TRANSMITTAL LETTER FOR BOARD MEETING OF APRIL 7, 2016
COMMITTEE ON STATE LEGISLATION AND RULES
Honorable President Mariyana Spyropoulos and Members of the Board of Commissioners
Title
Additional Recommendation for the State of Illinois 2016 Legislative Program
Body
I respectfully submit the following legislative initiatives and recommendation to the Board of Commissioners for their consideration and guidance.
Legislative Initiative No. 3
Amend the Illinois Environmental Protection Act (415 ILCS 5/1 et seq.) to add the definition of “water quality standards variance” and establish a regulatory framework for the Illinois Pollution Control Board to adopt water quality standards variances for dischargers, waterbody segments, waterbodies, and watersheds.
On August 21, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency amended 40 CFR Part 131 to expressly authorize the adoption of water quality standards (“WQS”) variances that can apply to multiple dischargers so as to provide for a more expansive and holistic approach to improvement of water quality. Currently, however, the Illinois Environmental Protection Act (“Act”) only allows variances for single dischargers, thus prohibiting the availability of the federally-authorized WQS variances in Illinois. In order to make this new tool available to regulators and regulated entities in this State, the MWRD is working with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (“IEPA”) to develop legislation that would amend the Illinois Environmental Protection Act to achieve parity and compliance with the new federal rules. The proposed amendments would better equip IEPA to pursue a watershed-approach to improving water quality; these amendments would also save resources and improve efficiency by eliminating the need for a separate variance process for each discharger seeking additional time to comply with the same WQS.
Given the timing relative to the remaining spring legislative session, District staff recommends that the Board approve this initiative to provide the District flexibility to garner support from other stakeholders and advance the bill with legislators in the coming weeks.
Requested, Ronald M. Hill, General Counsel
Recommended, David St. Pierre, Executive Director, DSP:RMH:LLD::bh
Respectfully Submitted, Cynthia Santos, Chairman Committee State Legislation and Rules
Disposition of this agenda item will be documented in the official Regular Board Meeting Minutes of the Board of Commissioners for April 7, 2016