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AUGUST 31, 2001
UP FRONT
2 IPCB Sides With IEPA On NPDES Permit
Six members of Illinois’ Pollution Control Board (IPCB) voted unanimously on August 9 to uphold a controversial national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit issued by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA). The debated discharge permit, for a planned underground coal mine in Vermilion County, was appealed to the IPCB by the Champaign-based Prairie Rivers Network (PRN) environmental group shortly after IEPA issued it last December. The Midwest Environmental Law and Policy Center (ELPC) took up the cause on behalf of Prairie Rivers. That legal intervention marks the first time that a permit has been appealed by a third-party since Illinois’ public participation statute was changed (Senate Bill 814) in 1997 (see IEC 8/97, p. 9). And IPCB’s decision to side with IEPA and uphold the NPDES permit paves the way for ELPC lawyers to seek a court review and interpretation for the first time since the third-party appeal law was enacted four years ago. The result will likely be a future legal case of strong precedent and long-felt ramifications.
4 Controversial CAMU Criticized
5 IEPA Sampling Finds More Tainted Wells
PRAIRIE STATE BRIEFS
Leave at the right time ... Waste enforcement
grants ... Lengthy NPDES renewal ... Spotlight
... A spike ... Low NOx ... Waiting for water ...
Dustup In South Elgin ... All begin on page 6
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
12 IEPA’s EMSA Program Gets Reprieve
13 New Law To Bring New Study, More Rules
REGULATORY ROUNDUP
13 IPCB Finalizes More TACO Changes
15 Pretreatment And Discharge Update
15 Regulated Recharge Revisions
16 Agrichemical Spill Response
16 AER Amendments Finalized
17 Radionuclide Water Testing
17 Rules For Oil & Gas Wells On Public Lands
ENFORCEMENT REPORT
18 Federal Enforcement
18 Clean Harbors Reaches RCRA Settlement
18 Costly Release For Peoria Facility
19 Expensive Wetlands Deal Inked
19 Federal VOM Allegation Resolved
20 USEPA Increases Petco’s Problems
21 Air Charges Against Georgetown Firm
21 Lemont Refinery Named In FOV
22 State Enforcement
22 OMC Faulted For New PCB Spill
23 County Sues Markham And Others
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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