ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    June 17, 1998
    CITY OF PONTIAC,
    Petitioner,
    v.
    ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
    PROTECTION AGENCY,
    Respondent.
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    PCB 98-167
    (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)), the City of Pontiac, located in Livingston County (petitioner), has requested that the
    Board grant a provisional variance from certain conditions of its National Pollutant Discharge
    Elimination System (NPDES) Permit No. IL0030457 and 35 Ill. Adm. Code 304.141(a). The
    request for a provisional variance and the notification of recommendation were filed with the
    Board by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Agency) on June 15, 1998. 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 the 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 wastewater treatment facility while maintenance work is completed on
    its east activated sludge plant. The Agency recommends that the Board grant the requested
    provisional variance with specified conditions. The Agency agrees that the modification is
    necessary. The Agency 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. The Agency
    maintains that a grant of a provisional variance would violate no federal laws. The Agency
    believes that a denial of the requested provisional variance would create an arbitrary or
    unreasonable hardship on the petitioner.
    Specifically, the Agency recommends that the Board grant petitioner a 45-day
    provisional variance for its Livingston County facility from conditions and effluent discharge
    limits, as set forth in NPDES permit No. IL0030457 and 35 Ill. Adm. Code 304.141(a). This
    variance period is recommended to commence during 1998 when petitioner’s east activated
    sludge plant is removed from service for painting and to continue until the work on the east
    activated sludge plant is completed, but not longer than 45 days.
    2
    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 NPDES permit No. IL0030457 and in 35 Ill. Adm. Code 304.141(a), subject to
    the following conditions:
    1.
    This variance period shall commence during 1998 when petitioner’s primary
    east activated sludge plant is removed from service and shall continue until the
    work on the east activated sludge plant is completed, but not longer than 45
    days.
    2.
    Petitioner shall treat 5.1 million gallons per day through its west activated
    sludge plant prior to discharging from outfalls 002, 003, 004, and 005.
    Petitioner shall continue to meet all its permit effluent limits
    3.
    Petitioner shall notify Steve Baldwin at the Agency’s Champaign regional office
    by telephone, at 217/333-8361, when the east activated sludge plant is removed
    from service and again when it is returned to service. Petitioner shall confirm
    this notice in writing within five (5) days, addressed as follows:
    Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
    Bureau of Water, Compliance Assurance Section
    Attn: Mark T. Books
    1021 N. Grand Avenue East
    P.O. Box 19276
    Springfield, Illinois 62794-9276
    4. Petitioner shall perform the necessary repair work on the east activated sludge plant
    as expeditiously as possible to minimize the time period that the unit is out of
    service.
    Petitioner shall execute a copy of a certificate of acceptance of this provisional variance
    and forward that copy to the Agency addressed as is the written notice required in the above
    condition(3). 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:
    3
    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 98-167, June 17, 1998.
    ___________________________
    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 172 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 17th day of June 1998 by a vote of 5-0.
    Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk
    Illinois Pollution Control Board

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