ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    August 21, 1997
    CITY OF OREGON,
    Petitioner,
    v.
    ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
    PROTECTION AGENCY,
    Respondent.
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    PCB 98-30
    (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)), the City of Oregon (petitioner) located in Ogle County has requested that the Board
    grant a provisional variance from 35 Ill. Adm. Code 304.120 and 304.141(a) and imposed by
    National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit (NPDES) No. IL0020184. 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 repair work is conducted on
    petitioner’s clarifier. The Agency recommends that the Board grant the requested provisional
    variance with specified conditions. The Agency agrees that the repairs 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 Ogle County facility from the total suspended solids and
    biochemical oxygen demand effluent discharge requirements, as set forth in 35 Ill. Adm. Code
    304.120 and 304.141(a) and imposed by NPDES Permit No. IL0020184. This variance
    period is recommended to commence on the date that the clarifier is removed from service,
    and to continue for 45 days.
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    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 and 304.141(a) and imposed by NPDES
    Permit No. IL0020184, subject to the following conditions:
    1.
    The term of this provisional variance shall commence on the date that clarifier is
    removed from service and shall continue for 45 days, or until the unit is
    returned to service, whichever occurs first.
    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 repair work on the clarifier
    as expeditiously as possible to minimize the period of time that the clarifier
    needs to be out of service.
    3.
    During the variance period petitioner shall meet monthly average effluent
    concentration limits of 120 milligrams per Liter (mg/L) for biochemical oxygen
    demand effluent discharge and, 80 mg/L for total suspended solids.
    4.
    The petitioner shall notify Dennis Connor at the Agency’s Rockford regional
    office by telephone, at 815/987-7755, when the clarifier is removed from
    service and again when the clarifier 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
    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:
    3
    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 98-30, 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

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