ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
July 8, 1998
ILLINOIS POWER COMPANY
(Baldwin Power Station),
Petitioner,
v.
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION AGENCY,
Respondent.
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PCB 99-2
(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)), Illinois Power Company, Baldwin Power Station, located near the City of Baldwin in
St. Clair and Randolph Counties (petitioner), has requested that the Board grant a provisional
variance from certain conditions of 35 Ill. Adm. Code 304.120 and 304.141(b). These
provisions prohibit discharges not specifically allowed by permit and discharges that fail to
meet certain standards for effluents containing deoxygenated waste. 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
continue to operate its power station while maintenance work is completed on its wastewater
treatment facility. 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 St. Clair and Randolph Counties facility from conditions and
effluent discharge limits, as set forth in 35 Ill. Adm. Code 304.120 and 304.141(b). This
variance period is recommended to commence when the maintenance work has begun and to
continue until the wastewater treatment facility returns to compliance, but not longer than 45
days.
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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 35 Ill. Adm. Code 304.120 and 304.141(b), subject to the following conditions:
1.
This variance period shall commence on that date in July 1998, when petitioner
notifies Barb Conner of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency by
telephone at 217/782-9720 that maintenance work has begun. This variance
shall continue until the wastewater treatment facility returns to compliance, but
not longer than 45 days.
2. Petitioner shall meet the monthly average effluent concentration limit of 80
milligrams per liter for total suspended solids and biochemical oxygen demand
with no daily maximum concentration limit. Petitioner shall sample for these
parameters two times per week during the variance period. Petitioner shall
continue to meet the additional effluent limits as specified in its National
Pollution Discharge Elimination System Permit No. IL0000043.
3.
Petitioner shall notify notifies Barb Conner at the Agency by telephone, at
217/782-9720, when the wastewater treatment facility returns to compliance.
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: Barb Conner
1021 N. Grand Avenue East
P.O. Box 19276
Springfield, Illinois 62794-9276
4. Petitioner shall operate its wastewater treatment facility so as to produce the best
effluent practicable.
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:
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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 99-2, 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
