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DECEMBER, 2001
UP FRONT
2 IPCB Changes Signal Trends For New Year
The Illinois Pollution Control Board (IPCB) has undergone wholesale changes in its membership that signals a new era in environmental rulemaking and gives a broad hint at what will likely be the biggest package of environmental legislation to be considered by the state legislature in several years. Outgoing Governor George Ryan appointed Michael E. Tristano to the IPCB, effective December 1. Tristano replaces former IPCB member Elena Kezelis, who moved to a new slot as the executive director of the Illinois Environmental Regulatory Review Commission (IERRC). Kezelis was appointed to the IPCB by then-Governor Jim Edgar in late 1998 amid charges that he was stacking state boards and commissions with political cronies as his tenure closed (see IEC 2/99, p. 8). Kezelis, prior to her appointment to the IPCB less than a month before Edgar left office, was Edgar’s chief legal counsel. Tristano is expected to be as staunch a supporter of business interests as Kezelis was during her two years with the IPCB. Meanwhile, Kezelis, in her IERRC role, will be charged with shepherding through the Illinois General Assembly a package of revisions to the state’s Environmental Protection Act during the upcoming year. This will be Ryan’s last chance to fulfill one of his campaign pledges, namely bringing some coherence to the state’s unwieldy environmental regulations and policies.
The Illinois Senate, at the same time that it approved Tristano’s appointment, also approved the reappointment of ...
3 IEPA Sued (Again)
4 More Problems For Hartford Facility
5 Sampling Brings Headaches For IEPA
PRAIRIE STATE BRIEFS
Jerseyville: Stop it! ... Dumping ground ...
Radium and cities ... Expansion and pollution
... In the wind ... Coal gains steam ... St. Charles
Award ... Recycling ... All begin on page 7
REGULATORY ROUNDUP
11 Antidegradation Rule Moves Forward
12 TACO Revisions Nearly Final
12 MTBE Groundwater Standards
12 LUST Sampling And Analysis Changes
13 A Year Of Rulemaking Activity
13 Green Communities Program Grants
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
14 New Brownfields Site Restoration Law
ENFORCEMENT REPORT
14 Largest State Clean Air Act Penalty
15 RCRA Charges Resolved
15 USEPA VOM Allegations Settled
16 Platers Initiative Nets Penalties
17 Criminal Convictions For Hog Mess
17 Landfill Failure Raises Questions
18 Jacksonville Facility Cited For VOM
18 IEPA Sues Royalton For Dumping
18 Contractor Gets Proposed Penalty
19 LUST Abounds Throughout Illinois
SUPERFUND/HAZARDOUS WASTE
20 USEPA Orders Study For Ottawa Site
COMPLIANCE LIBRARY
24 Air, Permitting, Waste Cleanup And Other Titles
WEB SPECIAL: LINKS FROM PAST STORIES
USEPA 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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