ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    July 10, 1997
    RIVERVIEW FS,
    Petitioner,
    v.
    ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
    PROTECTION AGENCY,
    Respondent.
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    PCB 97-226
    (UST - Reimbursement)
    DISSENTING OPINION (by J. Theodore Meyer):
    I dissent from the majority opinion in this matter because past Board practice has
    allowed non-attorneys to represent corporations in UST Reimbursement proceedings before the
    Board. To change horses in mid-stream without prior notification is unfair and impractical.
    As an Illinois Appellate Court has stated, an administrative agency cannot change an
    interpretation of law without notice to those parties affected by the change. Alton Packaging
    Corp. v. Pollution Control Board, 145 Ill. App. 3d 1090, 497 N.E.2d 864 (5
    th
    Dist. 1986).
    In addition, public policy dictates that administrative agencies be less adversarial than
    court proceedings, and more “user-friendly” in terms of a non-attorney’s ability to appear
    before the Board. As a member of the House of Representatives of the Illinois General
    Assembly when the Act was passed, as a co-sponsor of the bill and as a member of the
    Executive Committee that approved the bill, I know that the legislative intent of the Act was to
    encourage citizen participation in environmental matters. With regard to the Board’s role in
    facilitating environmental cases in Illinois, the Act clearly intended the Board to be easily
    available to Illinois citizens. The Act was to be part of a new, more accessible way of
    governing; while the ramifications of the majority opinion in this matter harks back to an
    antiquated system of closed government proceedings, accessible only to specially educated
    lawyers and lawmakers.
    For these reasons, I respectfully dissent.
    J. Theodore Meyer
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    I, Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control Board, hereby certify that
    the above dissenting opinion was filed on the 11th day of July 1997.
    Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk
    Illinois Pollution Control Board

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