In Re Solid Waste Disposal Permit Application

268 N.W.2d 599, 1978 S.D. LEXIS 189
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 27, 1978
Docket12307
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 268 N.W.2d 599 (In Re Solid Waste Disposal Permit Application) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Solid Waste Disposal Permit Application, 268 N.W.2d 599, 1978 S.D. LEXIS 189 (S.D. 1978).

Opinion

YOUNG, Circuit Judge.

This case is on appeal from the circuit court’s affirmance of the South Dakota Board of Environmental Protection’s decision granting the City of Sioux Falls a permit to operate a solid waste disposal facility at a location some nine miles southwest of Sioux Falls in Delapre Township, Lincoln County, South Dakota. At the hearing held before the South Dakota Board of Environmental Protection (Board), Lincoln County, Delapre Township and a Citizens’ Protest Group appeared in opposition to the proposed permit while the South Dakota Department of Environmental Protection (Department) and the City of Sioux Falls (City) presented the evidence in support of the proposed permit. Lincoln County, Delapre Township and the Citizens’ Protest Group are now appealing the circuit court decision while the Department and City are seeking an affirmance of that action. The following facts gave rise to this controversy concerning this proposed site.

The land in question (hereinafter site) was previously owned by Arthur B. Johnson and Violet V. Johnson. The site was purchased by the Sioux Falls Development Foundation, Inc., as a part of a larger tract at a public auction. A contract for deed for the sale of the land was entered into by the parties on April 3, 1975. The Foundation assigned the land constituting the proposed site to the City on July 1, 1975, and quit claimed the land in question to the City on October 23, 1975.

On or about April 11, 1975, the Department was notified that the City intended to use the site in question for a solid waste disposal facility. From that date through December 3, 1975, information concerning the site was submitted to the Department. Additionally, a formal application to operate a solid waste disposal site dated December 3, 1975, was also submitted to the Department.

On December 15, 1975, the Department issued a tentative decision, a proposed permit and a recommendation to the Board that the permit application be approved. Notice of the Department’s tentative decision was published in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader on December 22, 1975.

On January 21, 1976, the Secretary of the Department filed a petition with the Board requesting that a contested case hearing on the permit application in question be held. On February 3, 1976 the Board granted the Department’s request for a contested case hearing. The hearing was scheduled for March 4, 1976. Public notice of the hearing was published in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader on February 17, 1976, and in the Canton Sioux Valley News on February 18, 1976.

On May 26, 1976, the Board entered its decision granting the permit and its findings of fact and conclusions of law in support thereof. The Board’s decision was appealed to the circuit court for Lincoln County, then in the Second Judicial Circuit, now in the First Judicial Circuit. On June 16, 1977, the circuit court entered an order affirming the Board’s decision and dismissing the appeal.

In addition to this action involving the Board’s approval of the permit for this proposed solid waste disposal site, the City’s attempts to establish this site for solid waste disposal have been the subject of injunctive relief sought by Lincoln County and Delapre Township. The history of the dispute and the most current ruling of this court on those actions for injunctive relief can be found in Lincoln County v. Johnson, S.D., 257 N.W.2d 453 (1977).

In commenting on the Board’s decision to grant the permit for a solid waste disposal facility at this location in Lincoln County v. Johnson, supra, we observe that:

The Board adopted the position that its quasi-judicial authority extends only to the approval, denial, revocation or modification of solid waste and disposal permits, based on the suitability of the site with regard to disposal criteria, such as danger to water quality, the proximity of the site *601 to highways and public parks, and also to operational factors including operational methods, site improvements necessary to proper operation, and proper closure. 257 N.W.2d at 454.

The Department argues that the Board correctly curtailed its jurisdiction. The parties who oppose the granting of the permit contend that the Board should have considered factors in addition to the suitability of the site to meet certain disposal requirements. Thus, the posture of the case is most unusual because the administrative board seeks to limit its jurisdiction sharply while the contesting parties desire to expand the Board’s jurisdiction.

^The appellants urge that the Board must take a “hard look” at all the relevant factors concerning the suitability of the site. These factors include, but are not limited to, transportation, aesthetics, zoning ordinances and methods of collection. In support of the proposition that an agency must take a “hard look” at all the relevant factors which relate to an administrative decision, the appellants have cited numerous federal cases involving a wide spectrum of administrative agencies. See, e.g., Greater Boston Television Corp. v. Federal Communications Commission, 143 D.C.App. 383, 444 F.2d 841 (1970), cert. denied, 403 U.S. 923, 91 S.Ct. 2229, 2233, 29 L.Ed.2d 701 (1971). Although these “hard look” cases provide interesting reading, the real issue is whether the Board had the statutory authority to take a “hard look” at all the factors which the appellants deem relevant to the consideration of a solid waste disposal permit application.

It is axiomatic that an administrative agency can only exercise the jurisdiction which has been delegated to it by the Legislature. See, e.g., Valley State Bank of Canton v. Farmers State Bank of Canton, 87 S.D. 614, 213 N.W.2d 459 (1973); Affiliated Distillers Brands Corp. v. Gillis, 81 S.D. 44, 130 N.W.2d 597 (1964); and Application of Megan, 69 S.D. 1, 5 N.W.2d 729 (1942). Therefore, this court must determine if the Board correctly construed the scope of its quasi-judicial jurisdiction concerning permit applications as that jurisdiction has been conferred by statute.

A comparison between SDCL 34A-6-5, which establishes the Board’s general rule-making power, and SDCL 34A-6-8, which deals with the establishment of permit requirements for solid waste disposal, substantiates the Department’s and Board’s position that the quasi-judicial jurisdiction of the Board granted by SDCL 34A-6-8 is severely limited.

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Related

Hyperion I & II
2013 S.D. 10 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 2013)
In Re the Solid Waste Disposal Permit Application of the County of Clay
295 N.W.2d 328 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1980)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
268 N.W.2d 599, 1978 S.D. LEXIS 189, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-solid-waste-disposal-permit-application-sd-1978.