April 12, 2000

Contested Case Results is Great News

On April 5, 2000, the DEQ administrative law judge Richard G. Lacasse issued his rulings on the Contested Case for the Pall-Gelman core discharge permit.

Judge Lacasse lowered the monthly allowable average 1,4-dioxane discharge concentration to 5 ppb (from 10 ppb) and he lowered the daily maximum 1,4-dioxane concentration to 15 ppb (from 30 ppb). I.E. he cut the ermitted discharge levels in half!

This is a significant victory for the citizens represented by Scio Residents for Safe Water (SRSW) and for the Local Governments that joined the Contested Case.

Here are the various discharge limits in question...

Mthly Avg Daily Maximum

Current Permit: 10 ppb 30 ppb

DEQ asked for: 10 ppb 60 ppb

Pall-Gelman

asked for: 100 ppb 100 ppb

SRSW et al

asked for: 0-3 ppb 10 ppb

!!!JUDGE'S

RULING: 5 ppb 15 ppb !!!

NEXT STEPS

The parties have until April 28th to object to the judge's recommendations.

After that, DEQ Director Russ Harding makes the final decision. He doesn't have to following the judge's recommendations but it would be hard for him to justify making a contrary decision.

We have to make sure the new limits stick