ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
January 24,
1991
NICOR
,
INC.,
)
Petitioner,
)
v.
)
PCB 91—16
)
(Permit Appeal)
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
)
PROTECTION AGENCY,
)
)
Respondent.
ORDER OF THE
BOARD
(by
B.
Forcade):
On January
23,
1991 Nicor National,
Inc.
filed a petition
for hearing to review certain conditions imposed by the Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency in its RCRA closur.e plan
permit.
This matter
is accepted for hearing.
This matter concerns closure and post—closure care issues,
and the parties are particularly directed to Board Opinions and
Orders
in Browning—Ferris Industries v.
EPA, PCB 84—136, May
5,
1988,
aff’d,
179 Ill.
App.
3d 598,
534 N.E.2d 616 (2d Dist.
1989); Marley—Ingrid
(USA),
Inc.
v.
EPA, PCB 88—17, January 19,
1989;
and Testor Corp.
v.
EPA, PCB 88—191, November
2,
1989 for
discussions of standards of review and burdens of proof.
The
only issues before the Board are whether correct permitting
procedures were followed and whether the application demonstrates
that the Environmental Protection Act and Board regulations will
or will not be violated.
For each contested condition, the Board expects, and
strongly encourages the parties
to state the applicable
regulatory law and relevant facts, with appropriate record
citations,
which demonstrate that a violation is likely or
unlikely to occur.
The parties are urged to focus on RCRA
Update, USEPA Regulations, R87—39, February 25,
1988 and June 16,
1988 and R87—26, December 3,
1987.
Hearing must be scheduled within 14 days of the date of this
Order and completed within 60 days of
the date of this Order.
The hearing officer shall inform the Clerk
of the Board of the
time and location of the hearing as expeditiously as possible but
at least
40 days in advance of hearing so that public notice of
hearing may be published.
After hearing,
the hearing officer
shall submit an exhibit list, and all actual exhibits to the
Board within
5 days of the hearing.
Any briefing schedule shall
provide for final filings
as expeditiously as possible and in no
event later than 70 days from the date of this Order.
S
—2—
If after appropriate consultation with the parties,
the
parties fail to provide an acceptable hearing date or
if after an
attempt the hearing officer
is unable to consult with the
parties,
the hearing officer shall unilaterally set a hearing
date
in conformance with the schedule above.
This schedule will
only provide the Board a very short time period to deliberate and
reach a decision before the due date.
The hearing officer and
the parties are encouraged to expedite this proceeding as much as
possible.
Within 10 days of accepting this case,
the Hearing Officer
shall
enter a Hearing Officer Scheduling Order governing
completion of the
record.
That Order shall set a date certain
for each aspect of the case including:
briefing schedule,
hearing date(s), completion of discovery
(if necessary)
and pre—
hearing conference
(if necessary).
The Hearing Officer
Scheduling Order may be modified by entry of
a complete new
scheduling order conforming with the time requirements below.
The hearing officer may extend this schedule only on a
waiver of the decision deadline by the petitioner and only for
the equivalent or fewer number of days that the decision deadline
is waived.
Such waivers must be provided in writing to the Clerk
of the Board.
Any waiver must be an “open waiver” or a waiver of
decision until a date certain.
Because of requirements regarding the publication of notice
of hearing,
no scheduled hearing may be canceled unless the
petitioner provides an open waiver or a waiver to a date at least
120 days beyond the date of the motion to cancel hearing.
This
should allow ample time for the Board
to republish notice of
hearing and receive transcripts from the hearing before the due
date.
Any order by the hearing officer granting cancellation of
hearing shall include a complete new scheduling order with a new
hearing date at least
40 days
in the future and at least
30 days
prior
to the new due date and the Clerk
of the Board shall be
promptly informed of the new schedule.
Because this proceeding is the type for which the Illinois
Environmental Protection Act sets a very short statutory deadline
for making
a decision, absent a waiver, the Board will grant
extensions or modifications only in unusual circumstances.
Any
such motion must set forth an alternative schedule for notice,
hearing, and final submissions, as well as the deadline for
decision, including response time to such a motion.
However, no
such motion shall negate the obligation of the hearing officer to
establish a Scheduling Order pursuant to the requirements of this
Order, and to adhere to that Order until modified.
This Order will not appear
in the Board’s Opinion Volumes.
—3—
IT
IS SO ORDERED.
I, Dorothy M. Gunn,
Clerk
of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board, hereby certify
t the above Order was adopted on
the
,
é~~dayof _______________________,
1991,
by a vote
orothy M.
,4~(inn, Clerk
Illinois Pc~lutionControl Board