The state's sole independent source of business-related environmental policy, regulatory and compliance data.
COMPLIANCE PUBLISHERS, 14th Floor, 70 West Madison Street, Chicago, Illinois 60602
Phone (312) 372-0700 (800) 662-2269
Facsimile (800) 209-5361
Click Here For Previous Issues
REQUEST A FREE SAMPLE ISSUE HERE
NOVEMBER, 2001
THE LATEST
The Illinois Pollution Control Board (IPCB) on November 15 handed down the largest civil penalty ever imposed in the Prairie State for alleged violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA). Members of the IPCB, by a 6 to 1 vote, ordered Panhandle Eastern Pipeline Company to pay a $850,000 civil penalty and $115,750.25 in costs and attorneys fees by January 15. In its majority opinion and order, the IPCB found that "Panhandle violated the requirements of the (Illinois Environmental Protection) Act for at least ten years. These requirements include PSD restrictions on pollutant emissions under the federal Clean Air Act, which are designed to ensure that our air quality does not deteriorate. When Panhandle undertook a construction project in 1988, it accepted a NOx emission limit in a minor source permit to avoid the expenses of PSD. With the minor source permit, Panhandle proceeded to do business in Illinois while repeatedly emitting far more NOx than its permit allowed. Panhandle’s NOx emissions from the four new engines were dramatically higher than its emissions from the 12 retired engines in the year before the construction project. In short, Panhandle accepted a permit that it could not live with, which allowed it to avoid PSD compliance costs."
"Unfortunately, at Panhandle, the left hand did not know what the right hand was doing, and vice versa. Panhandle staff who knew how much NOx was being emitted did not know about the permit limit, while staff who knew about the permit limit did not know how much NOx was being emitted. Responsibility for a company’s compliance with its air permit must rest with that company," the IPCB opined.
Panhandle has 35 days to appeal the IPCB's ruling.
UP FRONT
2 Facilities Lauded For Eco Efforts
5 Old Ozone Standard Met In Chicago
6 Senate Confirms Cipriano Selection
PRAIRIE STATE BRIEFS
Reluctant samples; information sought ...
Highest in Illinois ... Negative declaration ...
New TMDL hearings ... New green group ...
Locomotive emissions ... Permit sought ...
Landfill awaits IEPA ... Planned plant pounded
... OSM award ... All begin on page 6
REGULATORY ROUNDUP
12 USEPA Likes Chicago SIP Changes
13 State SRP Revisions Proposed
Ending its dearth of rulemaking activity, members of the Illinois Pollution Control Board (IPCB) on November 1 voted to finalize changes to the state’s site remediation program (SRP) program administered by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA). The SRP is Illinois’ innovative program that allows property owners and operators to remediate contamination in the most cost-effective manner possible and secure from IEPA a "no further remediation" letter from the agency signaling completion of a successful cleanup (see IEC 8/97, p. 13). The IPCB voted unanimously to propose for public review and comment a 65-page consolidated rulemaking package containing IEPA-drafted revisions (IPCB Docket No. R01-27) to its original SRP rules (see IEC 1/01, p. 11) and a companion measure advocated by the Citizens for Better Environment (CBE) group that would establish new SRP requirements for cleanups involving schools, public parks and playgrounds (IPCB Docket No. R01-29). IPCB members voted earlier this year to consolidate the two proposals (see IEC 2/01, p. 15).
The proposed changes, which will impact 35 Ill. Adm. Code 740, would add new regulations applicable to remediated sites used for public schools. A five-year cycle of site inspections and other standards are specified. Also, new sections are added concerning remediation of sites in Illinois Department of Transportation rights-of-way or on federal lands. Other welcome revisions would establish soil management zones to handle soil contamination on-site. Yet other changes concerning laboratory accreditation and evaluations by geologists are also included. But perhaps most importantly, lessons IEPA has learned over the past three years have led to proposed deletion of "trigger levels" for soil and water contaminants of concern from appendix tables concerning volatile organics, semi-volatile organics, pesticides, and aroclor organics. In proposing these deletions, members of the IPCB took care to state that the change would clarify that those contaminants must be remediated under IEPA’s tiered approach to corrective action objectives (TACO) program.
IPCB staff will accept written comment on the proposal through the end of the year. Further details are available by consulting the November 16 edition of the Illinois Register, or subscribers can view the proposal in its entirety by clicking here (*.pdf format).
14 Long-Held UST Changes Unveiled
The Illinois Pollution Control Board (IPCB) voted to approve for public review and comment proposed amendments for petroleum underground storage tank (UST) regulations (35 Ill. Adm. Code 732) to require that all quantitative analyses of samples collected after December 31, 2002 be completed by accredited laboratories. The rulemaking also specifies what constitutes an UST owner’s or operator’s "best efforts" to obtain off-site property access in order to correct contamination of that property caused by a storage tank release. Other topics covered include allowing licensed professional geologists to participate in site evaluation, identifying pollutant migration pathways, clarifying when methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) may be considered an "indicator contaminant", adding polychlorinated biphenyls to the list of "additional parameters" (contaminants), and executing memoranda of agreement between the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) or the federal government and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) for storage tank site remediation on IDOT or federal properties.
IPCB staff will accept written comment on the proposal through the end of the year. Further details are available by consulting the November 16 edition of the Illinois Register, or subscribers can view the proposal in its entirety by clicking here (*.pdf format).
14 New Livestock Waste Rules
ENFORCEMENT REPORT
14 Federal Enforcement
14 RCRA Penalty In Des Plaines
15 Permitting And VOM Charges Settled
16 Tri-Star NOV Leads To Penalty
16 FIFRA Charges In Elmwood Park
17 Park District Hit For PCBs
17 State Enforcement
17 Expensive Pipeline Settlement
18 Refinery Does Release Deal
19 SEP Costs Lead To Change Of Heart
19 Downstate Firm Loses Noise Debate
19 New Dumping Allegations
SUPERFUND/HAZARDOUS WASTE
20 RI Commences At Texaco Site
20 More Controversy At Chemetco
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.
© 1993 - 2001 Compliance Publishers. All rights reserved. Library of Congress ISSN 1073-6905
Need product information? Contact customer service
Questions, comments, requests?
COMPLIANCE PUBLISHERS
14th Floor
Three First National Plaza
70 West Madison Street
Chicago, Illinois 60602
Phone (312) 372-0700 - (800) 662-2269
Facsimile (800) 209-5361