Section 704.193  Corrective Action

a)         Coverage.  An applicant for a Class I or Class III injection well permit must identify the location of all known wells within the injection well's area of review that penetrate the injection zone.  For such wells that are improperly sealed, completed, or abandoned, the applicant must also submit a plan consisting of such steps or modifications as are necessary to prevent movement of fluid into USDWs ("corrective action").  Where the plan is adequate, the Agency must incorporate it into the permit as a condition.  Where the Agency's review of an application indicates that the permittee's plan is inadequate (based on the factors in 35 Ill. Adm. Code 730.107), the Agency must require the applicant to revise the plan, prescribe a plan for corrective action as a condition of the permit under subsection (b), or deny the application.

b)         Requirements

1)         Existing Injection Wells.  Any permit issued for an existing injection well requiring corrective action must include a compliance schedule requiring any corrective action accepted or prescribed under subsection (a) to be completed as soon as possible.

2)         New Injection Wells.  No permit for a new injection well may authorize injection until all required corrective action has been taken.

3)         Injection pressure limitation.  The Agency may require as a permit condition that injection pressure in the injection zone does not exceed hydrostatic pressure at the site of any improperly completed or abandoned well within the area of review.  This pressure limitation must satisfy the corrective action requirement.  Alternatively, such injection pressure limitation can be part of a compliance schedule and last until all other required corrective action has been taken.

4)         Class III Injection Wells Only.  When setting corrective action requirements the Agency must consider the overall effect of the project on the hydraulic gradient in potentially affected USDWs and the corresponding changes in potentiometric surfaces and flow directions rather than the discrete effect of each well.  If a decision is made that corrective action is not necessary based on the determinations above, the monitoring program required in 35 Ill. Adm. Code 730.133(b) must be designed to verify the validity of such determinations.

BOARD NOTE:  Derived from 40 CFR 144.55 (2017).

(Source:  Amended at 42 Ill. Reg. 21095, effective November 19, 2018)