By AUBREY WOODS, Tribune
awoods@tribtown.com
Indiana Office of Environmental Adjudication will conduct a final hearing in August concerning objections to the state's decision to grant a permit for an 8,000-head confined feeding hog farm in Redding Township.
That hearing, set for 9 a.m. Aug. 2 and Aug. 3 in the Indiana Government Center South in Indianapolis, stems from a failure to mediate the lawsuit, filed by Jennings Water Inc. and four families against Talara Lykins.
Lykins, who lives in Bartholomew County, obtained a special exception to operate the hog farm on 10 acres of land in October 2004 from the Jackson County Board of Zoning Appeals.
On Sept. 13, 2005, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management issued a construction permit to Lykins, allowing her to proceed with the project on County Road 1200E.
In October 2005, Jennings Water Inc., Steven and Celeste Bowman, Charles and Nancy Fox, Robert and Melinda Sexton and Andrew and Shondra Zaborowski filed a lawsuit objecting to the issuance of that permit.
Some of the individuals are members of Families Against (CAFOS) in Reddington, known as FAIR.
Charles Fox said recently he was disappointed that mediation broke down, but he contends there is some chance the state will reverse IDEM's decision.
Peter King, the attorney for Jennings Water Inc., and Lykins could not be reached for comment.
The Office of Environmental Adjudication was created in 1995 to review the decisions of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.
Because meditation failed, Mary Davidsen, chief environmental law judge with the office of environmental adjudication, will conduct the final hearing and then make a decision on the objection.
Two others lawsuits against the BZA also remain in litigation.
Those lawsuits address concerns raised by a FAIR and Jennings Water Inc. Area residents and the utility are concerned about a variety of environmental issues, including a potential threat to area water supplies should the concrete holding pen for thousands of gallons of manure leak or rupture.
They're also concerned about the soil type in the area and other issues.