ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    August 14, 1975
    J.
    L.
    CLARK MANUFACTURING COMPANY,
    Petitioner,
    v.
    )
    PCB 75—172
    ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
    Respondent.
    OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
    (by Mr. Goodman):
    This case comes before the Pollution Control Board
    (Board)
    upon a variance petition by
    J.
    L.
    Clark Manufac-
    turing Company
    (Clark)
    requesting variance from Rule 205(f)
    of Chapter
    2, Air Pollution Control Regulations,
    from April
    1,
    1975 to June
    1,
    1975 for their painting and decorating
    lines at the Rockford Division in the City of Rockford,
    in Winnebego County,
    Illinois.
    Clark manufactures decorative metal containers and
    various specialty items using metal sheet and printed graph-
    ics with an overcoat of varnish.
    Clark was originally
    granted an operating permit by the Agency, with
    a compliance
    program that envisioned the reduction of organic material in
    order
    to qualify under Rule 205 (f) (2) (D).
    After three years
    of investigation with vendors, Clark discovered that suit-
    able resins able to withstand the severe bending and stretch-
    ing which is necessary to produce Clark’s various finished
    products,
    could not be developed.
    Upon recognition of the
    problem and the likelihood that it would be unable to meet
    the May
    30,
    1975, final date for this type of of material,
    Clark immediately instituted a program to comply with Rule
    205(f)
    by means of incineration and exempt solvents.
    Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
    (Agency)
    investigations revealed no complaints by neighbors
    in the
    area and the Agency has recommended that Clark be granted
    this variance, noting the very rapid reaction of Clark in
    gaining compliance
    as soon as they were aware they would be
    unable
    to meet the May 30, 1975,
    deadline.
    The Board finds that,
    although the denial of a variance
    is not a “shutdown order,”
    it would be an arbitrary and
    unreasonable hardship for Clark,
    as it alleges,
    to have to
    shut down approximately 1/3 of their production output for
    the short timespan indicated,
    particularly considering the
    18—367
    —2—
    good faith effort on Clark’s part to comply with Rule 205
    and the speed with which compliance by alternative methods
    was accomplished when the water based solvent problem became
    apparent.
    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 the
    J.L.
    Clark Manufacturing Company be granted variance from
    Rule 205(f)
    of the Air Pollution Control Regulations from
    April
    1,
    1975 to June
    1,
    1975.
    I,
    Christan
    L.
    Moffett,
    Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
    Control Board, hereby ce~ify the above Opinion and Order
    were adop ed on the
    /4’
    1
    day of
    ________
    1975 by a
    vote of
    —~
    Christan L. Moffett,
    ~
    Illinois Pollution Co~~àlBoard
    18
    —
    368

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