ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

October 30, 1975

MC CLURE

QUARRIES, INC.

Petitioner,

PCB 75—326

ENVIRONMENTAL

PROTECTION

AGENCY,

Respondent,

OPINION

AND ORDER OF

THE

BOARD (by Mr. Dumelie):

Petitioner filed a

request. for a variance from Rules 103

(b)

2G2(~), and 203(a)

or 203(b) of the

Air Pollution Control

Regulations

(Air Rules) on

August

25, 1975. The Illinois Environmental

Protection

Agency

(Agency)

filed a Recommendation to deny the

variance

on October 16,

1975,

No hearing was held.

Petitioner

operates a limestone quarrying operation

located

one and a half miles north of Tennessee,

,

Illinois in

Mcoonough County.

Petitioner mines the limestone and then

removes

it

by

truck to a central crushing, screening and

processing

operation,

The rock crushing plant produces a

mexamum of 125

tons an hour of crushed stone with an average

proeuct~on rate

of some 100 tons per hour. During 1974

24,E~20 tons

of

stone

were processed during some 279 days

of

aDoration,

Petitioner1s equipment consist of hopper,

vi:rbrating feeder,

impactor (primary crusher)

,

double deck

screen1 hamraermili

(secondary crusher) and a second double

deck screen,

Petitioner states

that limestone

dust, which

consists

of approximately 85,75

calcium

carbonate, is

crc.tred from

three processing areas at the rock crushing

ciant:

j:rimary crushing; secondary crushing and screening;

and conveying and handling.

Petitioner

has outlined a compliance program to suppress

dust emissions by constructing a liquid spray system which

will acp:Ly a wetting agent to the stone at the impactor and

bammermill. On August 18, 1975

Petitioner submitted a

construction permit

application for the spray system to

the Agency. Petitioner

also alleges that the application

I t~c wetting agency will

control

dust at subsequent

material

handling

operations. Pet~tioner~scompliance program

19

—

165

---

—2—

estimates

cornpLiance by April 1, 1976 provided the Agency issues

the applied for construction permit.

Petitioner

alleges

that the National Air Quality Primary

Standards for Particulate Matter

is

being

met in the Burlington—

Keokuk Interstate

Air Quality Region 65 within which its

facility is located.

The Agency

recommends

that the variance be denied. The

Agency states that the compliance program involves “an unreasonable

:Lcnqth CE time within which to undertake a program of control

wnich as otherwise acceptable”,

The Agency also alleges that

UI

officially

warned

McClure on March 15, 1975, that it was

operating without an operating permit”,

Tao

Poard

finds

that Petitioner has failed to explain

wny it did not

obtain an operating permit by June

1,

1973

asreculred

~

Rule 103 (b) (2) (A) of the Air Rules.

Nor

has Petitioner

presented any information in regard to the

failure to timely comply with

Rules

202 and 203 of the Air

Rules.

Without

this information the Board may not grant

the requested relief,

We have previously held that denial

of the variance

is

not tantamount to a shut down order, but

rather a refusal to grant a

shield

from

prosecution (See

CAP Corporation v.

EPA,

PCB 71—11 I PCB 481, 490 (April 19, 1971)).

This

Opinion

constitutes the Board~s findings of fact

and

concluseons of

law,

ORDER

The variance

requested by

McClure Quarries,

Inc. is denied

without prejudice.

IT

IS

SO ORDERED.

I, Christen

L.

Moffett,

Clerk of

the Illinois Pollution Control

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

~j?~day

of October,

1975

by a vote of

____________________

Illinois P01,