ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

February 2, 2006

PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS,

Complainant,

LAKE POINTE ESTATES L.L.C.,

Respondent.

)

PCB 06-132

(Enforcement - Water)

ORDER OF THE BOARD (by G.T. Girard):

On January 18, 2006, the Office of the Attorney General, on behalf of the People of the

State of Illinois (People), filed a one-count complaint against Lake Pointe Estates L.L.C. (Lake

Pointe Estates).

See

415 ILCS 5/31(c)(1) (2004); 35 Ill. Adm. Code 103.204. The complaint

concerns Lake Pointe Estates’ residential development in Springfield, Sangamon County. For

the reasons below, the Board accepts the complaint for hearing.

Under the Environmental Protection Act (Act) (415 ILCS 5/1

et seq

. (2004)), the

Attorney General and the State’s Attorneys may bring actions before the Board to enforce

Illinois’ environmental requirements on behalf of the People.

See

415 ILCS 5/31 (2004); 35 Ill.

Adm. Code 103. In this case, the People allege that Lake Pointe Estates violated Section 12(f) of

the Act (415 ILCS 5/12(f) (2004)) and 35 Ill. Adm. Code 309.102(a). The People further allege

that Lake Pointe Estates violated these provisions by (1) engaging in construction activities that

resulted in disturbances of more than one acre with inadequate measures or controls to prevent or

minimize water pollution from stormwater runoff; and (2) causing, threatening, or allowing the

discharge of contaminants into the waters of the State by failing to maintain adequate erosion

controls at the site. The People ask the Board to order Lake Pointe Estates to cease and desist

from further violation and pay a civil penalty of $50,000 per violation and $10,000 for each day

the violations continued.

The Board finds that the complaint meets the content requirements of the Board’s

procedural rules and accepts the complaint for hearing.

See

35 Ill. Adm. Code 103.204(c), (f),

103.212(c). A respondent’s failure to file an answer to a complaint within 60 days after

receiving the complaint may have severe consequences. Generally, if Lake Pointe Estates fails

within that timeframe to file an answer specifically denying, or asserting insufficient knowledge

to form a belief of, a material allegation in the complaint, the Board will consider Lake Pointe

Estates to have admitted the allegation. 35 Ill. Adm. Code 103.204(d).

The Board directs the hearing officer to proceed expeditiously to hearing. Among the

hearing officer’s responsibilities is the “duty . . . to ensure development of a clear, complete, and

concise record for timely transmission to the Board.” 35 Ill. Adm. Code 101.610. A complete

record in an enforcement case thoroughly addresses, among other things, the appropriate remedy,

if any, for the alleged violations, including any civil penalty.

If a complainant proves an alleged violation, the Board considers the factors set forth in

Sections 33(c) and 42(h) of the Act to fashion an appropriate remedy for the violation.

See

415

ILCS 5/33(c), 42(h) (2004). Specifically, the Board considers the Section 33(c) factors in

determining, first, what to order the respondent to do to correct an ongoing violation, if any, and,

second, whether to order the respondent to pay a civil penalty. The factors provided in Section

33(c) bear on the reasonableness of the circumstances surrounding the violation, such as the

character and degree of any resulting interference with protecting public health, the technical

practicability and economic reasonableness of compliance, and whether the respondent has

subsequently eliminated the violation.

With Public Act 93-575, effective January 1, 2004, the General Assembly changed the

Act’s civil penalty provisions, amending Section 42(h) and adding a new subsection (i) to

Section 42. Section 42(h)(3) now states that any economic benefit to respondent from delayed

compliance is to be determined by the “lowest cost alternative for achieving compliance.” The

amended Section 42(h) also requires the Board to ensure that the penalty is “at least as great as

the economic benefits, if any, accrued by the respondent as a result of the violation, unless the

Board finds that imposition of such penalty would result in an arbitrary of unreasonable financial

hardship.”

Under these amendments, the Board may also order a penalty lower than a respondent’s

economic benefit from delayed compliance if the respondent agrees to perform a “supplemental

environmental project”

(SEP). A SEP is defined in Section 42(h)(7) as an “environmentally

beneficial project” that a respondent “agrees to undertake in settlement of an enforcement action

. . . but which the respondent is not otherwise legally required to perform.” SEPs are also added

as a new Section 42(h) factor (Section 42(h)(7)), as is whether a respondent has “voluntary self-

disclosed . . . the non-compliance to the [Illinois Environmental Protection] Agency” (Section

42(h)(6)). A new Section 42(i) lists nine criteria for establishing voluntary self-disclosure of

non-compliance. A respondent establishing these criteria is entitled to a “reduction in the portion

of the penalty that is not based on the economic benefit of non-compliance.”

Accordingly, the Board further directs the hearing officer to advise the parties that in

summary judgment motions and responses, at hearing, and in briefs, each party should consider:

(1) proposing a remedy for a violation, if any (including whether to impose a civil penalty), and

supporting its position with facts and arguments that address any or all of the Section 33(c)

factors; and (2) proposing a civil penalty, if any (including a specific total dollar amount and the

portion of that amount attributable to the respondent’s economic benefit, if any, from delayed

compliance), and supporting its position with facts and arguments that address any or all of the

Section 42(h) factors. The Board also directs the hearing officer to advise the parties to address

these issues in any stipulation and proposed settlement that may be filed with the Board.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

I, Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control Board, certify that the Board

adopted the above order on February 2, 2006, by a vote of 4-0.

Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk

Illinois Pollution Control Board