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UP FRONT
2 IEPA’s Loss Will Be Illinois’ Gain
3 Ozone Progress Amid Particulate Problem
4 USEPA Changes Course On Metro-East
5 New Call For Right-To-Know Expansion
An environmental activist group has called on the Illinois General Assembly to expand requirements for Illinois’ regulated community to report their use and discharges of hazardous materials. It also wants lawmakers to increase state funding for right-to-know and emergency planning programs. The group further called for members of Illinois’ Congressional delegation to support federal efforts to establish a nationwide health-tracking network to monitor chronic diseases and their possible links to environmental factors. The Illinois Public Interest Research Group’s (IPIRG) calls were accompanied by its release of a new report detailing chemical emissions and unplanned discharges in the state.
An interesting segment of IPIRG’s report showed that allowable releases from regulated Illinois facilities dropped over 45 percent during the decade between 1988 and 1997. Close examination shows that permitted releases increased a mere 3.97 percent during the economic expansion years of 1995 through 1997. IPIRG’s ranking of facilities based on releases during calendar year 1998 does not differ from our earlier report (see IEC 5/00, p. 2). Subscribers wanting to review the IPIRG report in its entirety should download from here (*.pdf format).
7 IEPA’s Water Protection Efforts Faulted
PRAIRIE STATE BRIEFS
Awaiting confirmation ... Proposed plant
criticized ... Siting decision appealed ... Plant
expansion knocked ... Lake TMDL ... Pipeline
plans ... New peaker ... All begin on page 9
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
14 Changes To CAAPP Statute Final
15 New Coal, Power Generation Law
17 Several Other Bills Make The Cut
REGULATORY ROUNDUP
18 USEPA Likes Chicago Ozone Plan
Officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (USEPA) Region V office on June 28 said they will soon propose for formal approval a plan submitted earlier aimed at attaining the 1-hour ground-level ozone standard for the Chicago metropolitan area. The state implementation plan (SIP) element, developed by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA), was the subject of a public hearing and comments early last year and again last fall. "The Illinois plan is well-developed and will improve air quality for millions of Chicago-area residents," said acting regional administrator David A. Ullrich. "When combined with pollution control plans for Northwest Indiana and Milwaukee, it will help the Chicago-Northwest Indiana-Milwaukee area achieve the health-based 1-hour ozone air quality standard by 2007."
USEPA’s proposed approval is subject to public review and comment through August 11. Readers wanting additional information on all of the components of the SIP proposal should click here for complete text of the proposed approval as well as information on how to submit comments (*.pdf format). USEPA staffers told IEC they hope to finalize approval of the SIP element by October.
19 IPCB Moves Forward On TACO Changes
Members of the Illinois Pollution Control Board (IPCB) on June 7 voted unanimously to proceed to "second notice" with a proposal amending the state’s tiered approach to corrective action (TACO) objectives (IPCB Docket No. R00-19(B)). The rulemaking represents the first significant changes to Illinois’ TACO program since it was first established four years ago (see IEC 8/97, p. 13). In order to keep the rulemaking effort on track, the IPCB also voted to establish a separate TACO rulemaking that focuses solely on methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) and its treatment under Illinois’ TACO program (IPCB Docket No. R00-19(C)). The new docket will focus on the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency’s (IEPA) proposal to add cleanup standards for MTBE. And while the IPCB considers the new docket, members of the Illinois General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Administrative Review (JCAR) will consider the "second notice" TACO proposal at its July 10 meeting in Springfield.
Subscribers wanting complete details on the IPCB’s "second notice" opinion and order (MSWord *.doc format) detailing all of the proposed TACO changes to be reviewed by JCAR on July 10 -- including the voluminous proposed appendices (MSWord *.doc format) should visit the respective preceding links.
ENFORCEMENT REPORT
20 Federal Enforcement
20 Source Settles For Big Reduction
21 State Enforcement
21 Water Quality Charges Resolved
21 State Seeks To Settle Two
21 Facilities Named In Air, Waste Action
22 New Mobile Air Case In Two Counties
22 Multi-Count Complaint In Cook County
22 Old Landfill Faces Additional Scrutiny
23 Open Dumping Alleged In Lawsuit
SUPERFUND/HAZARDOUS WASTE
23 LaSalle Site Proposed For NPL
Officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) on June 14 proposed adding the Matthiessen and Hegeler Zinc Company site in LaSalle to the national priorities list (NPL, also known as Superfund) of hazardous waste sites. Sites on the list are eligible for significant investigation and cleanup funding under the federal Superfund program. A total of 10 sites were proposed for the NPL on that date, including the Matthiessen and Hegeler site — the only new site in USEPA’s Region V. There are currently 1,236 final sites on the NPL and 67 proposed sites. The combined 1,303 sites includes 67 federal facilities. Additional information on the newly proposed NPL site, including its hazardous rank system documentation record, is available here (*.pdf format).
24 H.O.D. Cleanup Declared Complete
COMPLIANCE LIBRARY
26 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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