MAT Asphalt has never had an operating permit
They were issued a construction permit that let them build the plant and run it for a year. In 2019, they applied for an operating permit, but that application was rejected as incomplete.
They applied again. Under state law, the Illinois EPA had two years to make a decision. They never issued a permit. The two year deadline elapsed and they just let MAT keep operating illegally, with no operating permit.
Now they are trying to move forward using MAT's expired application from 2019.
No Permit? No Problem
Under Governor JB Pritzker, the Illinois EPA systematically lets polluters operate without a permit. When Neighbors For Environmental Justice asked why MAT has been able to keep running without one, IEPA spokesperson Chris Pressnall offered this explanation:
"...it is not a permit waiver but rather a permit application shield that prevents the permit from issuing by default (interplay between 39.5(5)(h) and (j)). Certainly, this is a legally complex issue, which has been addressed in various legal contexts for other sources."
"This article provides more of the legal context and discusses the issue: https://www.nijmanfranzetti.com/the-scope-of-caap-application-shields-at-issue"
Amazingly, what the IEPA spokesperson is referring to is Sierra Club v Prairie State Generating Company, LLC, in which "The United States District Court of Southern Illinois ruled in favor of Sierra Club noting that Prairie State, the defendant, “has been operating the facility for a decade without any permit, and that the state and federal governments have simply ignored the Facility’s existence.”
Under Gov. Pritzker, the Illinois EPA is ignoring the judge's 2024 ruling, which said "paragraph 5, subparagraph j is rendered meaningless if an applicant can simply continue operating despite the Agency’s failure to issue or deny its permit within the required time frame of 24 months"
Two years later, the IEPA is still applying that argument to facilities like MAT Asphalt. And Prairie State still does not have a permit.
