ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

September 20, 1973

MELVIN

WATSON

and N

&

W DISPOSAL INC.

Petitioners,

vs.

)

 PCB 73—267

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,

Respondent.

Zenon Myszekowski, Attorney for Petitioners

Michael A.

 Benedetto,

 Jr., Assistant Attorney General for the EPA

OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD

(by

Mr.

 Henss)

M

 & W Disposal Company operates a refuse disposal site in

Will County,

 Illinois.

 On March

 22, 1973 we found that the Company

had violated certain provisions of the Environmental Protection

Act and the Regulations governing

 the operations of

 a landfill,

and ordered M

 & W to pay a monetary penalty of $2500.

 The Order

entered at that time also provided:

“2.

 Respondent shall within 90 days from the date

herein, comply with all Rules and statutory

provisions

 including

the

obtaining of all

necessary permits with respect to the operation

of

 a refuse disposal site and facility.

3.

 Respondent shall cease and desist the aforesaid

violations and shall close that facility in

accordance

with

the Act and the Rules if said

permit application is

 denied.TT

N

 & W has paid the monetary penalty hut now requests variance

from that part of our Order which requires the Company to obtain

a

permit for the operation of

 the landfill by June 20, 1973

The EPA recommends

 denial of

 the variance.

 On August 8,

1973

the Agency stated:

“At the present time, Petitioner’s site

 is not zoned

so

as

 to allow the property to be used as

 a refuse disposal

site.

 Petitioner, therefore,

 has sought suitable zoning

classification in the Circuit Court of Will County.

 Such

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305

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an action is necessary because the Agency,

 in accordance

with the Rules and Regulations for Refuse Disposal Sites

and Facilities, will not issue permits until permit

applicants submit proof that a zoning of the property

allows the operation of refuse disposal facilities.”

Subsequently the Agency acknowledged that the Solid Waste Rules

and Regulations currently applicable

 (effective July 27,

 1973) contain

no provision or rule recuiring compliance with local

 zoning ordinances

before permits can be issued by the Agency.

 The Agency said on

September 19,

 1973 that “Petitioner can minimize his economic loss by

promptly filing

 a completed permit application with this Agency11.

Zoning for the operation of

 a landfill at this location has been

refused by the Village of Rockdale on at least three occasions--in 1969,

1971 and 1973.

 Suit was commenced in Circuit Court of Will County in

January

 1972 asking for a court determination on the zoning question.

Petitioner’s attorney informed us by letter on July

9,

 1973 that the

Circuit Court “has entered”

 a decree finding that the land in question

“is suitable only for use as

 a sanitary landfill and that the Village

of Rockdale is enjoined from prohibiting the land use in .any manner

not in accordance with the decree of the court.”

 The attorney said

“upon preparation and signing of this decree

 I will forward a copy to

you.”

 We have not received the decree although it has been two and

one-half months since the attorney notified us that it had been

“entered” and indicated that it would he prepared and signed.

This brief receital indicates that there may be serious questions

raised regarding

the

location of this landfill.

 We do not know if

this site

 is a good one for a landfill,

 We do not know what environ-

mental problems may be involved since no evidence on this point has

been presented.

The

Açency says

 “the potential for pollution of

Petitioner’s site can best he evaluated by means of

 a permit appli-

cation.’

We

agree and wil:L

 riot bypass the permit procedure.

 It is

not in the best interests of the citizens of Illinois to allow a

landfill to operate indefinitely without a permit.

 We have granted

variance for those short periods of time needed in the processing

of

permit applications.

It has now been six months since we entered our Order in EPA

vs. M

 & W Disposal Company Inc., PCB 72-467.

 We have not been

advised that the zoning problem has been solved or that a permit

application has been filed nor have we been shown any court decree

which would delay enforcement of our cease and desist Order.

 There

is no evidence that the Petitioner can come into compliance with

the Regulation within the foreseeable future and we see no alter-

native but to deny the variance.

9

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306

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ORDER

It

 is ordered that the petition of Melvin Watson and M

& W

Disposal Inc.

 for a variance from our Order of March

 22, 1973 in

PCB 72-467 is hereby denied.

I, Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control

Board, hereby certify the

 bove Opinion and Order was adopted

this

~*~‘

 day of

____________,

 1973 by a vote of

..Y

to

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307