ILLINOIS

POLLUTION CONTROL

BOARD

January 6,

1972

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

v

)

PCB

 71—318

ALTON

 BOX BOARD COMPANY,

a corporation

C.

 Dana Eastman, Jr., Attorney for the Environmental Protection Agency

Karl

K.

 Hoagland, Attorney for Aiton Box Board Company

Opinion and Order of the Board

 (by Samuel

 R. Aldrich)

In October the Environmental Protection

 Agency filed a complaint

against Alton Box Board Company alleging violations of

 the Environmental

Protection Act and of SWB—14,

 Respondent owns and operates

 a factory

for the manufacture of paper products in Highland, Madison County,

Illinois.

The complaint alleges that Respondent:

1)

 caused, allowed;

 and in~fut-

ure,

 threatens the discharge of contaminants

 in the form of ink

wastes into

 a tributary of Sugar Creek in violation of Section 12

(a)

 the Act;

2)

 caused

 a failure to meet minimum conditions

 as to

water quality by discharging industrial substances in such degree as

to cause

 a nuisance

 in violation

 of Rule

 1.03(c)

 of SWB-l4 pursuant

to Section 49(c)

 of the Act;

and

3)

 failed to meet treatment require-

inents with resoect to industrial waste discharges in violation of

Rule 1.08, par&graph

 l0(b)(3)

 of SWB-l4.

 The Agency asks the Board

to issue

 a cease and desist order

 and to assess penalties up to

$10,000 for eech violation plus

 up to $1000 per day

 for each day

such violation was shown to continue.

The Agency on December

17,

 1971,

 filed a motion with the Board

to

amend Paragraph

B.

 The gist of the amendment was to replace the

phrase “to cease and desist from all violations” with

 “restraining

Alton Box Board Company from unlawfully discharging industrial

ink

wastes.”

 Inasmuch as the new language

 is more limited in scope,

it

does not result

 in an element of surprise

 to Respondent.

Respondent operates

a

paper products manufacturing plant which utilizes

various colored inks in the labeling process.

 Of the 300,000

to

400,000 gallons of water utilized by

 the company all except approxi-

mately 200 gallons

 (150 to 350 gallons at various points in the

record) have been discharged into the sanitary

 sewer.

The

 200 gallors

result from the washing of presses when

 a change is made to ink of

another color.

 The small volume

 of wash water goes

to

 a settling

tank which upon cleaning,~re1eases the

 200 gallons which

 flows through

 pipe into the small unnamed ditch which feeds into Sugar Creek.

—

371

The Agency alleges that on eight days,

May

3,

4,

21,

 27, June

9,

12,

 22 and

26,

 the discharge into the unnamed ditch was discolored by

ink

 and contained excessive

 turbidity.

 The record including colored

photographs confirms

 the discoloration

 of the water and excess

turbidity

 in the c’utfall pipe and in the ditch.

 There is

 no infor-

mation in

the

 record as to the effect on

 the receiving stream except

for color and perhaps turbidity.

 No undesirable effect on aquatic

life is charged.

 A local resident stated that he noted the discolor-

ation about once per week.

 said

 that no odor was associated with

the discharge.

We

 find that the allegations

 of the Agency were proved

and

 that Respondent

 is guilty of three violations.

When

 the Agency informed Alton Box Board Company on May

21,

 1971,

 that

it had

 found

 a pipe discharging

 ink into the ditch,

 Respondent reacted

promptly.

 On May 27,

 1970, Respondent filed

 a letter outlining four

possible methods of disposal.

 On June

29,

 1971, Alton notified the

Agency that

 it had requested the city of Highland to allow discharge

of the press washings

 into

 the municipal

 sewer system and on August

30,

1971,

 reported that such

 a connection had been completed.

We

 find that

 the discharge was small,

 the impact on the receiving

waters was likely minimal,

 and that Respondent acted promptly and

effectively to correct the problem.

 We shall order Respondent

 to cease

and desist from the discharge

 of its ink wastes

 and to pay a nominal

penalty of $250

 for the proven violations.

Mr.

Durnelle

would

raise

the

penalty

 to $1000.

This

 Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of

 fact and conclusions

of

 law.

ORDER

1.

 Alton Box Board Company shall cease and desist

 from the discharge

of industrial

 ink wastes.

2.

 Alton

 Box Board Company shall within

 35 days of the filing of

this order pay

 a penalty of $250

 to the State of Illinois.

I, Christan Moffett,

 Clerk

 of the Illinois Pollution Control

Board, certify

 that the Board

 ado ted the above opinion and order

this

day ~

1972

 y a vote of 4-0.

6~A~y

—

372