ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
June
28,
1977
ILLINOIS POWER COMPMTY,
(Clinton Station),
Petitioner,
v.
)
PCB 77—119
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
Respondent.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by Mr. Young):
This matter is before the Board on the petition filed on
April
19, 1977,
by the Illinois Power Company
(Clinton Station)
seeking variance from Rules
203(c)
and 402 of the Water Pollutiqn
Regulations
as regards phosphorus.
An Agency Recommendation
favorable to the grant of the variance was filed on May 23, 1976.
On May 24, 1976,
Petitioner filed a Waiver of Right to Hearing
and also filed a Motion to Grant Variance Without Hearing which
the Board construes as
a Motion for Decision Without Hearing
and
which
is hereby
granted.
The Board has previously dealt
with many petitions
in
which relief was sought from the requirement of meeting the
phosphorus water quality standard.
Village of Argenta and
Village of Cerro Gordo, PCB 75-182, PCB 75-183,
18 PCB 152;
Village 5f Strasburg,
PCB 76-28;
Old Ben Coal Company, PCB
76-21; City of Hoopeston,
PCB 76-234.
In this instance, Peti-
tioner is seeking this relief for a sanitary treatment facility
which is
to be operated at its Clinton Station in DeWitt County.
Petitioner contends that phosphorus removal treatment to the
0.05 mg/i water quality standard
is technologically infeasible
(Pet.
4).
Although
the Agency believes
it
is technologically feasible
to treat to 0.05 mg/i phosphorus,
the Agency does not believe
that removal
to this level would be economically reasonable
(Rec.
3).
Consistent with this belief,
the Agency has filed
a Petition for Regulatory Change
(R76-l) with the Bc’ard which
would amend the regulations by requiring only point sources
which have 1500 or more population equivalent and which discharge
into impoundments of greater than twenty acres to treat the
26
—
77
—2--
wastewater to a level not to exceed
1 mg/i prior to discharge.
Because the Petitioner~sexpected waste load is only 150
population equivalent, Petitioner will not be required to
provide any phosphorus removal if the regulation is adopted
as proposed.
As in the earlier cited cases~the Board finds here that
the Petitioner would suffer an arbitrary or
unreasonable hardship
if
required
to meet the 0.05 mg/i phosphorus water quality standard
and will therefore grant relief.
This Opinion constitutes
the Board’s
findings of fact and
conclusions of law in this matter.
ORDER
The Illinois Power Company
(Clinton Station)
is granted
variance for its sanitary sewage treatment facility from Rules
203(c)
and 402 of Chapter
3:
Water Pollution Control Regulations
as regards phosphorus
until June
1,
1982, subject to the following
conditions:
1.
This variance will terminate upon adoption by the
Board of any modification of the existing phosphorus wate.r quality
standards and effluent limitations and the Petitioner shall comply
with such revised regulations when adopted by the Board.
2.
Within
35 days of
the date of this Order, Petitioner
shall submit to the Manager, Variance Section, Division of Water
Pollution Control, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, 2200
Churchill Road, Springfield,
Illinois,
62706,
an executed Certifi-
cation of Acceptance and agreement to be bound to all terms and
conditions of the variance.
The
form
of said certification shall
be as follows:
CERTIFICATION
“The undersigned, being duly authorized by Illinois
Power Company to give this certification,
states that
he has read and fully understands the Order of the
Illinois Pollution Control Board in PCB 77—119, and
Illinois Power Company accepts said Order and agrees
to be bound by all of the terms and conditions thereof.
ILLINOIS POWER COMPANY
BY:
_____
Title:
Date:
26
—
78
—3—
IT IS SO ORDERED.
I, Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Control Board, hereby certify the above Opinion and Order were
ado~te~d
on the
~‘Yf4
day of
________________,
1977 by a vote
(~L~
~
A
Christan L. Moffett, ~Z~jerk
P
Illinois Pollution Control Board
26
—79