ILLINOIS
POLLUTION
CONTROL
BOARD
October
24, 1972
ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION AGENCY
v.
)
1 71—88
RALSTON
PURINA
CO.
Mr.
Larry
R.
Eaton,
Assistant
Attorney
General,
and
Mr.
Steven
Sutton,
for
the
Environmental
Protection
Agency
Mr.
Walter
A.
Yoder,
and
Mr.
August
Ottinger,
for
Ralston
Purina
Company
Opinion
&
Order
of
the
Board
(by
Mr.
Currie):
Following
two days of hearings on this complaint
respecting particulate emissions and odors from Purina’s
Bloomington
mill,
settlement
negotiations
were
undertaken
but
no
agreement
was
reached.
Our
order
of
November
23,
1971
pointed
out
that,
even
when
the
parties
agreed,
we
would
require
more
information
than
had
been
put
before
us
in
the
proposed
settlement
in
order
to
evaluate
the
proposal
There
is
no
stipulation
of
facts
as
required
in
order
to
give
us
a
basis
for
evaluating
the
proposed
order.
The
question
of
what
to
order
is
for
the
Board
to
decide,
and it
cannot
be
decided
in
the
absence
of
a
knowledge of the facts.
We call attention specifically
to the proposal for “directing the emissions of odors
away from the Sunnyside Housing Development.”
Any
settlement proposal ought to explain why it is necessary
that odors be simply deflected rather than controlled.
3 PCB 143.
Noting that,
if the hearings had
gone
on,
the
case would already have been decided, we added that “we
trust there will be no further delays.”
There have been further delays.
No
further
hearings
were held until September of 1972, when a second attempt
at
settlement
was
presented,
which
totally
ignores
our
order
of
a
year
ago.
For
example,
we
are
asked
to
determine
the
issue
of
money
penalties,
but
there
are
no
facts
either
in
the
stipulation
or
elsewhere
in
the
record
to
tell
us
whether
or
not
the
boiler emissions,
an
important
part
of
the
Agency’s
case,
were
in
violation
of
the
regulations.
The
same
6—3
—2—
proposal
is
made
for
deflecting
odors
away
from
nearby
homes,
with
not a
shred
of
evidence
or
agreed
fact
to
suggest whether or not such a program
will
be
adequate
to
solve the problem.
The complaint was filed April 21,
1971.
A year and
a half has passed, and the case has made no progress.
When
cases are filed, they should be prosecuted.
And our orders should be read and obeyed.
The
proposed
settlement
is
rejected.
A
hearing
shall
be
held
within
35
days
after
receipt
of
this order.
If
an
acceptable
stipulation
can
be
reached
in
the
interim,
it
shall
be
presented
to
the
Board
for
examination
and
upon
tentative
Board
approval
may
be
made
the
subject
of
the hearing.
I,
Christan
Moffett,
Clerk
of
the
Pollution
Control
Board,
certify
t1~atthe
Board
adopte,d
t)’ae
above
Opinion
&
Order
this
~‘4’”
day
of
&-~_tc-
_~,
1972,
by
a
vote
of
S.t
~
1/
6—4