ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    August 21, 1997
    SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE,
    Petitioner,
    v.
    ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
    PROTECTION AGENCY,
    Respondent.
    )
    )
    )
    )
    )
    )
    )
    )
    )
    )
    PCB 98-29
    (Provisional Variance - Water)
    ORDER OF THE BOARD (by R.C. Flemal):
    Pursuant to Section 35(b) of the Environmental Protection Act (Act) (415 ILCS 5/35(b)
    (1996)), Scott Air Force Base (petitioner) located in St. Clair County has requested that the
    Board grant a provisional variance from 35 Ill. Adm. Code 304.120, 304.141(a), and 302.212
    and imposed by National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit (NPDES) No.
    IL0026859. Such request for a provisional variance and the notification of recommendation
    were filed with the Board by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Agency) on
    August 19, 1997. Pursuant to Section 35(b) of the Act, the Board must issue the variance
    within two (2) days of this filing.
    Pursuant to Section 35(b) of the Act (415 ILCS 5/35(b) (1996)), the Agency, by and
    through its Director, Mary A. Gade, seeks a provisional variance to allow petitioner to
    continue to operate its wastewater treatment facility while construction is conducted to install a
    dome over the #1 trickling filter. The Agency recommends that the Board grant the requested
    provisional variance with specified conditions. The Agency agrees that the improvements are
    necessary. The Agency anticipates that the requested provisional variance would have minimal
    environmental impact on the receiving stream. The Agency is unaware of any public water
    supplies that the requested provisional variance would adversely impact. The Agency
    maintains that a grant of a provisional variance would violate no federal laws. The Agency
    believes that a denial of the requested provisional variance would create an arbitrary or
    unreasonable hardship on the petitioner.
    Specifically, the Agency recommends that the Board grant petitioner a 45-day
    provisional variance for its St. Clair County facility from the total suspended solids,
    biochemical oxygen demand effluent discharge, Total Ammonia Nitrogen, and Un-ionized
    Ammonia requirements, as set forth in 35 Ill. Adm. Code 304.120, 304.141(a), and 302.212
    and imposed by NPDES Permit No. IL0026859. This variance period is recommended to
    commence on the date that the #1 trickling filter is removed from service, and to continue for
    45 days.
    2
    Provisional variances are by their very nature temporary. The responsibilities of the
    Agency and the Board in these short-term provisional variances are different from the
    responsibilities in standard variances. See 415 ILCS 5/35(b), 36(c) (1996). In provisional
    variances it is the responsibility of the Agency to make the technical determinations and
    finding of arbitrary or unreasonable hardship. The Board’s responsibility is to adopt a formal
    order, to assure the formal maintenance of the record, to assure the enforceability of the
    variance, and to provide notification of the action by a press release.
    Having received the Agency recommendation that a denial of the requested relief would
    impose an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship, the Board hereby grants the petitioner a
    provisional variance from 35 Ill. Adm. Code 304.120, 304.141(a), and 302.212 and imposed
    by NPDES Permit No. IL0026859, subject to the following conditions:
    1.
    The term of this provisional variance shall commence on the date that the #1
    trickling filter is removed from service and shall continue for 45 days.
    2. Petitioner shall operate its wastewater treatment facility during the term of this
    provisional variance in a manner that assures the best effluent practicable.
    Additionally, petitioner shall perform the necessary construction work on #1
    trickling filter as expeditiously as possible to minimize the period of time that
    the filter needs to be out of service.
    3.
    During the variance period petitioner shall meet its effluent limits described in
    NPDES Permit No. IL0026859 for all flows up to 1.4 MGD. For flows above
    1.4 MGD petitioner shall meet monthly average effluent concentration limits of
    13 milligrams per Liter (mg/L) for biochemical oxygen demand effluent
    discharge, 20 mg/L for total suspended solids, and 4.5 mg/L for Total
    Ammonia Nitrogen for effluent discharged from Outfall 001.
    4.
    Petitioner shall continue to meet all other effluent limits as described in its
    NPDES Permit No. IL0026859.
    5.
    The petitioner shall notify Chris Port at the Agency’s Collinsville Regional
    Office by telephone, at 618/346-5120, when the #1 trickling filter is removed
    from service and again when the filter is returned to service. Petitioner shall
    confirm this notice in writing within five (5) days, addressed as follows:
    Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
    Bureau of Water, Compliance Assurance Section
    Attn: Mark T. Books
    1021 N. Grand Avenue East
    Springfield, IL 62702
    The petitioner shall execute a copy of a certificate of acceptance of this provisional
    variance and forward that copy to the Agency addressed as is the written notice required in the
    3
    above condition; the petitioner shall forward that copy within ten (10) days of the date of this
    order of the Board, and the certificate of acceptance shall take the following form:
    CERTIFICATION
    I (We), _________________________________, hereby accept and
    agree to be bound by all terms and conditions of the order of the
    Pollution Control Board in PCB 98-29, August 21, 1997.
    ___________________________
    Petitioner
    ___________________________
    Authorized Agent
    ___________________________
    Title
    ___________________________
    Date
    IT IS SO ORDERED.
    Board Member K.M. Hennessey abstained.
    Section 41 of the Environmental Protection Act (415 ILCS 5/41 (1996)) provides for
    the appeal of final Board orders to the Illinois Appellate Court within 35 days of service of this
    order. Illinois Supreme Court Rule 335 establishes such filing requirements. See 145 Ill. 2d
    R. 335; see also 35 Ill. Adm. Code 101.246, Motions for Reconsideration.
    I, Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control Board, hereby certify that
    the above order was adopted on the 21st day of August 1997, by a vote of 5-0.
    Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk
    Illinois Pollution Control Board

    Back to top