ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    September 6, 2007
    LINDENHURST SANITARY DISTRICT
    (NPDES Permit No. IL0020796),
    Petitioner,
    v.
    ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
    PROTECTION AGENCY,
    Respondent.
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    PCB 08-21
    (NPDES Permit Appeal)
    ORDER OF THE BOARD (by G.T. Girard):
    On August 31, 2007, Lindenhurst Sanitary District (petitioner) timely filed a petition
    asking the Board to review a July 26, 2007 determination of the Illinois Environmental
    Protection Agency (Agency). The petition was timely filed because it was postmarked on or
    before the filing deadline.
    See
    415 ILCS 5/40(a)(1) (2006); 35 Ill. Adm. Code 101.300(b),
    105.208(a). The determination concerns a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
    (NPDES) permit for petitioner’s sewage treatment plant at Grass Lake Road, Lindenhurst, Lake
    County. For the reasons below, the Board accepts the petition for review.
    Under the Environmental Protection Act (Act) (415 ILCS 5 (2006)), the Agency is the
    permitting authority, responsible for administering Illinois’ regulatory programs to protect the
    environment. If the Agency denies a permit or grants one with conditions, the permit applicant
    may appeal the Agency’s decision to the Board.
    See
    415 ILCS 5/4, 5, 40(a)(1) (2006); 35 Ill.
    Adm. Code 105.Subpart D. In this case, the Agency granted NPDES permit No. IL0020796,
    subject to conditions, regarding petitioner’s Lake County facility. Petitioner appeals on the
    grounds that a dissolved oxygen (DO) effluent limitation in the permit will increase user costs
    without providing any clear benefit for the stream receiving the discharge; a three-year DO
    compliance period is more reasonable than the two-year period set forth in the permit; and the
    permit allows for a possibly more stringent DO limit, but not a less stringent one, based upon
    changes to the current DO general use water quality standard that may be adopted by the Board
    in pending rulemaking docket R04-25, In the Matter of: Proposed Amendments to Dissolved
    Oxygen Standard 35 Ill. Adm. Code 302.206. Petitioner’s petition meets the content
    requirements of 35 Ill. Adm. Code 105.210.
    The Board accepts the petition for hearing. Petitioner has the burden of proof. 415 ILCS
    5/40(a)(1) (2006);
    see also
    35 Ill. Adm. Code 105.112(a). Hearings will be based exclusively on
    the record before the Agency at the time the Agency issued its permit decision.
    See
    35 Ill. Adm.
    Code 105.214(a). Accordingly, though the Board hearing affords a permit applicant the
    opportunity to challenge the Agency’s reasons for denying or conditionally granting the permit,
    information developed after the Agency’s decision typically is not admitted at hearing or
    2
    considered by the Board.
    See
    Alton Packaging Corp. v. PCB, 162 Ill. App. 3d 731, 738, 516
    N.E.2d 275, 280 (5th Dist. 1987); Community Landfill Co. & City of Morris v. IEPA, PCB 01-
    170 (Dec. 6, 2001),
    aff’d sub nom.
    Community Landfill Co. & City of Morris v. PCB & IEPA,
    331 Ill. App. 3d 1056, 772 N.E.2d 231 (3rd Dist. 2002).
    Hearings will be scheduled and completed in a timely manner, consistent with the
    decision deadline (
    see
    415 ILCS 5/40(a)(2) (2006)), which only petitioner may extend by waiver
    (
    see
    35 Ill. Adm. Code 101.308). If the Board fails to take final action by the decision deadline,
    petitioner “shall be entitled to an Appellate Court order pursuant to subsection (d) of Section 41
    of this Act [415 ILCS 5/41(d) (2006)].” 415 ILCS 5/40(a)(3) (2006). Currently, the decision
    deadline is December 31, 2007, which is the first business day following the 120th day after the
    Board received the petition.
    See
    35 Ill. Adm. Code 105.114. The Board meeting immediately
    before the decision deadline is scheduled for December 20, 2007.
    Unless the Board or the hearing officer orders otherwise, the Agency must file the entire
    record of its determination by October, 1 2007, which is the first business day following the 30th
    day after the Board received petitioner’s petition.
    See
    35 Ill. Adm. Code 105.212(a). If the
    Agency wishes to seek additional time to file the record, it must file a request for extension
    before the date on which the record is due to be filed.
    See
    35 Ill. Adm. Code 105.116. The
    record must comply with the content requirements of 35 Ill. Adm. Code 105.212(b).
    IT IS SO ORDERED.
    I, John Therriault, Assistant Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control Board, certify that the
    Board adopted the above order on September 6, 2007, by a vote of 4-0.
    ___________________________________
    John Therriault, Assistant Clerk
    Illinois Pollution Control Board

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