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Thursday, October 13, 2005

Environment - Civil and criminal charges brought against alleged Delaware County violators

Two stories today in the Muncie StarPress, both by Seth Slabaugh:

"Open dump still not cleaned up" is the headline to this story, which reports:

The alleged owner of an open dump still has not resolved a notice of violation issued by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management in February of 2004. * * *

On Wednesday, The Star Press observed dozens of strewn-about tires full of water; several tire piles; a couple of junk vehicles including an overturned tanker truck; a couch and other furniture; numerous piles of shingles and junk; several rusty barrels and plastic containers; a five-foot-tall gas cylinder; a toilet; several rolls of carpet, and other debris at the site.

The property is enclosed by a metal fence topped with barbed wire, but the front gates have been removed.

The 4.6-acre property was offered for sale at the county's annual delinquent property tax sale on Tuesday. No one bid on the property, which the county says is owned by Arthur Hicks Jr., a former Teamsters union business agent. It required a bid of at least $8,570, the amount required to pay back taxes and penalties, to purchase the site. * * *

Barry Sneed, a spokesman for IDEM, said: "This is a difficult case, and we are still working to resolve it as expeditiously as the rules, laws, and negotiations allow us. It is our desire to get the property cleaned up and the case closed."

Sneed said the current condition of the property as described by The Star Press "will be classified as a new complaint which I have already sent to the appropriate person."

Here is the 2/10/04 IDEM NOV issued against Arthur Hicks, Jr.

"Pork producer accused of environmental crimes" is the headline to this story. Some quotes:

MUNCIE - A Delaware County pork producer who reportedly once called IDEM inspectors "dumb" has been charged with three class D felony counts of violating environmental management laws.

The charges were filed this week against Jacobus (John) Tielen, 37, rural Eaton, who is permitted to confine up to 5,885 nursery pigs, finishing pigs, and sows.

He is accused of repeatedly failing to lower the level of manure in a storage lagoon.

"Most individuals who own and operate concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and confined feeding operations (CFOs) in Indiana work effectively to comply with environmental law," said Thomas Easterly, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.

"One bad actor should not be allowed to sully the reputations of these good environmental stewards. It is unfortunate that Mr. Tielen now faces possible punishment through the criminal courts for his repeated refusal to cooperate with IDEM."

Eric Hoffman, a deputy prosecutor in Delaware County, filed the charges based on an IDEM investigation of Tielen, who did not return a phone call from The Star Press inviting him to comment.

All three counts accuse Tielen of knowingly or intentionally failing to maintain the required minimum freeboard of 2 feet in a lagoon holding 12 million gallons of hog manure. Freeboard is the distance between the manure level in the lagoon and the top of the lagoon.

IDEM's Amy Hartsock said Tielen was facing criminal sanctions because he failed to follow through on two signed agreements with IDEM. * * *

In June, IDEM obtained a temporary restraining order prohibiting Tielen, a native of The Netherlands, from further swine breeding at his farm, to address the farm's "brimming manure lagoon." The sow breeding ban was later lifted.

In 1999, Tielen paid IDEM a penalty of $6,806 for failing to report a manure spill from a lagoon to an open ditch that killed a dozen or so fish in Estey Creek.

In 2003, Tielen paid IDEM a penalty of $15,000 for discharging hog manure into waters of the state, not maintaining a minimum of 2 feet of freeboard in manure lagoons, and other violations.

Here are two IDEM AOs entered into by John Tielen dba Muncie Sow Unit, LLC on 4/21/03 and 9/22/99. Here is an NOV signed 8/20/04.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 13, 2005 07:32 AM
Posted to Environment