TRANSMITTAL LETTER FOR BOARD MEETING OF MARCH 20, 2025
COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY
Mr. Brian A. Perkovich, Executive Director
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Authority to approve Amended Agreed Order of Settlement issued by the Board-appointed Hearing Officer in the reinstated Show Cause proceedings of Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago v. Electronic Plating Co., Case No. 22B-003 (Deferred from the March 6, 2025 Board Meeting)
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Dear Sir:
Electronic Plating Co. (“Electronic Plating”) operates a metal finishing facility located at 1821 South 54th Avenue in Cicero, Illinois (“Facility”), where it previously had authority to discharge process wastewater into the local sewer connected to the District’s sewerage and treatment facilities pursuant to a Discharge Authorization (“DA”) from the District until the DA was revoked in April 2023. By way of background, on August 22, 2022, the District initiated Show Cause proceedings against Electronic Plating pursuant to the District’s Sewage and Waste Control Ordinance (“SWCO”), seeking revocation of the DA and civil penalties for Electronic Plating’s failure to comply with multiple Cease and Desist Orders (“C&Ds”) issued for exceedances of SWCO’s pollution concentration limits for various metals associated with the plating industry. On April 12, 2023, a Board-appointed Hearing Officer approved an Agreed Order of Settlement (“Agreed Order”) in the Show Cause proceedings that was subsequently approved by the Board of Commissioners on April 20, 2023. Pursuant to the Agreed Order, the DA was revoked, Electronic Plating paid $100,000.00 in civil penalties to the District, and Electronic Plating was prohibited from applying for a new DA and discharging process wastewater into the local sewer until it completed to the District’s satisfaction necessary upgrades to the Facility’s processing and pretreatment systems.
The District subsequently tested the Facility’s process wastewater on several approved testing days from mid-2023 to early 2024, the results of which continued to show exceedances of SWCO’s pollutant concentration limits for various metals. The District also detected exceedances on 27 days outside of these testing periods, all of which prompted the issuance of new C&Ds for exceeding SWCO’s limits and discharging process wastewater without a DA. In response to the District’s written demand, in October 2024, Electronic Plating capped all of the Facility’s process wastewater lines to prevent further discharges of process wastewater into the local sewer, and they remain capped to date.
On February 5, 2025, the District reinstated the Show Cause proceedings to address these violations of the Agreed Order. The parties subsequently negotiated and agreed to the terms of an Amended Agreed Order of Settlement (“Amended Agreed Order”), which was approved by the assigned hearing officer on February 11, 2025. The basic terms of the Amended Agreed Order are:
1) Electronic Plating will pay an additional $54,000.00 in civil penalties to the District, comprising of a $2,000.00 penalty for each day that Electronic Plating discharged process wastewater without a DA or other District approval and that exceeded SWCO’s pollutant concentration limits.
2) The Facility’s process wastewater lines will remain capped until a new DA is issued for the Facility.
3) Commencing March 15, 2025, Electronic Plating can apply for a short-term 120-day DA, which would authorize discharges solely from the Facility’s zinc process wastewater lines, to allow the District to verify that the Facility’s pretreatment systems are functioning satisfactorily and preventing exceedances of SWCO’s pollution concentration limits.
4) Thereafter, if eligible as provided below, Electronic Plating may make application for successive 1-year DAs, which would authorize discharges from all of the Facility’s process wastewater lines.
5) Eligibility to apply for each DA above requires substantial compliance with SWCO’s pollutant concentration limits and payment of all outstanding amounts owed to the District. If Electronic Plating fails to meet these requirements, it must re-cap all of the Facility’s process wastewater lines, keep them capped for a period of 6 months, then, provided there are no discharges of process wastewater during that time period, start the 120-day and successive 1-year DAs process all over again.
6) In addition to any remedy above, if a new C&D is issued for the Facility, Electronic Plating must pay the District the applicable Non-Compliance Enforcement Charge under SWCO and a civil penalty in the amount of $2,000.00 for each day specified in the C&D indicating an exceedance of SWCO’s pollution concentration limits.
7) Jurisdiction of the hearing officer will be extended to three years from today’s date.
The Monitoring and Research Department (“M&R”) and Law Department worked closely to effectuate settlement on terms and conditions favorable to the District. Electronic Plating has agreed to these additional settlement terms, and M&R finds them acceptable. The proposed Amended Agreed Order has been signed and issued by the Hearing Officer, the terms of which are subject to Board approval.
Accordingly, the General Counsel respectfully requests that the Board of Commissioners approve the Amended Agreed Order of Settlement issued by the Board-appointed Hearing Officer in the reinstated Show Cause proceedings of Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago v. Electronic Plating Co., Case No. 22B-003.
Requested, Susan T. Morakalis, General Counsel, STM:CMM
Disposition of this agenda item will be documented in the official Regular Board Meeting Minutes of the Board of Commissioners for March 20, 2025
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