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OCTOBER, 2001
UP FRONT
2 USEPA Approves New State NOx Rules
Top officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (USEPA) Region V office on September 25 signed off on new regulations promulgated by the Illinois Pollution Control Board (IPCB) to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), a precursor of ground-level ozone (read: smog). Illinois is one of 19 states and the District of Columbia required to adopt rules in a USEPA regional program designed to cut NOx emissions throughout the eastern United States in response to a state implementation plan (SIP) call (see IEC 9/98, p. 2). That SIP call was designed to control air pollution transport in New England and Eastern seaboard states (see IEC 3/98, p. 2). With USEPA’s approval of the new NOx rules, Illinois becomes the first Midwestern state to receive federal approval for its NOx reduction SIP.
Under the rules, power plants and other large industrial sources will be required to further reduce NOx emissions by May 31, 2004. Projections indicate a drop from 123,876 tons from power plants during the 1996 ozone season to 30,701 tons for the 2004 ozone season as a result of the requirements. That would mean a 75 percent reduction from the 1996 levels of NOx emissions from power plants.
"We are pleased that USEPA has approved this important rulemaking. Illinois has been a leader in both spurring research and solutions to the ground-level ozone problem and this is another important milestone in that effort," IEPA director Renee Cipriano said. "Illinois power generators have been responding to this challenge and additional control equipment to reduce emissions are already being installed in some plants," Cipriano added.
3 IEPA Issues Polemic RCRA Permit
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) permit writers in the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency’s (IEPA) Bureau of Land on September 28 issued a controversial post-closure care permit to Texaco Refining and Marketing, Inc., in Lockport. The draft RCRA permit, first unveiled by IEPA last year (see IEC 11/00, p. 6) and then roundly attacked by area residents this year (see IEC 8/01, p. 4), allows for maintenance of a closed hazardous waste landfill and four closed hazardous waste management units at the former refinery site. Opponents of the RCRA permit face a November 2 deadline (35 days from final permit decision) to appeal IEPA’s permit decision to the Illinois Pollution Control Board (IPCB). Subscribers wishing to view the permit decision and associated materials should click here (*.pdf format).
4 New Coal Law Gets First Players
5 More Water Sampling Scheduled
5 Peaker Plant Proposals Panned
7 Road Project Study Faulted
The Lake County Transportation Improvement Project (LCTIP), which compared a proposed Illinois Highway 53 extension with a plan to widen Illinois Highway 83 and U.S. Highway 45, will hold public hearings on October 23 and 25 on a draft of the environmental impact statement (EIS) comparing the two projects. The study found more wetlands would be lost if Illinois 53 is extended, and the widening Illinois 83 and U.S. 45 would have more impact on residents and businesses. "There are trade-offs with both," said Peter Harmet, deputy project manager of the state-sponsored LCTIP.
Subscribers wanting to view the full 500-page draft should click here.
PRAIRIE STATE BRIEFS
More bucks ... Permit issued ... Cat corrective
action ... Nuclear train delayed ... Lakes
exhaling ... Beach closures up ... Pipeline
plan advances ... All begin on page 8
REGULATORY ROUNDUP
11 IEPA Proposes Environmental Grants
11 Dearth Of Rulemaking Activity To End
11 ICC Finalizes Gas And Pipeline Rule
ENFORCEMENT REPORT
12 Federal Enforcement
12 Big Settlement For Joslin Facility
12 Penalty Proposed For Late Report
13 RCRA Charges Settled In Centralia
13 Missing RMP Allegation Resolved
14 New VOM Allegations In Cook County
15 Judge Leaves Wetlands Penalty Intact
17 State Enforcement
17 Nicor Settles Mercury Charges
18 Expensive Air Allegations Resolved
19 IEPA Enlists AG’s Help On Cleanup
20 Two Strikes And You’re Out
SUPERFUND/HAZARDOUS WASTE
20 CERCLA Response Costs Settled
COMPLIANCE LIBRARY
24 Air, Permitting, Waste Cleanup And Other Titles
WEB SPECIAL: LINKS FROM PAST STORIESUSEPA Says OK To IEPA’s ERMS Program
Officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (USEPA) Region V office in Chicago on December 15 went forward with a rulemaking action proposing to approve Illinois’ innovative trading program for the control of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the Chicago metropolitan ground-level ozone nonattainment area. This is the first "cap and trade" program in the nation that a state has adopted to reduce VOC emissions. The program is mandatory for major VOC sources in the Chicago metropolitan area and its upper limit threshold ("cap") means that, on average, affected sources must reduce their VOC emissions by 12 percent. Regardless of the cap, individual sources may nevertheless trade emission allowances amongst themselves, provided the buying and selling of allowances yields the same overall 12 percent VOC emission reduction. The program, which is administered by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA), is an important element of the state’s plan for meeting the ozone standard in the Chicago metropolitan area. The proposal was published in the December 27 issue of the Federal Register, commencing a 30-day public review and comment period. USEPA sources told IEC that the comment period will likely be extended for another 45 days beyond the original deadline. USEPA’s plan to approve IEPA’s emission reduction market system (ERMS) is likely to be bitterly attacked by environmental activists. IEPA staffers meanwhile are still reviewing the results from last summer, the ERMS program’s first season after the IEPA abruptly delayed the program’s planned debut in 1999 (see IEC 11/98, p. 2). The Metro Chicago ground-level ozone nonattainment area includes Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will Counties, Oswego Township in Kendall County and Aux Sable and Goose Lake Townships in Grundy County. Metro Chicago currently does not meet the national ambient air quality standard for ground-level ozone (smog) and is classified by USEPA as a "severe" nonattainment area. Subscribers desiring additional information on USEPA’s proposed approval of Illinois’ ERMS program for the control of VOCs in the Metro Chicago ozone nonattainment area should click here.
IEPA Likes Chicago Regional Air Plan
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) director Tom Skinner has come out in support of an innovative new plan developed by the Chicago Regional Dialogue on Clean Air and Redevelopment (CRD) coalition and the Chicago Department of Environment (CDOE) aimed at relieving new source review (NSR) headaches for stationary sources locating or expanding in "smart growth areas" of the Chicago ground-level ozone nonattainment area. New or expanding businesses who locate in a smart growth zone in the region would have access to emissions credits from the growth allowance instead of having to purchase them on the market. Emissions credits for the growth allowance would come from local government actions which are currently not accounted for in the state implementation plan (SIP). The proposal has been submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) for its review as a potential candidate for the agency’s Project XL (eXcellence and Leadership) program (see IEC 7/00, p. 8). If the proposal passes USEPA’s muster, and early indications are that it will, it would give a boost to economic development efforts in the affected area while easing the cumbersome air permitting process facilities operating in the area face. Complete details on the proposed XL project involving NSR offsets for the Chicago metropolitan ozone nonattainment are available here. Meanwhile, USEPA’s "notice of availabiltiy of FPA" can be found here. Skinner, in a July 12 letter, endorsed the idea behind CDOE's proposal.
Ryan Punts Problematic Peakers To Pollution Board
Illinois Governor George H. Ryan on July 6 tackled the continuing controversy over auxiliary peak usage electric power plants by telling the state’s Pollution Control Board to deal with the problem. In a June 6 letter to the seven members of the Illinois Pollution Control Board (IPCB), Ryan told the political appointees "I have recently received a great deal of public comment over potential environmental threats caused by the recent proliferation in Illinois of new, natural gas-fired, peak-load electrical power generating facilities." He then instructed the IPCB to convene hearings on the issue to see what, if anything, will be done to silence upset lawmakers from the northern suburbs and their constituents. The governor’s passing of the problem to the IPCB followed unsuccessful efforts by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) to enlist the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (USEPA) help in defraying the growing political fallout the issue has caused (see IEC 5/00, p. 5). IEPA director Tom Skinner had asked USEPA for "guidance" on imposing tougher new source performance standards (NSPS) permitting requirements on many of the newly proposed peaker plants. USEPA responded to Skinner’s overtures by saying, in effect, "the ball is in your court," where it has been since the issue of peakers, permits and associated problems first emerged (see IEC 2/99, p. 3). Everything that you wanted to know about peaker plants in Illinois is available here.
IEPA, USEPA At Work On New PPA
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) and USEPA have negotiated a new "performance partnership agreement" (PPA) that will guide environmental protection, monitoring, permitting and enforcement efforts in Illinois during the coming year. Full text of the 171-page deal is available here.
Illinois RMPs Go Public
Risk management plans (RMPs) required under section 112(r) of the federal Clean Air Act were submitted by 961 Illinois facilities on June 21. The RMPs, which detail possible catastrophic effects from a "worst-case" industrial mishap, were supposed to enjoy limited public disclosure. An environmental interest group however has made all the Illinois RMPs available here.
Illinois Environmental Compliance is the state's sole source of independent business-related environmental regulatory and compliance data. Subject matter (no advertisements accepted) is limited to administrative, legal and public policy developments impacting commercial activities conducted in Illinois. Published monthly by Compliance Publishers, Inc., Chicago, Illinois. A limited number of annual subscriptions are available for $375.00 per year.
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