90ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    July 8, 1998
    CITGO PETROLEUM CORPORATION,
    Petitioner,
    v.
    ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
    PROTECTION AGENCY,
    Respondent.
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    PCB 99-1
    (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)), Citgo Petroleum Corporation, located in the City of Mount Prospect, Cook County
    (petitioner), has requested that the Board grant a provisional variance from 35 Ill. Adm. Code
    304.141(b), which prohibits discharge not specifically allowed by permit. The request for a
    provisional variance and the notification of recommendation were filed with the Board by the
    Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Agency) on July 6, 1998. Pursuant to Section
    35(b) of the Act, the Board must issue the variance within two 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
    discharge hydrostatic test water offsite through its existing outfall, permitted under National
    Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit No. IL00025461. 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 Cook County facility from 35 Ill. Adm. Code 304.141(b). This
    variance period is recommended to commence when petitioner begins discharging the water
    used for the hydrostatic testing and continue until the discharge is completed, but not longer
    than 45 days.
    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
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    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 35 Ill. Adm. Code 304.141(b), subject to the following conditions:
    1.
    This variance period shall commence when petitioner begins discharging the
    water used for the hydrostatic testing and continue until the discharge is
    completed, but not longer than 45 days.
    2.
    Petitioner shall notify Robert Sulski at the Agency’s Maywood regional office
    by telephone, at 708/531-5900, when the water used for the hydrostatic testing
    begins to be discharged and again when the process 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
    Attn: Mark T. Books
    1021 N. Grand Avenue East
    P.O. Box 19276
    Springfield, Illinois 62794-9276
    3.
    Petitioner shall maintain compliance with its current NPDES permit limits
    during the time hydrostatic test water is discharged. Petitioner shall verify that
    the discharge is in compliance with its NPDES permit limits prior to releasing
    the test water.
    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 (2). 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:
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    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 99-1, July 8, 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 8th day of July 1998 by a vote of 4-0.
    Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk
    Illinois Pollution Control Board

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