Source: https://www.coloradoattorneygeneral.gov/ag_opinions/1999/no_99_04_ag_alpha_no_lw_ag_aaaan_april_21_1999
Timestamp: 2014-04-18 16:22:21
Document Index: 750359101

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 25', '§ 25', '§ 25', '§ 25', '§ 25', '§ 25']

No. 99-04 AG Alpha No. LW AG AAAAN - April 21, 1999 | Colorado State Attorney General
Home » No. 99-04 AG Alpha No. LW AG AAAAN - April 21, 1999	No. 99-04 AG Alpha No. LW AG AAAAN - April 21, 1999
This opinion describes the legal flexibility available to the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission ("Commission") to promulgate regulations that implement Amendment 14. The Attorney General directed the preparation of this opinion on April 7, 1999. The Attorney General decided to issue this opinion because of significant concerns that continue to be expressed about the legal flexibility available to the Commission to adopt alternative approaches to odor regulation.
AG Alpha No. LW AG AAAAN
QUESTIONS PRESENTED AND CONCLUSIONS ISSUE 1: Under § 25-7-138, the statutory codification of the relevant air quality portion of Amendment 14, does the Commission possess the legal flexibility to adopt rules that differ significantly in substance or approach from the odor standards adopted in Regulation No. 2, Part B?
ANSWER 1: Yes. The Commission may change its off-site odor standards, but any revised rule must implement the statutory mandate to require housed commercial swine feeding operations ("swine feeding operations") to employ technology to minimize off-site odor emissions to the greatest extent practicable.
ISSUE 2: Does the Commission possess the legal flexibility to adopt cover requirements for anaerobic vessels and impoundments at swine feeding operations that differ significantly in substance or approach from the current requirements in Regulation No. 2, Part B?
ANSWER 2: No. Amendment 14 is plain and unambiguous with regard to the cover requirement. A physical barrier of some type must be placed over anaerobic vessels and impoundments.
ANALYSIS Background Information
Amendment 14 was approved by the People of the State of Colorado on November 3, 1998. It creates statutory requirements that regulate the odors released by swine feeding operations, which requirements are codified at § 25-7-138, C.R.S. (The statutory provisions regulating odors enacted by Amendment 14 are referred to interchangeably with the term "Amendment 14" in the opinion below.)1
Amendment 14 requires the Commission to promulgate rules to regulate swine feeding operation odors. The Commission promulgated such rules on February 19, 1999. The rules adopted by the Commission are set forth as Regulation No. 2, Part B, 5 CCR 1001-4. They became effective on March 30, 1999.
The Commission's rules were the subject of intense debate during its rulemaking process. Following promulgation of the rules, significant public concern continues to be expressed about the legal flexibility available to the Commission to amend the regulations it adopted.
This opinion focuses upon two aspects of the Commission's rules. The first concerns odor standards to be met by swine feeding operations, as set forth in § 25-7-138 (3) and in Regulation No. 2, Part B, § III. At the property boundary of the swine feeding operation, a 7:1 odor dilution standard is imposed. Section III.A. (This standard means that when one part of the air at the property line of a swine feeding operation is diluted by seven parts of odor-free air, a trained technician would not be able to detect odor from the swine feeding operation in the mixture.) At an odor "receptor," defined in part as a primary dwelling located outside the property boundaries of the swine feeding operation, a more stringent 2:1 odor dilution standard is imposed. Section III.B.
The second matter is the requirement for a cover over new and existing swine feeding operation vessels and impoundments, as set forth in § 25-7-138(1) and (2) and in Regulation No. 2, Part B, § IV. The Commission's rule requires a physical cover for swine feeding operation vessels and impoundments that treat waste materials using anaerobic processes. The Commission has afforded swine feeding operations some flexibility to use various types of chemical and biological cover technologies in order to meet its rule.
Three provisions of Amendment 14 form the focus of this opinion. The first, § 25-7-138(3), is the basis for the odor standard requirements in Regulation No. 2, Part B, § III. Section 25-7-138(3) mandates, in part, that Commission rules shall require a swine feeding operation to "employ technology to minimize to the greatest extent practicable off-site odor from all aspects of its operations . . . ."
The second provision contains a cover requirement for new swine feeding operations. It is set forth in § 25-7-138(1). This portion of the statute declares, in part, that:
all new or expanded anaerobic process wastewater vessels a