ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
January
23,
1Q73
:NvIRON~EN:AL
PROTECTION
AGENCY,
Conplainant,
vs.
)
PCB
72—201
C~S
ChIRILLO,
d,’b/a/
THOMAS
)
OhIRILLO
CO~1PANY,
)
Respondent.
Fer~an
R.
Tavins, Assistant Attorney General
for the EPA
Jar-CS
A.
Recas, Attorney for Resuondent
OPINION
AND
ORDER
OF
TF:E
BOARD
(by
Mr.
Henss)
Res~cr~entoperates a refuse disposal site occupying about
48
acres
near Interstate Route 94 and 130th St., Chicago,
Illinois.
The
EPA
alleges that Respondent’s refuse disposal operation was
conc~ucted without
a
permit
and
that
Respondent
was
guilty
of
the
~cllc~ing:
open
dumping
of
garbage,
open
dumping
of
refuse,
open
burriinc
of
refuse,
failure
to
provide
adequate
fencing,
failure
to
confine
dumping
to
the
smallest
practical
area,
permitting
the
un-
loading
of
refuse
without
supervision,
failure
to
spread
and
compact
refuse,
failure
to
apply
adequate
daily
or
final
cover
and
allowing
refuse to be deposited in standing water.
The violations are
alleged to have occurred on August 23 and 24,
1971, September 7 and
8,
1971,
September 17, 1971 and February 29,
1972.
This matter is submitted to us upon an Agreed Statement of
Facts.
The attorneys did not make opening or closing arguments.
No
photographs
or
EPA investigative reports were offered in evidence.
Some
testimony was
offered,
for
the
purpose
of
mitigating
penalty,
that Respondent had complied with regulations subsequent to the dates
of
the alleged violations.
It appears from
the
Stipulation
of
Facts that the landfill in
rmestion is one mile from the nearest residential area and about
six-tenths of
a mile from the nearest industrial or commercial area.
The
property is adjoined
by
another landfill and by a lock and dam.
Respondent has operated the refuse disposal site solely for his own
trucks and not for the use of any other refuse hauler.
He brought
an average of
8 to 10 truckloads of refuse to the site daily.
6
593
—2—
On the dates in question, refuse not exceeding
30 yards of
materials,
or approximately one truckload, was found to contain
garbage from one of the industrial accounts serviced by the Re-
spondent.
The Stipulation does not say that Respondent failed to
cover the garbage, but it is clearly stipulated that a similar
quantity of refuse not exceeding one truckload of materials was
allowed to be dumped without providing an adequate daily cover.
We,
therefore,
find that Respondent did permit the open dumping of refuse.
An area of approximately 20 square feet emits a vapor type
smoke from a long smoldering fire which has been covered by the
required amount of
fill.
This area was covered about January
16,
1969 pursuant to the terms of an agreement entered into with the
Illinois Department of Public Health and a Decree entered by
Judge Donald J. O1Brien in Case No.
69 CH 1345, Circuit Court of
Cook County, County Department, Chancery Division.
At the time of
the entry of this Decree all parties acknowledged the presence of
this smoldering fire and agreed that
a reasonable period of time
should be allowed to pass to determine whether the fire would
eventually extinguish itself.
The smoldering fire has diminished
in area from approximately 200 square feet to an area of approxi-
mately 20 square feet.
This is not a large fire but we believe
Respondent should have taken the necessary steps to have it extin-
guished long ago.
Surely the agreement to allow
a “reasonable
period of time”
in January 1969 did not contemplate a three year
delay in extinguishment of the fire.
We,
therefore,
find that
Respondent has permitted the open burning of refuse as alleged in
the Complaint.
It
is further stipulated that Respondent allowed refuse
to be
deposited in an area of accumulated rain water approximately 50 feet
square in violation of the Refuse Rules; that Respondent permitted
refuse to be dumped without being immediately spread and compacted,
although it was spread and compacted at the time cover was applied;
that Respondent would cause refuse to be dumped into two separate
locations on the site, instead of one location, depending on the
content of the refuse being dumped;
that Respondent failed to provide
adequate fencing during the period in question but later complied
fully with the fencing regulation.
These conclusions were not sup-
ported by any further details and appear to be an agreement that
there were minor housekeeping violations.
The Stipulation further
states that all of the unloading of refuse was done by employees of
the Respondent and that there was a full-time supervisor on the
premises as well as a night—time security service.
This appears
to
us to be adeauate supervision for the unloading of the refuse.
On April
24,
1969
Respondent submitted to the Illinois Department
of Public Health, Division of Sanitary Engineering,
an Application for
Registration of the Refuse Disposal Site.
The Department of Public
Health acknowledged receipt of
this registration form in May 1969.
6— 594
—3—
The Respondent was under the impression that this registration with
the Illinois Department of Public Health was all that was required
for his operation of the refuse disposal site.
He failed to obtain
a permit from the Environmental Protection Agency
as is required by
Section 21(e)
of the Environmental Protection Act.
Respondent may
not have had wrongful intent in the matter, but he did violate the
Statute by operating the refuse disposal site without a permit.
These violations are not substantial.
For violations of this
nature we believe
a monetary penalty of $300 is adequate.
The Re-
spondent in addition to paying the penalty, shall obtain a permit
from the Environmental Protection Agency and shall cease and desist
from the said violations
of the Environmental Protection Act.
ORDER
It is ordered that:
1.
Respondent shall pay to the State of Illinois by
March
1,
1973
the sum of $300
as a penalty for the
violations found in this proceeding.
Penalty
payment by certified checks or money order payable
to the State of Illinois shall be made to:
Fiscal
Services Division, Illinois EPA,
2200 Churchill
Drive,
Springfield, Illinois 62706.
2.
Respondent shall immediately cease and desist from
all violations found in this proceeding;
except that
Respondent shall have a period of time as specified
in Paragraph
3
of this Order
within which
to
obtain
a permit for the operation of the landfill.
3.
Respondent shall have six months from the date of
this Order within which to obtain a permit from the
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency for the
operation of his refuse disposal site.
If Respondent
has failed to obtain a permit within that period of
time the refuse disposal site shall be closed and
final cover applied under the supervision of the EPA.
I, Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
Boards certify that the above Opinion and Order was adopted on the
c~3~
day ~
,
1973, by
a vote of
3
to
~
6—
595