ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    May 1, 1997
    BERLIN INDUSTRIES,
    Petitioner,
    v.
    ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
    PROTECTION AGENCY,
    Respondent.
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    PCB 97-184
    (Provisional Variance - Air)
    ORDER OF THE BOARD (by C.A. Manning):
    Pursuant to Section 35(b) of the Environmental Protection Act (Act) (415 ILCS
    5/35(b)), Berlin Industries (petitioner) has requested that the Illinois Environmental Protection
    Agency (Agency) recommend that the Board grant a provisional variance to the petitioner.
    The Agency, by and through its Director, Mary A. Gade, seeks a provisional variance
    pursuant to Section 35(b) of Act (415 ILCS 5/35(b)) to allow petitioner to continue to operate
    its facility while the main drive shaft in its afterburner is replaced. Such request for a
    provisional variance and the notification of recommendation were filed with the Board by the
    Agency on Thursday, April 24, 1997. Under Section 35(b) of the Act, the Board must issue
    the variance within two (2) days of this filing. The Board issues this order today
    nunc pro
    tunc.
    Specifically, the Agency recommends that we grant petitioner a 4-day provisional
    variance for its DuPage County facility from 35 Ill. 218.407(a)(1)(E). This variance period
    shall commence on April 27, 1997 at 4:00 pm and expire on May 1, 1997 at 4:00 pm.
    The Agency recommends that the Board grant the requested provisional variance with
    specified conditions and agrees that the repairs are necessary. The Agency anticipates that the
    requested provisional variance would have minimal environmental impact on the receiving
    stream. The Agency is unaware of any public water supplies that the requested provisional
    variance would adversely impact. According to the Agency, no federal laws would be violated
    if the provisional variance is granted by the Board. The Agency believes that a denial of the
    requested provisional variance would create an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship on the
    petitioner.
    Provisional variances are by their very nature temporary. The responsibilities of the
    Agency and the Board in these short-term provisional variances are different from the
    responsibilities in standard variances. (See 415 ILCS 5/35(b) & 36(c).) In provisional
    variances it is the responsibility of the Agency to make the technical determinations and
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    finding of arbitrary or unreasonable hardship. The Board’s responsibility is to adopt a formal
    order, to assure the formal maintenance of the record, to assure the enforceability of the
    variance, and to provide notification of the action by a press release.
    Having received the Agency recommendation that a denial of the requested relief would
    impose an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship, the Board hereby grants the petitioner a
    provisional variance from 304.141(b) on the following conditions:
    1.
    The term of this provisional variance shall commence April 27, 1997 at 4:00
    p.m. and expire on May 1, 1997 at 4:00 p.m.
    2.
    The petitioner shall notify the Agency’s Maywood Regional Office by
    telephone, at 708/338-7900, before the afterburner is taken off line and again
    after the afterburner is brought back on line.
    3.
    During the shutdown, petitioner shall keep the following records, and submit
    such records to the Agency within seven days of bringing the afterburner back
    on line.
    a.
    Actual amounts of VOM emitted to the atmosphere;
    b.
    The actual time the afterburner is shutdown, and the actual time the
    afterburner is restarted and brought back online; and
    c.
    A list of associated emission units in operation during the times reported
    in paragraph 2 above.
    4.
    Petitioner shall submit the records to:
    Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
    Bureau of Air
    ATTN: Kunj Patel
    2200 Churchill Road
    P.O. Box 19276
    Springfield, Il. 62794-9276
    IT IS SO ORDERED.
    Section 41 of the Environmental Protection Act (415 ILCS 5/41 (1994)) provides for
    the appeal of final Board orders to the Illinois Appellate Court within 35 days of the date of
    service of this order. The Rules of the Supreme Court of Illinois establish filing requirements.
    (See also 35 Ill. Adm. Code 101.246 “Motions for Reconsideration.”)
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    I, Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control Board, hereby certify that
    the above order was adopted on the 1st day of May, 1997, by a vote of 7-0.
    Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk
    Illinois Pollution Control Board

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