TRANSMITTAL LETTER FOR BOARD MEETING OF MAY 15, 2008
COMMITTEE ON RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Mr. Richard Lanyon, General Superintendent
Title
Report on the Use Attainability Rulemaking Illinois Pollution Control Board Docket No. R08-09
Body
Dear Sir:
On October 26, 2007, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) submitted to the Illinois Pollution Control Board (IPCB) its Use Attainability Analysis (UAA) for updating water quality standards for secondary contact waters in the Chicago area. The IEPA’s proposal seeks to upgrade the use designations for waterways into which the District discharges its effluent from the North Side, Calumet and Stickney Water Reclamation Plants (WRPs). To meet the new standards the District will be required to undertake disinfection at those three WRPs, as well as to provide supplemental aeration and/or flow augmentation in the Chicago River System, both of which are extremely costly and time-consuming endeavors. The UAA encompasses the Chicago Area Waterways (CAWS) and Lower Des Plaines River. It does not seek to update water quality standards for other waterways throughout the state of Illinois.
To date, the IPCB has conducted ten days of hearings. The first session of hearings before the IPCB was conducted January 28-February 1, 2008 in Chicago. The second session of hearings was conducted March 10-12, 2008 in Joliet. The third session of hearings was conducted April 23-24, 2008 in Des Plaines. Witnesses on behalf of the IEPA were presented for questioning by industry and environmental groups. The IEPA’s witnesses included one retained expert, the four main staff members involved in drafting the UAA, and one supervisory staff member.
The District, through its outside counsel working in concert with the Law and Research and Development (R&D) Departments, questioned the IEPA witnesses on issues of greatest import to the District. The R&D Department worked very hard on developing and compiling questions on behalf of the District. In a broad sense, these topics include disinfection of effluent prior to discharge into the CAWS, enhanced aeration and flow augmentation of segments of the CAWS, new aquatic life use designations proposed by the IEPA, new and upgraded recreational use designations, and the absence of a wet weather exception to the more stringent dissolved oxygen standard proposed by the IEPA.
The next activity in this rulemaking will be a public comment session tentatively scheduled for the evening of June 16, 2008. At that session, members of the public will have the opportunity to voice support or criticism for the proposed water quality standards which have been proposed by the IEPA. Speakers will not be required to formally submit testimony or comments in advance of this session. However, the Hearing Officer has advised that any witness who delves into more substantive or scientific evidence beyond simply advocating for or against the proposed water quality standards may be required to submit written testimony and be subjected to cross-examination by the IEPA and industry representatives.
The next formal session of hearings is scheduled to commence in early September 2008, which will consist of three days. No firm dates have been scheduled by the Hearing Officer, but we anticipate that the Hearing Officer will do that shortly. Industry and environmentalists will be presenting their witnesses, including fact and expert witnesses. The IEPA’s attorneys, and any other parties who wish to do so, will have an opportunity to question the witnesses. Each party must pre-file testimony for each witness by August 4, 2008. The IEPA’s pre-filed questions are due August 25, 2008.
The District anticipates presenting at least 12 witnesses, including a number of retained experts, who will address key issues. The issues to be covered include the unique properties of the CAWS; microbial risk assessment study; disinfection issues; environmental, economic, and health impacts; habitat study; epidemiological study; financial impacts; and, the adequacy of the UAA process.
We anticipate that the Hearing Officer will schedule more hearing dates beyond September for the purpose of taking additional testimony as it is unlikely the process will be completed during the three-day September 2008 session.
Lastly, within the next month or so, the District is considering presenting a motion to stay the UAA proceedings. The basis for the motion is that it would be a more complete and accurate UAA process if the IPCB was able to consider the results of the District’s myriad studies, which are fully or partially completed or just getting underway. These include the risk management, epidemiological, habitat, and integrated water quality studies. Furthermore, the District believes that the IPCB should reopen the stakeholder process and require the IEPA to consider evidence presented by stakeholders, which, although available prior to issuance of the UAA, was not considered by the IEPA. It is expected that this motion will receive strong opposition from the IEPA and environmental groups.
Respectfully Submitted, Frederick M. Feldman, Attorney, FMF:RMH:MTC:jvs