ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

June

18,

1976

ENVIRONMENTAL

PROTECTION

AGENCY,

)

Complainant,

v.

)

PCB 75—408

FRANKLIN

FLOWERS, ROGER FLOWERS

)

AND CITY OF VIRDEN,

a municipal

)

corporation,

Respondent.

Ms.

Mary Schlott, Assistant Attorney General, appeared on behalf

of

the

Complainant

Mr.

Edmond

H.

Rees,

appeared

on behalf of the City of Virden

Messrs. Franklin and Roger Flowers, appeared Pro Se

OPINION

AND

ORDER OF THE

BOARD

(by Mr. Goodman):

This matter comes before the Pollution Control Board

(Board)

upon the October 17,

1975 Complaint of the Environmental Protection

Agency

(Agency)

charging the City of Virden

(Virden) with owning

and Franklin and Roger Flowers

(Flowers) with operating a refuse

disposal site without an operating permit in violation of Rule 202(b)

of the Board’s Solid Waste Regulations and Sections 21(b)

and(e)

of

the

Environmental

Protection

Act

(Act).

A

Settlement

Proposal

was

presented to the Board at a hearing held January 23,

1976.

This

Settlement was reduced to writing May 25,

1976.

The Board has often held that a violation of Rule 202(b)

of

the

Solid

Waste

Regulations

does

not

constitute

a

violation

of

Section 21(b)

of the Act.

Therefore,

that portion of the Complaint

alleging violation of Section 21(b) will be dismissed.

The

Parties

stipulate

that

Virden

owns

and

Flowers

operates

a

refuse

disposal

site

on

eleven

acres

in

Macoupin

County.

Refuse

deposits

are

limited

to

those

collected

from City customers of

Flowersv

scavenger service and refuse collected by the City

in its

public

works

operations.

22—131

---

—2—

Flowers obtained a development permit on August

8,

1974.

The

site was inspected several times

(Ex.

1—6).

Upon receipt of the

Complaint,

Flowers moved expeditiously to correct deficiencies at

the site.

Substantial compliance was shown by November 25,

1975,

and an operating permit was issued December

5,

1975.

Although Respondents have an agreement in which Flowers

is

liable to indemnify Virden for any litigation costs arising from

operation of the landfill, Virden has agreed not to seek indemni-

fication in the event a penalty is assessed herein.

The Respondents admit that they operated without an operating

permit from July

27,

1975 to the date of the filing of the Complaint.

The Board therefore finds that the Respondents have violated Rule

202(b)

of the Solid Waste Regulations and Section 21(e)

of the Act.

The Board finds that the violation was de minimus and that the

parties proceeded in good faith and with dispatch to obtain the

necessary permit.

Virden pays Flowers $6,500.00 per year to operate the site.

In addition, Flowers receive approximately $21,000.00 annually from

Virden customers for garbage collection.

The Flowers purchased a

bulldozer for the site at a cost of $34,650.00 through a bank loan.

The balance due as of January,

1976,

was $24,505.00.

Flowers paid

$2,100.00 in engineering fees related to the permit application re-

quirements.

The site operated at a net loss of $617.00 in 1974.

Franklin Flowers’ wife suffered kidney failure shortly after the

Flowers started operating the site.

This illness is not covered by

insurance and has resulted in a debt of $3,600.00 to date.

The Board finds that a penalty

is appropriate in order to pro-

tect the integrity of the permit system.

Therefore a penalty of

$100.00 will be assessed against the City of Virden.

In view of

Flowers financial hardship and good faith effort to obtain an opera-

ting permit, no penalty will be assessed against them.

This Opinion constitutes 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 City of Virden and Franklin and Roger Flowers are

22—132

---

—3.-

found to have violated Rule 202(b)

of the Solid Waste Regu-

lations and Section 21(e)

of the Act from July 27,

1975, to

October 17, 1975.

2)

The City of Virden shall pay as a penalty for said vio-

lation the

sum

of $100.00.

Said penalty shall he

paid

by

certified check or money order payable to the State of

Illinois within

35 days of the date of this Order to:

State of Illinois

Environmental Protection Agency

Fiscal Services Division

2200 Churchill Road

Springfield, Illinois

62706

3)

The alleged violation of Section 21(b)

of the Act be

and is hereby dismissed.

I, Christan

L.

Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control

Board, hereby certify the above Opinion and Order were adopted on

the

day of

~

,

1976 by a vote of____________

Illinois Pollution

Board