ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTP~OLBOARD
    February
    17,
    1972
    OLIN CORPORATION
    (E. Alton Plant)
    V.
    )
    PCB 71—374
    ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
    Dissenting Opinion
    (by Mr. Dumelle)
    The Board by
    a 4—i vote has again extended
    a matter which
    needed no extension
    in my view.
    Olin has
    1200
    tons
    of 1.14
    coal
    purchased for $16,000.
    The Board’s own episode regulations re-
    quire 1
    sulfur coal.
    Episodes
    are what kill people.
    The dead of Donora,
    of New
    York, of London and even
    of Chicago
    (in November
    1969)
    are proof
    of
    that.
    And
    the Board after hearings on episode strategy has decreed
    a
    1.0
    sulfur limit on emergency coal.
    Olin,
    by
    the Agency’s
    recommendation received by the Board of February
    10,
    1971
    (p.
    2)
    will
    put
    almost
    3/4
    of
    a
    ton
    of
    additional
    sulfur
    dioxide
    into
    the
    atmosphere
    each
    day
    of
    an
    episode.
    The
    4-day
    design
    episode
    will
    then
    add
    3
    tons
    more
    sulfur
    dioxide
    to
    an
    overburdened
    atmosphere.
    Dr. Bertram Carnow, who heads
    the
    Institute
    for
    Environmental
    Quality’s Medical Task Force believes that there mai be no threshold
    for health effects
    from sulfur dioxide.
    If he is correct then
    the less sulfur dioxide the better.
    Olin, could simply buy a small amount of lower sulfur
    coal,
    say of 0.7
    content, and blend it with
    the present stock
    to reduce
    the overall average to
    the regulation.
    Simple mathematics
    will
    show that only 560
    tons of 0.7
    sulfur coal need be purchased.
    Using
    Olin’s average cost of $13.33 per
    ton for
    the 1.14
    sulfur
    coal
    and increasing
    it to,
    say
    $16 per ton
    for the
    0.7
    sulfur coal
    results in a cost of
    560
    (16)
    or $8,960
    to achieve
    the Board regu-
    lation.
    But this
    is really not
    the cost
    to Olin.
    The cost is far
    less.
    Because
    the $8,960 represents fuel that would be burned
    anyway.
    The cost to Olin then is simply the annual carrying charge
    on
    the $8,960.
    If
    the cost of money to
    a corporation
    is l0~, then
    Olin’s added cost
    is less
    ~han $900
    per year!
    3
    —
    670
    Is this
    too much
    for
    a major corporation
    to spend to protect
    the public health
    in
    an episode?
    I think not.
    Jacob
    D. Dumelle
    (
    Board Member
    I, Christan L.
    Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
    Board,
    certify the above Dissenting Opinion was filed on the
    7.)’
    day of February,
    1972.
    *
    1/
    ~~‘/)
    ~
    Christan L.
    I4offett, Clerk~.~
    Illinois Pollution Control Board
    3
    -671

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