Section 102.404  Initiation and Scheduling of Prehearing Conferences

a)         To the extent consistent with any deadline for adoption of any regulations mandated by State or federal law, prior to initiating any hearing on a regulatory proposal, the Board may assign a qualified hearing officer who may schedule a prehearing conference between the proponents and any or all of the potentially affected persons [415 ILCS 5/27(d)].

b)         The hearing officer may schedule a prehearing conference on his or her own motion, or on the motion of the proponent or any potentially affected person.  A "proponent" or "potentially affected person" is any person, as defined by the Act and 35 Ill. Adm. Code 101.202, who demonstrates any nexus to the source of the pollutant to be controlled by the proposal or who shows some impact from the pollutant to be controlled by the proposal.  A motion to schedule a prehearing conference must be directed to the hearing officer.

c)         In accordance with Section 27(d) of the Act, the notice requirements of Section 28 of the Act and Section 102.416 will not apply to prehearing conferences.  However, the hearing officer will give notice to the proponents and any person who is included on the notice list of that proposal.