ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    May 7, 1998
    COUNTY OF WILL,
    Complainant,
    v.
    WILLIAM HUNTER,
    Respondent.
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    AC 98-8
    (Administrative Citation)
    DAWN R. UNDERHILL, ASSISTANT STATE’S ATTORNEY, APPEARED ON BEHALF
    OF THE COUNTY OF WILL.
    INTERIM OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD (by K.M. Hennessey):
    This matter comes before the Board on an administrative citation issued by
    complainant, the County of Will (County), to respondent, William Hunter (Hunter). The
    administrative citation alleges that on July 21, 1997, Hunter violated the Illinois
    Environmental Protection Act (Act), 415 ILCS 5/1
    et seq
    . (1996). After reviewing the record,
    including the transcript of the hearing held in this matter, the Board finds that Hunter violated
    the Act. In this interim order, the Board orders the County and the Clerk of the Board to file
    a statement of hearing costs, to which Hunter is given leave to reply. After it receives these
    pleadings, the Board will issue a final order requiring Hunter to pay the total statutory penalty
    of $1,000 and any appropriate costs.
    PROCEDURAL MATTERS
    The County served this administrative citation on Hunter by certified mail on August 9,
    1997. The County filed the administrative citation with the Board on August 12, 1997. The
    citation alleges that Hunter caused or allowed open dumping in a manner that resulted in the
    occurrences of (1) litter in violation of Section 21(p)(1) of the Act; and (2) open burning in
    violation of Section 21(p)(3) of the Act. See 415 ILCS 5/21(p)(1) and (3). Subsections (p)(1)
    and (p)(3) of Section 21 are enforceable by administrative citation under Section 31.1 of the
    Act. See 415 ILCS 5/31.1(a) (1996). Hunter elected to contest the citation under Section
    31.1(d)(2) by filing a petition for review with the Board on September 15, 1997. See 415
    ILCS 5/31.1(d)(2) (1996).
    By hearing officer order of February 9, 1998, which was served on all parties, the
    hearing officer scheduled a hearing for March 31, 1998. The hearing took place as
    scheduled.
    1
    At the hearing, Edward Overturf (Overturf), a deputy sheriff of the County,
    1
    The transcript of the hearing is cited as “Tr. at _.” Hearing exhibits are cited as “Exh. _.”
    2
    testified on behalf of the County.
    2
    Tr. at 7-13. No other witnesses testified. Neither Hunter
    nor his attorney appeared at the hearing. Tr. at 4-5, 13-14. The County waived its
    opportunity to file a post-hearing brief. Tr. at 15.
    FINDINGS OF FACT
    Overturf is a deputy sheriff in the patrol division of the Will County Sheriff’s Office.
    Tr. at 7. He has been with that office for 14 years. Tr. at 8. His duties include patrolling
    Will County to enforce laws and ordinances and to respond to incidents. Tr. at 7-8.
    On July 21, 1997, at approximately 2:00 p.m., a truck driver flagged down Overturf.
    The truck driver told Overturf that he thought a house was on fire because he saw smoke
    coming from inside it. In response, Overturf went to 721 Patterson Road (site) in Joliet and
    observed a large smoke plume rising from behind the site’s residence. Overturf walked behind
    the residence into the backyard. He saw that the smoke was actually coming from a ground
    fire behind the house. Tr. at 8-9; Exh. 1; Report at 1-2. Overturf saw Hunter, who identified
    himself with a driver’s license, burning insulation off of a pile of copper wire near a shed. Tr.
    at 9; Exh. 1; Report at 1-2. Hunter stated that he obtained the wire from a Cook County
    demolition site and from Johannson Air Conditioning in Plainfield. Report at 2. Overturf
    instructed Hunter to extinguish the fire, and Hunter did so immediately. Tr. at 13. Overturf
    corroborated his testimony with a photograph of the extinguished pile and a sample of the
    material that was burning when he arrived at the site. Tr. 9-12; Exh. 1, 2.
    DISCUSSION
    Section 21(p)(1) and (3)
    The administrative citation alleges that Hunter caused or allowed open dumping that
    resulted in litter and open burning at the site in violation of subsections (p)(1) and (p)(3) of
    Section 21, respectively. Those provisions read:
    No person shall:
    * * *
    (p) In violation of subdivision (a) of this Section, cause or allow
    the open dumping of any waste in a manner which results in
    any of the following occurrences at the dump site:
    1. litter;
    * * *
    2
    In its August 12, 1997, filing, the County included a copy of a Will County Sheriff’s
    Incident Report (Report) and a sworn affidavit of Overturf. Overturf states in the affidavit that
    he completed the Report and that it is accurate to the best of his knowledge and belief.
    3
    3. open burning. 415 ILCS 5/21(p)(1) and (3) (1996).
    Section 21(a), to which Section 21(p) refers, provides:
    No person shall:
    (a) Cause or allow the open dumping of any waste. 415 ILCS
    5/21(a) (1996).
    Subsections (p)(1) and (p)(3) each require the County to show, as a threshold matter,
    that Hunter caused or allowed open dumping. “Open dumping” means “the consolidation of
    refuse from one or more sources at a disposal site that does not fulfill the requirements of a
    sanitary landfill.” 415 ILCS 5/3.24 (1996). “Refuse” means “waste,” 415 ILCS 5/3.31
    (1996), and “waste” includes “any garbage . . . or other discarded material,” 415 ILCS
    5/3.53 (1996).
    The record shows that Hunter obtained copper wire from a demolition site and
    Johannson Air Conditioning. It also shows that Hunter burned the insulation off of a pile of
    the wire on the ground behind the house at the site. The Board finds that the wire insulation
    constitutes “discarded material” within the meaning of the term “waste.” Thus, the wire
    insulation is “waste” and “refuse” as defined in the Act. The Board also finds that the pile of
    wire insulation constitutes a “consolidation of refuse from one or more sources” within the
    meaning of the term “open dumping.” In addition, the Board finds that the location behind
    the house constitutes “a disposal site that does not fulfill the requirements of a sanitary
    landfill.” Accordingly, the Board finds that Hunter caused or allowed the open dumping of
    waste.
    The next question is whether the open dumping of the wire insulation resulted in
    “litter” under Section 21(p)(1) of the Act. The Act does not define “litter,” but in similar
    cases, the Board has looked to the definition of “litter” in the Litter Control Act:
    “Litter” means any discarded, used or unconsumed substance or
    waste. “Litter” may include, but is not limited to, any garbage,
    trash, refuse, debris, rubbish . . . or anything else of an unsightly
    or unsanitary nature, which has been discarded, abandoned or
    otherwise disposed of improperly. 415 ILCS 105/3(a) (1996);
    see,
    e.g.
    , St. Clair County v. Louis I. Mund (Aug. 22, 1991), AC
    90-64, slip op. at 4, 6.
    Using this definition, the Board finds that the pile of wire insulation on the ground constitutes
    “litter” under Section 21(p)(1) and that Hunter therefore violated that section.
    Finally, the Board considers whether Hunter’s open dumping also resulted in “open
    burning” under Section 21(p)(3). “Open burning” is “the combustion of any matter in the
    open or in an open dump.” 415 ILCS 5/3.23 (1996). The Board finds that Hunter combusted
    matter in the open when he burned the wire insulation at the site. Accordingly, the Board also
    finds that Hunter violated Section 21(p)(3).
    4
    Penalty and Costs
    Section 42(b)(4) of the Act provides for penalties in an administrative citation action as
    follows:
    In an administrative citation action under Section 31.1 of this
    Act, any person found to have violated any provision of
    subsection (o) or (p) of Section 21 of this Act shall pay a civil
    penalty of $500 for each violation of each such provision, plus
    any hearing costs incurred by the Board and the Agency. Such
    penalties shall be made payable to the Environmental Protection
    Trust Fund, to be used in accordance with the provisions of the
    Environmental Protection Trust Fund Act; except that if a unit of
    local government issued the administrative citation, 50% of the
    civil penalty shall be payable to the unit of local government.
    415 ILCS 5/42(b)(4) (1996).
    The Board will assess Hunter the statutory penalty of $500 for violating Section
    21(p)(1) and $500 for violating Section 21(p)(3). The Board and the County also are entitled
    to their hearing costs under Section 42(b)(4) of the Act, but no information on those costs is
    included in the record. Therefore, the Clerk of the Board and the County are ordered to file
    with the Board a statement of hearing costs, supported by affidavit, with service on Hunter,
    within 14 days.
    This interim opinion constitutes the Board’s interim findings of fact and conclusions of
    law in this case.
    ORDER
    1.
    The Board finds that respondent, William Hunter (Hunter), violated
    Section 21(p)(1) and (3) of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act,
    415 ILCS 5/21(p)(1) and (3) (1996).
     
    2.
    The County of Will must file a statement of its hearing costs, supported
    by affidavit, with the Board and with service on Hunter, within 14 days
    of the date of this order. Within the same 14 days, the Clerk of the
    Board must file a statement of the Board’s hearing costs, supported by
    affidavit and with service on Hunter.
     
    3.
    Hunter is given leave to file a reply to the filings ordered in paragraph 2
    of this order within 14 days after receipt of that information, but in no
    event later than 40 days after the date of this order.
    5
    4.
    No earlier than 40 days after the date of this order, the Board will issue
    a final order assessing a statutory penalty of $500 for each violation, for
    a total civil penalty of $1,000, and awarding appropriate costs.
    IT IS SO ORDERED.
    I, Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control Board, hereby certify that
    the above interim opinion and order was adopted on the 7th day of May 1998 by a vote of 7-0.
    Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk
    Illinois Pollution Control Board

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