Jurisdiction debated in effort to halt hog odor

Thursday, Sept. 26, 2002 | 8:25 a.m.

Residents seeking relief from odoriferous swine at a North Las Vegas hog farm may have to wait until at least January for a ruling from a county air pollution agency.

Ernest Freggiaro, Clark County Air Pollution Control hearing officer, on Wednesday tabled a contested issue of $69,000 in fines for R.C. Farms, which operates one of the state's few hog farms a few miles away from residential subdivisions.

Freggiaro is giving both the county, which fined the operation for odors, and the hog farm's attorneys time to prepare legal briefs on the issue of jurisdiction. The hog farm's attorneys argue that state law bars the county from going after agricultural concerns.

Backing up the hog farm was Don Henderson, acting director of the Nevada Agricultural Department. He said the proposed fines were overly punitive and the county failed to follow state law by consulting his department before issuing the penalties.

"We are afraid that these are going to economically damage the farm to the point that they could not be in business any further," Henderson said. "I have some serious reservation about county ordinances regarding nuisance odors."

Catherine Jorgenson, county attorney, disagreed, arguing that the state effectively transferred the legal right to pursue civil actions such as the hog farm fines when it gave Clark County responsibility for air quality protection last year.

The hog farm, a fixture for five decades, resides on county land surrounded by North Las Vegas. It has vexed city and county planners for years. Efforts to get rid of the farm have been uniformly frustrated -- mostly because, as the farm's owners point out, the hog farm was there first.

James Combs, the son of the owner and farm general manager, said this is just the latest governmental effort to get rid of the farm, which uses waste food from the Strip as the feed for their 6,000 pigs.

Michael Sword, air quality engineering manager, said the county's intention is not to close the farm but to clean up the air.

"The county has no interest in harassing any source or doing anything that harms the economy," he said. "The Air Quality Department has a responsibility to protect the health and safety of the public. We're going to do that to the best of our ability."

Henderson and the hog farm's owners admit that smells, though nothing more dangerous, come from the farm.

The county's use of the nuisance odor ordinance, if successful, could be a body blow to the operation because the farm "would never be in full compliance," Combs said.

"It's a serious situation we're in," he said. "It's our livelihood, it's principles, it's our lifestyle. We grew up in this county and we don't want to move out."

Freggiaro, who serves as an administrative judge in the civil proceeding, said the jurisdiction issue was too difficult to rule on immediately.

"I have severe concerns," he said. "To ask a hearing officer to digest this in an hour is not fair to me, not fair to the public, not fair to Mr. Combs or AQD," the Air Quality Department. Both supporters and opponents -- nearby residents -- spoke on the issue at the public hearing.