requested a similar
    determination by President Carter
    (Ex.1).
    The President
    declined to do
    so
    (R.44).
    As a result the Agency asked the
    Board to adopt emergency amendments to enable
    it to act on
    the basis of the Governor’s decision.
    The Board found that
    an emergency existed and that the provisions of Section
    27(c)
    o:E the Act authorized temporary amendments.
    The
    amendments were limited to a period of 150 days by Section
    5.01(b) of the Administrative Procedure Act.
    The Agency issued 10 permits during this period
    (R.20,
    Ex..2).
    The City of Springfield burned 10,000 truckloads of
    material which required two months of collection
    (R.39).
    On December 31, 1978 and January
    1, 1979 an ice storm
    struck Madison and St. Clair counties.
    On January 12—14,
    1979,
    66 counties in Northern Illinois were devastated by a
    snow storm of staggering proportions.
    The Governor responded
    with two emergency declarations on January 26, 1979
    (Ex.3).
    No request for a federal determination was made because a
    positive response was not expected
    (R.45).
    The Agency filed
    another emergency petition and the Board adopted a second
    150 day emergency amendment.
    This time the Agency issued 17
    open burning permits
    (R.23,
    Ex.3).
    The
    Board reaffirms its emergency decisions.
    Neither
    the disasters nor the President’s decision could have been
    foreseen.
    The situation required immediate attention and
    could not await the normal rulemaking process.
    The Agency testified that
    it knows of only 17 air
    curtain destructors in Illinois.
    Eleven of these are stationary
    and 6 are portable
    (R.23).
    The number of applications to
    operate these devices has been on the decline with
    2 or
    less
    requests per year
    (R..77—78).
    Consequently it does not
    appear feasible to require their use during times
    of emergency.
    The Agency also indicated that the type of waste covered
    by this regulation
    (clean wooden building debris,
    landscape
    waste and agricultural waste) was
    a poor candidate for
    disposal
    in scarce landfill
    space
    (R.32).
    This waste occupies
    an inordinate volume,
    is unstable, does not compact well,
    and requires excess cover
    (R.31).
    There is no present
    capability to recover methane gas from decomposition
    (R.38).
    —3—
    In three public comments the Illinois Department of
    Transportation
    (IDOT)
    supported the proposal.
    IDOT stated
    that limited manpower during emergencies was needed to clear
    highways and haul debris to nearby burn sites.
    Landfills
    are usually much further away.
    Chipping and cutting for
    firewood were cited as
    labor intensive alternatives.
    The
    City of Springfield commented that the refuse constituted
    a
    health,
    fire and rodent hazard and had to be disposed of as
    quickly as possible.
    The Agency showed that no violations of the National
    Ambient Air Quality Standards for total suspended particulate
    matter could be attributed to either of the recent disasters
    (R.97,
    Ex.5).
    The Board concludes that emergencies require immediate
    action.
    Communities hit by disasters should not be forced
    to consume an undue amount of their dwindling
    landfill space
    or to engage in costly recycling or firewood production.
    The
    limitations of Rule 504 should provide adequate protection
    of ambient air quality.
    ECONOMIC IMPACT
    The Institute of Natural Resources submitted
    a study to
    the Board entitled Economic Impact
    of Allowing Open Burning
    in
    Disaster
    Areas,
    R78—2
    (INR Document No. 79/07). The study
    compared the private and social costs of open burning,
    landfilling,
    the use of air curtain destructors, and recycling
    for disposal
    of the refuse covered by this regulation.
    Costs for open burning were broken down in 1975 dollars
    in the following amounts per ton of waste burned:
    $1.70
    operating costs
    .85
    for
    fire risk including costs
    to reduce this
    hazard
    5.00
    for pollution damage due to particulates,
    carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons,
    and nitrogen
    oxides
    $7.55
    Total Cost
    The costs
    for pollution damage are based on emission
    factors, a USEPA study of 40 metropolitan areas including
    Peoria,
    Illinois, and additional studies.
    The study author
    did not conclude that there was a direct causal relationship
    between emissions from open burning and fixed costs.
    The
    $5.00 figure was simply the only comparative cost available.
    Costs for landfilling per ton of waste were broken down
    as follows:
    ~c—cc
    1
    —4—
    $6.70
    operating costs
    .30
    damages from leachate and gas formation
    .55
    future increased costs from using up present
    landfill space
    $7.55
    Total cost
    The operating costs were high because of the problems
    associated
    with disposal
    of these types of debris and the
    impact
    of disaster conditions.
    Leachate costs were based on
    costs
    for water purification.
    Damages
    from gas formation
    were aggregated into methane production and projected over a
    20 year period for decomposition.
    Future costs for consuming
    present landfill
    space were based on a 10 year life for
    landfills and 50
    extra travel time from the present average
    of 4.36 miles.
    This last cost is slightly higher than a
    similar one calculated in Economic Impact of Prohibiting
    Landfill Development Within 2000 Feet of Public Schools
    (INR
    Document No.
    79/05) which was submitted as part of the
    proceeding designated as R77—14.
    While these two total costs appear to be equal,
    the
    study pointed to the fact that only 34
    of the costs of open
    burning are borne by local government.
    With landfilling,
    the local government’s share rises
    to 96.
    This disparity
    points to the real need for this regulation.
    On one hand,
    the environmental costs
    of open burning are very difficult
    to assess in any real way.
    On the other hand,
    the ability
    of local communities to generate revenue to dispose of
    disaster debris
    is quite real,
    if not acute.
    Costs per ton of waste burned from the use of air
    curtain destructors were broken down as follows:
    $3.60
    operating costs
    .45
    fire risks
    2.50
    pollution damage
    $6.55
    Total cost
    The study assumed that air curtain destructors could be
    generally available.
    The Agency did not agree
    (R.77—78).
    The lower cost for fire damage was based on better control
    with this technology.
    The pollution costs were calculated
    by simply cutting the costs
    of open burning by 50.
    The
    study concludes that the pollution costs are conservatively
    high.
    While all of these costs are not qualified as well as
    the other alternatives, they do show a relatively high share
    (62)
    of the burden on local government.
    Shredding tree limbs to form wood chips resulted in
    a
    range of costs from $11.00/ton for labor and reduced hauling
    costs
    to a possible benefit of $29.00/ton from providing
    this material
    as a community service.
    The study admits that
    35—552
    —5—
    this benefit will accrue only when someone wants this material.
    The enormous quantities of wood chips generated by a disaster
    might prove to be more than most communities could handle.
    Cutting up tree
    limbs for firewood would cost approximately
    $11.00/ton.
    Since this resource would be burned,
    an estimate
    of $4.48 was attached to pollution damage.
    While this
    alternative as well
    as chipping may result
    in economic
    benefit,
    local government is still faced with significant
    expense.
    The wood chips and firewood could be sold to recoup
    these
    costs.
    This would involve some additional costs
    (estimated at $1.00/ton) and may not be feasible during
    times of disaster.
    Wherever these alternatives are attractive,
    resourceful local public officials will not need encouragement
    from the Board to follow them.
    The City of Jacksonville
    indicated that some of their debris was distributed for
    firewood.
    Based on the above analysis, the Board concludes that
    adoption of the proposed regulation will not have any adverse
    economic impact on the people
    of the State of
    Illinois.
    LANGUAGE OF
    THE
    PROPOSED REGULATION
    The Proposed Order does not refer to any specific
    Federal or State
    laws.
    These references were deleted to
    avoid the need for future rulemaking in the event of future
    amendments by Congress or the General Assembly.
    The present
    Rules
    501(i) and 501(j)
    refer to the U.S. Disaster Relief
    Act of 1970 which has already been repealed and replaced by
    1974 legislation.
    One witness
    and one comment addressed the need for a
    greater role in
    local decision making in this process
    (R.100—106).
    Since this proceeding deals only with disasters which are
    declared on the Federal
    and/or State
    level,
    it would not be
    appropriate to open the scope of the Board’s decision.
    I,
    Christan L. Moffett,
    Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
    Control Board, hereby certify the
    bove Proposed Opinion of
    the Board was adopted on the
    __________
    day of
    ~
    ,
    1979 by a vote of
    i6/.v~
    ~
    Illinois Pollution Control Board
    35—553

    Back to top