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Thursday, July 23, 2009
Ind. Decisions - "State CFO hog permit upheld"
The Court of Appeals decision July 20th in the case of Jennings Water v. Office of Environmental Adjudication (ILB summary here - 4th case) was the subject of a story July 21st in the Semour / Jackson County Tribune. Aubrey Woods reported:
The appeals process for a water utility fighting a federal discharge permit for an 8,000-head confined feeding operation near Reddington may have reached an end Monday.The ILB has a long list of entires on this subject, going back to 2005.“Miss Lykins is glad she won and knew all along that the permitting process was done in accordance with the laws of the state of Indiana,” Seymour attorney Joseph A. Miller said of his client, Talara Lykins of Bartholomew County.
Miller was referring to a decision by the Indiana Court of Appeals, released Monday, that upheld a Marion Superior Court decision issued April 4, 2008, in the case of Jennings Water Inc. v. Lykins, the state Office of Environmental Adjudication and the commissioner of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.
The appeals court decision upheld an earlier ruling by the Marion Superior Court to uphold a decision by the state Office of Environmental Adjudication, which supported IDEM’s Sept. 13, 2005, issuance of a permit to Lykins for the hog operation.
Jennings Water originally appealed IDEM’s decision, alleging it would endanger and contaminate the company’s well water field about a mile from Lykins’ proposed operation.
The utility also continued to appeal later decisions upholding IDEM’s original decision to allow Lykins to obtain a permit.
In August 2006, Indiana Chief Environmental Law Judge Mary L. Davidsen denied the utility’s appeal of IDEM’s decision, finding the water company had not demonstrated with substantial evidence that approval of Lykins’ operation was in violation of any applicable rule or statute. * * *
Monday’s decision doesn’t mean Lykins can or will begin building a hog operation in Redding Township any time soon, however.
On June 12, Special Judge Andrea McCord of Lawrence Circuit Court reversed Jackson County Board of Zoning Appeals’ October 2005 decision to grant Lykins a special exception for the hog farm.
McCord wrote in her ruling that the BZA violated the Indiana Open Door Law and that the record showed insufficient evidence for its ruling during an Oct. 11, 2005, meeting in Vallonia.
Lykins had 30 days to appeal McCord’s decision, but she did not, Miller said, leaving her just one route — reapplying for zoning approval.
Miller said Monday he did not know whether Lykins planned to file again for the special exception.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 23, 2009 08:26 AM
Posted to Environment | Ind. App.Ct. Decisions