ILLINOIS

POLLUTION

CONTROL BOARD

May

26,

1977

CPC

INTERNATIONAL,

INC~,

Petitioner,

v.

)

PCB 77—80

ENVIRONMENTAL

PROTECTION

AGENCY,

)

Respondent~

OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD

(by Mr.

Young):

This matter is before the Board

on the petition filed on

March 11,

1977,

by CPC International,

Inc.,

seeking relief

from Rule 404 (b)(ii) of Chapter

3:

Water

Pollution,

as regards

the suspended solids content in the effluent from

the wastewateç

treatment facility at its Pekin plant.

The

Agency did not contest

any of Petitioner~sallegations

in its Recommendation

which

is

favorable to the grant of the variance.

Petitioner owns and operates

a corn wet

milling plant

in

Pekin which has a capacity of approximately

70,000 bushels of

corn per day and employs

705 people.

The plant processes corn

into corn sweeteners, corn starches, vegetable

oils

and feed

by~products.

Petitioner obtains its process

water from the

Illinois River and the wastewater from its waste

treatment plant

discharges

to the Illinois River.

Since 1973 Petitioner has

expended over $2.8 million on

capital improvements

to its treat-

ment plant; research and

development costs for this period total

about $470,000,

and the 1976 operating costs were

$760,000

(Pet.

3),

Despite these expenditures and even though

Petitioner’s

facilities

are well operated and

maintained

(Rec.

2), Petitioner

has been unable

to attain compliance

with Rule 404(b)(ii).

Peti—

tioner~sdischarge presently contains suspended

solids levels in

the range between

30 and

50 mg/l on a

30-day average.

Petitioner

alleges that the Illinois River will not suffer any

environmental

harm from the Petitioner~sdischarge which may

be in excess of

the suspended solids

limitations of Rule

404.

Petitioner alleges,

and the Agency agrees,

that

its water pollution control system is

sophisticated and complex, and that some

additional

time is required

to optimize the performance of the existing system.

Petitioner

25

—

609

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—2—

alleges

that it would suffer an arbitrary or unreasonable hard-

ship if required to install any additional equipment at this

time when the existing system may prove to be sufficient.

In view of the foregoing,

the Board is disposed to grant

the relief requested.

The Board believes that it would be

unreasonable to deny Petitioner the opportunity to fully test

its existing system before deciding what additional measures

are necessary to achieve compliance.

The relief will be con-

ditioned on the fact that Petitioner limit its suspended solids

content to a level not to exceed

conclusions of law in this matter.

ORDER

Petitioner, CPC International,

Inc.,

is granted variance

until December 1,

1977,

to the extent consistent with the appli-

cable provisions of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act

?~mendmentsof 1972, and the regulations pursuant thereto,

from

Rule 404(b) (ii)

of Chapter

3:

Water Pollution,

as regards

suspended solids for the discharge from its Pekiri wastewater

treatment facility subject to the following conditions:

1.

Petitioner shall limit its suspended solids content

to a level not to exceed

50 mg/i on a 30—day average.

2.

Within 35 days of the date of this Order, the 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

CERTIFICATION

I,

(We), _____________________________ having

read

the Order of the Pollution Control Board

in PCB 77-80,

understand and accept said Order, realizing that such

acceptance renders all terms and conditions thereto

TITLE

DATE

25

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610

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—3—

IT IS SO ORDERED.

I, Christan

L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution

Control Board, hereby certify the above Opinion and Order were

adopted on the

c~(L~~’

day of

1977 by a vote

of~

Illinois Po1

:ontrol Board

25

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611