ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
December
5,
1974
)
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
)
)
)
v.
)
PCB 74-265
)
)
BENJAMIN HARRIS ~ COMPANY
)
)
MT. JEFFREY
S. HERDIN, Assistant Attorney General, appeared on
behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency;
MR. BRUCE A.
SPEAR, Aitheimer ~ Gray,
appeared on behalf of
Benjamin Harris ~ Company
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by Mr. Dumelle):
The Agency filed
a complaint against Respondent
(Benjamin
Harris
~ Company)
on July
10,
1974, charging it
with failure
to obtain a permit for the discharge wastewater
to Thorn Creek,
a water of the State of Illinois,
and that failure
to obtain
a permit constituted a violation of Rule 903(a)
of the Water Pollu-
tion Regulations, and of Sections 12(a) and
(b) of the Environmental
Protection Act.
A hearing was held on September 4, 1974,
at which no witnesses
appeared but a Stipulation of Facts, agreed upon by the Agency
and Respondent, was presented.
The Stipulation does not contain
a proposal for settlement.
STIPULATION OF FACTS
1.
Respondent
is
an Illinois corporation having
its principal
place
of business
in the City of Chicago Heights, County
of
Cook,
State of
Illinois.
2.
Respondent
is engaged in the business of reclaiming
and recycling used materials for reuse by industry in the
form of brass and bronze
ingot,
as well
as the production of
ingot from virgin metal.
3.
Respondent owns and operates
a certain facility for
the smelting of brass
and bronze located at the intersection
of 11th and State Streets, Chicago Heights, Cook County,
Illinois.
14—613
-2-
4.
Respondent’s only industrial usage of water
is
as
a
coolant for its product, ingot.
The water
is sprayed over the ingot
and,
after flowing through a series
of settling tanks
and screens,
the water,
in the form of non-contact cooling water,
is discharged
into the City of Chicago Heights sewer system, which discharges
into the State
Street Ditch which discharges
into Thorn Creek.
5.
The aforesaid non-contact cooling water
is
an industrial
waste
as
that term is defined in Rule 104 of the Illinois Pollution
Control Board Rules
and Regulations, Chapter
3 (hereinafter
referred to as “Water Regulations”) adopted pursuant to Section
13
of the Environmental Protection Act (hereinafter referred to
as
the
“Act”)
,
and
thereby
is
“was tewater”
as
that
term
is
defined
in
Rule
104
of
the
Water
Regulations.
6.
Thorn Creek
is
a “water” of the State of Illinois
as that
term is defined in Rule
104 of the Water Regulations.
7.
As
a result of the discharge of wastewater into the waters
of the State of Illinois, Respondent’s facility is
a “wastewater
source”
as that term is defined in Rule 104
of the Water Regulations.
8.
Rules
903(a) and (c)(l)
of the Water Regulations require
in part that any wastewater source consisting solely of non-
contact cooling water obtain an Operating Permit from the Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency by June 30,
1973.
9.
Since July 1,
1973, Respondent
has
operated its aforesaid
wastewater source without having first obtained an Operating Permit
from the
Illinois Environmental Protection
Agency.
10.
Prior to the filing of the Complaint in this matter on
July 10,
1974,
the Respondent had not knowingly or intentionally
failed to comply with the provisions
of the Act or of
the
Water Regulations.
Rather,
as more particularly described in
Paragraphs
11 through 15, below,
the Respondent
has at
all times
relevant hereto taken steps which,
the Respondent believed,
constituted complete compliance with the Act and the Water
Regulations.
Further,
as more particularly described in Paragraphs
13 through
17 below, Respondent,
in cooperation with the EPA is
taking steps
to completely eliminate the discharge of wastewater.
11.
On June
21,
1971, pursuant to the Refuse Act Permit Program,
the Respondent filed with the Department
of the Army,
Corps of
Engineers,
its “Application to Discharge or Work in Navigable
Waters and Their Tributaries.”
On the same date, Respondent
informed the EPA of said filing and forwarded to the EPA
a copy
of said application.
Neither the Department
of the Army nor
the EPA ever advised Respondent
as
to whether said permit would
or would not be
issued.
Copies of said application and correspondence
relating thereto are
attached hereto
as Exhibit A and made part
hereof.
14—614
-3-
12.
On or about July
12,
1974, Respondent reteived the draft
NPDBS Permit,
a copy of which
is attached hereto as Exhibit B
and made
a part hereof.
Presumably,
the Draft NPDES Permit was
received as
a result of Respondent’s 1971 application as described
in Paragraph
11 above.
13.
In
a letter to EPA in early June 1974,
prior to the film-
of the Complaint herein, the Respondent advised the EPA that it
proposed to install equipment necessary to recirculate the water
used in its production process, thereby reducing the discharge
to zero.
A copy of said letter
is attached hereto
as Exhibit C
and made
a part hereof.
14.
In
a letter dated June
7,
1974,
the EPA acknowledged
receipt of the Respondent’s letter of early June 1974,
stating
as follows:
“We
are pleased to note that action
is being taken
to recirculate the water used for cooling of ingots
and to, thereby eliminate its discharge to the storm
sewer.
We trust that this will eliminate discharge
of all industrial discharges
to the storm sewer.
Please advise this office when the above-described
project has been completed.”
A copy of said letter of June
7,
1974,
is attached
hereto
as Exhibit
II and made
a part hereof.
15.
In July,
1974,
the Respondent initiated a program to
implement
the recirculation project and so advised the EPA
in a letter to the EPA dated July 26,
1974,
a copy of which
is
attached hereto
as Exhibit E and made
a part hereof.
16.
Additional correspondence between Respondent
and the EPA
regarding Respondent’s recirculation project indicates further
communication and cooperation between the EPA and the Respondent
with respect to the implementation of the recirculation project.
Copies of said correspondence are attached hereto
as Exhibit F
and made
a part hereof.
17.
Because the recirculation project, when completed, will
completely eliminate the discharge of wastewater from the Respondent’s
facility, the Respondent will not, upon completion
of the project,
be required, by the terms of the Act or the Water Regulations,
to obtain an Operating Permit.
18.
Prior to the filing of the Complaint in this matter, the Res-
pondent had not received any notice from the EPA or any other
Agency of the State of Illinois
of any requirement that it
obtain an Operating Permit, and Respondent had no independent
knowledge of any such requirement.”
14—615
-4-
We note that the word “non-contact” is incorrectly used both
in the Complaint
(Comp.
P.
2,
Para.
6)(P.
3, Para.
9)
and in the
Stipulation
(P.
3,
Para.
4).
The water clearly contacts the
ingots and
is thus contact cooling.
We also note the silence of the Stipulation on whether
Respondent has applied for a discharge permit since becoming
aware of the necessity to acquire one.
Respondent should immediately
make application for
a permit
if it has not done so, since
it will be several months before its zero discharge system
is
operational.
Respondent filed
a Post Hearing Brief on September 10,
1974,
pleading that the facts bear against any penalty.
We consider
failure to apply for
a permit quite serious, and while we consider
as mitigations its misguided actions
in applying for a permit
and its initiation of a program to reduce its discharge to zero,
we cannot overlook its failure completely.
This Opinion constitutes
the Board’s findings of fact and
conclusions
of law.
ORDER
It
is
the Order of the Pollution Control Board that:
Benjamin Harris and Company pay a penalty of $200 for violation
of Rule 903(a)
of the Water Pollution Regulations, payment
to be
made within
35 days
of this Order.
Penalty payment by certified
check or money order payable to the State of Illinois shall be
made
to:
Fiscal Services Division, Illinois Environmental
Protection Agency,
2200 Churchill Road,
Springfield, Illinois
62706.
I, Christan L. Moffett,
Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Control Board, hereby certify
the above Opinion and Order were
adopted on the
5V’*
day of December, 1974 by
a vote of
5—
O
Ch~4M~L~oLt
7~4~
G~)
Illinois Pollution Control Board
14—616