ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
April 13, 1978
PEOPLE
OF THE
STATE OF ILLINOIS,
Complainant,
v.
)
PCB. 76—266
THE ADWELL CORPORATION, an Illinois
Corporation,
Respondent.
Mr. Jeffrey
S.
Herden, Assistant Attorney General,
appeared on
behalf of the Complainant.
Carey,
Filter and White, Attorneys at Law,
(Mr. Thomas
F.. Carey,
of counsel), appeared on behalf of the Respondent.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by Mr. Werner):
This matter comes before the Board on the October 26, 1976
Complaint brought by the People of the State of Illinois alleging
that The Adwell Corporation owned a solid waste management site
which Waste Management of Illinois,
Inc.
operated without the
requisite sanitary landfill Operating Permit in violation of
Rule 202(b) (1)
of Chapter 7:
Solid Waste Regulations and Section
21(e)
of the Environmental Protection
Act.
On
December
8,
1976,
the
People
filed
a
Request
for
Leave
to
File an Amended Complaint,
and an Amended Complaint.
The Amended Complaint added a second count
to the original
Complaint
by
charging the Respondents with failing to place
a
suitable final cover on the site
in violation of Solid
Waste
Piilc’n
3fl)
and
1O’
(~)
,
.ind
~
ion
21
(h)
~1
I Jn~
T~I
Un
lh~&’t’~U14’1’
I 6,
1
~Yi6
,
the
Board
qran
Led
L1R, Mulitin
tot’ •1.e~iv~’
to
File
the
Amended
Complaint.
The
Adwell
Corporation filed
its Answer to the Amended Com-
plaint on January
5,
1977.
As a result of discussions among the parties and various
discovery methods employed by the Complainant,
the
People f~.1~i
a
Motion
to
Dismiss
without
prejudice
Waste
Management as a
Respondent
in
this
case.
On
April
28,
1977,
the
Board
granted
this
motion.
30-3
Subsequently,
a propos?
I settlement agreement was worked out
between the Compla nant
aid ihe rcma.~ningRespondent
(i.e., The
Adwell Corporation).
On
January
i8, ‘978,
a hearing was held and
the parties
filed a Stipulat
on and Proposal for Settlement.
The stipulated bnckground
facts
indicate that The Adwell
Corporation owns the parcel of real
estate
in Cook County on which
the sanitary landfill is locat~d
Prior to 1970,
the Company
entered into an oral agreement with Mr.
Thomas Chirillo to allow
him to extract sand from the site and then fill the property with
solid
fill.
Under this agreement, Chirillo was
to pay the firm
the sum of $1,000 per month,
Shortly
iIi’er February,
1970, when
Chirillo did not make the payments agrce
upon,
the oral agreement
was cancelled.
The Adwell Corporation then
~c
k various steps
to rid the
property of Chirillo,
The Company hired a private detective,
obtained
a
Forcible
Decree,
and
pu
chased
an
adjacent
piece
of
property
upon
which
Chirillo
was
parking
his
equipment
while
dump-
ing under the cover of night.
Nevertheless,
Thomas Chirillo
co~tinued
to operate
a landfill
at the property without the consEnt
of
Adwell until February
28,
1974,
when
he sold his refuse colic’ lion business
to Waste Manage-
ment of Illinois,
Inc
However, Chirillo
wa”
under
ar
Orler
of this Board
(PCB 72-201~
entered January
23,
1973, which
~equir’~d,
inter
alia,
that he eithe
obtain
a permit or close and ap~ty
~nil cover to the landfill
within
6 months from the date of
the Order.
Despite this Board Order,
Chiril o continued
to accept certain
refuse for disposal at the landfill site u~
the cover of night,
and without the specific knowledge, consen
r approval of The
Adwell Corporation.
Thus,
on August 14
1975, the IlUnois Attorney General brought
suit against Chirillo for his failure
to comply with the terms
of
th
Ronrd Ordo r,
Poop
1
v
Thorna~Cli
I r
I
1
1 o,
C
i rc u
i L
Cotir I
of Cook
County,
75
CII 5100
Acc
~dinqly
on November 15,
1977,
Chirillo
was found
to have violated ftc Board Order and a judgment of
$5,000.00 was entered against
him,
Yet,
as late as December 1976,
Chirillo (without the knowledge
or consent of Adwell)
contiri,ed
to operate a landfill on the 48—acre
site near Interstate Route
94 and 130th Street in Chicago.
Non—
pütrescible refuse was accepted by Chirillo and used to fill in
low ‘areas and bring the property to grade
level,
Chirillo never
obtained any Agency permit
to conduct a landfill operation on this
property, nor was final cover applied at the site.
30~
—3—
The Complainant contends that the agreed statement of facts
previously discussed indicates that
The Adwell Corporation,
as
owner of the property
in question, allowed the operation of
a
sanitary landfill:
(1) without the requisite Operating Permit
in violation
of Solid Waste Ruic 202(b)
(1)
and Section 21(e)
of
the Act; and
(2) without complying
with the final cover require-
ment
of Rule 305(c),
in violation of Rule
301 and Section
21(b)
of
the Act.
The Adwell Corporation does not admit these violations and
denies the existence of any violations.
However,
for the purpose
of this settlement only,
the Respondent offered no evidence
to
refute the People’s contention.
Basically,
the proposed settlement agreement provides that
the Company will:
(1) pay a stipulated penalty of $500.00;
(2)
enter into an agreement for sale or lease of the property to a
person or persons who will operate the site as a landfill;
(3)
apply for Agency permits
to develop and operate the site as a
landfill within
60 days of the Board Order approving this settle-
ment;
(4)
begin the development work necessary
to obtain an
Operating Permit within 180 days after issuance of its Development
Permit; and
(5) begin operation of the site as a landfill within
1 year after Agency issuance of a Development Permit for the property.
in determining compliance with the time limits specified above,
the proposed settlement provides that the Company will not be
responsible for delays:
(1)
caused by acts of God; war,
riot,
insurrection or similar circumstances beyond Adwell;s control;
(2)
caused by Adwell’s lessees
or assigns
(provided,
however,
that the
Company notify the Illinois Attorney General’s office of the nature
and duration of the delay within
10 days after the delay becomes
known to Adwell).
In the event that the Company,
its lessees
or assigns,
shall
fail to meet any of the requisite time limits,
Adwell agrees
to:
(1) pay an additional penalty of $5,000.00;
(2) place
final cover
on the site;
(3) post a performance bond acceptable to the Illinois
Attornoy Gonem’s
Off
i~eto ensure
l~hnl
I
he
sub
joel
properly
is
cov~.urec1.
Additionally, the settlement agreement provides that The
Adwell Corporation does not admit the existence of any violation
of any law or regulation and that nothing contained in the agreement
constitutes
a waiver by the Company of any
legal rights which
it
might otherwise have
to contest the constitutionality,
lawfulness,
reasonableness, applicability or validity of any law or regulation.
In evaluating this enforcement action and proposed settlement,
the Board has taken into consideration all the facts and circum-
stances
in light of the specific criteria delineated
in Section 33(c)
of the Act.
Incinerator,
Inc.
v.
Illinois Pollution Control Board,
59
Ill.
2d 290,
319 N.E. 294(l~.
30-c
—4—
Accordingly,
the Board accepts the Stipulation and Proposal
for Settlement and imposes the stipulated penalty of $500.00.
This
Opinion
and Order constitute the Board’s findings of
fact and conclusions of law in this matter.
ORDER
It
is the Order of the Pollution Control Board
that:
1.
The Adwell Corporation shall comply with all terms
and conditions of the Stipulation and Proposal for Settlement
filed January 18,
1978, which is incorporated by reference as
if fully set forth herein.
2.
Within
35
days
of
the
date
of
this
Order, The Adwell
Corporation shall pay the stipulated penalty of $500.00, payment
to be made by certified check or money order to:
State of Illinois
Fiscal
Services
Division
Illinois
Environmental
Protection
Agency
2200 Churchill Road
Springfield,
Illinois
62706
I,
Christan
L.
Moffett,
Clerk
of
the
Illinois
Pollution
Control Board, hereby certify the above Opini n
and Order were
adopted
on the
J3~
day
of
___________,
1978
by a vote of
~
(,,~li.r.is
lan
I
—
Mo I I
Cl
ei’k
Illiiioi..s
Pc,11,uLjun
(2onLrui
lloat’d
30-6