ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

June 3, 1976

INTERPACE CORPORATION,

Petitioner,

V.

)

PCB 75—495

)

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,

)

Respondent.

OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD (by Mr. Zeitlin):

This matter is before the Board on a Variance Petition filed

on December 3, 1975, in which Petitioner Interpace Corporation

(Interpace) requested relief from the daily cover requirements for

solid waste management sites in Rule 305(a) of Chapter 7: Solid

Waste, of the Pollution Control Board Rules and Regulations. In

an Interim Order entered January 8, 1976, the Board found Interpac&s

original Petition inadequate, and required the filing of additional

information. Interpace then filed additional information on Feb. 9,

1976. A Recommendation was received from the Environmental Protection

Agency (Agency) on April 30, 1976, to which Interpace responded on

May 21, 1976. No hearing was held in this matter.

Interpace manufactures reinforced concrete pipe at its plant

in Winnebago County, Illinois. As part of those operations, spillage

and waste result in the generation of 2 to 3 tons of concrete wastes

daily, which are disposed of in a landfill on Interpace’s property..

Prior to investigations by the Agency in 1975, Interpace was not

aware of the requirement that all such landfill sites must receive

a minimum of 6” daily cover. Because of the nature of the wastes

disposed of, Interpace feels that it should be exempted from that

requirement.

Environmental effects. The Agency’s Recommendation supplies

substance for the inferences on this issue in the Petition. Due to

the nature of the concrete wastes, the Agency states that there is

little, if any, likelihood of damage to the environment if the

Variance is granted.

Compliance plan. Again the Agency’s Recommendation shows that

the eventual application of intermediate or final cover could properly

achieve the goals for which the cover requirements were designed.

Interpace’s response to the Agency’s Recommendation indicated that

this should be accomplished within 12 months.

22—37

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Hardship. The Agency’s Recommendation noted that neither

Interpace~s original Petition nor the Additional Information filed

pursuant to our Interim Order contained any substantive allegation

of hardship, and accordingly recommended that the Variance be denied.

However, Interpace’s Response to the Agency Recommendation, filed

~ay 20, 1976, shows that under present operating procedures the

application of daily cover would require an expenditure of $1,000

per week. The alternative, the purchase of a bulldozer and employ-

ment of an operator, would also require a large expenditure,

substantially increasing Interpace’s operating costs.

The Board has held that the lack of environmental damage, alone,

cannot justify a Variance from its Regulations; such a decision

would be tantamount to repeal of the general Regulations and an

abdication of the Board’s responsibility. Cf., Illinois Power Co.

V.

EPA, PCB 72—190, 6 PCB 17 (1972); Norfol)~7Western Ry. Co. v.

EPA, PCB 70-41, 1 PCB 218 (1971). Dut?H~eBoard has aT~Th~T~at

~i~re the likelihood of environmental damage is slight, there need

be correspondingly little hardship shown to justify the grant of a

Variance. See, e.g., Prayer Garden Church of God in Christ v.

EP~\,

PCB 76—37 (A~il22, 1976). Cf., Olin v. EPA, PCB 72-253, 6 PCB iii,

325 (1972)

weighing the absence of any likelihood that the grant of this

Variance would result in damage to the environment against the

hardship pleaded by Interpace, we find that a Variance is warranted.

We shall grant it for a period of one year, and shall require that

Interpace apply all required intermediate and final cover by the

end of that period.

This Opinion constitutes the findings of fact and conclusions

of law of the Board in this matter.

ORDER

IT IS THE ORDER OF THE POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD that Interpace

Corporation be granted a Variance from December 3, 1975 until

December 3, 1976 from Rule 305(a) of Chapter 7: Solid Waste, of

the Pollution Control Board Rules and Regulations, subject to the

following conditions:

a. Petitioner shall, by the conclusion of the

above Variance period, apply all cover required by

Rules 305(b) and 305(c) of Chapter 7.

b. Petitioner shall, within thirty (30) days

of the date of this Order submit to the Environmental

Protection Agency a Certificate of Acceptance in the

following form:

22—38

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—3—

I, (We),

_______________

having read

the Order of the Illinois~~fl n trol Board

in case No. PCB 75-495, understand and accept said

order, realizing that such acceptance renders all

terms and conditions thereto binding and enforceable.

SIGNED

TITLE

DATE

I, Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution

Control Board, he ~by certify the above Opinion and Order we e

adopted on thej day oi~Jt~.~~__,1976, by a vote of

_____

Illinois Pollution