CBA Record November-December 2021

A Primer on Illinois Environmental Law:

Permitting, Enforcement, and Emergency Response By Alex Garel-Frantzen and Molly Snittjer

I llinois lawyers in all practice areas can benefit from a basic understanding of federal and state environmental laws to help identify environmental obligations and address the concerns of the clients they serve. This environmental primer provides a summary of several critical areas of Illi- nois environmental law, including facility permitting obligations, environmental emergency response obligations, and civil environmental enforcement procedures. Environmental Permitting in Illinois Federal, state, and sometimes local laws require a permit before engaging in certain activities that impact the environment. In Illinois, the Illinois Environmental Protec- tion Agency (IEPA) is primarily responsible for administering air, land, and water permitting programs. Air Permits The IEPA Bureau of Air administers the air construction and operating permitting programs. A business may need an air pol- lution control construction permit before it can construct any equipment or facility capable of emitting air contaminants. If a business wishes to modify existing sources of air emissions, a construction permit may also be required if the modification will increase emission of air contaminants or result in emission of air contaminants not previously emitted at that source. If new equipment or modifications cause

increased air emissions, the federal Pre- vention of Significant Deterioration and State Nonattainment New Source Review requirements may also apply. A business may also need to obtain an air pollution control operating permit if it has equipment that emits air pollution. Smaller sources may not require an oper- ating permit but may instead qualify for registration under Illinois’s Registration of Smaller Sources program. Larger and more significant sources of air emissions may be required to obtain a Clean Air Act Permit Program permit. Air permit application forms and further guidance are available on the Bureau of Air’s website at www2. illinois.gov/epa/topics/forms/air-permits/ Pages/default.aspx. Land Permits The IEPA Bureau of Land administers the land pollution control permitting program. A land pollution control permit may be required if a business treats, stores, or disposes of waste. The type of permit required depends in part on the type of waste managed: that is, nonspecial waste (e.g., office waste); potentially infectious medical waste; industrial process waste; pollution control waste (e.g., waste gener- ated by the treatment or cleanup of other wastes); and hazardous waste. The type of land permit required will also depend on the nature of the waste management activity. For example, a busi-

ness that generates hazardous waste will be required to obtain a generator identi- fication number but will not be required to obtain a waste permit, so long as the business complies with the applicable man- agement, reporting, training, and record- keeping requirements for waste generators under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, as implemented by the IEPA. However, a land permit may be required if the business engages in waste storage, treatment, transportation, or dis- posal activities. Land permit application forms and further guidance are available on the Bureau of Land’s website at www2.illi- nois.gov/epa/topics/forms/land-permits/ Pages/default.aspx. Water Permits The IEPA Bureau of Water administers water permit programs, including the National Pollutant Discharge Elimina- tion System (NPDES) permit program and the state construction and operating permit program. In addition, the IEPA, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) implement the Section 404 permitting/ Section 401 water quality certification (WQC) program. The NPDES permitting program regu- lates the discharge of wastewater from a point source to regulated waterbodies in the state. Wastewater includes most any discharge of water associated with an

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