ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
November 16,
1978
UNITED STATES STEEL CORP.,
Petitioner,
v.
)
PCB
77—327
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
Respondent.
ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by Mr. Goodman):
On October
3,
1978,
the Environmental Protection Agency
(Agency) filed a Motion for Rehearing
or Reconsideration
of the
Board’s September
7,
1978 Opinion and Order in this matter.
Petitioner United States Steel
Corp.
(U.S.
Steel)
filed its Res-
ponse on October 16,
1978.
In support of its Motion, the Agency argues that in a permit
appeal the burden is on the Petitioner
to prove, based upon its
application,
that its emissions will not cause a violation of the
Act or Regulations and that the Board failed to find that U.S.
Steel met its burden of proof.
Furthermore,
the Agency argues that
the Board failed to find that, even
if U.S.
Steel’s cast house
emissions are fugitive
in nature, Rules
203(a)
and
(b)
do not apply.
The intent of our Opinion was
to interpret Rules 203(a)
and
(b) and 203(f),
as well as
the Rule 201 definition of “Fugitive
Particulate Matter,”
to mean, when read together,
that Rules 203(a)
and
(b)
do not apply to fugitive emissions.
Such emissions are
regulated by Rule 203(f).
Our interpretation of the definition of
fugitive emissions
is that emissions which cannot be readily collec-
ted and treated are fugitive
in nature.
We agree with the Agency’s interpretation of the burden of
proof in a permit appeal.
Oscar Mayer
& Co.
v.
EPA, PCB 78-14
(June 14,
1978).
U.S.
Steel had the burden of proving, based upon
its application,
that its emissions are fugitive
in nature and that
they do not violate the Act or Regulations.
The Board found that,
although casting emissions can vary widely as to collectibility,
the
only information before the Board indicated that emissions from the
casting operation
at U.S.
Steel’s blast furnace facility are not
readily collectible and are thus fugitive in nature.
That conclu-
sion was based upon information
in U.S.
Steel’s application and the
explanation of that information in the Stipulation of Facts and
32—85
—2—
Petitioner’s Brief.
That
same
information indicates that U.S.
Steel’s
casting operation does not violate Rule
203(f).
The Agency
presented
no evidence to rebut the information in
the record indicating that
the emissions are fugitive emissions and that they do not violate
Rule 203(f).
The Board, therefore,
found in effect that U.S.
Steel
had met its burden of proof.
The Board notes that its finding that
the casting emissions
in
question are fugitive in nature applies
only to U.S. Steel’s casting operation as portrayed in the record of
this case and not to all cast house emissions.
Having
found
that
U.S.
Steel
met
its
burden
of proving that
its
emissions
fall
under
and
comply
with
Rule
203(f)
and
that
Rules 203(a)
and
(b)
do not apply
to emissions governed by Rule
203(f),
the Board hereby denies the Agency’s Motion.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
I, Christan L.
Moffett,
Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Contro)~Board, hereby certfy
the above Order was adopted on
the
j~
day of
/)o.V4$~~_
t~t, 1978 by a vote of
3~
Christan
L. MoffetV,
rk
Illinois Pollution C
ol Board
32—86