Country Place Waste Treatment Co. v. Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission

654 A.2d 72, 1995 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 5
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJanuary 5, 1995
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 654 A.2d 72 (Country Place Waste Treatment Co. v. Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Country Place Waste Treatment Co. v. Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, 654 A.2d 72, 1995 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 5 (Pa. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

SILVESTRI, Senior Judge.

Country Place Waste Treatment Company, Inc. (Country) appeals from an order of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) which adopted, in part, and modified, in part, an opinion and order issued by an administrative law judge (ALJ) sustaining a complaint filed by Cecil Rose and Annette Rose (Rose) against Country.

On October 18, 1989, Rose filed a formal complaint with the PUC against Country alleging that offensive odors emanated from Country’s sewage treatment plant.1 Country filed an answer denying the allegations in Rose’s complaint and additionally asserting that the PUC lacked jurisdiction in the matter because Rose’s complaint raised issues regarding air quality rather than the quality of Country’s service.

Hearings were conducted before an ALJ who, on August 14, 1990, issued an initial decision' and order concluding that jurisdiction was properly with the PUC and that Country was operating its waste treatment plant in violation of Section 1501 of the Public Utility Law (Law), 66 Pa.C.S. § 1501, because its plant was being operated in such a way as to emit offensive odors.2

Thereafter, Country filed exceptions to the ALJ’s decision with the PUC, again asserting that the PUC lacked jurisdiction over the matter. The PUC, on April 25,1994 entered its decision and order, concluding that it did, in fact, have jurisdiction over the matter and affirming, as modified by its own decision and order, the ALJ’s decision.

Country petitioned this court to review the PUC’s decision and order, raising the three following issues: 1) whether the PUC erred in concluding that it had authority to regulate odors allegedly emitted by Country’s waste treatment facility; 2) whether there was substantial evidence to support the PUC’s decision; and 3) whether the remedial action ordered by the PUC was beyond the scope of its authority.

Also before us is Country’s motion to strike appendices “A” and “B” of the PUC’s brief asserting that the matters raised therein were not part of the record below and that the PUC’s inclusion of said appendices was in violation of Pa.R.A.P. 1921.3 Initially we address Country’s contention that the PUC lacks jurisdiction in this matter, because, if we so conclude, we need not address the additional issues raised by Country or its motion to strike appendices “A” and “B” of the PUC’s brief.

As noted above, Country argues that the PUC lacked jurisdiction over the matters raised by Rose’s complaint because the matters raised therein concerned air quality, an area regulated exclusively by the Department of Environmental Resources (DER) in the Air Pollution Control Act4, rather than the quality of the service provided to Rose by Country. Country points out that the PUC is limited by Section 1501 of the Law, cited above, to regulating matters regarding a utility’s “service” and/or its “facilities.” Country asserts that the matters complained of herein by Rose, i.e. offensive odors, do not fall within these two areas. We agree.

[74]*74Initially, we note that although the AL J, in his decision, concluded, in his conclusion of law one (1), that the PUC properly had jurisdiction over the matters set forth in Rose’s complaint, he failed to set forth any findings or reasoning for so concluding. The PUC, in its decision, noted the ALJ’s failure to address the jurisdictional issue raised by Country, and then, set forth, verbatim, Country’s exceptions to the ALJ’s decision on this issue which were as follows:

4. This Commission is a creature of statute, and its power to act in any particular case must be clear. City of Philadelphia v. Philadelphia Electric Company, 504 Pa. 312, 473 A.2d 997 (1984). Under the Public Utility Code, a complaint may be entertained only concerning “any law which the commission has jurisdiction to administer, or of any regulation or order of the commission.” Section 701 of the Public Utility Code, 66 Pa.C.S. § 701.
5. The Roses’ allegations of odor from the sewage treatment plant are an air quality matter which is beyond this Commission’s jurisdiction and area of expertise. As acknowledged by the Initial Decision, the Commission has no standards concerning odor or ambient air quality, and the ALJ’s “exhaustive research has failed to uncover any reported commission decision defining with more specificity the standard of service to be rendered by a sewage company and we have been unable to find any regulation of the commission dealing with that topic.” (Initial Decision at 21). Unlike DER and EPA, the Commission has no equipment, personnel, or expertise to determine whether or not an odor, or perceived odor, violates standards for air quality: Furthermore, the Complainants have no special expertise, nor did they adduce evidence by a qualified witness, to establish that the odor they experienced was indeed offensive or a threat to the public health, safety, or welfare.
6. The Roses’ complaint is directly analogous to the complaint in Rovin v. Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, 94 Pa.Commonwealth Ct. 71, 502 A.2d 785 (1986), insofar as the Commission’s jurisdiction is concerned. In Rovin, the Commonwealth Court held as follows;
We believe that the correct issue is whether PSWC furnished adequate, efficient, safe and reasonable water service to its customers. See Barone v. Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, 86 Pa.Commonwealth Ct. 393, 485 A.2d 519 (1984). It is apparent that the petitioner herein is not complaining about the quality of service, but rather is complaining about the quality of the water.
Water quality in Pennsylvania is statutorily regulated by the provisions of the Pennsylvania Safe Drinking Water Act ... and the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act_ Enforcement of those statutes is specifically vested in DER and the Federal Environmental Protection Agency.
94 Pa.Commonwealth Ct. at 75-6, 502 A.2d at 787. (Emphasis added); (citations omitted).
7. By their own testimony, the Roses admitted that they are not complaining about CPWTC’s (Country’s) performance in accepting flows of waste or sewage from their vacation home. (N.T. 40). Rather, they are complaining about odor (i.e. air quality), and just as water quality is regulated by DER or EPA, and not this Commission, so too is air quality. Specifically, air quality is controlled by the provisions of what is commonly known as the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. § 7401, et seq., the Air Pollution Control Act, Act of January 8, 1960, P.L. (1959) 2119, as amended, 35 P.S. §§ 4001-4015, and the attendant regulations at 25 Pa.Code §§ 123.1-123.46, which are administered by EPA and DER. The Pennsylvania appellate courts have specifically recognized with respect to sewage facilities the primary and exclusive jurisdiction of DER: “DER has the authority ...

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654 A.2d 72, 1995 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 5, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/country-place-waste-treatment-co-v-pennsylvania-public-utility-commission-pacommwct-1995.