Title: North Suburban San. S. Dist. v. WATER POL. CON. COM'N
Citation: 162 N.W.2d 249
Docket Number: 40718
State: Minnesota
Issuer: Minnesota Supreme Court
Date: October 22, 1968

162 N.W.2d 249 (1968) NORTH SUBURBAN SANITARY SEWER DISTRICT, City of Coon Rapids, James W. Gibson, et al., Respondents, v. WATER POLLUTION CONTROL COMMISSION of State of Minnesota, Appellant. No. 40718. Supreme Court of Minnesota. October 22, 1968. *250 Douglas M. Head, Atty. Gen., St. Paul, Chester S. Wilson, Stillwater, Richard J. Gunn, Minneapolis, Spec. Asst. Attys. Gen., for appellant. Dorsey, Marquart, Windhorst, West, &amp; Halladay, and John M. Mason, Minneapolis, for respondents. Grannis &amp; Grannis, South St. Paul, Keith M. Stidd, City Atty., Arvid Falk, Asst. City Atty., Luther Stalland, Minneapolis, John G. Pidgeon, Bloomington, amicus curiae. OTIS, Justice. These proceedings were initiated by the Water Pollution Control Commission of the State of Minnesota, hereinafter referred to as the Commission, for the purpose of establishing pollution standards for the Mississippi River and its tributaries between the mouth of the Rum River and the St. Croix River, and to adopt regulations relating thereto. Hearings were conducted by the Commission between May 28, 1962, and September 22, 1962, in which the respondent North Suburban Sanitary Sewer District, hereinafter referred to as *251 the District, actively participated. The Commission released its findings and conclusions on March 28, 1963. Thereupon, the District and other respondents appealed to the District Court of Anoka County, challenging the validity of the standards adopted by the Commission. The matter was tried de novo by the court without a jury between June 22, 1965, and July 2, 1965. The testimony adduced at the Commission hearing was treated as part of the evidence. The court rendered its decision on October 19, 1966, holding invalid all of one standard and a part of another. The Commission appeals from that part of the judgment which sets aside the following standards: With respect to the Mississippi River and tributaries from the Rum River to the upper lock and dam at St. Anthony Falls (Zone 1), With respect to the Mississippi River and tributaries from the upper lock and dam at St. Anthony Falls to the outfall of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Sanitary District sewage treatment plant (Zone 2), The cities of Minneapolis and Bloomington in Hennepin County and the town of Egan and village of Burnsville in Dakota County have filed briefs amici curiae in this court. The Water Pollution Control Commission was created by L.1945, c. 395, § 2, thereafter coded in 1961 as Minn.St. 115.02.[1] Among other powers and duties it was charged with the following (§ 115.03, subd. 1): "Pollution" is defined by § 115.01, subd. 5, as follows:[2] The respondent District was created by Ex.Sess.L.1961, c. 90, for the following purposes (§ 1): Among other enumerated powers of the District are the following (Ex.Sess.L.1961, c. 90, § 6, subd. 8): Pursuant to the duties imposed on it by the legislature, the District has constructed and operated a system of sewage collection and disposal which, by contract, connects with the Minneapolis sewage disposal system and ultimately reaches the Minneapolis-St. Paul Sanitary District's sewage disposal plant at Pig's Eye in St. Paul. In anticipation of the greatly increased demands on its system during the next 20 to 30 years, arising out of the inevitable growth of the population within its area, the North Suburban Sanitary Sewer District has proceeded with plans to build its own sewage treatment and disposal plant. More immediately, it expects that the Minneapolis system will be overtaxed by the year 1970 or 1971. The plan which it seeks to pursue provides for an outfall of effluent below the Soo Line bridge and will be located 1.1 miles downstream from the main intake, No. 5, of the water supply system of the city of Minneapolis. An emergency intake, No. 4, is located 3,450 feet nearer the proposed effluent outfall. A relatively flat pool of water is created by the St. Anthony Falls dam. It extends approximately 4.6 miles below and 2,000 feet above intake No. 5. The basic issue to which the Commission addressed itself and which the district court reviewed is whether the evidence supports a finding that the danger of contaminating the Minneapolis water system by locating its effluent outfall 1.1 miles downstream from the main Minneapolis water intake is sufficiently serious to justify adopting a standard which prohibits the discharge of any treated sewage effluent into the Mississippi River from the mouth of the Rum River to the St. Anthony Falls dam. It is the position of the Commission that the possibility of contamination, because of human failures and unusual natural conditions, warrants the adoption of the standard, as qualified by the variance referred to. The District, on the other hand, argues that the standard is *254 not a regulation but a prohibition[4] and that the possibility of combining human errors or natural conditions in a way which could endanger public health is so remote the standard is unreasonable and invalid. The Commission found the following conditions to exist in the District: The Commission found it was feasible for the District either to construct mains leading into the Pig's Eye plant or to discharge its effluent into the Mississippi above the St. Anthony Falls dam. However, it also found that even highly treated sewage effluent contains some disease-producing organisms which, if mixed with the intake system, would require a higher degree of purification of the water treated for public consumption. It further noted that through negligence or by accident, explosion, or other disaster the effluent could be discharged into the river without sufficient treatment and would thereby increase the disease hazard. The Commission, in addition, alluded to the possibility of effluent backing up to the intake system under unusual climatic conditions. It concluded with the following statement: Thereupon, the standard described as Section 3(b) governing the Mississippi between the mouth of the Rum River and the St. Anthony Falls dam, subject to a variance found in Section 3(i), was adopted as follows: The pertinent part of the standard governing the Mississippi from the St. Anthony Falls dam to the Pig's Eye plant, was as follows (Section 3[a]): This standard was also qualified by a variance similar to that quoted above. On appeal to the district court, an exhaustive hearing was conducted which, together with the evidence taken at the Commission hearing, resulted in a printed record of nearly 2,000 pages. The trial court held: The court concluded that the prohibitions contained in those standards were not reasonable or lawful, that they were arbitrary and unreasonable, exceeded the statutory powers of respondent, and were not rendered valid by the variances referred to. The standards were accordingly set aside and the case was remanded for appropriate proceedings to grant a permit for the discharge of treated sewage effluent and the installation and operation of a disposal system at the Soo Line bridge location. In an accompanying memorandum the court stressed the fact that it was unreasonable to prohibit the discharge of all effluent regardless of its harmless effect or the efficiency of its treatment. The court observed that expert testimony indicated no other pollution control or health agency had imposed a prohibition of this kind elsewhere in the United States. Under the prohibition it would be futile for the District to apply for a permit, and the variance, the court stated, could be denied at the whim of the Commission. It concluded by saying that the statutes, if interpreted to authorize the prohibition, would be an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power. 1. A matter dealt with extensively in the Commission's brief, but not argued orally except by passing reference in rebuttal, is whether the adoption of standards raises a justiciable issue which is reviewable in district court. The Commission argues with some force that, even if they have the effect of law under Minn.St. 15.0413 as a rule or regulation, the standards cannot be attacked on appeal to the district court until they are actually applied in a manner detrimental to the District. The statutory authority for the appeal to the district court, § 115.05, provides in part as follows: Whether or not the standards here under attack are, strictly speaking, orders, rules, regulations, or a final decision of the Commission, we are of the opinion that the contention that the District is not "adversely affected" until it has applied for and been denied a permit as required by § 115.03, subd. 1, is unrealistic. It is significant that under § 115.05, subd. 10, the District was placed in a position where it could not collaterally attack the standards if they were construed to be an "order, rule, regulation, or other decision of the commission." The standards on their face would prohibit the construction of a treatment plant such as that which is planned by the District. That was the very issue which it presented to the Commission in an adversary manner. It might have been better practice for the District to make formal application for a permit and appeal to the district court from an order denying the permit. The same may be said of the variance provisions on which the Commission strongly relies. The District chose to attack the standards head on without seeking a variance, arguing that the standards constituted an outright prohibition rather than a regulation.[5] We have difficulty accepting the contention of the Commission that on this record the appeal to the district court was either unauthorized or premature because, so the Commission asserts, there is no showing that it was disposed to refuse a variance. This argument, we believe, is without substance. We are not persuaded that the Commission would have doggedly supported its findings and standards through months of litigation in the district and supreme courts if, as it now suggests, it was from the inception agreeable to issuing a variance permitting the District to build a plant with its effluent outfall below the Soo Line bridge. Technical niceties aside, it is clear from the action of the Commission in adopting the standards, and from its vigorous defense of them that the District would have been placed in the same posture in which it now finds itself had it pursued the remedies the Commission contends were proper and available. Consequently, we hold that the district court had jurisdiction under the statute, the District was an aggrieved party, and the issues are justiciable. 2. The statute under which the appeal was taken from the Commission to the district court embodies the case law governing the scope of judicial review of administrative orders, limiting the court's determination to whether or not the decision of the Commission was lawful and reasonable and warranted by the evidence. State v. Duluth, M. &amp; I.R. Ry. Co., 246 Minn. 383, 394, 75 N.W.2d 398, 406, appeal dismissed, 352 U.S. 804, 77 S. Ct. 46, 1 L. Ed. 2d 38; Minneapolis Street Ry. Co. v. City of Minneapolis, 251 Minn. 43, 61, 86 N.W.2d 657, 670; Johnson v. Village of Cohasset, 263 Minn. 425, 431, 116 N.W.2d 692, 697; City of Minneapolis v. Minneapolis Transit Co., 270 Minn. 133, 141, 133 N.W.2d 364, 370. We have concluded that on this record the trial court was justified in holding that the standards are unreasonable in so far as they prohibit the discharge of all treated sewage effluent into the Mississippi *257 River between the mouth of the Rum River and the St. Anthony Falls dam, and prohibit the discharge of major quantities of treated sewage into the Mississippi River between St. Anthony Falls dam and the Pig's Eye treatment plant. We base our conclusions on two factors: First, the prohibition is absolute, subject only to the variance provision, without reference to the purity of the effluent; and, secondly and decisively, we concur in the finding that the prohibition is unreasonable to the extent it is based on the possibility of effluent discharged at the Soo Line outfall reaching the main Minneapolis water intake 1.1 miles up the river. Our decision is limited, however, to a holding that on this record and as applied to the District's proposal now under consideration the trial court was justified in finding the standards invalid. We expressly decline to hold that the standards are otherwise void or of no force and effect. To the extent that the decision of the trial court holds that the adoption of the standards is not lawful for any purpose, the conclusions of the court are reversed. It is only the application of the standards to this particular fact situation under the conditions set forth in this record which is improper. It may well be that the standards are lawful and reasonable in prohibiting the discharge of effluent under different circumstances or in different areas of the Mississippi River from the Rum River to Pig's Eye. For example, the record would undoubtedly support a prohibition against discharging effluent above the Minneapolis water intake in Zone 1. Without attempting an exhaustive summary of the voluminous expert testimony presented both to the Commission and the trial court, it is enough to say that there was competent evidence to support a finding that even intensively treated effluent may contain disease-bearing organisms. There was also testimony that properly treated effluent did not pose a threat to public health, and that it was, indeed, safe to drink. Nevertheless, it was the prerogative of the Commission to accept the view that it is not feasible to eliminate all possibility of dangerous contamination. Notwithstanding the fact that sewage effluent is not 100-percent pure, the experts agreed that proper and routine treatment in a municipal water system by the use of chlorine and other processes renders the water completely safe for public consumption. While the Commission concedes this to be the fact, it argues that human failure, natural disasters, and acts of violence may cause a breakdown both in the treatment of effluent in the sewage system and in the treatment of the water taken in from the river for human consumption. It asserts in its brief: The Commission has vigorously argued that public health procedures must be geared to the possibility of infection and not simply to its probability, and that it is their duty to exercise the utmost vigilance to foresee and prevent such a possibility by *258 "playing safe," and taking no unnecessary chances.[6] Four disastrous possibilities to which the Commission points are (1) a simultaneous bombing of the sewage treatment and water-purification plants in time of war; (2) an act of vandalism or sabotage which would disable both plants; (3) negligence or human failure on the part of engineers in the treatment and purification plants; and (4) natural conditions which would permit the effluent to back up 1.1 miles to the main Minneapolis water intake. Both in its brief and in oral argument the Commission concedes that these contingencies are remote. However, it earnestly asserts that there is sufficient danger to justify its position. The argument presented by the District in support of the findings that the standards are unreasonable is persuasive. Acts of vandalism, sabotage, negligence, and destruction in time of war are contingencies so remote and so unlikely to occur that we believe factors which counterbalance them prevail. It should be borne in mind that not only must the effluent find its way upstream, but in order to pose a substantial threat to public health there must be a simultaneous breakdown in sewage treatment and in the purification of the water. These are two wholly separate, unrelated processes, either one of which could fail safe if the other continued to function. As far as the natural conditions necessary for the effluent to reach the water intake, the testimony was conclusive that the following circumstances would have to occur simultaneously, and that the likelihood of their happening was once in 26 years, even if preventive measures were not taken: (1) There would have to be a drought more severe than any now on record, bringing the flow of the river to its lowest point in history; (2) it would have to be at a time when the river was not frozen so as to prevent a backward flow; (3) the wind would have to be from the south or southeast; (4) the velocity of the wind would have to be at least 50 miles an hour for a continuous period of 6 or 6½ hours; (5) the flashboards on the St. Anthony Falls dam would have to remain up and the locks closed; (6) the District would have to discharge highly contaminated raw sewage into the river at its outfall; and (7) the sewage reaching the Minneapolis intake would have to go through the purification system without adequate treatment. It was undisputed that even under these unlikely conditions, no effluent could reach the Minneapolis water intake if a low dam were built between the sewage outfall and the water intake. All experts agreed this would effectively prevent any backing up of effluent under the drought conditions described. Such a dam, it was estimated, could be constructed for $100,000. On the other side of the ledger, and militating against the position of the Commission, is the fact that there is an increasing urgency to dispose of sewage and waste emanating from the North Suburban Sanitary Sewer District.[7] It is true that under the Rosenmeier Act the District can compel renegotiation of its contract with the Minneapolis-St. Paul Sanitary District. The Commission also points out that ultimately storm sewers may be available for sewage purposes. However, two compelling considerations weigh heavily against denying the District access to the river at its proposed outfall. First, the refusal to issue a permit would not divert pollution to any destination other than the Mississippi River itself. The Commission's proposed solution would require a 30-mile conduit to the Pig's Eye plant which is already badly overloaded. *259 Thus, the water below Pig's Eye would be massively polluted rather than dispersing the effluent over a broader area and permitting greater dilution. More significantly there was evidence that the immediate cost would be some $10,000,000 in excess of that for a plant which had its outfall at the Soo Line bridge. We recognize that there is an emergency intake 3,450 feet closer to the proposed out-fall than the main Minneapolis intake. This is a factor we have not overlooked. However, the record does not indicate it is of decisive importance. Our conclusions are based on a review of the entire record which compels us to hold that the reasons assigned by the Commission for the absolute prohibition do not afford a reasonable basis for adopting these standards. We are persuaded that in this particular situation the variances do not rehabilitate the standards because clearly no variance is forthcoming. We therefore hold that as applied to the proposal made by the District to the Commission in 1962, the standards are unreasonable.[8] As the Commission correctly points out, the only function of the court is to rule on the validity of the Commission's decision and the court does not promulgate standards of its own. Except as they apply to the District's proposal in this matter, we hold that the standards are reasonable and valid. Consequently, without a permit effluence may not be discharged into the Mississippi River in the areas to which the standards apply. The result of our decision is that unless there are presently circumstances which are not disclosed in this record, or substantial changes in conditions which have occurred since the time of the initial hearing the District is entitled to a permit for a sewage treatment plant with its outfall below the Soo Line bridge. We do not, however, foreclose the Commission, whose functions are now assumed by the Pollution Control Agency, from conducting whatever supplementary hearing it deems necessary to arrive at a final decision based on current conditions if there have been significant changes since the adoption of the standards in 1962. The matter is therefore remanded to the district court for amended findings and conclusions consistent with the decision we here reach. No costs or disbursements are allowed to any party. Affirmed in part and reversed in part. [1] L.1967, c. 882, coded as Minn.St. c. 116, abolished the Water Pollution Control Commission and created the Pollution Control Agency. It required that the Commission's functions as to pending matters be transferred to the Agency within 6 months of the adoption of the act on May 25, 1967. Consequently, the Pollution Control Agency is now substituted as the appellant in these proceedings. [2] In 1963 the legislature adopted the so-called "Rosenmeier Act" by L.1963, c. 874, coded as Minn.St. 115.41 to 115.53. For purposes of decision in this matter, however, it has no retroactive application. [3] Brooklyn Park is no longer in the District. [4] Claesgens v. Animal Rescue League, Inc., 173 Minn. 61, 216 N.W. 535. [5] The New Jersey Superior Court has held that the power to grant a variance "is neither a crutch to support the sagging frame of an unconstitutional zoning ordinance nor a panacea for the cure of its fatal illness." Glen Rock Realty Co. v. Board of Adjustment, 80 N.J.Super. 79, 88, 192 A.2d 865. 870. [6] State ex rel. Freeman v. Zimmerman, 86 Minn. 353, 357, 90 N.W. 783, 784, 58 L.R.A. 78; Schulte v. Fitch, 162 Minn. 184, 189, 202 N.W. 719, 721; Id. 166 Minn. 498, 207 N.W. 639. [7] See, Borough of Westville v. Whitney Home Builders, Inc., 40 N.J.Super. 62, 83, 122 A.2d 233, 243. [8] Cf. Richardson v. Beattie, 98 N.H. 71, 77, 95 A.2d 122, 126.