ILLII:15 POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

January

8,

1976

CITY OF JACKSONVILLE,

Petitioner,

v.

)

PCB 75—390

ENVTRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,

Rc~pondent:

CONCURRING OPINION

(by Mr.

Zeitlin):

:Jhile

I concur

with

the grant

of this Variance,

and generally

wit~ ~.heconditions

imposed on Petitioner,

I cannot agree with.the

necessity for .condition

“d”

of the Board~sOrder.

I feel that~the

action of the Board

in, retaining jurisdiction on the matter of sludge

removal from MauVaise Terre Creek

will

serve merely to delay final

adjudication of the matter at increased expense

to the parties and

the Board.

It

is not the Board’s function,

in this case,

to measure the

likelihood of harm to children playing in the creek.

To require

briefs

on

the issue of

“whether or not the Board has authority to

order cleanup of wastes to protect the public from harm not associated

with

the

environmental aspects of that waste

.

.

.

.“

is to deny the

obvious:

We have no such authority.

Majority Opinion at

2.

It is certainly the Board’s function to protect the public.

But our power and authority are clearly limited by the Environmental

Protection Act; we may protect the public from danger or potential

danger only insofar as such danger

is associated with the environment.

By expanding our authority to the p6int where the Board

is considering

a mandate

to perform considerable work to clean up a stream for non-

environmental reasons

is to arrogate

to ourselves the power

of an

equity court.

This we cannot do.

This

is not to say that the Board may consider only directly

environmentel effects

I~n reachinq our determinations.

The Act gives

the Board a broad range of factors

—

other than environmental

—

which

it must consider

in reaching its decisions.

But to ask for briefs

on our authority

in an area which the Majority Opinion states

explicitly

is

Itnot associated with the environmental aspects

.

.

.“

exceeds even the broad authority granted

in the Act.

I concur with

the

result in this mattRr,

and with the majority

Opinion except as noted above.

a

19—609

---

—2—

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

was submitted on the

~

day of January,

1976.