ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

February

9,

1977

COMMONWEALTH EDISON COMPANY,

Petitioner,

v.

)

 PCB 74—16

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,

)

Respondent.

ORDER OF THE BOARD

(by

Mr.

 Goodman):

This matter comes before the Board upon the Petition of

Commonwealth Edison Company

 (Edison)

 for Emergency Relief from its

Waukegan Station Compliance Plan,

 filed February

4,

 1977.

 The Peti-

tion was originally construed as

 a variance petition and docketed as

PCB 77—44.

 However, the Board hereby construes

 the Petition as

a

Motion for Modification of the Board’s Order in PCB 74-16, which

bound Commonwealth Edison

to

 a compliance plan for its Waukegan

Station.

 PCB 77-44

 is hereby dismissed as moot.

The problem presented herein is an emergency situation created

by the severity of this winter season.

 According to Petitioner,

the

coal

 in 600 railroad cars at Petitioner’s Powerton Station is frozen

and cannot be unloaded at that station.

 Because of the lack of rail-

road cars,

 two mines have been idled since January 11,

 1977, render-

ing unemployed over 500 miners.

 The Board has received telegrams

from

the

coal,

companies

which

own

the

mines

invol

ved

herein

 verify-

ing this sharp reduction

 in the labor force

 at these mines due to

the unavailability of the railroad cars.

 The only alternative method

for returning the cars to service that Edison has found

 is to move

them to Edison’s Waukegan station where

 there are existing facilities

for handling railroad cars to thaw the coal sufficiently so it can be

unloaded.

 This alternative would necessitate burning this Illinois

coal, with a sulfur content of about

 3.5,

 at the Waukegan Station,

where Edison has committed not to burn coal with a sulfur content in

24

—

757

—2—

excess of

1.

 Edison indicates

 that this coal would be burned at the

Waukegan Station over a period of 20-30 days and would represent up

50

 of the Station’s total coal burn.

The Agency,

in

 a recommendation filed on February

8,

 1977,

 points

out that several safeguards against any potential violation of the

ambient air quality standards are built into Waukegan’s

 situation.

Under its compliance plan,

 Edison has installed eleven monitoring

stations in the vicinity of its plant, at locations determined

by

modeling.

 Furthermore,

 the Agency indicates that the meteorological

conditions most likely to occur during the mid-February

 to mid-March

period coupled with the location of the Waukegan plant render very

unlikely the possibility of an air quality excursion due to this plant

during the period for which modification

 is sought.

The Board finds that the severe economic and social hardship

caused by the unavailability

 of the railroad cars coupled with the

safeguards against excursions over the air quality standards

 for this

limited period of time warrant modification of the Board’s decision

in PCB

 74-16.

 This departure from the Board’s policy of not granting

motions for modification beyond the time period established in Pro-

cedural

 Rule 333

 is due solely to the severe hardship evidenced here-

in.

 The Board will allow Edison to burn this high sulfur coal at its

Waukegan Station until March

6,

 1977,

 provided that such utilization

shall be suspended during any t.me period in which a violation of the

primary 24—hour or secondary 3—hour ambient air quality standard for

SO2 would be likely to occur.

The Board hereby modifies its Order in PCB 74-16 by adding the

following addendum:

ADDENDUM

The Board’s Order herein shall not apply

 to Edison’s Waukegan

Plant from February

9,

 1977,

 to March

6,

 1977 to the extent that

Edison

may

burn

at

 fhi s planL

the

 co~fl con

Ini

ned

 in 600 rail

cars

currently located at the Powerton Station and described

 in Edison’s

February

4,

 1977 Petition,

 subject to the followinq conditions:

1.

 Edison shall develop and implement

 a meteorological fore-

casting scheme which is capable of identifying the conditions

under which the burning of fuel at the Waukegan Station

containing up

 to 50

 high sulfur coal

 (3.5

 sulfur)

 would

be likely to cause violations

 of the primary 24—hour or

secondary

3-hour

air

quality

standard

for

sulfur

dioxide.

—

758

—3—

2.

 Edison shall utilize such scheme to identify time

periods when utilization of high sulfur coal would need

to be suspended in order to protect air quality and shall

suspend

such

utilization

during

such

time

periods.

3.

 Edison shall notify the Agency immediately in the event

any

air

quality

standard

for

 SO2 or particulate violation is

 registered at the

 Zion or Waukegan monitoring network.

4,

 Edison shall submit to the Agency and the Attorney

General detailed meteorological and air quality data from

its meteorological tower at Zion and from the monitoring

network

Waukegan

within

fifteen

days

after

March

1977.

Such data shall be supplemented with data as

 to the relative

quantities of

high

and

low

sulfur

coal

burned

 at each of the

three units on

 a daily basis.

I, Christan

L.

 Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control

hereby (ert i ly

t

aI~)ve

Orc1~

‘r

was

adopt

on

 I he

7~’

day

11977 by

 a vote

3.- ~

_______

Christan

 L. Moff~tffJC1erk

Illinois Po11utioi~”~ontro1Board

Boa

of

24

—

759