Illinois Environmental Compliance

The state's sole independent source of business-related environmental policy, regulatory and compliance data.

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JULY, 2001

UP FRONT

2   Musical Chairs At The Top

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA), which was headed by former director Mary Gade for eight years during the Edgar era, will get its second director in as many years with the July 10 appointment of Renee Cipriano as the agency’s new chief. Governor George Ryan elevated Cipriano from her slot as senior advisor for environmental and natural resource issues (sort of like a minister sans portfolio) to IEPA boss after former IEPA director Tom Skinner was named to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (USEPA) Midwest regional office (see IEC 6/01, p. 2). Cipriano’s selection was hardly a surprise; the length of her tenure however is a different story — given that sources close to Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan say he will declare his candidacy for governor by August 15, setting up a possible primary battle the beleaguered sitting guv. That means Cipriano, who will oversee some 1,200 IEPA employees headquartered in Springfield and in nine field offices and three laboratories throughout the state, might spend less than two years in IEPA’s top spot.

Cipriano’s selection is also of note for smashing the "glass ceiling" myth concerning Illinois public sector positions. She had been making $107,500 annually on the governor’s staff. Her new position will pay $113,114. Outgoing IEPA director Skinner is paid an annual salary of $109,500.

3   Local Governments Get Tough On Many

The Village of East Alton on July 23 filed suit against several refineries and gasoline distribution companies, claiming they contaminated its water system with a gasoline additive, methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE). The problems of leaking gasoline delivery systems, such as tanks, pumps and pipes, were well known to the defendants before the introduction of MTBE, the suit alleges. The village is seeking compensatory damages so that it can find alternative water supplies to its existing wells and to make changes in its operating systems and for the expense it has incurred in removing MTBE from the water supply. The suit is also seeking punitive damages. Parties named in the civil complaint include Premcor Refining and Tosco Corporation, as well as their predecessors, and Amoco Oil Company, whose Wood River refining facility is shuttered, and its successor, BP Amoco. Other defendants named in the complaint include distributors Thomas Oil Company, Piasa Motor Fuels and Thomeczek Oil Company. The wide-ranging suit also seeks to include as defendants up to 600 unknown parties involved in the distribution and manufacture of gasoline.

Pollution charges up north

Meanwhile, lawyers for the Godley Park District have filed suit in Will County Circuit Court against Commonwealth Edison/Exelon on behalf of the residents of the Village of Godley. Their lawsuit seeks relief and protection from the court concerning "past, present and future releases of toxic chemicals into the water table of the Village of Godley." This litigation stems from a June 24, 2000 release of hydrocarbons from Commonwealth Edison’s (now Exelon Nuclear) Braidwood Generating Station. The 5,000-gallon release, which consisted primarily of diesel oil, entered ditches flowing through and around the Village of Godley, according to district officials. A "position paper" prepared by Godley Park District officials claims that "Commonwealth Edison’s initial reported assessment of the quantity of the release was 5 gallons." Godley officials are calling on federal and state environmental regulators to prevent the release of "any and all storm water" from the site until it can be established that no further toxic chemicals exist on the site and will not be discharged from the nuclear station.

PRAIRIE STATE BRIEFS

New submission guidelines loom ...

Ozone in Chicago ... And Metro-East, too ...

Annual H2O hearing ... Coal waste support ...

Eco conference (details here *.pdf format) ...

All begin on page 4

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

7   MTBE Ban Now Law Of The Land

7   Is New Coal Package A Panacea?

ENFORCEMENT REPORT

9   Federal Enforcement

9   Premcor Does NSR Deal In Hartford

St. Louis, Missouri-based Premcor Refining Group (nee Clark Refining and Marketing) on July 12 agreed to settle federal allegations involving new source review (NSR) permitting violations levied by the U.S. Justice Department, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the Illinois Attorney General’s office on behalf of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA). The settlement involves Premcor’s 70,000-barrels-per-day Hartford refinery in madison County and modifications made to its fluid catalytic converter (FCC) unit in 1994. Under the agreement, Premcor will install new pollution control equipment, which Premcor estimates will cost $8 million to $10 million — but which the Justice Department estimates will cost as much as $20 million. Premcor also agreed to install equipment costing as much as $1.5 million to curtail emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx). Terms of the settlement agreement call for reducing annual emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) by more than 4,700 tons, particulate matter by 630 tons and NOx by 270 tons. Premcor will also pay $2 million in civil penalties to the state and federal government. Regardless of the agreement, the company disputes that the 1994 changes to its FCC unit necessitated an NSR permit. Madison County is classified as non-attainment of USEPA’s ground-level ozone standard.

10   State Enforcement

10   Hazardous Waste Charges In Harvard

11   Land, Water Deal Pending

11   Water Quality Allegations Settled

11   Contamination Charges In Lockport

BACKGROUND/IN-DEPTH

12   Water Quality Management Plan

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.

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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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