ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

February

21,

1974

ABBOTT

LABORATORIES

PETITIONER

V.

)

POD

73—555

ENVIRONPENTAL

PROTECTION

AGENCY

RESPONDENT

OPINION

AND

000ER

OF

TEL

BOARD

(by

Or,

iarder)

This

case

comes

to

the

Board

on

petition

of

Abbott

Laboratories,

filed

ueceither

26,

-1973,

for

a

variance

fron

Rule

502

of

the Air

Poll--

ution

Control

Ucgulations,

to

allow

a

one-~time

open

burraing

of

250

pounds

of

sodium

chips.

The

Agency

recommends

the

variance

be

granted.

No

hearing

was

held.

Abbott

Laboratories

is

a

large

pharmaceutAbal

company

locAbed

in

North

Chicago,

Illinois.

Petitioner

uses

metallic

sodium

in

toe

production

of

sodium

ponto-

thai

and

sodium

nembutal.

The

metallic

sodium

is

a

highly

unstable

metal,

When

exoosed

to

air,

it

breaks

into

flame.

It

has

a

violent

reaction

when

exoosed

to

water.

In order to store this material

it is kept in drums

of solvents

(in

this

case

kerosene)

The

sodium

Abbott

proposes

to

burn

is

chips

that

break

off

2.5

lb.

oars

during

handling

and

processing.

The Agency states

in

its iecommeod-

ation

that

the

scrap

sodium

is

unusable

by

Abbott

in

normal

processing

(Agency

Eec.

P.

2)

Before such open burning was banned by Rule 502, Abbott burned the

material

on its property in North Chicago.

In

the

past Petitioner

only

burned the material when the wind was

from the west, taking any object—

ionable smoke and fumes over the lake.

Abbott~s property

runs

from the

3urning site

to the

lake.

11—357

---

Abeott

proposes

to

make

this

a

one-time operation.

Abbott

proposes

to

carry out

this

burn

as

follows:

1.

Dig a pit on its north property.

2.

The bu:rn

would

be

on

a

day

when

there

was

a

brisk

west

wind.

Abbott

would

contact

weather

forecasters

to

de-

termine

the

time

when

wind

conditions

would

be

most

fav-

orable

for

the

burning.

3.

The

material

would

be

placed

in

the

pit,

where it would

ignite

spontaneously

and

burn

furiously

for

30

minutes.

4.

Abbott

would

have

its

fire

equipment

and

adequate

person-

nel

on

hand

to

put

out

the

fire

if

necessary.

5,

Local

officials

will

be

notified

in

advance

of

the

burn

so

as

to

put

them

on

notice

of

the

fire.

Open

burning

is

the

recommended

method

of

disposing

of

the

sodium

(Laboratory

Waste

Disposal

Manual,

2nd Ed.,

Disposal

Procedure

#3,

September

1969,

published

by

the

Manufacturing

Chemists

Association),

rrhe

Agency

also

agrees

that

open

burning

is

the

recommended

method

of

diSpOSal.

There

are

no

community

buildings located within

1/4

of a mile

from

the burn

site.

Petitioner

has

considered

two alternate

methods

for

disposing

of

the

sodium,

The

first

is to dispose of it through

their

wastewater

treatment

plant.

Petitioner

alleges that no

method

was

found

to

do

this

without

great

risk

to personnel and equipment.

The

second

meth-

od

was

to

give

the

material

to

cpntract waste

disposal

operators,

but

Abbott

considers

the

risk

too

great

to

aliow~the

material

to

be

handled

by

those

not

experienced

with

the

dangerous

characteristics

of

this

material.

In

any

future

request

for

variance,

the

Board

will

be

very

interest-

ed

in

any

research

Petitioner

undertakes

to develop

an

alternate

method

for sodium disposal.

This variance from Rule 502 is brought under Rule

505 of the Regula-

tions, which provides

for this burning of explosive wastes on petition

to the Board for a variance.

Petitioner’s

hardship

is that if not allowed to

burn

this material,

he will have no

safe

way of disposing of the sodium.

This

of course

could create a substantial risk if the sodium accumulates in large quan-

tities.

Therefore the Board will grant Petitioner

a variance from Rule 502

of

the

Regulations

as

provided for by Rule 505.

This Opinion constitutes the findings of fact

and conclusions

of

law of the

Board.

---

ORDER

IT

IS THE ORDER of the Pollution Control Board that:

1.

Abbott Laboratories

is granted

a variance from Rule 502 as author-

ized by Rule

505 of the Air Pollution Regulations to open burn accumula-

ted metallic sodium chips, one time,

at its plant in North Chicago, Lake

County,

Illinois.

2.

Abbott Laboratories shall

diligently follow the plan outlined

in

3.

Abbott Laboratories shall perform the burning during the calendar

year 1974.

4.

Abbott Laboratories shall notify the Agency seven

(7)

days in

IT

IS SO ORDERED.

I,

Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control

Board,

certify

that

the

,above

Opinion

and

Order

was adppted by the Board

on

the

~

day

of

,

1974,

by

a

vote

of

oj

to

11—359