White Fence Farm, Inc. v. Land & Lakes Co.

424 N.E.2d 1370, 99 Ill. App. 3d 234, 12 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 20051, 54 Ill. Dec. 467, 16 ERC (BNA) 1477, 1981 Ill. App. LEXIS 3149
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedAugust 20, 1981
Docket16673
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 424 N.E.2d 1370 (White Fence Farm, Inc. v. Land & Lakes Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
White Fence Farm, Inc. v. Land & Lakes Co., 424 N.E.2d 1370, 99 Ill. App. 3d 234, 12 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 20051, 54 Ill. Dec. 467, 16 ERC (BNA) 1477, 1981 Ill. App. LEXIS 3149 (Ill. Ct. App. 1981).

Opinion

Mr. JUSTICE MILLS

delivered the opinion of the court:

The Illinois EPA issued a permit for a sanitary landfill.

Did the EPA have jurisdiction? Yes.

Did the complainant exhaust its administrative remedies? No.

The complaint was dismissed and we affirm.

White Fence Farm, Inc. (White Fence), filed a nine-count complaint seeking declaratory judgment, certiorari, and other relief regarding a sanitary landfill permit that the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had granted to Land and Lakes Company (Land and Lakes). The complaint alleges that White Fence operates a large restaurant adjacent to a site which the EPA has approved for a sanitary landfill. Numerous other factual allegations concern the manner in which solid waste will be disposed of at the site, the possibility that operation of the landfill will pollute underground water which White Fence uses in its restaurant business, and the EPA’s failure to consider land-use implications when granting the permit.

The complaint also alludes to certain rules and regulations promulgated by the Pollution Control Board (Board). Chapter 7 of these rules and regulations — dealing with solid waste — outlines the process to be followed by a party seeking a sanitary landfill permit from the EPA. In particular, the complaint refers to Rule 301, which provides that no person shall operate a sanitary landfill unless each requirement contained in Rules 302 and 318 is performed. It is then alleged that Land and Lakes and the EPA failed to comply with Rule 316(a), which provides, in part, as follows:

“An Application for a Development Permit for a sanitary landfill shall contain evidence adequate to prove to the Agency that the development of the sanitary landfill will not cause or tend to cause water or air pollution; will not violate applicable air and water quality standards; and will not violate any rule or regulation adopted by the Board. The Application shall include, unless waived in writing by the Agency as inapplicable to the site in question: ” *

The rule then lists 17 items which are to be contained in an application. Rule 205(a) provides, “All applications for permit required under these Regulations shall contain all data and information specified in those Rules governing the type of facility for which the permit is required.” White Fence’s complaint alleges that several of the items listed in Rule 316(a) were omitted — without written waiver — from Land and Lakes’ application.

Count I of the complaint, which deals mainly with the possibilities of pollution of underground water, seeks a declaratory judgment that the permit is null and void.

Count II alleges that the permit was granted without jurisdiction on the part of the EPA.

Count III claims the EPA acted arbitrarily and carpriciously in granting the permit.

Count IV shifts from an emphasis on underground water to one of land use. It enumerates matters which the EPA allegedly either failed to consider or did not consider adequately and alleges that the EPA acted arbitrarily and capriciously in granting the permit without taking these items into consideration.

Count V alleges that the EPA exceeded its statutory authority by failing to consider the land-use implications and failing to use its permit-granting authority to implement a unified statewide environmental protection plan.

Count VI alleges that the EPA acted arbitrarily and capriciously by not requiring wells to be drilled downstream from the site to check for pollution of underground water.

Count VII claims the EPA acted without jurisdiction by “violating those regulations and rules binding upon it to provide minimum standards of safety and adequate measures to monitor groundwater pollution and which forbid the granting of a permit where the landfill threatens a discharge of contaminants which will cause or tend to cause water pollution in Illinois.”

Count VIII alleges that prior to filing this complaint, White Fence had challenged the granting of the permit in an action before the Board, pursuant to the Board’s rules and regulations. (During the pendency of that action, the supreme court decided Landfill, Inc. v. Pollution Control Board (1978), 74 Ill. 2d 541, 387 N.E.2d 258, which held invalid the Board’s rules and regulations insofar as they allowed a third party to attack the propriety of the Agency’s action in granting a sanitary landfill permit. On April 12,1979, the Board, relying on Landfill, dismissed White Fence’s action for want of jurisdiction.)

Count VIII alleges that White Fence has no remedy but the present action and asks for a writ of certiorari directing the EPA to bring to the trial court the record of the permit-granting proceedings and for the court to set aside the order granting the permit.

Finally, count IX seeks the same relief as count VIII, alleging that the EPA violated its obligations under the Environmental Protection Act and its regulations.

Both Land and Lakes and the EPA moved to dismiss White Fence’s complaint on the ground that White Fence had failed to exhaust its administrative remedies. The trial court, without stating its reasons, allowed the motion to dismiss and struck the cause.

Any party aggrieved over possible pollution at a site for which the EPA has issued a permit has an administrative remedy under section 31(b) of the Environmental Protection Act (Act) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 111½, par. 1031(b)). That provision says, in part:

“Any person may file with the Board a complaint, meeting the requirements of subsection (a) of this section, against any person allegedly violating this Act or any rule or regulation thereunder or any permit or term or condition thereof.”

Because section 12(a) of the Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 111½, par. 1012(a)) prohibits threatening pollution, courts have recognized that a section 31(b) “enforcement action” is available before the Board even when no pollution has yet occurred. (Landfill, Inc. v. Pollution Control Board (1978), 74 Ill. 2d 541, 387 N.E.2d 258; Village of South Elgin v. Waste Management of Illinois, Inc. (1978), 62 Ill. App. 3d 815, 379 N.E.2d 349.) The Board’s Rule 208 provides that a permit is not a defense to a violation of the Act. The EPA thus argues on appeal that White Fence was required, under the doctrine of exhaustion of administrative remedies (see Landfill; Illinois Bell Telephone Co. v. Allphin (1975), 60 Ill. 2d 360, 326 N.E.2d 737), to pursue a section 31(b) “enforcement action” before seeking relief in the courts.

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424 N.E.2d 1370, 99 Ill. App. 3d 234, 12 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 20051, 54 Ill. Dec. 467, 16 ERC (BNA) 1477, 1981 Ill. App. LEXIS 3149, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/white-fence-farm-inc-v-land-lakes-co-illappct-1981.