ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    November 6, 1997
    COMMONWEALTH EDISON
    COMPANY (Dresden Power Station),
    Petitioner,
    v.
    ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
    PROTECTION AGENCY,
    Respondent.
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    PCB 98-64
    (Provisional Variance - Water)
    ORDER OF THE BOARD (by C.A. Manning):
    Pursuant to Section 35(b) of the Environmental Protection Act (Act) (415 ILCS 5/35(b)
    (1996)), Commonwealth Edison Company, Dresden Power Station (petitioner), located in
    Grundy County, Illinois, has requested that the Board grant a provisional variance from
    Special Conditions Nos. 2A, 2D, and 2G of National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
    Permit (NPDES) No. IL002224, 35 Ill. Adm. Code 302.211(d), 304.141(c), and the Board’s
    order In the Matter of: 410 (c) Petition for Dresden Nuclear Generating Station (July 8,
    1981), PCB 79-134. Such request for a provisional variance and the notification of
    recommendation were filed with the Board by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
    (Agency) on November 4, 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 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 electric generating facility with an increased thermal effluent discharge.
    Specifically, the Agency recommends that we grant petitioner a seven (7) day provisional
    variance for its Grundy County facility from the thermal effluent discharge requirements, as
    set forth in Special Conditions Nos. 2A, 2D, and 2G of NPDES No. IL002224, 35 Ill. Adm.
    Code 302.211(d), 304.141(c), and the Board’s order In the Matter of: 410 (c) Petition for
    Dresden Nuclear Generating Station (July 8, 1981), PCB 79-134. This variance period shall
    commence on the date in November or December 1997 when petitioner begins work to
    calibrate the electrical system and shall continue for a period not to exceed seven (7) days or
    until the unit is returned to service, whichever occurs first.
    The Agency recommends that the Board grant the requested provisional variance with
    specified conditions. The Agency agrees that the increased thermal effluent discharge is
    necessary and 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 and maintains that a
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    grant of a provisional variance would violate no federal laws. Accordingly, the Agency
    believes that a denial of the requested provisional variance would create 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
    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 petitioner a provisional
    variance from Special Conditions Nos. 2A, 2D, and 2G of NPDES No. IL002224, 35 Ill.
    Adm. Code 302.211(d), 304.141(c), and the Board’s order In the Matter of: 410 (c) Petition
    for Dresden Nuclear Generating Station (July 8, 1981), PCB 79-134, subject to the following
    conditions:
    1.
    The term of this provisional variance shall commence on the date in November
    or December 1997 when petitioner begins work to calibrate the electrical system
    and shall continue for a period not to exceed seven (7) days or until the unit is
    returned to service, whichever occurs first.
    2. Petitioner shall notify Matthew Wertman or Jay Patel of the Agency’s Maywood
    regional office by telephone, at 708/338-7900, when work begins and when
    repair is completed. Petitioner shall confirm this notice in writing within five
    (5) days, addressed as follows:
    Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
    Bureau of Water, Compliance Assurance Section
    Attention: Dan Ray
    1021 North Grand Avenue East
    Springfield, Illinois 62704
    3.
    During the term of this provisional variance, petitioner shall not exceed a final
    discharge effluent temperature of 90°F from Outfall 002 (together with the
    allowable 3
    °
    F excursion) as specified in petitioner’s NPDES permit Special
    Condition No. 2B;
    4.
    Petitioner shall continuously monitor the temperature at the intake structure, at
    the discharge point (Outfall 002), at the Dresden lock and dam and submit the
    results in writing to the above mentioned address at the end of the variance
    period will be immediately reported to the Agency.
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    Petitioner shall execute a copy of a certificate of acceptance of this provisional variance
    and forward that copy addressed to the Agency as in numbered paragraph 3 above. 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 98-64, November 6, 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 6th day of November 1997, by a vote of 6-0.
    Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk
    Illinois Pollution Control Board

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