Pork Motel, Corp. v. Kansas Department of Health & Environment

673 P.2d 1126, 234 Kan. 374, 20 ERC (BNA) 2011, 1983 Kan. LEXIS 424
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedDecember 2, 1983
Docket55,087, 55,352
StatusPublished
Cited by99 cases

This text of 673 P.2d 1126 (Pork Motel, Corp. v. Kansas Department of Health & Environment) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pork Motel, Corp. v. Kansas Department of Health & Environment, 673 P.2d 1126, 234 Kan. 374, 20 ERC (BNA) 2011, 1983 Kan. LEXIS 424 (kan 1983).

Opinions

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Lockett, J.:

Case No. 55,087 is an appeal from an administrative order issued by the secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. On July 17, 1981, the secretary issued ex parte findings and conclusions regarding alleged violations by Pork Motel, Corp. of certain conditions made a part of a water pollution (sewage discharge) permit previously issued by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE). This ex parte order was appealed to the secretary and a full hearing was held. Thereafter, the secretary issued an order and this was then appealed to the Saline County District Court. Pork Motel, [376]*376Corp. appealed from the district court’s affirmation of the secretary’s previous order.

Case No. 55,352 is an appeal from a Memorandum Decision of the Saline County District Court finding Pork Motel, Corp. to be in contempt of its order in 55,087, and fining Pork Motel, Corp. and ordering it to do certain acts and reduce the head count at appellant’s swine facility. The appeals in 55,087 and 55,352 have been consolidated.

Pork Motel is a swine finishing facility located in the Saline river valley approximately ten miles northwest of Salina, Kansas. When constructed there were approximately 40 families living within a five-mile radius of Pork Motel. Several dwellings are within the one-quarter to one-half mile range of the feed lot. The facility has the capacity of feeding 4,400 swine.

Plans for the construction of the facility were initiated in September, 1974. An engineering firm was engaged, and plans and specifications were submitted to the KDHE. After the facility began operation, odor complaints were received by KDHE from residents located in close proximity to Pork Motel.

On May 6, 1977, Dwight Metzler, Secretary of KDHE, issued an order setting out steps to be taken to abate the odor nuisance. Secretary Metzler modified his order on July 28, 1977, following a public hearing.

The modified order was appealed to the district court in Saline County, Kansas. Judge Richard Wahl approved the modified order and ordered that Pork Motel comply with it. No further appeal was taken at that time.

On March 28, 1978, Pork Motel, pursuant to the secretary’s order of July 28, 1977, submitted for approval a plan of operation for its facility. That plan of operation was approved by KDHE.

The Water Pollution Control Permit for Pork Motel came up for renewal in April of 1979. Following another public hearing, a permit for a nondischarging facility was issued May 26, 1979, to be effective June 1, 1979, for a period of five years. The permit contained conditions concerning pumping of retention lagoons, keeping sufficient space in lagoons for rainfall and on-site testing for dissolved oxygen after rain.

The June 1, 1979, permit also contained special permit limitations and conditions relating to the waste treatment facilities at Pork Motel. The special conditions required the resumption of the feeding operation would be by incremental phases, begin[377]*377ning with 1,100 units, moving to 2,200 units and so forth until full capacity of4,400 units was reached. Each incremental phase was to be proposed by Pork Motel and approved by KDHE. The special conditions and limitations were imposed to assure that significant nuisance odors were controlled. The permit stated if the plan of operation set forth by Pork Motel and compliance with permit limitations and conditions failed to prevent and control significant nuisance odors, the Pork Motel would have to discontinue receiving new animals until alternative measures could be proposed and approved.

Due to economic conditions existing, Pork Motel did not actually undertake to resume feeding operations until September, 1980. In December, 1980, approval was granted by KDHE allowing Pork Motel to proceed with the second phase expanding to 2,200 animals. Certain modifications in the waste treatment facility had been proposed by Pork Motel. Specifically, concrete sedimentation pits were being constructed to trap manure and prevent it from entering the waste treatment lagoon system.

On March 24, 1981, a new Water Pollution Permit was issued to Pork Motel. The new permit took into account the addition of the concrete sedimentation pits in the facility’s waste treatment operational plan. Again, specific limitations and special conditions were set out in the permit. In general, those required Pork Motel to:

1. Pump the concrete sedimentation manure pits following every significant rainfall and .have the contents hauled to cropland by slurry wagon.

2. Provide adequate storage facilities for rainfall occurrences.

3. Provide for dewatering and disposal activities for the waste retention structures.

4. Provide for an incremental resumption of the feeding operation, with the notation that phases one and two were completed under the previous permit and that phase three would be more than 3,300 units, with the fourth phase of 4,400 units. Again, it was set out that each phase must be completed to the full satisfaction of KDHE.

5. Require that on-site testing for dissolved oxygen content in lagoon cell number one be made by the use of a dissolved oxygen probe for three days following rainfall events, or as [378]*378otherwise specified by KDHE. The permittee was also required to keep information, such as rainfall records and temperatures, with all data being recorded and available for submission to the department upon request.

The new permit, issued March 24, 1981, also set out that the permittee would be required to discontinue receiving new animals in the event that the operational plan and compliance with the permit failed, to control significant nuisance odors. Pork Motel was given permission and authority to increase the maximum capacity to 2,750 units (animals).

Finally, after receiving further numerous odor complaints from area residents, Joseph Harkins, secretary of the department, issued an order on July 17, 1981, requiring Pork Motel to:

1. Stop receiving animals at the facility until the units were reduced to 2,200 and to maintain 2,200 units as the maximum allowable level.

2. Obtain and maintain the necessary equipment to monitor dissolved oxygen levels within ten days from the receipt of the order.

3. Record daily the liquid level in each manure pit, the dissolved oxygen profile of each lagoon and report the same to the director of the Division of Environment by no later than the end of the following week in which the recordings were made.

4. Submit a plan for dewatering the manure pit to the director of the Division of Environment within 15 days following the receipt of the order.

The ex parte order was appealed to the secretary and a full hearing was held. After the hearing the secretary issued an order which Pork Motel appealed to the Saline County District Court. The district court affirmed the secretary’s order and Pork Motel appealed.

Administrative agencies are creatures of statute and their power is dependent upon authorizing statutes, therefore any exercise of authority claimed by the agency must come from within the statutes. There is no general or common law power that can be exercised by an administrative agency.

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Bluebook (online)
673 P.2d 1126, 234 Kan. 374, 20 ERC (BNA) 2011, 1983 Kan. LEXIS 424, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pork-motel-corp-v-kansas-department-of-health-environment-kan-1983.