ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    October 2, 1997
    DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY,
    Petitioner,
    v.
    ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
    PROTECTION AGENCY,
    Respondent.
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    PCB 98-45
    (Provisional Variance - RCRA)
    ORDER OF THE BOARD (by C.A. Manning):
    On September 30, 1997, the Department of the Army (petitioner) filed a request with
    the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Agency) recommending that it be granted a
    provisional variance to allow its facility in Cook County to continue accumulating hazardous
    waste for a period in excess of 90 days. Such request for a provisional variance and the
    notification of recommendation were filed with the Board by the Agency on September 30,
    1997. Pursuant to Section 35(b) of the Environmental Protection Act (Act) (415 ILCS 5/35(b)
    (1996)), the Board must issue the variance within two (2) days of this filing.
    Specifically, the Agency recommends that we grant a 30-day provisional variance from
    the 90-day limitation on the accumulation of hazardous wastes, as set forth in 35 Ill. Adm.
    Code 722.134(b), for the period from September 25, 1997 to October 25, 1997.
    Upon receipt of the request from the petitioner, the Agency issued its recommendation,
    notifying the Board that due to unforeseen, temporary, and uncontrollable circumstances,
    failure to grant the requested 30-day provisional variance would impose an arbitrary or
    unreasonable hardship on the petitioner.
    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 to find
    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 notifying the Board that a denial of the
    requested relief would impose an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship, the Board hereby grants
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    the petitioner a provisional variance for the period from September 25, 1997 to October 25,
    1997.
    IT IS SO ORDERED.
    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 2nd day of October 1997, by a vote of 7-0.
    Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk
    Illinois Pollution Control Board

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