HomeMy WebLinkAbout20170069.tiff1
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
COUNTY OF WELD, STATE OF COLORADO
1150 O Street, Greeley, Colorado 80634
TRANSCRIPT OF PUBLIC MEETING
IN RE:
A SHOW CAUSE HEARING, PCSC16-0004, CONCERNING A MINOR AMENDMENT
TO A SITE SPECIFIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN, MUSR14-0030, AND USE BY SPECIAL
REVIEW PERMIT, USR-1704, FOR A SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL SITE AND FACILITY
(INCLUDING CLASS I COMPOSTING, AN ANIMAL WASTE RECYCLING OR
PROCESSING FACILITY [AN ANAEROBIC DIGESTER -BASED RENEWABLE
ENERGY PLANT GAS], ALONG WITH A CONCRETE BATCH PLANT TO BE USED
FOR CONSTRUCTION OF THE FACILITY FOR THE ADDITION OF A DIGESTER
PROCESS AND A 70 -FOOT FLARE) IN THE A (AGRICULTURAL) ZONE DISTRICT -
HEARTLAND BIOGAS, LLC
(9:24 A.M. TO 6:13 P.M.)
The above -entitled matter came for public meeting before the Weld County Board of County
Commissioners on Monday, December 19, 2016, at 1150 O Street, Greeley, Colorado, before
Esther Gesick, Clerk to the Board, along with Sharon R. Dobson, Registered Professional Reporter
and Colorado Notary Public with Agren Blando Court Reporting and Video, Inc.
I HEREBY CERTIFY that upon listening to the audio record, the attached transcript is a
complete and accurate account of the above -mentioned public hearing.
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
WELD COUNTY, COLORADO
Esther E. Gesick
Clerk to the Board
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1 APPEARANCES:
2 ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS:
3 COMMISSIONER MIKE FREEMAN, CHAIR
4 COMMISSIONER SEAN P. CONWAY, PRO-TEM
5 COMMISSIONER JULIE A. COZAD
6 COMMISSIONER BARBARA KIRKMEYER
7 COMMISSIONER STEVE MORENO
8 ALSO PRESENT:
9 CLERK TO THE BOARD, ESTHER GESICK
10 COUNTY ATTORNEY, BRUCE BARKER
11 ASSISTANT COUNTY ATTORNEY, FRANK HAUG
12 PLANNING SERVICES DEPARTMENT, CHRIS GATHMAN
13 HEALTH DEPARTMENT, PHIL BREWER
14 HEALTH DEPARTMENT, BEN FRISSELL
15 PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT, EVAN PINKHAM
16 ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT, HAYLEY BALZANO
17 EXPERT WITNESSES:
18 THOMAS HAREN
19 GEORGE IWASZEK
20 SHARI BETH LIBICKI, PH.D.
21 COMPANY REPRESENTATIVES:
22 AL KURZENHAUSER
23 JASON THOMAS
24 WILLIAM F. GARCIA, ESQ., COAN PAYTON & PAYNE, LLC
5586 WEST 19TH ST, STE 2000, GREELEY, COLORADO 80634
25 GARRISON KAUFMAN, ESQ. / JAMES B. BORGEL, ESQ.
HOLLAND & HART LLP, 5555 17TH ST, STE 3200, DENVER, CO 80202
3
1 PROCEDINGS
2 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: We'll go ahead and go
3 back in session. Let the record reflect that all
4 five county commissioners are present. Call up
5 Docket No. 2016-74, Show Cause Hearing PCSC16-0004.
6 MR. BARKER: This is Docket No. 2016-74A. The
7 respondent in this case is Heartland Biogas, LLC,
8 15445 Innovative Drive, San Diego, California,
9 921258.
10 The -- this Show Cause hearing is to show
11 whether good cause exists for revocation of a Minor
12 Amendment to a Site Specific Development Plan, MUSR
13 14-0030, in Use by Special Review Permit, USR-1704,
14 for a Solid Waste Disposal Site and Facility,
15 including Class I Composting and animal waste
16 recycling or processing facility, anaerobic
17 digester -based renewable energy plant [gas], along
18 with a concrete batch plant to be used for
19 construction of a facility for the addition of a
20 digester process and a 70 -foot flare in the A
21 (Agricultural) Zone District. Legal description as
22 being part of the southeast quarter of
23 Section 25-4-65.
24 Issues that are present today include the
25 following. Whether or not the permit holder is in
4
1 compliance with the following: Roman numeral I,
2 Heartland Biogas, LLC, is required to operate with a
3 valid Certificate of Designation pursuant to CRS
4 30-20-101 et seq., Colorado Code of Regulations
5 1007-2(1) et seq., and pursuant to various
6 provisions of the Weld County Code. And evidence
7 was presented, including a letter from the State,
8 that these conditions had not been complied with.
9 Pursuant to review of the Financial Assurance by the
10 County, failure to obtain a valid Certificate of
11 Designation when Heartland Biogas took over the
12 Heartland Renewable Energy, and other factors.
13 And Roman numeral II, Heartland Biogas,
14 LLC, may be in violation of various Development
15 Standards of Use by Special Review Permit, USR-1704,
16 and MUSR14-0030 as follows: Development Standard
17 No. 6, property owner or operator shall comply with
18 applicable sections of the regulation pursuant to --
19 pertaining to the Solid Waste Disposal Sites and
20 Facilities Act, 6 CCR 1007-2, and be constructed,
21 operated and monitored as detailed in application
22 materials and conditions detailed in the Engineering
23 Design and Operations Plan approve -- approval
24 letter dated April 7, 2010, from the Colorado
25 Department of Public Health & Environment in
5
1 conjunction with the application materials and
2 conditions detailed in the digester processing
3 system Engineering Design and Operation Plan
4 addendum approved letter dated December 18, 2014,
5 from the CDPHE.
6 Development Standard No. 10, The property
7 owner or facility operator shall notify the Weld
8 County Department of Public Health & Environment of
9 planning -- Department of Planning Services and the
10 Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment
11 in the event of any deviations from, or proposed
12 changes to, the facility's Engineering Design and
13 Operations Plan.
14 Development Standard No. 16, Fugitive dust
15 and fugitive particulate emissions shall be
16 controlled on the site. Facility shall comply with
17 their approved particulate emissions control plan.
18 Development Standard No. 17, The facility
19 shall operate in compliance with applicable Colorado
20 Air Quality Control regulations and comply with
21 any permits issued by the Air Pollution Control
22 Division.
23 Development Standard No. 18, Exhaust
24 removal system shall be installed, when necessary,
25 for enclosed areas, and dust producing processes and
6
1 equipment. Visible stack emissions from the exhaust
2 removal material processing and any combustion
3 source shall not exceed 20 percent capacity measured
4 in accordance with EPA Reference Method 9. There
5 shall be no visible emissions from any building
6 openings measured in accordance with EPA Reference
7 Method 22.
8 Development Standard 21, In accordance
9 with the Air Quality Control Commission's Regulation
10 No. 2, odor detected off site shall not exceed the
11 level of 7:1 dilution thresholds.
12 Development Standard No. 30, Waste
13 materials not specifically addressed by other
14 development standards shall be handled, stored and
15 disposed of in a manner that controls fugitive dust,
16 blowing debris and other potential nuisance
17 conditions.
18 Development Standard 34, The operations
19 shall comply with all applicable rules and
20 regulations in State -- State and federal agencies and
21 the Weld County Code.
22 Development Standard No. 42, The
23 property owner or operator shall be responsible for
24 complying with the design and operation standards of
25 Chapter 23, the Weld County Code.
7
1 And Development Standard No. 45, The
2 property owner or operator shall be responsible for
3 complying with all of the foregoing notice --
4 foregoing Development Standards. Compliance with
5 any of the foregoing Development Standards --
6 noncompliance with any of the foregoing Development
7 Standards may be reason for revocation of the permit
8 by the Board of County Commissioners.
9 This notice was dated December 2, 2016,
10 and it was published December 7, 2016, in the
11 Greeley Tribune.
12 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Commissioner
13 Kirkmeyer.
14 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Yeah. I just
15 have some questions, if I may, for the County
16 Attorney.
17 So in reading through all this material
18 over the weekend, it's been determined by the State
19 that there is not a valid Certificate of Designation
20 for this facility, correct?
21 MR. BARKER: Correct.
22 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And so it's not
23 like the Board can revoke -- because we issued that
24 Certificate of Designation, so the Board can't
25 revoke a Certificate of Designation that is not
8
1 essentially in existence.
2 MR. BARKER: Correct.
3 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay. Development
4 Standard No. 6 requires compliance with the Solid
5 Waste Disposal Sites and Facilities Act.
6 MR. BARKER: Yes.
7 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And within that
8 Act is a requirement that they have a valid
9 Certificate of Designation.
10 MR. BARKER: Yes.
11 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay. So if we were
12 either to revoke or suspend the USR today, we would
13 have to -- we're going to have to, at some point
14 anyway, reissue -- or issue, actually, a Certificate
15 of Designation.
16 MR. BARKER: Correct.
17 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And during the
18 time of issuance of a Certificate of Designation,
19 there's a requirement that they have a USR,
20 essentially, in good standing.
21 MR. BARKER: Yes.
22 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So if we were to
23 revoke or suspend today, right now, because this is
24 a Show Cause hearing, and it's already been
25 presented -- it was presented, in fact, at our last
9
1 hearing, but we had to go through due process to
2 assure that everyone had appropriate time, but there
3 is nothing that anyone can show at this point to say
4 that they have a valid CD, Certificate of
5 Designation.
6 MR. BARKER: Correct.
7 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So -- and we
8 would be able to address -- again, if we were to
9 revoke or suspend, we would be able to address the
10 Certificate of Designation and the Development
11 Standards of the USR at the time of the issuance of
12 the Certificate of Designation.
13 MR. BARKER: I think that's correct. They
14 have applied for a new CD.
15 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I know. But we
16 haven't heard that. So for them to get a new CD --
17 MR. BARKER: Correct.
18 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: -- we could,
19 then, at that time look at compliance with the USR.
20 MR. BARKER: I believe that's correct.
21 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: If it was just in
22 suspension.
23 MR. BARKER: There are some -- the -- to
24 issue the CD, there is some factors that are
25 required by State statute.
10
1 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Yes.
2 MR. BARKER: And so I can't recall if one
3 of those is compliance with local ordinances.
4 Usually it is.
5 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: It is. Well, in
6 our issuance of a CD, we require compliance with the
7 Use by Special Review permit.
8 MR. BARKER: Um -hum.
9 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So we can address
10 the Development Standards, other than 6 -- but
11 actually even 6, so 6, 10, 16, 17, 18, 21, 30, 34,
12 all the ones that were mentioned, at the time of
13 looking at the issuance of the Certificate of
14 Designation.
15 So I'm curious as to why do I need to have
16 any further public hearing or public testimony, or
17 even any testimony whatsoever, because there is
18 absolutely no way -- in their applying for a
19 Certificate of Designation, they are admitting to
20 that, in fact, they do not have a valid Certificate
21 of Designation, which honestly, okay, great. But at
22 the same time, the State has already said that they
23 do not have a valid CD. So this is an operation
24 that does not have a valid CD. So I was wondering
25 why I can't make a motion right now to suspend the
11
1 USR.
2 MR. BARKER: You're -- you're open to do
3 so. I mean, you have a hearing today set to go over
4 all of those issues, one of which is they don't have
5 a valid CD. So the -- you've noticed them on all of
6 those issues. You can hear all those issues. Do
7 whatever you'd like to do with respect to those.
8 I think for adequate due process purposes
9 on that issue and any others you choose to hear, you
10 do need to allow them the opportunity to speak, to
11 say whatever they would like to say in regard to
12 that issue.
13 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So I guess, then,
14 my question would be to the Board -- or request of
15 the Board is that we limit any discussion today to
16 the issuance of the Certificate of Designation and
17 the validity of the Certificate of Designation,
18 because, in fact, the other development standards,
19 whether we show -- whether they show or not today
20 that they're in compliance with those doesn't matter
21 because we have to have a Certificate of Designation
22 and they don't have one.
23 So, I mean, while -- I mean, we've read --
24 I've read, certainly, through the e -mails and
25 through comments and seen PowerPoints and read
12
1 through it all. And, you know, at the end of the
2 day we can make a determination on all of the other
3 development standards, 10 through --
4 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: 45.
5 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: -- 45 that were
6 mentioned here, but quite frankly we would have to
7 do that again when we make a determination that
8 there isn't a valid CD. And the State sent us a
9 letter stating that there is no valid CD. So they
10 do not have a valid CD from the Board of County
11 Commissioners.
12 MR. BARKER: I guess the thing is that
13 you're -- to take up the issue on the USR, what
14 you're suggesting is to limit it to that one issue.
15 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I'm suggesting we
16 limit it to limit it to Development Standard No. 6,
17 because the Certificate of Designation is also
18 required underneath the Solid Waste Disposal and
19 Facilities Act. I'll find it. Solid Waste Disposal
20 Sites and Facilities Act. A Certificate of
21 Designation is required within there. That's the
22 Development Standard No. 6.
23 Because I think all the other ones we're going to
24 have to address at a different time if that becomes
25 the desire to have a Certificate of Designation,
13
1 which apparently it is, reissued. Or issued,
2 actually. It's not even reissued at this point.
3 It's just issued. Because there is no CD at this
4 time.
5 MR. BARKER: I -- I think what you're
6 proposing is that it would be either to suspend or
7 revoke the USR at this time. If it's revoked, then
8 they need to come back and apply for a new USR at
9 the same time that they would apply for a CD.
10 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So -- and the way
11 I'm reviewing it is whether or not the USR is
12 revoked or suspended, at the time of the issuance of
13 a Certificate of Designation we could take up all of
14 the development standards within a USR, whether it's
15 a new one or a suspended one.
16 MR. BARKER: Okay. But if it's suspended,
17 then they're suspended for whatever you found to be
18 out of compliance.
19 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Sure. That would
20 be No. 6.
21 MR. BARKER: Once they come into
22 compliance, that suspension goes away.
23 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I understand
24 that. But on No. 6 in the development standard, in
25 the Solid Waste Disposal Sites and Facilities Act is
14
1 a requirement that they have a valid Certificate of
2 Designation. So I'm saying that we would be able to
3 find cause. In fact, there is cause already in the
4 record showing that they don't meet that.
5 MR. BARKER: But what you proposed was
6 that the time that they would -- you would take up
7 the CD, then you could look at all of the
8 development standards. And the thing is that at
9 that time the only thing that you would be
10 suspending them for would be No. 6. So when they
11 come into compliance with No. 6, at that time then
12 basically they're in compliance. You haven't found
13 them out of compliance of the other development
14 standards.
15 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: But compliance
16 with No. 6 requires an issuance of a Certificate of
17 Designation.
18 MR. BARKER: Correct.
19 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And issuance of
20 Certificate of Designation requires that we get to
21 have development standards and a USR in good
22 standing.
23 MR. BARKER: But you haven't taken up the
24 issue of them being out of good standing on the
25 remaining development standards.
15
1 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I don't need to.
2 MR. BARKER: Yeah, you do.
3 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I don't think so.
4 MR. BARKER: Right now you have a Show
5 Cause hearing that's before you to find those things
6 that they're out of compliance with. It doesn't --
7 when they -- you take up the CD, what you'd be
8 saying is, oh, well, that all goes away. And that's
9 not true.
10 I mean, it basically is today you've got
11 all of those issues before you. If you just limit
12 it to 6, it's a suspension because of that. When
13 they come into compliance with that, then at that
14 time it comes back and the USR is in full force and
15 effect.
16 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: But the CD
17 requires them to be in compliance with everything
18 within the USR.
19 MR. BARKER: Correct. But --
20 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Yeah. So at that
21 time we could determine whether or not they were
22 compliant.
23 MR. BARKER: Okay. So you'd be continuing
24 the Show Cause hearing to take up those issues. I
25 mean, I understand where you're saying that the
16
1 CD -- they need to show that they're in compliance.
2 But part of that would be to find that they're out
3 of compliance. And either do that now or you
4 continue this hearing to such time as they -- you
5 take up the CD and reconvene the Show Cause hearing
6 to find they're out of compliance on those other
7 issues.
8 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Cozad, you
9 had a question.
10 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I have a follow-up
11 question to Commissioner Kirkmeyer's questions. If
12 we move forward today, we need to look at the
13 development standards that you've already cited, and
14 look at those things, including Development Standard
15 No. 6, because in my understanding of the CD, the
16 operation of the facility, they cannot operate
17 without a valid CD.
18 MR. BARKER: Correct. Correct.
19 COMMISSIONER COZAD: And my understanding
20 of what we're doing today is looking at all of those
21 development standards and making a decision -- a
22 determination today whether or not they are in
23 compliance. And then there's the different things
24 that we can do from suspension all the way to
25 revocation.
17
1 MR. BARKER: Yes.
2 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay.
3 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So if we were to
4 revoke the permit today, though, with their new
5 application for a Certificate of Designation, they'd
6 have to reapply for a USR then?
7 MR. BARKER: Yes.
8 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: But not if you would
9 suspend it, correct?
10 MR. BARKER: Correct.
11 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: According to the
12 County --
13 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: I'm trying to clarify
14 where we're at. Okay. Okay.
15 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Well, then the
16 question is to the Board. Because in reading
17 through all of the information that's already part
18 of the public record, so those are things that we
19 can already consider at this point, it's already
20 determined that they don't have a valid CD. So
21 there's already good enough cause to show to revoke
22 the permit now.
23 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Or suspend.
24 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Or suspend it.
25 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Moreno.
18
1 COMMISSIONER MORENO: County Attorney
2 Barker, just following up with some of these
3 questions, if it goes back to a USR, does this go
4 back to the Planning Commission or just to the
5 Board?
6 MR. BARKER: If they apply for a new USR,
7 it would need to go the Planning Commission for review before
8 it comes to you.
9 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: May I ask county
10 attorney?
11 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Go ahead.
12 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: There isn't a
13 requirement that we have a hearing at this point if
14 we have everything within the public record
15 necessary to make a determination that cause exists
16 to revoke a permit.
17 MR. BARKER: You've noticed the
18 respondents on this issue. My advice is to give
19 them ample due process and the ability to respond to
20 that allegation.
21 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay.
22 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Any other
23 questions?
24 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I agree with that.
25 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. So we'll go to
19
1 staff and Chris.
2 MR. GATHMAN: Good morning. Chris
3 Gathman, Department of Planning Services. Again,
4 this is a slide we saw last time. It's actually a
5 continuation from the November 14th, 2016, hearing.
6 It talked about previously that there was a letter
7 received from the State dated November 8th, 2016,
8 regarding the validity of the Certificate of
9 Designation requiring a new certificate. And this
10 was due to the name change from Heartland Renewable
11 Energy to Heartland Biogas in 2013.
12 Should be notified that the State -- or
13 should be noticed that the State was notified and
14 approved the change, and stated no change to the CD
15 was necessary in 2014.
16 There was a Consent Order on compliance
17 with the -- I guess the air violation on
18 November 10th, 2016. The USR is a County procedure,
19 and the CD is both a County and State procedure.
20 I'm going to go ahead and do a timeline in
21 regards to the USR, the minor amendment. And then
22 from there we're going to go through each
23 department, and they're going to look at each of the
24 development standards that were brought up at the
25 hearing today, and go through those as far as
20
1 whether or not they're in compliance with those
2 development standards.
3 A USR was approved for this site on
4 July 21st, 2010. That was for a Class 1 composting
5 facility, animal waste recycling or processing
6 facility, including an anaerobic digester -based
7 renewable energy plant, along with a concrete batch
8 plant to be used for construction.
9 It should be pointed out that prior to this
10 application being submitted and brought through the
11 County referral process, the application was
12 forwarded to the State Department of Public Health &
13 Environment for review. This included review of the
14 Engineering Design and Operations Plan.
15 The case was not set up or sent out to
16 outside County -- outside referral agencies and
17 County referral agencies, and land use hearings for
18 the USR were not scheduled until a conditional
19 approval letter was provided to Weld County from the
20 Department -- Colorado Department of Public Health &
21 Environment on April 7th, 2010.
22 In regards to the USR, the original USR
23 notice was mailed to surrounding property owners on
24 May 3rd, 2010. And an additional notice was mailed
25 out once hearing dates were scheduled on June 21st,
21
1 2010. Additionally, a sign noticing the hearing was
2 posted at the site.
3 On February 25th, 2013, the USR-1704 that
4 was approved in July of 2010 was still in process of
5 being finalized. The applicant came back in and
6 proposed changes to the design of the site that
7 included changing from six lined ponds, one
8 stormwater pond, and five additional process ponds
9 to three lined ponds, which included two stormwater
10 ponds, one settling basin and one covered digester
11 lagoon. And also proposed to change the digester
12 designed from 24 rectangular in -ground covered
13 digester pits to five aboveground digester tanks,
14 approximately 50 feet in height.
15 The USR was still in process, however, we
16 did also send notice to property owners within 500
17 feet of these proposed changes. These changes were
18 okayed by the Board on February 25th, 2013.
19 It should be noted that there was some
20 changes to the design of the tanks. Originally they
21 were talking about five aboveground digester tanks
22 approximately 50 feet in height. The tanks that
23 they proposed to put into the site were a little bit
24 wider, but they were shorter so the -- the tanks --
25 they ended up putting in six tanks, and those tanks
22
1 were approximately 35 feet in height versus 50 feet
2 in height. Staff reviewed that and felt that
3 because the tanks were a lower profile that that was
4 an acceptable change to the site and did not require
5 re -review. There was just an operational change.
6 On November 7th, 2013 -- it talks about
7 on October 30th, 2013, the consultant for the
8 facility submitted a change request form outlining
9 the property and provisional changes, which
10 included changes to the owner/operator, project
11 development -- project developer and legal
12 description. And the State approved the name
13 changes on November 7th, 2013.
14 On February 5th, 2014, the USR-1704 plat
15 was recorded.
16 On February 25th, 2015, the applicants
17 applied for a minor amendment to USR-1704. The
18 minor amendment was for the addition of a digester
19 process system and a 70 -foot flare. This notice of
20 the minor amendment was mailed to property owners
21 within 500 feet.
22 It should be noted that Development
23 Standard 6 was modified to refer to the EDOP, or
24 Engineering Design and Operations Plan, approval
25 letter dated December 18th, 2014.
23
1 Also, Development Standard No. 30 was
2 modified to make a more general -- refers to all
3 state and federal agencies versus a compliance with
4 the Colorado Department of Public Health and
5 Environment and local laws.
6 Development standards approved under
7 MUSR14-0030 are the development standards of record
8 currently for the Heartland site.
9 It should also be noted we did -- staff
10 did have a pre -application meeting with Heartland on
11 August 7th, 2014, before they applied for this use.
12 And we did receive a letter from the State of
13 Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
14 dated October 14th, 2014, indicating that the
15 proposed DPS was an operational change issue only,
16 and that no changes to the CD would be required from
17 the State.
18 So based on the fact that at the time
19 CDPHE was not requiring a new or amended CD, also
20 per the application the proposed DPS and flare were
21 within the boundaries of the USR, they were not
22 changing the boundaries of the USR, and additionally
23 per the application traffic to the facility would
24 actually be decreasing as a result of these changes,
25 staff determined that the -- this could be processed
24
1 as a minor USR amendment. Fundamentally it was
2 still approved as a Class I composting facility,
3 which is consistent with their original approval
4 under USR-1704.
5 Let me get into the compliance process
6 here. We sent out an initial letter for the
7 July 11th, 2016, Probable Cause hearing on
8 June 30th. A hearing was held on July 11th for
9 Probable Cause. It was determined that there was
10 show cause, so a Show Cause hearing was scheduled
11 for September the 19th, 2016.
12 We have since had some additional building
13 permits that have been submitted. On November 3rd,
14 2016, a building permit under OLG16-00338 was
15 submitted for a 5,040 -square -foot clearspan fabric
16 building for receiving feedstock material and
17 temporary storage to control odor. This building
18 permit -- it says issued, but I have verified that
19 this actually -- this building permit has been
20 finaled.
21 On November 14th, a Show Cause hearing was
22 continued until today, December the 19th, 2016.
23 On December the 9th, 2016, the Department
24 of Planning Services conducted a site inspection of
25 the facility to determine compliance with the
25
1 MUSR14-0030 Development Standards. Additionally,
2 we did post signs at two locations for this
3 December 19th hearing.
4 December 9th, 2016, also a letter
5 requesting to modify the Certificate of Designation
6 was submitted to Weld County.
7 On December 13th, 2016, a building permit
8 was submitted under Case No. OLG16-00391 for a
9 13,240 -square -foot structural steel clearspan fabric
10 commercial building to cover the receiving area and
11 temporary storage to control odor.
12 Finally, on December 15th, 2016, a
13 building permit for a 32 -by -72 -inch freestanding
14 sign for the facility was submitted, and this permit
15 is currently under review. Additionally the permit
16 submitted on December the 13th is under review as
17 well.
18 Additionally, as of December 15, 2016,
19 there have been 617 odor complaints and 57 odor
20 violations.
21 And, again, I can just go through this
22 real quick. These are the conditions. I guess
23 Bruce has already read through those, so I won't
24 belabor this one.
25 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Mr. Chair --
26
1 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes, Commissioner
2 Cozad.
3 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I just want to make sure,
4 if you go back to the previous slide I think you may
5 have stated something incorrectly. You said that
6 there have been 617 odor complaints and 57 odor
7 violations.
8 MR. GATHMAN: Evaluations.
9 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I think you meant
10 evaluations.
11 MR. GATHMAN: Yes. I apologize.
12 I just wanted to point out -- so this is
13 the Minor Amendment plat. It's a little hard to see
14 here, but the original operations area is roughly
15 this location here. The digester processing system
16 is located here. So this was added to the site
17 under the Minor Amendment.
18 And, additionally, kind of hard to see,
19 but there is also -- the 70 -foot flare is to the
20 west of their tanks. That was added to the site.
21 Got a few pictures during our site
22 inspection. So these are the substrate tanks and
23 then the digester tanks. This is looking -- I guess
24 this is on the east side of the tanks. Again, this
25 is looking to the north. You see the substrate
27
1 tanks there.
2 This is the digester processing system
3 enclosure. So originally roughly half of the
4 enclosure was in place. And they came back in and
5 reapplied for a building permit to add roughly an
6 additional 50 percent to cover the receiving area.
7 These are water tanks associated with the digester
8 processing system.
9 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Conway.
10 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Chris, can you go
11 back to that? So which side of the enclosure and
12 when was that completed?
13 MR. GATHMAN: The permit was just
14 finaled -- would have been last week. I think end
15 of last week, because I checked earlier in the week
16 and it was still in process. You can kind of see
17 the division line where they added the addition.
18 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Right. So the
19 section to the right is the new addition?
20 MR. GATHMAN: I believe so, yeah.
21 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: That was certified
22 just last week?
23 MR. GATHMAN: Correct.
24 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Thank you.
25 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Moreno.
28
1 COMMISSIONER MORENO: Go back to that
2 slide again. This is where the material's coming in
3 and out of there, and they -- they're --
4 MR. GATHMAN: Yeah. And, actually, I've
5 got some additional slides on the other side that
6 also maybe show that a little bit clearer. But,
7 yeah, actually, materials for the digester
8 processing system where they take in the -- like the
9 packaged materials and it separates it out, that is
10 in this particular building.
11 There also is an offload area for other
12 materials that are not prepackaged where it goes
13 into a grated system that would actually be on the
14 east side of the structure that you can't see from
15 this slide. But we have some pictures of that as
16 well. That area where they're taking in material
17 and offloading it into this grating system, into the
18 substrate tanks, that is currently being applied for
19 for another permit that just came in for a
20 13,000 fabric -- square foot fabric enclosure as
21 well. So that's still in process.
22 COMMISSIONER MORENO: Just to clarify, for
23 the enclosure we're not just talking the top, we're
24 talking the sides and everything, it's fully --
25 MR. GATHMAN: It's enclosed on all sides.
29
1 There is one -- the entrance has, like, a plastic
2 flap. So there's one opening on the south side of
3 this enclosure. And I didn't -- I think my photos
4 kind of were a little fuzzy on that. It was kind of
5 a cold day.
6 COMMISSIONER MORENO: I'll wait till you
7 show the other pictures.
8 MR. GATHMAN: Yeah. So they can access
9 into the structure, but it's closed on all the other
10 sides.
11 COMMISSIONER MORENO: Okay. Thank you.
12 MR. GATHMAN: Yeah. When we were out
13 there on December the 7th, there were still some
14 prepackaged materials to the south of the DPS or
15 digester processing system enclosure; however, a lot
16 of those had been relocated into the structure when
17 when we were out there.
18 And this is the offload area that is to
19 the -- to the east of the DPS. And this is, again,
20 what they are proposing to enclose in another
21 structure as well that they have applied for.
22 This kind of shows the system where the
23 material gets pushed into this grate into the
24 substrate tanks.
25 This is the south -- she called it
30
1 wastewater drainage pond.
2 This is the 70 -foot flare that was part of
3 the minor amendment application as well. And this
4 is to the west of the -- basically the tanks. You
5 can kind of see the tanks from this location. So
6 basically between the tanks and the waste ponds.
7 This is a sign that was at the site when
8 we were out there on December the 7th. The
9 applicants have actually submitted a building permit
10 for a smaller sign, a just under 16 -square -foot sign
11 to replace this sign. And I will, I guess, defer to
12 Public Works.
13 MR. PINKHAM: Evan Pinkham, Department of
14 Public Works. An Improvements Agreement was
15 accepted on August 19th, 2013, which accepted along
16 with a $735,630.00 corporate guarantee. The funds for
17 that corporate guarantee were held for the upgrade
18 of the intersection at 40 and 49, for the
19 installation of the auxiliary lanes, the right
20 acceleration and the right deceleration.
21 On September 14th, 2016, a payment of the
22 same amount, $735,630.00, was accepted to pay for the
23 upgrades to that location.
24 As seen in the picture, the existing
25 access to the north is going to be taken away, and
31
1 the access adjacent to County Road 40 will be the
2 permanent access for the facility. I'd be happy to
3 answer any questions you have.
4 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Cozad.
5 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I have a question for
6 Chris. I wanted just to clarify something you said.
7 I think it's in your PowerPoint. Let me see if I
8 can go back to which page it's on. It has to do
9 with -- I think it was on December 9th.
10 December 9th, 2016, it says, "A letter requesting to
11 modify Certificate of Designation was submitted." So
12 they didn't apply for a new CD, they just submitted
13 a letter; is that correct?
14 MR. GATHMAN: I think the letter was their
15 request for a new Certificate of Designation.
16 COMMISSIONER COZAD: But it wasn't a
17 formal -- would you consider that a formal
18 application?
19 MR. GATHMAN: I'm not an expert on
20 Certificate of Designations, so.
21 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I just need that
22 question answered by someone at some point.
23 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Would the County
24 Attorney like to answer it?
25 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Frank.
32
1 MR. HAUG: Frank Haug, Assistant County
2 Attorney. The letter was received from Holland and
3 Hart. It was an application to modify the existing
4 Certificate of Designation. They did include, I
5 believe, all of the appropriate attachments and
6 exhibits that would be needed. However, the process
7 at this point is that we have to basically decide
8 how to approach that in terms of with the USR and
9 does it require a modification to the USR. We then
10 have to submit it to the State for a 30 -day
11 Completeness Review. So the determination as to
12 whether that is a complete application or an
13 appropriate application, the State has 30 days to
14 decide from us submitting it to them.
15 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Has that been
16 submitted?
17 MR. HAUG: I don't believe we have
18 submitted that yet. We just received it last week.
19 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Was there a new fee
20 that was part of that requirement?
21 MR. HAUG: I don't believe they submitted
22 a new fee.
23 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Is that going to be
24 required?
25 MR. HAUG: It would be required for a new
33
1 CD. It would be required.
2 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay. Thank you.
3 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Conway.
4 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Just back to the
5 intersection, those improvements were generated
6 because of the warrants; is that correct?
7 MR. PINKHAM: Yes. That's correct.
8 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Thank you.
9 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay.
10 MS. BALZANO: Hayley Balzano, Planning
11 Department engineer. Based on the site visit on
12 December 13th, 2016, it appears that the approved
13 Drainage Report that the Planning Department has on
14 file does not match the actual condition in the
15 field. It looks like there were revisions or
16 modifications made that were not submitted to Weld
17 County Planning Department. And this is required in
18 Development Standard No. 10. I'll be happy to
19 expand on that if you'd like any more information.
20 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Cozad.
21 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I think I'll wait,
22 actually, to ask my question.
23 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Okay.
24 Commissioner Kirkmeyer.
25 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So do you have a
34
1 list or do you have something that you've already
2 presented that needs to be put into the record?
3 MS. BALZANO: There is -- Chris, if you'll
4 go back a slide. These were -- that works. So this
5 is the site map that's in the approved Drainage
6 Report. The plumbing and swales are there, as
7 indicated. But if you go to the next slide, these
8 two tables were included that indicate the gauge
9 height.
10 The pounds -- ponds are designed to hold
11 the process water, and then have a volume on top of
12 that that would hold the design storm. The gauge
13 reading indicates that the process water would go to
14 13.3 feet or 13 feet for the south and north ponds,
15 and then the volume up to 14 feet would have your
16 volume for your stormwater. Then you'd have a
17 2 -foot freeboard from 14 to 16 feet.
18 We do have a document that indicates they
19 were given a variance for a 1 -foot freeboard.
20 However, when I visited the site they said that
21 9 foot was their maximum and 11 foot was their top
22 of berm. So there's a 5 foot discrepancy that
23 indicates that either the volume of the ponds were
24 changed or the shape. And the Planning Department
25 did not receive that information or doesn't have
35
1 documentation of it to show that we reviewed it and
2 accepted it.
3 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay. I do,
4 actually, have a follow-up question. I was going to
5 wait, but -- so for the applicant to get into
6 compliance on Development Standard No. 10, would
7 they need to do a new Drainage Report?
8 MS. BALZANO: Or give us a copy of the
9 Drainage Report that does have the matching gauge
10 readings that they're indicating.
11 COMMISSIONER COZAD: That's physically out
12 in the field?
13 MS. BALZANO: That's correct.
14 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay. Thank you.
15 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Conway.
16 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Let me get this
17 straight. In terms of this documentation, they were
18 supposed to dig a pit that is -- that can deal with
19 up to 14 feet; is that correct?
20 MS. BALZANO: In terms of this
21 documentation, the top of the berm would be 16 feet,
22 but 14 would be the top water volume, including both
23 stormwater and process water.
24 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Upon your inspection
25 you found the pit to only be up to 9 -- 11 up to the
36
1 berm and 9 feet retention?
2 MS. BALZANO: That's what they indicated.
3 It was covered in snow, and it was too slippery to
4 go down the plastic slope and clean off the gauge.
5 But that's what they thought.
6 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Just from a
7 processing standpoint, do we go out and inspect
8 those when those are dug or do we rely on the
9 applicant to provide the information upon -- once
10 it's constructed?
11 MS. BALZANO: We rely on the applicant to
12 build what they have submitted as the approved
13 Drainage Report.
14 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Okay.
15 MS. BALZANO: We don't normally visit the
16 site.
17 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: So there's no
18 inspection previous to this to know what the pit was
19 or whether it was --
20 MS. BALZANO: No.
21 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Okay. Thank you.
22 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: We're good? Okay.
23 MR. FRISSELL: Ben Frissell, Environmental
24 Health. I'm going to go over basically all of
25 Environmental Health's issues today. We're going to
37
1 kind of take a step back and go through some of the
2 definitions as it pertains to the CD, the EDOP, and
3 try to clarify some issues today.
4 As far as the air quality, what we're
5 going to try to do is outline the odor evaluation
6 and associated compliance order. We're going to try
7 to overview of -- the compliance issues associated
8 with the USR as it pertains to the air quality. And
9 then we'll be going over solid waste issues. We're
10 going to try to define the CD, try to kind of
11 clarify some of those letters and why they're in the
12 USRs and how those development standards kind of
13 have come to evolve. And then overview the approved
14 Engineered Design Operation Plans and the addendums,
15 and then some of the compliance issues associated
16 with the USR.
17 So into the air quality. So here are the
18 two items that the facility has. The facility needs
19 to I.D. sources that may require either an APEN or a
20 permit. And really the -- what's important here is
21 that an APEN is in excess of 1 ton per year, but
22 below the nonattainment area pollutant limits, while
23 a permit is going to be above the nonattainment area
24 pollution limits. And really that's all it's saying
25 is where it falls into play here. They are still
38
1 required to meet these items. But it is up to the
2 facility to I.D. the sources that might require
3 either one of these.
4 Here are the items at the Heartland
5 facility that either have a permit or an APEN
6 associated with them. And these would be the items
7 that would be part of an inspection.
8 Mr. Phil Brewer with the Weld County
9 Department of Public Health and Environment did
10 perform an inspection on December 1st and 6th of
11 this year. Part of his inspection is to review the
12 Operation and Maintenance Plan for compliance for
13 this facility, to review the air permit compliance,
14 and then also look at compliance with the USR.
15 Development standards. It should be noted,
16 though, that the APEN and the permits and the
17 operations and maintenance plans, those would be
18 separate and presented in a separate report reviewed
19 by the Air Pollution Control Division. And the USRs
20 may not be reviewed. And so those -- that's a
21 specific item where those two reports are -- are
22 different and they're not in -- the same. And
23 that's kind of indicated down below that all those
24 reports must be approved by the Air Pollution
25 Control Division prior to the final submittal to the
39
1 facility.
2 So during this inspection, there was a
3 regulatory compliance issue that Mr. Brewer noted.
4 It was an APEN needed to be submitted for the
5 digester processing system. And at -- I believe
6 there was some correspondence currently that this
7 may have been submitted in the last day or so or
8 that they might not need to; however, at the time of
9 the inspection and when this PowerPoint was made
10 they had not done that.
11 Additionally, there was some development
12 standards that Mr. Brewer looked at. And these are
13 Development Standards 17, 18, and 21. I believe
14 these are part of the original Show Cause hearing on
15 November 14th. So Development Standard 17, because
16 of the requirement for the APCD to approve a report,
17 we do not have any information at this time because
18 that report has not been approved by the Air
19 Pollution Control Division. So Mr. Brewer was not
20 allowed to release his findings at this time.
21 Development Standard 18, at the time of
22 the inspection, the facility was found to be in
23 compliance with this. This basically is the stack
24 emissions one and the opacity. There was photo -- a
25 photo presented to staff on July 24, 2016. But that
40
1 photo was taken by a community member or public on
2 July 22nd, 2016. The Air Pollution Control Division
3 has indicated that violations cannot be determined
4 through photographic evidence. A proper EPA
5 Method 9 and/or Method 22 would need to be done.
6 And that was not done on this one, so there would be
7 no violation. Yes.
8 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: What is a Method 9
9 or 21 -- 22? I'm sorry.
10 MR. FRISSELL: That would be the opacity
11 methods. And I'm not an expert in that; however, my
12 general understanding is that you need to be -- you
13 need to have the sun in a certain location, you need
14 to be in a certain direction to see the stack, and
15 there's very specific requirements. If you have
16 additional questions, Mr. Brewer would be happy to
17 answer some of those technical ones.
18 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Thank you.
19 MR. FRISSELL: Moving on, Development
20 Standard 21, this is the development standard in
21 relation to Regulation No. 2, the odor detected off
22 site. There's been one documented violation to
23 date. That occurred on April 27th, 2016, as you're
24 aware. No other violations have been documented. A
25 Compliance Order on Consent was issued to Heartland
41
1 and -- effective as of November 17th, 2016.
2 Basically what this Compliance Order
3 outlined was the -- that required Heartland to begin
4 construction of additional odor control structures,
5 which may include enclosures and treatment systems.
6 And, again, this is just general. Mr. Brewer can
7 speak to specifics, if needed. But that was entered
8 in on November 17th.
9 There have been no other odor evaluations
10 other than the April 27th that have exceeded the 7:1
11 dilution threshold. To prove a 7:1 -- that's
12 greater than 7:1, an odor reading needs to be
13 greater than 8:1 but less than 16:1 and two readings
14 separated by more than 15 minutes, but less than
15 60 minutes is required for a violation.
16 So the sources which are -- we presented
17 before, that you have a permit or an APEN, they are
18 allowed to emit odors that are less than the 7:1
19 dilution threshold concentration. Off -site odor
20 free operations are not required by Regulation 2 of
21 the Air Quality Control Commission and as
22 Development Standard 1 of the MUSR14-0030.
23 To date -- or as of December 15th, I
24 should say, there's been 617 complaints and there's
25 been 57 odor evaluations.
42
1 Here is a map where the red shows the
2 location of complaints and the blue shows locations
3 of the odor readings.
4 So moving into the solid waste, again,
5 we're going to try to kind of go over the CD, the
6 EDOP issues, and some of the compliance issues
7 noted. Yes.
8 COMMISSIONER COZAD: May I ask a quick
9 question?
10 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes. Go ahead.
11 COMMISSIONER COZAD: On the air quality,
12 on Development Standard No. 17 you said that there's
13 a permit that's -- there's something that's pending
14 with CDPHE on the DPS.
15 MR. FRISSELL: Correct. Mr. Brewer's
16 inspection on December 1st and 6th, he has written
17 that inspection and has presented his findings to
18 the Air Pollution Control Division; however, they
19 need to review those findings and approve that
20 letter before it can actually go out. And that
21 approval is still pending from them.
22 COMMISSIONER COZAD: So is Development
23 No. 17 -- are they in compliance or not in
24 compliance?
25 MR. FRISSELL: I wouldn't be able to
43
1 answer that question at this time because I
2 haven't -- I'm not privy to the inspection letter.
3 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay. And he can't
4 release that information?
5 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Just as a
6 follow-up, they don't currently have a permit, then?
7 COMMISSIONER COZAD: For the DPS.
8 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: For the DPS.
9 MR. FRISSELL: The DPS, as part of the
10 EDOP they were required to submit an APEN
11 application or determine if it's a source. I
12 believe at the time of the inspection, when this
13 PowerPoint, they had not done that. However, there
14 was some e -mails flying around that they are -- they
15 might have been trying to say this was not a source.
16 But, again, that would not be something that the
17 County would determine. That would be something
18 that the Air Pollution Control Division would
19 determine.
20 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay.
21 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I just want to
22 make sure we're clear. So you're saying that the
23 County would determine -- the County would not
24 determine whether or not a permit is required and
25 the State hasn't made a determination?
44
1 MR. FRISSELL: That is my understanding.
2 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: But they -- but
3 there is a permit pending?
4 MR. FRISSELL: That is from what -- the
5 e -mails I've been trying to read, that they've
6 possibly submitted evidence that they either need an
7 APEN or that they do not need one. But, again, that
8 would be made by the Air Pollution Control Division.
9 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And when do we
10 expect the State to make that determination?
11 MR. FRISSELL: I would hope soon.
12 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Do they have a
13 certain timeline that they have to meet within?
14 MR. FRISSELL: I'm unsure on that.
15 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And they can't
16 give us any information?
17 MR. BREWER: Phil Brewer, Weld County
18 Department of Health and Environment. I understand
19 that an APEN application was submitted last night.
20 I got an e-mail verification of that at 9:47.
21 And --
22 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Please.
23 MR. BREWER: -- the Air Pollution Control
24 Division would have at 8 o'clock this morning
25 received that and logged it into their system. So
45
1 there is no action on the Air Pollution Control
2 Division's -- there's no action on their part to
3 approve it or disapprove it or determine if it's
4 needed or not needed at this time. It's only been
5 in their office for two hours.
6 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Thank you.
7 MR. BREWER: You're welcome.
8 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Go ahead, Ben.
9 MR. FRISSELL: Going back, solid waste
10 issues, like I said, we're going to try to kind of
11 define the CD and clarify some issues that have been
12 brought up with regard to the EDOP and then some of
13 the compliance issues as well.
14 I'm not going to read this definition of
15 the CD, but basically it gives the local governing
16 body the ability to approve an item or not. There's
17 a recommendation as made by the State based on that
18 CD application. And then that is presented to the
19 local governing body for their final approval.
20 Included in this application is the -- the
21 EDOP. And that is basically what the State reviews
22 to determine the compli -- that the facility can
23 comply with the solid waste regulations and Act.
24 Additionally, there is Section 1.3.5 of
25 the regulations. Basically what this is -- is
46
1 saying is that the facility needs to comply with
2 their design and procedures outlined in the CD or
3 amendments to that application. So this is -- the
4 EDOP is part of that CD application. And amendments
5 to that EDOP would then require CDPHE review for
6 approval. But this allows for basically a
7 continuance on of adding documents to the EDOP as
8 needed.
9 For any waste facility that is required to
10 have an EDOP, it's basically a living document that
11 will continue to be updated and amended with
12 approval throughout the life of the facility to
13 basically update operations and new procedures, new
14 construction as a -- as a business hopefully grows.
15 So going back, the April 7, 2010, CDPHE
16 letter, what this letter is really stating is that
17 there's -- there is two items. There's a
18 recommendation for approval for the CD. And then
19 there's eight conditions that still need -- are
20 still needed for the final approval of that 2010
21 EDOP. There's a -- in the regulations it states
22 that any technical conditions of approval made by
23 the CDPHE in its final report shall be incorporated
24 as requirements in the CD.
25 Since the USR combined the land use in the
47
1 CD into one resolution, that is basically why
2 Development Standard 6 is -- was included as that
3 development standard and with the specific language
4 to the April 7th, 2010, because the technical
5 conditions of that letter, which were the eight
6 conditions for the final approval, needed to be put
7 in there.
8 Based on that USR-1704, the site was
9 originally approved for the Class I composting
10 facility.
11 And as such the -- the eight conditions
12 from those -- from that April 7th, 2010, were
13 addressed in the resubmittal of the Engineer Design
14 Operations Plan that was submitted November 7th,
15 2012. This EDOP was never approved, however,
16 required numerous revisions.
17 But the EDOP did show the change from the
18 in -ground digesters to the aboveground which, again,
19 was approved by the County on May 1, 2013.
20 So that original EDOP with the eight
21 conditions turned into a revised November 7th, 2012,
22 EDOP. From there there was four different
23 resubmittals or revisions to the EDOP. There was a
24 February, a March, a May, and a June of the 2013,
25 and eventually the June 7th, 2013, EDOP was finally
48
1 approved by the CDPHE. So all the way back from
2 that -- November 7th all the way to -- it took three
3 years to get that EDOP actually approved with all
4 those eight conditions from the original CD letter
5 basically completed.
6 The most current version, which is this
7 June 7, 2013, EDOP is the approved version, and it's
8 considered the acting document by both the County
9 and the State.
10 On October 30th, the consultant for the
11 facility submitted a change request form outlining
12 the property information changes which included the
13 owner/operator, project developer and legal
14 description. The State approved this name change on
15 November 7th, 2013.
16 The construction quality assurance report
17 dated December 14th, 2013, was submitted for review
18 to the CDPHE. A final approval letter was issued
19 April 4th, 2014, after revisions. However, the
20 CDPHE did approve the facility to accept feedstock,
21 just the manure feedstock at this time, on
22 January 10th, 2014. The first feedstock deliveries
23 at the site for manure only was delivered to the
24 site January 11, 2014.
25 So since the facility was approved as a
49
1 Class I composting facility based on that original
2 USR, they were able to take basically 1, 2, and 3
3 type feedstocks. However, really what they're
4 taking is Type 1 and Type 2, with the ability to
5 take Type 3 with the approval from the County and/or
6 the CDPHE. But Type 1 is the agricultural waste and
7 Type 2 is basically your food waste.
8 So since they're approved to take all this
9 stuff, but the -- they kind of needed a system to
10 take in the other food waste to get it into a
11 process in which their anaerobic system can process
12 it and they can put in the correct nutrients that
13 they need, so this is why the digester processing
14 system came about.
15 This handles basically all the other waste
16 other than the manure waste. This is described in
17 the November 18th, 2014, DPS Engineer Design
18 Operation System addendum. This addendum, again,
19 just describes the digester processing system. This
20 was approved by the CDPHE on December 18th, 2014, as
21 indicated in their letter.
22 During this time, because of the addition
23 of this digester processing system, the CDPHE
24 indicated that an updated CD was not required. And
25 this was shown in an October 8th, 2014, letter.
50
1 However, the DPS, since it was a larger facility
2 going on the land, did require amendment to the USR.
3 And this was approved through the MUSR14-0030.
4 So this is where it gets a little bit even
5 more confusing if it's not already. I apologize for
6 this. But -- so as part of the 2013 EDOP, there was
7 a sentence or a statement basically stating, a
8 separate standalone low permeability pad work plan
9 will be submitted under separate cover to the solid
10 waste division of the CDPHE and Weld County for
11 review and approval.
12 To meet this condition, the facility
13 submitted a Digester Solid Site Operation Plan to
14 the CDPHE on November 20th, 2015. So this goes back
15 to the -- basically it turns into a pilot project
16 because of what they're doing. And to try to get
17 through this a little bit quicker, it's where they
18 store the digested solids. That's where it's at.
19 They basically didn't put a whole lot of controls
20 underneath there, not that they needed to.
21 But this is a pilot project to show that
22 runoff from that would not be contaminating
23 groundwater, would run correctly, any liquids that
24 they would be applying to the digested solids for
25 compost operations would meet testing, their final
51
1 product would be tested.
2 And, again, this doesn't fall into a
3 normal compost facility. The digested solids that
4 are coming out of the digester is what they're
5 considering a composted material. It does not -- in
6 the regulations it doesn't fall into the pathogen
7 reduction part of it very easily.
8 So as part of this, they are required to
9 do some additional testing to make sure that they
10 meet those requirements for pathogen reductions
11 outlined in the regulations. And so this
12 essentially is helping with that as well. This plan
13 was -- was approved, and it is acting as a pilot
14 project in which after a year, which will be coming
15 up shortly, they will need to submit a final project
16 overview and analysis along with an amended Engineer
17 Design Operations Plan that has this section in
18 there because it is part of their operation.
19 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And the plan was
20 approved by?
21 MR. FRISSELL: The CDPHE.
22 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: What was the name
23 of that plan again?
24 MR. FRISSELL: We call it the DSSOP. It's
25 a Digested Solid Site Operation Plan.
52
1 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And there's no
2 requirement that the County approve that?
3 MR. FRISSELL: Basically all the EDOPs are
4 never really required that the County approves any
5 of them. It's always based on the CDPHE approval.
6 However, we do have a chance to interject what our
7 thoughts are on it, our recommendations. However,
8 these may or may not be actually taken into
9 consideration by the CDPHE. So, again, it's what we
10 would prefer, however, if they don't agree, they
11 might not actually make those changes.
12 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Were we ever
13 notified?
14 MR. FRISSELL: I believe so, yes.
15 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Do we need to be
16 sure?
17 MR. FRISSELL: I can definitely
18 double-check.
19 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay.
20 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Cozad.
21 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I actually had some
22 questions along the same lines Commissioner
23 Kirkmeyer was asking. Generally when we have pilot
24 programs going on in the County -- you know, there's
25 a lot of different kinds of pilot programs that can
53
1 happen, whether it's oil and gas or sometimes with
2 mining and those kinds of things -- we are notified
3 because they could affect the land use on a Use by
4 Special Review, and that could actually potentially
5 trigger an amendment. So it sounds like -- and I
6 just want to make sure that I'm understanding this
7 correctly -- from the 2013 EDOP they were asked to
8 do this work plan, and it became a pilot program.
9 That pilot program started November of 2015.
10 MR. FRISSELL: The actual plan was
11 approved the -- November, I believe, 9th.
12 COMMISSIONER COZAD: So the plan was
13 approved, but when did the program actually start
14 and when's the one year time frame up?
15 MR. FRISSELL: I'll have to do some
16 checking on that one to determine exactly the time.
17 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Because I think along
18 with Commissioner Kirkmeyer's questions, I'm just
19 surprised that the State would allow a pilot program
20 without approval from the County. It just surprises
21 me. I guess it could be a part of the Special Use
22 Permit.
23 MR. FRISSELL: The applicant might have a
24 little bit more knowledge on this as well.
25 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes.
54
1 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I want to make
2 sure I have the timeline right. So the April 7th,
3 2010, letter did not have the DSSOP in it, right?
4 MR. FRISSELL: Correct.
5 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: The 2013 approved
6 EDOP did not have the DSSOP in it?
7 MR. FRISSELL: It had language for -- that
8 stated a low permeability work pad plan will be
9 submitted under separate cover.
10 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: The plan would be
11 submitted?
12 MR. FRISSELL: Correct.
13 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And the plan
14 wasn't submitted until November of 2015?
15 MR. FRISSELL: Correct.
16 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: It doesn't say
17 that the plan gets to be implemented. Just says a
18 plan would be submitted.
19 MR. FRISSELL: It just says -- again, it's
20 up on the screen -- A separate standalone low
21 permeability pad work plan will be submitted under
22 separate cover to the Solid Waste Division of CDPHE
23 and Weld County for review and approval.
24 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And Weld County
25 for review and approval?
55
1 MR. FRISSELL: Um -hum.
2 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So we never
3 reviewed and approved?
4 MR. FRISSELL: I need to double-check on
5 that.
6 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay. That would
7 be good. Thank you.
8 MR. FRISSELL: So moving forward with the
9 DPS acceptance of the waste, they first took waste
10 grease at the DPS facility on October 9th; however,
11 they never received their waste grease facility
12 registration until February 3rd, 2016. So there was
13 a few months there in which they didn't have the
14 proper registration to actually take the waste
15 grease; however, waste grease is accepted under
16 their Class I composting status.
17 They did receive approval from the CDPHE
18 to take basically all listed waste on February 25th
19 of 2016 at the DPS facility.
20 And basically that bottom bullet point is
21 they received waste prior to these approvals. And
22 we'll cover it in later slides, but that's basically
23 referring to the waste grease that we kind of went
24 over.
25 So the approved documents for the site is
56
1 the June 7th, 2013, EDOP, along with the
2 December 18th, 2014, digester processing system EDOP
3 addendum, and the November 9th digested solids site
4 operation plan. So those are the three acting
5 documents for this facility.
6 Based on the November 14, 2016, Show Cause
7 hearing, there was evidence presented that the
8 facility may be in violation of various department
9 standards. And, again, our County Attorney went
10 over many of those. A November 8, 2016, letter from
11 the Attorney General's office indicated that the
12 facility does not have a valid CD.
13 I conducted an inspection on
14 November 29th, 2016, and found compliance issues
15 with Development Standard 6, 7, 10, and 34. On
16 December 7th, 2016, a request to immediately cease
17 applying waste off site was sent. And, again, the
18 facility did notify that they received that e-mail
19 and that letter that same day, along with a
20 December 12th, 2016, inspection letter was sent to
21 the facility. And they -- they e -mailed and --
22 saying that they received that as well.
23 As was stated before, Development
24 Standard 6 is basically the property owner/operator
25 shall comply with applicable sections of the
57
1 regulations pertaining to the Solid Waste Disposal
2 Sites and Facilities Act.
3 The facility was found to be out of
4 compliance based on the following items which are
5 going to be covered in a few slides.
6 So basically what we found during our
7 inspection was the facility does not have a valid
8 CD. They were illegally disposing of waste through
9 land application. They do not have a Beneficial Use
10 Determination approval letter or approval from the
11 County to apply these -- these liquid or sludges
12 from their wastewater ponds as a beneficial use.
13 They did receive waste prior to approval
14 from the CDPHE as a waste grease facility. There's
15 a few months there. They since have their facility
16 registration up to date and no issues, but just a
17 point of clarification.
18 There were some inconsistencies with the
19 EDOP. And this hopefully will cover some of these.
20 Again, please let me know if you have questions
21 since it does get a little confusing.
22 There were no shelters over the unloading
23 areas as indicated in their approved EDOP, which --
24 which says that shelters will be provided for
25 substrate unloading and dewatered solids storage.
58
1 Unloading practices for manure were not
2 consistent with the approved EDOP. The 2013 EDOP
3 states, "A hose will be used to pump out manure
4 tankers." Manure is currently unloaded through an
5 open hatch.
6 Material staged for depackaging is not
7 stored in a coverall building. The 2014 DPS
8 indicates that all materials staged for depackaging
9 will be stored in a coverall building. And they're
10 trying to remedy that as the addition of that
11 coverall building that you saw earlier from Chris's
12 presentation; however, there's still waste being
13 stored outside.
14 Appendix X of the 2013 EDOP states, "All
15 incoming waste streams will be stored in a closed,
16 covered storage area." Currently the manure waste is
17 being stored in an open pit.
18 Continued items. The fencing is not as
19 described in the EDOP, which states, "A 6 -foot high
20 chain link fence will be -- will surround the
21 digester facility, and the soil amendment area will
22 be fenced with barbed wire." There is no fence
23 around the soil amendment area, and a 6 -foot high
24 chain link is not around the digester. I believe
25 it's a three- or four -strand 4 -foot high barbed wire
59
1 fence.
2 Site security measures are not as
3 described in the EDOP. There's no security control
4 entrance or access via an I.D. card.
5 The regulations pertaining to solid waste
6 indicate that a facility will prevent off -site
7 nuisance conditions, including odor, while
8 Development Standard 21 indicates a dilution
9 threshold below 7:1 is required. The Colorado Air
10 Quality Control Commission Regulation No. 2 takes
11 precedence there.
12 The implementation of the biofilters --
13 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I'm sorry. Could
14 you go back to that. May I? I'm sorry.
15 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Go ahead. Yeah.
16 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Could you go back
17 to the odor requirements and the nuisance
18 requirements in the Solid Waste Act?
19 MR. FRISSELL: Sure.
20 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: What did you just
21 say?
22 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: The Colorado Air
23 Quality Control Commission Regulation No. 2 takes
24 precedence over the nuisance conditions in the
25 regulations, in the solid waste regulations.
60
1 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And that's
2 located where, that sentence?
3 MR. FRISSELL: That sentence is not
4 located anywhere. That is the determination because
5 the actual air quality control does regulate very
6 specifically air --
7 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: But that's not in
8 the Solid Waste Act?
9 MR. FRISSELL: No, it is not.
10 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: The Solid Waste
11 Act, what does it state with regard to nuisance?
12 MR. FRISSELL: It says, Facility will
13 prevent off -site nuisance conditions, which includes
14 odor.
15 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Thank you.
16 MR. FRISSELL: The facility has not
17 implemented a biofilter at the substrate processing
18 tanks associated with the DPS. And this was
19 outlined that they would in Appendix X of the 2013
20 EDOP.
21 Some of the items that we didn't address
22 that were brought up during the Show Cause hearing
23 were the dust. During the inspection dust was not
24 observed to be leaving the site. It should be noted
25 though that if winds or -- winds are above 30 miles
61
1 per hour, compliance violations are not made. So on
2 very high wind days, it is known that they can't
3 control their dust at that time. But during our
4 time we have not seen dust leaving the site.
5 Garbage. The garbage -- no garbage was
6 observed to be blowing off site at the time of the
7 inspection or during the odor evaluations performed
8 at or around the site. Since this was not observed,
9 we will not be going into further detail of
10 Development Standard 16 and 30.
11 Odor levels at the time of the inspection
12 were not encountered above 7:1 dilution threshold
13 off site.
14 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Cozad.
15 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Ben, I just have a
16 quick question. So the dust, you have that under
17 Development Standard No. 6 Compliance Issues
18 Continued, but then you're also saying that it's
19 under Development Standard No. 17. Is it under both
20 development standards?
21 MR. FRISSELL: I believe so. I believe it
22 was under the notice that was given out. A lot of
23 items were -- were referenced for numerous
24 development standards. I was just trying to make it
25 clear that under each one, both Phil's inspection --
62
1 Mr. Brewer's inspection and mine kind of covered
2 different development standards, since he enforces
3 or looks more at the air and I look more at the
4 solid waste. And dust on either one of those was
5 not observed.
6 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay.
7 MR. FRISSELL: During my inspection there
8 was an inconsistency with Development Standard 7.
9 Basically the construction certification report
10 shall be submitted at least 60 days prior to the
11 acceptance of feedstock. However, based on
12 documentation, we received the certification report
13 on December 4th, but manure waste was delivered to
14 the site on January 11th. There was approval from
15 the CDPHE; however, that doesn't mean that our
16 development standards are not applicable.
17 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: But actually --
18 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Go ahead.
19 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: -- Development
20 Standard 7 is not applicable here because it wasn't
21 listed as one of the items for the Show Cause
22 hearing.
23 MR. FRISSELL: Correct. This is something
24 that was found during our inspection that we thought
25 might be relevant in general.
63
1 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Thank you. And I
2 appreciate that. But are there any points of this
3 that are relevant back to the EDOP?
4 MR. FRISSELL: No, there are not.
5 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Thank you.
6 MR. FRISSELL: Development Standard 10 was
7 not notified from deviations for the proposed
8 changes to the approved 2013 EDOP, the 2014 DPS
9 Addendum or the Digester Solid Site Operations Plan.
10 Basically they failed to let us know of changes
11 during this time.
12 There were numerous change orders
13 submitted to the State, but not to the County. This
14 was shown in a February 24th, 2014, e-mail exchange
15 between the CDPHE and AGPROfessionals. As part of
16 this they said they submitted for approval a change
17 request that we never received. And we didn't
18 actually receive any of the change requests prior to
19 that either. So I don't know all the items that
20 have not been submitted to the County. This just
21 shows at least items had not been.
22 Heartland did indicate that they are
23 understanding that modifications do not need to be
24 submitted to the County because of an e-mail with
25 the CDPHE and interpretation of one of their -- one
64
1 condition from the CDPHE letter basically stating
2 that once the facility is constructed, the pilot
3 project is done, they shall submit a final EDOP for
4 review. And because -- based on that they didn't
5 think they needed to submit any of the documentation
6 as well.
7 Heartland indicated that they had
8 submitted a waiver request concerning their
9 groundwater monitoring plan to the CDPHE, but the
10 County was not able to find that and Heartland was
11 not able to present that if they did submit it. So
12 if they were able to give that e-mail notification
13 to us, then we would consider that one fine, but we
14 were not able to find that at the time of the
15 inspection.
16 Development Standard 34, this basically
17 states that the operation will comply with all
18 applicable rules and regulations of the State and
19 federal agencies and the Weld County Code.
20 Based on our inspection, we believe
21 Heartland has failed to pay their solid waste
22 surcharge fees. And we understand that there are
23 some exempt items under that County code; however,
24 there are many items that Heartland does take in
25 that do fall underneath this. And they have not yet
65
1 paid even after a few e -mails to them reminding them
2 to do so.
3 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: May I?
4 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes.
5 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: When you say a
6 few e -mails, how many is that?
7 MR. FRISSELL: It would be two different
8 e -mails.
9 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Conway.
10 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: And based on your
11 inspection, do you have a guesstimate in terms of
12 what kind of fees we're talking about?
13 MR. FRISSELL: I have no idea at this
14 point. We would have to go through a more detailed
15 list with the facility to determine exactly what
16 items they -- we and they consider exempt and what
17 items would not, and then come up with some type of
18 volume for those ones that are nonexempt and figure
19 out the surcharges on that.
20 So as you know, there's a lot of items
21 that could fall under Development Standard 34.
22 Those were basically presented in previous slides
23 and I didn't want to clutter this up more than needs
24 be, so that's why they're not all under 34 as well.
25 So trying to bring it all back home, a
66
1 recap for this is the facility -- for the air
2 quality, the facility has had a single violation of
3 Development Standard 21 in the Air Quality Control
4 Commission Regulation No. 2. The facility must
5 submit an APEN for the DPS, which it sounds like
6 they did this morning; however, at the time of the
7 slides on Friday afternoon that was not done.
8 Facility's part of a compliance order with the Air
9 Pollution Control Division, and they have outlined
10 specific items that they needed.
11 For the solid waste, the facility's
12 operating with an approved EDOP, which is a 2013
13 EDOP and approved addendums. The facility is
14 operating without an approved CD. Waste was taken
15 after CDPHE approval, except for waste grease. Site
16 was approved to change from in -ground digesters to
17 above. All waste received on -site are approved
18 wastes.
19 Compliance issues were noted in the
20 County's December 12th inspection letter. A plan
21 to correct all items listed in the inspection letter
22 is -- is required by December 28th, 2016.
23 And I'd be happy to answer some questions
24 or clarify.
25 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Conway.
67
1 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: This may be a
2 question for Phil, so, Phil, I'm giving you
3 notification here. So the facility started
4 accepting deliveries in January, 2014, is that
5 correct, as I understand from your presentation?
6 MR. FRISSELL: I think so. I'd have to go
7 back and check the slide.
8 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: So I'd like to ask
9 Phil, when did you start getting complaints from
10 surrounding property owners? Can you give me an
11 idea in terms of time frame because clearly they
12 operated throughout 2014. Did you receive any
13 complaints throughout 2014 that you recall?
14 MR. BREWER: Phil Brewer. Is that on?
15 Hello. Hello.
16 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: She's bringing you
17 another mic, Phil. Sometimes these batteries don't
18 last too long. It happens often.
19 MR. BREWER: Thank you. Phil Brewer, Weld
20 County Department of Public Health. The first
21 complaint of odor that I received was November 10th,
22 2015.
23 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: '15. So you went
24 throughout 2014 and most of 2015 without complaints,
25 is that correct?
68
1 MR. BREWER: That is correct.
2 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: From your numerous
3 visits out there, and maybe this is a question for
4 somebody else, what happened in terms of the
5 deliveries that they were taking out there and
6 processing between January of 2014 and November of
7 2015 which saw an increase in terms of odor
8 compliance, in your opinion, and maybe or someone
9 else.
10 MR. BREWER: I can anecdotally say
11 something. I don't know if it's appropriate for
12 this hearing. Is it?
13 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: I don't know. I'm
14 just trying to figure out -- you've answered my
15 question.
16 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: The answer is probably
17 not.
18 MR. BREWER: The first complainant
19 commented to me she would have called earlier had
20 she known who to call.
21 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: So many of the
22 complaints, they just didn't know who to complain
23 to.
24 MR. BREWER: That is correct.
25 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Thank you. From
69
1 2014 to November '15 you didn't receive any
2 complaints?
3 MR. BREWER: That is correct.
4 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. You're done.
5 Any other questions of staff? Okay. So at this
6 point I would go ahead -- oh, yes.
7 MR. GATHMAN: Just one final thing.
8 Department of Planning Services wanted to go through
9 a couple of the -- some of the development standards
10 as far as compliance items on the planning side.
11 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay.
12 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Before that,
13 could I ask a question? I'm sorry.
14 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes.
15 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Could you tell
16 me, in the original USR permit, Type I waste was
17 okay because that's the agricultural waste. Was
18 Type II waste approved?
19 MR. FRISSELL: As a Class I operator,
20 composter Type I, II, and III are approved.
21 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I understand
22 that. But in the original USR was it discussed that
23 there was going to be something other than Type I
24 waste?
25 MR. FRISSELL: I mean, I don't -- I wasn't
70
1 here during that time period; however, for
2 composters around that same time or even earlier, if
3 they are a Class I, they are able to take those --
4 those wastes. The 2009 or 2010 EDOP that was
5 submitted as part of the CD application did describe
6 Class I and Class II waste. So those wastes have
7 actually not changed, what they described from the
8 original to current. They've always described it ag
9 waste and some type of food waste.
10 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: But in the
11 original USR, there wasn't -- and original EDOP,
12 there wasn't the land application process?
13 MR. FRISSELL: I don't believe so. I
14 would have to double-check on that. That is a very
15 specific question for that, and to cross-reference,
16 oh, three or four revisions.
17 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay.
18 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Can I have a
19 follow-up?
20 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Go ahead.
21 COMMISSIONER COZAD: In other types of
22 facilities, can they limit just to the Class I,
23 Type I, or is it just a -- if you -- if you get a
24 permit for a Class I, can you do all three types?
25 MR. FRISSELL: I believe you would be able
71
1 to limit it through the land use; however, under the
2 regulations if you are a Class I, you are blanketed
3 by Class I, II -- or Type I, II, and III feedstocks.
4 There are other compost operations that fall into a
5 different classification, so a 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5
6 currently; however, that is changing probably
7 sometime early 2017. But with those
8 classifications, they are then limited to quantity
9 and which waste type.
10 COMMISSIONER COZAD: But as a County, we
11 could limit our permit to Class I, Type I waste
12 only.
13 MR. FRISSELL: I would have to refer to
14 County Attorney on that specific, but I would -- I
15 would think so.
16 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay. Thank you.
17 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Yeah, we can.
18 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you. Okay.
19 Chris.
20 MR. FRISSELL: Give it over to Chris.
21 MR. GATHMAN: Just had a few items on the
22 Planning end, so not near as comprehensive as the
23 Environmental Health side.
24 So the first item, Development Standard
25 No. 30, indicates waste materials not specifically
72
1 addressed by other development standards shall be
2 handled, stored and disposed of in a manner that
3 controls fugitive dust, blowing debris, and other
4 potential nuisance conditions.
5 When we were out at the site on December
6 the 7th, we did notice there were some trash
7 containers that were open, not covered. So we're
8 requesting that those be covered to prevent
9 potential for blowing trash. I will note that the
10 applicant has indicated that these trash containers
11 will be moved into the proposed 13,240 -square -foot
12 fabric commercial building in their offload area, so
13 that is in process.
14 Development Standard 34 indicates the
15 application -- the operation shall comply with all
16 applicable rules and regulations of State, federal
17 agencies and the Weld County Code. Per Chapter 23 of
18 the Weld County Code, mobile home zoning permits are
19 required for office trailers associated with
20 construction projects and otherwise. There are two
21 office trailers that were permitted for the site
22 under Case No. ZPMH15-0016 and 0017. These office
23 trailers can be permitted for up to 18 months.
24 These zoning permits expired, per our records, on
25 November of 2016.
73
1 The operators indicated that they want to
2 keep the trailers on -site for the additional on -site
3 construction that is occurring in regards to the
4 covered buildings. Therefore, either an extension
5 would need to be requested and granted by our
6 Director of the Planning Services Department or a
7 new mobile home zoning permit application would be
8 required.
9 Item 2 under Development Standard 34,
10 there's a sign at the entrance to the facility that
11 exceeded the 16 -square -foot maximum size sign
12 allowed in the agricultural zone district. Went
13 through the record for the USR, and I didn't see
14 that there was ever a request for a larger sign that
15 was approved by the Board at the time of the USR.
16 So that would either require a variance or they
17 would need to modify the sign size.
18 The applicant has submitted a building
19 permit for a 16 -square -foot sign that would replace
20 the existing sign. And this was submitted on
21 December the 15th, 2016.
22 Final item under this is that there are
23 three cargo containers on the site when we were out
24 to inspect the facility that do not appear to have
25 building permits per our records. Building permits
74
1 are required to be submitted for cargo containers or
2 the cargo containers shall be removed.
3 Development Standard No. 42 indicates the
4 property owner or operator shall be responsible for
5 complying with the Design and Operation Standards
6 of Chapter 23 of the Weld County Code. Again,
7 this is applying to the same thing, but under
8 Section 23-2-240, the Design Standards of Weld
9 County Code, there are 12 items under there. Item
10 12 just talks about the placement of the signs on
11 the site shall comply with the requirements of
12 Chapter 23 of the Weld County Code.
13 Again, they are in the process of doing
14 that. They have applied for a building permit. So
15 once that's issued and they replace the sign, they
16 would be in compliance.
17 That's all I have. I'd be happy to answer
18 any questions.
19 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Any other questions?
20 Okay. So I guess at this time we'll go ahead and
21 ask the respondent to -- or the respondent's
22 representative to please come forward and give us
23 your comments.
24 MR. THOMAS: Are you going to stay there
25 or are we going to present from the podium?
75
1 Previously we've done from the table.
2 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: They need to go
3 to the podium.
4 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Probably just go to the
5 podium.
6 MR. GATHMAN: Which PowerPoint do you want
7 first?
8 MR. THOMAS: First EDF. That's it.
9 Good morning, Commissioners. Jason
10 Thomas, plant manager for the Heartland Biogas
11 facility. Heard a lot from me over the last couple
12 of months, so I'm here as a familiar face. I'm
13 going to introduce to the -- our presentation. I'd
14 also like to introduce Al Kurzenhauser. Al is the
15 vice president of Bioenergy Group at EDF EN. And
16 you'll be hearing significantly from him throughout
17 the presentation.
18 I mean, today we're reporting back to you
19 again on the Show Cause hearing. Couple of things
20 we'd like to do. We'd like to provide some legal
21 context to the proceedings and to the findings from
22 the recent inspections and from, you know, our long
23 conversation about odors at the facility. We'd like
24 to provide you an update on the status of our
25 projects, provide a third -party -- independent
76
1 third -party analysis of both the odors and the
2 complaints associated with the odors, and then
3 ultimately to ask, respectfully ask that you would
4 dismiss the Show Cause hearing.
5 As can you see in this slide, and as you
6 just heard, the facility has been under a very
7 intense series of inspections associated with what
8 you can see is a lot of regulations associated with
9 the facility. This slide will show you all of the
10 inspections that have occurred since the last Show
11 Cause hearing, seven of them, including unannounced
12 inspections, inspections from basically every
13 department that inspects or that governs or
14 regulates the facility.
15 We -- we show who did the inspection, what
16 day they did the inspection, and also what they
17 found. And we'll respond to those. To respond to
18 those, I'd like to turn the presentation over to
19 Bill Garcia of Coan Payton and Payne.
20 MR. GARCIA: Thank you, Jason.
21 MR. THOMAS: This is the next one.
22 MR. GARCIA: Good morning, Commissioners.
23 Bill Garcia, Coan, Payton & Payne, 5586 West 19th
24 Street here in Greeley. And as this is a
25 continuation of prior Show Cause hearings, for the
77
1 record I continue any objections that were made from
2 those prior hearings.
3 And today we'll first start off by talking
4 about the procedural history. You've heard a lot
5 about the procedural history from staff already, so
6 I won't belabor the point. But this really came
7 before the Commissioners based on the exceedance of
8 the odor standard that was described one time that
9 was noted. And that was on April 27th of 2016.
10 That's why the matter was set for Probable Cause
11 hearing.
12 And as that -- that slide that you just
13 saw demonstrates, there have been aggressive
14 testing, unprecedented, I would say, testing of this
15 facility just in the past -- the past month, since
16 we were last before you on November 14th of 2016.
17 And that testing comes from a number of different
18 bodies, including the State CDPHE, the County.
19 Also, we've had air testing from others
20 such as Heartland third -party consultants and
21 neighbors. And, again, one -- the only violation --
22 or exceedance, I mean, of the Air Quality Control
23 Commission Regulation No. 2, Part A, was the one
24 that was found by Phil Brewer on April 27th of 2016.
25 This is the information on the noticed
78
1 issues. And Mr. Barker did a fine job of going
2 through that with you, so I won't read this to you,
3 that -- and as was correctly noted by Commissioner
4 Kirkmeyer, other matters presented that are not --
5 are not on the table to be considered if they are
6 not noticed for your decision -making process. And I
7 appreciate that consideration.
8 Regarding the Certificate of Designation
9 Heartland Biogas, LLC, has been operating under a
10 valid CD. The CD is valid. The CD was issued and
11 it was -- and the ownership of this facility was
12 transferred from Heartland Renewable Energy, LLC, to
13 Heartland Biogas in early November of 2013. Do not
14 be mistaken. This was not something that was done
15 in a vacuum or was not noticed to anyone.
16 But Heartland Biogas, LLC, has been
17 working diligently with the County and the CDPHE and
18 a myriad of regulatory agencies to prepare all of
19 these permitting and planning activities we've been
20 discussing these various months. So this is not a
21 matter that just came about without any notice to
22 the County or to the State.
23 In fact, on November 8th, 2016, a letter
24 was received by Weld County. And that was from
25 David Kreutzer of the State Attorney General's
79
1 Office. This was a document that was sent to Frank
2 Haug. And that's the one that was discussing the CD
3 and whether there was a valid and accurate CD that
4 was in place on this facility. That document was
5 not initially provided to Heartland Biogas, LLC, and
6 that -- and Heartland Biogas, LLC, representatives
7 were not involved in those discussions.
8 However, I would like to thank Frank Haug
9 at this time because Frank was good enough to
10 provide me with that information. He also provided
11 my contact information to David Kreutzer. And I was
12 able to talk to David Kreutzer about his opinions
13 and -- that are included in that letter of
14 November 8th, 2016.
15 And when I spoke with David Kreutzer, he
16 pointed out that this is not a matter for immediate
17 action. They knew -- they know of Heartland Biogas,
18 LLC. You know about Heartland Biogas, LLC. We've
19 all been working under the understanding that there
20 is a CD in place, and we've been working under that
21 impression, and -- as has the State and as has Weld
22 County.
23 So it was presented that this is something
24 that Heartland needs to -- to go ahead and take some
25 action on, but it does not need to -- this is not an
80
1 immediate cease and desist order matter. So that is
2 why we -- we had that discussion with David
3 Kreutzer.
4 And our next step was to take a look, what
5 is the process to transfer a CD under statute or
6 under regulation. And that process is not clear.
7 And, further, the -- the process was -- was
8 discussed on whether a CD is needed in a case that
9 was in Mr. Kreutzer's letter. And that case is the
10 City and County of Denver versus Eggert. And that
11 case is cited in the -- the letter itself. That
12 cite can be provided to you if you wish to have
13 that.
14 However, in that case, in the Eggert case,
15 the Court found that the CD was valid. And they
16 didn't go through the process for the -- for what's
17 required for a transfer of a CD. So that case is
18 not illustrative of what was necessary for our next
19 steps to proceed. So we're -- we're dealing with an
20 area that is gray in terms of what is the regulatory
21 process to follow in terms of the new CD or a
22 transfer of the CD if you're just changing the
23 ownership of a property, which is what we have here.
24 Furthermore, as I stated, Weld County has
25 acted in conformity with the -- with the prior CD
81
1 and understanding of that prior CD since the end of
2 2013. And just a couple of examples -- there are
3 many examples in the public record, but several of
4 the examples are the -- the original recorded plat
5 was issued to Heartland Biogas, LLC, in 2014.
6 The -- the -- we talked about the transfer and
7 the -- not the transfer, but the -- the improvements
8 agreement and the collateral for that improvements
9 agreement. And that was also approved by the Board
10 of County Commissioners with Heartland Biogas, LLC.
11 And with regard to that, pursuant to the
12 discussion with David Kreutzer, and the review of
13 the case and the statutes and the regulations, the
14 pertinent regulations, decision was made to request
15 that transfer. And that was what was provided, as
16 discussed by Mr. Haug, by Holland and Hart. And that
17 was submitted to the Board of County Commissioners
18 and the County for review.
19 So we are moving forward and attempting
20 to address that issue and make sure that as
21 Mr. Kreutzer asked, if -- that we can -- we can tie
22 that up and make sure it's clear that on paper we
23 know that the CD belongs to Heartland Biogas, LLC.
24 And it is also important to note that the
25 investment that has been made, all the efforts that
82
1 have been made by everyone in this matter were done
2 in reliance on the process, a process that did not
3 seem to require a transfer of the CD in 2014,
4 despite knowledge of all of the regulatory bodies,
5 but now in 2016 it is requesting that -- that
6 change. So we're complying with that. But we have
7 a matter of reliance of all parties that they've
8 relied upon those -- the process that had been
9 previously followed. And that was to recognize the
10 CD.
11 Regarding the land application of
12 Liquid Soil Amendment, LSA, Heartland has been authorized
13 to distribute Liquid Soil Amendment for land
14 application under license from Colorado Department
15 of Agriculture since June of 2013. Back then the
16 Solid Waste Division identified several acceptable
17 options for how to dispose of digestate liquid.
18 And one of those options was to -- to seek
19 from the Department of Agriculture an approval
20 and -- of utilizing that -- that product. Because
21 that's really what it is. It's not a waste. This
22 is a soil amendment.
23 And so the decision was made to proceed
24 under the State -- or the State's Department of
25 Agriculture. And in June of 2013, the State
83
1 Department of Agriculture did issue a Certificate of
2 Registration for the material and allowed its use in
3 the application.
4 So the Department of Agriculture did take
5 jurisdiction over that decision -making process and
6 that material.
7 Air quality --
8 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Excuse me.
9 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes.
10 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Sorry. I don't mean
11 to throw you off. Can you tell me what the
12 Certificate of Registration date was again?
13 MR. GARCIA: The Certificate of
14 Registration date on the -- from the Department of
15 Agriculture -- do we have that -- June 6th, 2013.
16 COMMISSIONER COZAD: June 6th. Okay. Thank you.
17 MR. GARCIA: Other air quality standards.
18 Several other items have been brought up and the
19 staff has addressed these. The first is the -- the
20 stack emission and the opacity discussion. And Ben
21 Frissell did discuss that there was an EPA test
22 process, EPA Method 9, that would -- that is -- that
23 is required to -- to -- to utilize -- that's the
24 testing required to determine whether there is a
25 violation under this. And as described by
84
1 Mr. Frissell, the evidence is not -- was not
2 provided to be able to determine any sort of
3 violation there.
4 There was a second one regarding emissions
5 from the building openings that was noticed. And
6 there is a process under EPA Method No. 22 that
7 would be utilized. However, there were not any --
8 there was -- there wasn't photographic or any
9 testing evidence that showed emissions from building
10 openings separate from the opacity testing question
11 from the staff.
12 The -- Condition 16 of the air permit
13 discusses the Operations and Maintenance Plan.
14 Those allegations that were made were unclear at the
15 presentation at November 14th. Heartland is
16 complying with Condition 16 of its Air Permit.
17 There has been no evidence presented that there is a
18 violation under the Operations and Maintenance Plan.
19 Also, with regard to dust abatement, the
20 Air Quality Control Commission Reg 1 and the Air
21 Permit do -- do permit the presence of dust, and
22 that that in and of itself is not a violation. The
23 requirement is that the dust -- fugitive dust --
24 that there be a Fugitive Dust Control Plan, and that
25 that plan be applied and complied with. And there
85
1 is no evidence that the company failed to follow
2 their Fugitive Dust Control Plan. So the -- there
3 was one picture that was provided to the
4 Commissioners, but that in and of itself does not
5 show that there was a violation of complying with
6 the control plan.
7 The Engineering Design and Operations
8 Plan, EDOP, as I have previously stated, there have
9 been many inspections of this facility just in the
10 past month in this case.
11 In -- the EDOP is a living document, and
12 it changes with the operations and activities of the
13 operator. And those -- those -- those changes would
14 be submitted on a regular basis. You've heard a
15 number of the different change orders and such.
16 The State requested that these changes be
17 reserved until the construction completion because
18 it takes quite a bit of work to review each of these
19 changes, and they asked that these be held off until
20 construction completion.
21 There are -- there are some
22 inconsistencies, some differences that you've heard
23 from Mr. Frissell and -- with regard to how some of
24 these are handled. Some of the various topics are
25 handled within the EDOP. And any of those that are
86
1 found that are valid, we're working through those
2 and ensuring that when we submit the next EDOP, that
3 those are clarified and any inconsistency is
4 corrected.
5 The issue of waste grease disposal.
6 Heartland is currently registered as a waste grease
7 facility. As was mentioned, between October 25th
8 and February 16th, there was an acceptance -- there
9 was acceptance of waste grease -- a minor amount of
10 waste grease prior to obtaining that Certificate of
11 Registration. This was accepted for storage and it
12 was not for use. And this filing was made in
13 December 2015, for that permit. So there -- there --
14 this is a matter that has been resolved. This is
15 a past item that shows up on an inspection, but
16 since -- since February 2016, this matter has been
17 resolved.
18 The APEN for the DPS. With regard to the
19 APEN for the DPS -- this -- we're providing this
20 information despite the fact that there was a short
21 notice on the APEN issue coming before the Board.
22 However, this is a matter that's been
23 discussed with the State regarding whether an APEN
24 is necessary for this. And before receiving a final
25 answer that an APEN is required from the State, this
87
1 was submitted in a -- in a letter submission. And
2 that letter is dated December 16th of 2016.
3 So if it comes down to a decision,
4 Commissioners, with regard to do we wait on the
5 State to make a determination, do we -- do we make
6 sure that we exhaust every single argument, or do
7 we -- do we provide you and provide the State with
8 information, we're choosing to provide that
9 information and make that application.
10 The solid waste surcharge. Heartland
11 replied in writing -- actually, this was -- this was
12 a letter on my letterhead, replied in writing to the
13 applicability of surcharge on November 22, 2016. In
14 review of the County code and State regs, it does
15 not appear that -- that the items that are brought
16 into the facility meet the -- the requirements of
17 the solid waste surcharge. That was the basis of my
18 letter. Much of Heartland's waste received is
19 exempt from the surcharge. And -- and so that's
20 where we -- where we left it at.
21 In a discussion with Mr. Frissell last
22 week, we learned that there might be some items --
23 he mentioned one item, one waste stream that comes
24 in that could potentially be considered. So we are
25 at a position of considering and continuing
88
1 discussions with Weld County staff to determine if
2 there is a waste item that is coming onto the
3 facility that the surcharge would apply to, and
4 evaluate and determine what that surcharge would be
5 and provide that.
6 Please note, it's not as though a -- a tax
7 bill arrived saying this is what -- this is your
8 charge. It was we believe that there are waste
9 streams coming onto your facility, and then there
10 was a response in writing November 22nd. Those
11 conversations, we welcome those to continue on, but
12 we have not -- we have not identified what those
13 waste streams are or what the total amounts are.
14 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Conway.
15 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Let me -- I don't
16 mean to interrupt you, Mr. Garcia. But in keeping
17 with that line of discussion, so on November 22nd or
18 earlier, you were notified that there was a
19 potential that nonexempt waste was -- was being
20 received. And you said our -- our records indicate
21 that all the waste is tax exempt, but please tell us
22 what might be subject to this appropriate surcharge.
23 And since the November 22nd letter, you've not been
24 provided by the County any follow-up in regards to
25 that?
89
1 MR. GARCIA: If I could clarify the fact
2 pattern description.
3 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Sure.
4 MR. GARCIA: My letter, I do not believe I
5 invited any determination of -- of what those waste
6 streams might be, but I provided my explanation as
7 to why I did not believe they were covered under
8 the solid waste surcharge, why we were exempt.
9 And then the -- I did receive -- I did not receive
10 in writing, but I did receive in -- orally in
11 meetings -- because it's been -- and as an aside,
12 it's been great to work with Weld County staff.
13 This is a very difficult case and it's a very
14 complicated case, but I have been -- I have been
15 able -- when I need a question answered, I've been
16 able to get somebody to -- to speak to me and
17 provide that information. Mr. Frissell did identify
18 one item of waste stream.
19 Probably -- on my part this has been a
20 pretty busy and complicated matter to prepare and
21 come before the Commissioners on a regular basis.
22 And probably staff has been busy preparing reports
23 and doing inspections. So I don't want to cast any
24 aspersion or question regarding staff. I believe
25 it's a matter we're going to continue talking about.
90
1 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Okay. So you're
2 involved in discussions to determine whether that
3 waste stream is appropriate to a surcharge, and that
4 dialogue is ongoing between staff and you -all?
5 MR. GARCIA: I would say that we're open
6 to being involved in that discussion, yes.
7 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Okay. Thank you.
8 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Mr. Chairman.
9 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes.
10 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Did we have a
11 copy of the notification from November 22nd?
12 MR. FRISSELL: Yes, we do.
13 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Could you get a
14 copy to all of us, please?
15 MR. FRISSELL: Yes.
16 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Thank you. Thank
17 you.
18 MR. GARCIA: Communication with Weld
19 County. You've heard a number of items in -- in the
20 staff's presentation where there's information
21 that's going to the State, there's information
22 that's going to Weld County but not the State.
23 Maybe Weld County didn't get the information, went
24 to the State. Maybe there's information going
25 between the County and the -- and the State and not
91
1 going to the operator. There's -- this is a very
2 important issue that -- that -- where various people
3 are talking and not everyone is getting the
4 information. And that's one item that we found and
5 staff has found in this -- in this process.
6 For example, we believe that the
7 groundwater waiver request that was mentioned was
8 previously submitted. We've been sharing
9 information on other items as we find them and say,
10 here's the e-mail that this was provided, here's the
11 letter that it was sent on. So we're providing that
12 information, sharing that to make sure that everyone
13 has the same information to go on.
14 With regard to the --
15 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Sorry.
16 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Hold on.
17 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Mr. Garcia, you say
18 that the groundwater waiver request was submitted to
19 Weld County. Do you know specifically which
20 department or who that was sent to?
21 MR. GARCIA: I believe it's -- it's in
22 the -- is that in the -- I believe it was sent -- I
23 spoke with -- with Garry Kaufman of Holland and Hart
24 who is with us today. And he indicates that that
25 was sent to Mr. Frissell by e-mail. And he's
92
1 looking for a date and more information on that.
2 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay. Okay. Thank
3 you. You can get that to me later.
4 MR. GARCIA: This was an e-mail where a
5 copy was sent on October 3rd of 2016.
6 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Thank you.
7 MR. GARCIA: With regard --
8 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Go ahead.
9 MR. GARCIA: With regard to the
10 December 13th, 2016, inspection regarding site
11 grading, there was a mention that there was
12 information needed to be provided. December 13th
13 inspection was very recent, and we'll be working on
14 making sure that we have that information provided
15 to the County.
16 With regard to -- as I said, communication
17 is important. Communication builds trust among all
18 people that are involved and all agencies that are
19 involved. And there are a lot of agencies involved
20 in this matter. And Heartland Biogas, LLC, is
21 committed to improving the communications with the
22 County, with the State, and, where we can, between
23 the State and the -- State agencies and the County.
24 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Can I ask another
25 question?
93
1 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes. Go ahead.
2 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Mr. Garcia, as far as
3 the site grading inconsistencies, I think you're
4 referring to the drainage plan that Hayley discussed
5 during her presentation. I guess my question to you
6 and probably to the applicant -- or the
7 respondent -- and you don't have to answer it right
8 now, but, you know, even in a little while, when
9 you're building your facilities, if you have an
10 existing drainage plan that's an engineered plan,
11 wouldn't you build it according to your plans?
12 MR. GARCIA: I'm going to defer on that
13 one because I was not involved in the project at the
14 time of the building of the -- of those lagoons, so
15 I can't -- I can't answer anything with regard to
16 that.
17 COMMISSIONER COZAD: If somebody can
18 answer that question later, that's fine. I just
19 would like to have an answer to that.
20 MR. GARCIA: Thank you, Commissioner
21 Cozad.
22 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Thank you.
23 MR. GARCIA: Number of additional concerns
24 also brought up. Outside unloading, unloading is --
25 is not prohibited. Storage is prohibited, but
94
1 unloading is not prohibited under the Odor
2 Management Plan. And as has been stated and shown
3 in photographs, covered storage is to be phased in
4 by December 31st of 2016. And, in fact, you're
5 going to hear about the progress on that here
6 shortly.
7 Removal or limitation of materials is not
8 required under the Odor Management Plan. What is
9 required is when off -site odors are detected above
10 acceptable levels, that those materials are to be
11 reviewed. And acceptable levels are determined as
12 those that -- when there's an odor detected above
13 that 7:1 threshold.
14 Nuisance debris, inadequate signage,
15 fencing, these items that were noted in the
16 November -- were not noted in the November 22nd,
17 2016, Colorado solid waste program inspection.
18 There -- there are a lot of moving parts here,
19 and -- and we have inspections where we're not cited
20 for various items.
21 Also, the -- there was an issue regarding
22 the biofilter. And that's not part of the EDOP. It
23 was -- the EDOP was not triggered to require the
24 biofilter due to the -- the tank that was involved
25 was not causing an odor. So that -- that is what
95
1 would cause and trigger a biofilter on that one
2 particular tank. So that's to answer that one that
3 was brought up.
4 Again, what brought this matter to the
5 forefront and to your table, Commissioners, is odor.
6 And as stated and described, we've -- we've talked
7 about the process under Reg 2, Part A, and how you
8 test and the 15 minutes and the odor ranger. That's
9 our standard that we follow. And this was --
10 recall, we discussed this previously.
11 There is a Compliance Order on Consent
12 that Heartland Biogas, LLC, entered into to resolve
13 this through the State Colorado Air Pollution
14 Control Division. And this requirement has a
15 number -- this has a number of requirements and
16 deadlines that we need to follow to be able to -- to
17 provide enclosure, for example, enclosure of the
18 buildings. So this is a matter that was taken very
19 seriously by Heartland Biogas, LLC. And Heartland
20 Biogas, LLC, chose to enter into a Consent Agreement
21 on this matter. And, to date, Heartland is fully in
22 compliance with what is required under that -- that
23 compliance order. And there has not been a
24 determination of violation under the 7:1 standard
25 under Reg 2, Part A.
96
1 Lastly, the issue of odor as a nuisance.
2 Odors transported off site do not constitute a
3 nuisance unless the odors, among other things,
4 result in an unreasonable and substantial
5 interference with the use and enjoyment of property.
6 Question -- the question before, in this
7 case, the Court -- and I'm citing from Public
8 Service Company of Colorado versus Van Wyk. And
9 that citation is up here on the screen. The
10 question is based on the balancing of utility of the
11 actions causing the harm and the gravity of the
12 impact. This is the test that was applied by the
13 Court in that case.
14 And to address Commissioner Kirkmeyer's
15 question on this topic, where an agency establishes
16 a quantitative level for an allowed impact, in this
17 case, 7:1, that quantitative level sets the standard
18 for what is reasonable. So the odorous nuisance,
19 that standard is 7:1 because there is a quantitative
20 standard that's been placed in -- in the USR.
21 That concludes my comments, if there are
22 no further questions.
23 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: I just have one.
24 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Conway.
25 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: This Compliance
97
1 Order that you have entered into with the State,
2 what are the consequences if you don't live up to
3 that compliance? What happens -- what -- what
4 action is undertaken against you if you don't live
5 up to that order?
6 MR. GARCIA: If I may, since I was not the
7 attorney that engaged with the CDPHE, Mr. Kaufman,
8 would you...
9 MR. KAUFMAN: Thank you, Commissioner
10 Conway, Board members. There's --
11 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Please state your name.
12 MR. KAUFMAN: I'm sorry. Garry Kaufman,
13 with Holland and Hart, on behalf of Heartland Biogas,
14 LLC. There are several potential consequences for
15 violating an order under the State air quality rules
16 ranging from -- typically it would be a penalty up
17 to $15,000.00 a day. In certain extreme circumstances
18 it might be a revocation of your quality permit.
19 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Okay. Thank you.
20 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I have a
21 question.
22 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes.
23 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: You said you
24 received a license from the Department of
25 Agriculture for the land application?
98
1 MR. GARCIA: In 2013?
2 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Yes. 6-6 of '13.
3 Did you ever receive a permit from the Weld County
4 Public Health Department for land application?
5 MR. GARCIA: I am not aware of one. If
6 one of our team knows of that, we'll present that to
7 you.
8 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay. Well, we
9 need to have that.
10 And then you talked about the standards
11 with regard to odor in the Solid Waste Disposal
12 Sites and Facility Act, versus the Air Quality
13 Control Commission's regulations. But you're aware
14 that within our Development Standards, we have both.
15 MR. GARCIA: The -- are you speaking
16 about the --
17 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: We have two
18 different standards.
19 MR. GARCIA: -- quantitative?
20 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So they both
21 apply. So the requirement with odor and nuisance
22 under the Solid Waste Act applies because it's
23 within a different Development Standard in ours. So
24 it's not like in an either/or or one supersedes the
25 other. They both apply within our USR.
99
1 MR. GARCIA: I appreciate your position,
2 Commissioner Kirkmeyer. I respectfully submit that
3 the Van Wyk case actually states that the
4 quantitative number rules.
5 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: That's fine.
6 That's your position.
7 Then with regard to the transfer of the
8 Certificate of Designation, are you aware that
9 within State statute, it requires -- any transfer
10 requires the approval of the governing body, the
11 local government?
12 MR. GARCIA: Yes.
13 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And to this date
14 the Board has not -- the Board -- that wouldn't mean
15 the planning staff or the health staff, but the
16 Board has not approved a transfer of the Certificate
17 of Designation; is that correct?
18 MR. GARCIA: The Board has had notice of
19 the -- of the transfer, and -- and the Board has
20 not, while you're -- yes. First let me answer your
21 question, Commissioner Kirkmeyer. There has not
22 been a hearing scheduled by the Board of County
23 Commissioners on a transfer to Heartland Biogas,
24 LLC. However, the Board of County Commissioners and
25 Weld County staff, as well as the State and and
100
1 Heartland Biogas, LLC, have performed in accordance
2 with the CD that was in place and under the
3 understanding that there was a CD in place.
4 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I understand
5 that. But at this point you don't have a formal
6 approval, and neither does the Board, from the
7 CDPHE, from the State Health Department, approval of
8 the transfer. In fact, we have a letter stating
9 that your Certificate of Designation isn't valid,
10 and you have no approval from the Board of County
11 Commissioners on the transfer.
12 MR. GARCIA: In regard to that, I would
13 point out that this was a letter that was sent from
14 the State Attorney General's Office to Weld County,
15 not sent initially to us.
16 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I understand
17 that. I'm just stating you're of the understanding
18 that there is no approval by the Board of County
19 Commissioners on the transfer of a Certificate of
20 Designation.
21 MR. GARCIA: There is a -- there is a
22 statement in that letter that indicates -- and that
23 letter is dated November 8th of 2016 -- that this
24 determination been made without any input from
25 Heartland Biogas.
101
1 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay. So this
2 just requires a yes or no.
3 MR. GARCIA: So what --
4 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: To date do you
5 have any proof that the Board of County
6 Commissioners has approved a transfer of the
7 Certificate of Designation?
8 MR. GARCIA: I have proof, and it's
9 provided in your Brief, that the Weld County
10 Commissioners and Weld County staff have acted
11 in accordance with the recognition of the CD
12 post -transfer, yes.
13 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So on what date
14 did the Board of County Commissioners approve the
15 transfers of the Certificate of Designation?
16 MR. GARCIA: They recognized the transfer
17 upon the signature of the final plat, which is
18 provided in your records. It was actually shown by
19 staff. There -- it -- the Weld County Commissioners
20 approved the -- the Improvements Agreements and the
21 collateral agreements to Heartland Biogas. That was
22 discussed by staff.
23 Furthermore, we have proof that -- that
24 the Commissioners received property with regard to
25 the extension of -- of County Road 49, the County
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1 Road 49 project. And that was done through a deed
2 to the County from Heartland Biogas. So there are a
3 number of items in the record that show that.
4 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Are you aware of
5 any date that the Board took formal action to
6 approve a transfer?
7 MR. GARCIA: There has not been a date
8 for formal transfer, Commissioner Kirkmeyer, because
9 this matter was only brought to the point -- to
10 the attention thanks to Mr. Haug who provided the
11 letter that went between the County and the State.
12 So the -- the State has not formally even provided
13 that to us.
14 But I did have a conversation with Stuart
15 Kreutzer. And pursuant to that conversation with
16 Stuart Kreutzer of the AG's office, we did go
17 forward and submit the application that's before you
18 today.
19 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you, Mr. Garcia.
20 MR. GARCIA: Thank you.
21 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: So at this point we're
22 going to go ahead and take a five-minute break --
23 five-minute recess.
24 (Break taken at 11:32 a.m.)
25 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: So here's kind of where
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1 we're at. Obviously we've got to break for lunch at
2 some point. I think it makes more sense since you
3 guys were kind of at sort of a stopping point -- I
4 know you've still got a fairly lengthy part of a
5 presentation. We're going to go ahead and break now
6 for lunch, and we'll reconvene at 1 p.m.
7 MR. GARCIA: I have one procedural matter.
8 I mentioned in my comments a brief and some
9 exhibits. And I see them sitting there, so I wanted
10 to ask that the hearing brief be entered and the
11 exhibits entered into the record and provided to
12 you.
13 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Perfect. Okay. So
14 with that, we are in recess until 1 p.m.
15 (Lunch break taken. Note: There is no audio record of
the comments captured by the Court reporter from the time of the 11:32 break to
the lunch break.)
16 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Go ahead and
17 reconvene the Board of County Commissioners. Let
18 the record reflect that all five County
19 Commissioners are present and we're back to
20 Heartland.
21 MR. THOMAS: Hello, Commissioners. Jason
22 Thomas again. I'd like to introduce -- right at the
23 end of the presentation by Bill Garcia, we were
24 talking about the odor standards. And we -- we've
25 been talking about odors for a long time, so we want
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1 to make sure that we give you an update on -- on
2 what was going on with the odors. And to start off
3 that discussion, I'd like to bring up George
4 Iwaszek. You've seen George before, with Trinity
5 Consultants.
6 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Good afternoon.
7 MR. IWASZEK: Good afternoon,
8 Commissioners. I think the battery sounds okay.
9 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes.
10 MR. IWASZEK: I can hear myself. So if it
11 starts to die, just please let me know. My name is
12 George Iwaszek. I am a managing consultant and
13 manager of consulting services at Trinity
14 Consultants, the Denver office.
15 I was here in September to report on the
16 odor monitoring and measurement that we had
17 performed prior to the September meeting. And I'm
18 here to give you an update on basically what we've
19 found and some of the measurements that we've been
20 making since that time. So I'll kind of cover the
21 full period, if you will, but I'll try to make -- if
22 necessary, make distinctions.
23 My teleslide says, Odor Measurement
24 Summary and Conclusion. So last time, as you
25 recall, we presented a lot of tables and graphs and
105
1 data. All of that still exists, and I'm happy to
2 share that. But I wanted to take a little different
3 focus this time and kind of give you my conclusions,
4 if you will, based on my -- looking at the data, my
5 experience and what I'm seeing.
6 So before we continue on, just a quick
7 refresher on my credentials. My most recent degree
8 is a Master's in Chemical Engineering. I have other
9 degrees in Biology. Also a Bachelor's in Chemical
10 Engineering and a variety of advanced degrees. So
11 I've been a student my whole life and found that
12 it's been very useful in my career which has
13 extended over 35 years of experiences in process
14 engineering as well as in air quality, environmental
15 consulting. And as I mentioned, I manage Trinity's
16 Denver office, and I've been managing that since
17 2012.
18 So just -- I'm going to cover a couple
19 points -- or a few points maybe a few times just to
20 make sure we have an opportunity to look into and
21 talk about those things, so you'll see me repeat a couple
22 things.
23 One of the things I'll say also later on
24 is that since the beginning of the measuring period,
25 which started on August 30th, through the 16th of
106
1 December, we've made over -- almost -- approximately
2 800 odor measurements around the site and in the
3 general area. And I'll talk more in detail about
4 those.
5 That monitoring of those measurements were
6 conducted over a broad range of hours of the day, so
7 early morning, late night, sunset. And also on a
8 broad range of days across the week. So there
9 weren't any particular times. We didn't look at an
10 8 to 5 kind of a schedule. We tried to look at all
11 times.
12 And we also -- and I mention here that we
13 included what I call adverse weather conditions.
14 What do I mean by that? If you have a high wind
15 situation or even a sustained wind situation where
16 the wind is blowing in a particular direction for a
17 certain -- for a certain duration of time, that
18 might be considered an adverse condition because you
19 can imagine that if there is an odor plume, it could
20 be propagated for some distance. And so we -- we
21 didn't go out of our way to avoid certain weather
22 conditions.
23 Unfortunately, I was out there a couple of
24 weeks ago when the wind was blowing at 50 miles an
25 hour. That was my scheduled run day, and I was
107
1 there, so I collected a lot of dust.
2 The measurements were made by multiple
3 qualified observers. There were actually four of us
4 doing this. So this isn't data that's just based on
5 one individual. And I think you've heard this a few
6 times, but it bears repeating, I think, that all of
7 the measurements that we've conducted of -- of these
8 approximately 800 measurements, there have been no
9 violations -- or, rather, we've demonstrated
10 compliance -- or these measurements demonstrate
11 ongoing compliance with the State's odor regulation.
12 Okay?
13 So the next two slides I just want to kind
14 of set -- again, kind of set maybe as a reminder
15 about, you know, what this is about. And I'm going
16 to -- are either one of these better or worse?
17 Looks like you're all looking kind of this way. I'm
18 going to use this one to illustrate.
19 So what am I showing you here? This is
20 just a Google earth image of the general vicinity.
21 So here's the Heartland Biogas plant in the center.
22 This ring is just a 5 -mile ring. Actually, I chose
23 5 miles because over the course of the monitoring,
24 we went up to 5 miles from the facility. We didn't
25 always go out 5 miles from the facility, but
108
1 that's -- we have measurements going out that far.
2 And I don't mean to insult anybody's --
3 you know, you know Weld County, but there are a lot
4 of sources here. And that's the other point here.
5 There are a lot of sources of odors in this area.
6 You know, this is not a very easy image to see but,
7 you know, you can see various kind of feedlots or
8 other kinds of agricultural operations. I
9 personally have not visited it, and I don't know for
10 a fact, but one of my colleagues mentioned there's a
11 Class I composting facility down here. But this is
12 the general area around the plant as we know it.
13 So this next slide shows, just as a
14 reminder, again, of in our monitoring scheme or
15 protocol we had certain what I called standard
16 locations. But there were locations that were near
17 the plant that every time a monitoring event
18 occurred, that is, when we went out and monitored,
19 each of these standard locations was visited,
20 measurement was made, and an observation was
21 recorded.
22 So I think I have the data, but I believe
23 there are, like, 600 and -- over 600 measurements
24 taken in the standard area. So we really focused or
25 concentrated, if you will, on the areas near the
109
1 plant. Why? Kind of logically makes sense if the
2 plant's generating odors, we would be most likely to
3 catch those or find those near the plant at these
4 standard locations.
5 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Can I ask a
6 question?
7 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Go ahead.
8 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Of the 600 samples,
9 are you going to get to that in terms of duration?
10 MR. IWASZEK: Yeah. Again, I have it
11 right here in front of me because I don't want to
12 remember it. We did a total of 612 measurements
13 over the period of August 30th through December 16th
14 at these standard locations. We did a total of 789
15 measurements in the general area going back to that
16 slide that we had earlier.
17 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: The circumference.
18 MR. IWASZEK: Roughly the circumference.
19 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Okay. And goes
20 without saying this is August 30th through
21 December 16th of this year?
22 MR. IWASZEK: I'm sorry. Yes.
23 August 30th. This is all 2016. That is correct.
24 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Thank you.
25 MR. IWASZEK: So that is -- oh, and one
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1 other point, if I may make. It's not listed on this
2 chart, but if you recall, when I previously was here
3 I talked about something I called plume chasing. So
4 the -- the idea is that we're going to each of these
5 standard locations every time you do monitoring and
6 when we collect the data. But as we're driving
7 along, if we smell something, we would track it. So
8 smell something, if we just detected an odor,
9 regardless of whether we measured that odor, we
10 stopped, we might do a measurement, and then we
11 would track that odor to follow it to its --
12 essentially its extinction point. And I could
13 probably come up with how many times we did plume
14 chasing, but it was on numerous occasions. I don't
15 know what the number is offhand. You'll see me
16 refer to that later on when I talk about how the --
17 one of the characteristics of the odors from the
18 plant.
19 COMMISSIONER MORENO: George.
20 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Moreno.
21 COMMISSIONER MORENO: When you're going
22 out there testing it, are you using what they
23 referred to many times as the nasal ranger? Or what
24 are you doing to monitor? What's your equipment to
25 test?
111
1 MR. IWASZEK: Yeah. Actually, I was
2 talking to somebody. I wish I brought the nasal
3 ranger with me because everybody talks about it but
4 how many of you have actually seen it? Yes, we use
5 a nasal ranger. When I talk about measurements, I'm
6 talking about quantifying them with a nasal ranger.
7 I will clarify that by saying that if we got to --
8 once we get to a standard location, we step out of
9 the vehicle, we smell, literally. If you don't
10 smell anything at all, you're not going to pull the
11 nasal ranger out, necessarily. But if you smell the
12 smallest whiff of an odor, the nasal ranger comes
13 out and you go through the nasal ranger
14 monitoring -- or measurement routine.
15 COMMISSIONER MORENO: Okay. Thank you.
16 MR. IWASZEK: So the short answer is any
17 measurement that we took was taken with a nasal
18 ranger.
19 COMMISSIONER MORENO: Thank you.
20 MR. IWASZEK: Answer the question for you?
21 Very good. Thank you. Thanks for the
22 clarification.
23 Okay. So let's talk about odor -- I call
24 this odor monitoring by the numbers. So I've told
25 you already that we made about 800 measurements,
112
1 789, to be exact, covering in that area. We did not
2 call the plant and say, What's going on today?
3 Shall we come out? But in the course of our
4 monitoring, I believe, in my opinion, that we
5 captured all different operating conditions.
6 Because afterwards I might say, So what was going on
7 at the plant today? And we'd have conversations.
8 And, frankly, there was nothing -- there's nothing
9 significant about it other than I could make the
10 statement that I think we've covered all kinds of --
11 all -- various gamut -- various conditions that --
12 that the plant experiences.
13 I think that's important because, again,
14 I'm -- doing the statistics on this could be
15 interesting. And I'm not going to -- we're not
16 going to go through that. But I think the point I'm
17 trying to establish here semiquantitatively is that
18 there's no cherry -picking going on, that we're really
19 trying to find -- look at the plant in its -- in its
20 actual operation.
21 I already mentioned we looked at a variety
22 of times and variety of weather conditions. And,
23 again, in none of those measurements or observations
24 did we find a violation of Regulation 2, Part A.
25 One -- one little statistic that I just
113
1 want to point out, that when odor measurements were
2 taken upwind, we -- we detected an odor 36 percent
3 of the time using the nasal ranger, quantifying that
4 reading. That odor could not be attributed to the
5 plant. So what I'm not saying is that the plant
6 doesn't generate odors. I'm saying that there are
7 odors in the area, not surprisingly, that are not
8 generated by the plant. And in our data we saw that
9 about 36 percent of the time.
10 So this next graphic gives you an idea of
11 when I say upwind, downwind, what am I talking
12 about. If you don't mind, I'm going to go ahead and
13 point to things again. So here's -- here's the
14 Heartland plant right here. This is a Google Earth
15 image. This image is dated September 9th, 2016, so
16 it's a fairly recent image. You can see the
17 standard locations.
18 In this illustration the wind is blowing
19 from the east. So the wind is coming from the east.
20 If you were standing with your back facing the east,
21 you would feel the wind on your back. This red
22 line, this imaginary red line provides a reference
23 point for what is upwind and downwind.
24 How did I determine what the line is? If
25 you look at what the potential -- if this is the
114
1 plant with all of the potential sources, this line
2 is upwind of all the sources.
3 On this side of the line we're downwind of
4 all the sources. So upwind, downwind is very just
5 simply what is the orientation of the wind relative
6 to facility sources.
7 One thing I'd point out is that what if
8 there's no wind, how do we categorize that? On a
9 conservative basis we categorize it no wind
10 condition, that is no perceptible wind, this being a
11 downwind measurement. So that's -- when I say
12 conservative, what I mean is let's say a more
13 stringent or more rigorous application of downwind.
14 So the concept behind that is that in a no wind
15 condition, odors that are generated could travel
16 uniformly. It's not exactly true, but that's kind
17 of the concept.
18 So I just want to present some
19 conclusions. And I'm happy to -- if I -- if I don't
20 substantiate a conclusion adequately for you,
21 please, you know, let me know.
22 The first -- okay. This is an incorrect
23 version. I apologize. We have another version
24 loaded up. We're going to see Point 2 first and
25 then we're going to go back to Point 1.
115
1 One conclusion is the plant's not a
2 significant source of strong odors outside the plant
3 boundary. What do I mean by that? When I look at
4 the nasal ranger readings, and I categorize them by
5 the dilution threshold, in roughly about 90 percent
6 of the times that we're measuring downwind odors at
7 the plant, there either is no odor or they're very
8 slight odors. So, you know, I don't want to get
9 into specific numbers, but the point is that for a
10 significant period of the time the plant odors are
11 either nonexistent or are light. Okay.
12 Okay. I mentioned this. There are odors,
13 sometimes strong in the area, that are not
14 attributable to the plant. I am not suggesting that
15 there should -- that there are sources of odor in
16 the area that are subject to the regulation. As we
17 know the Regulation 2 does -- is -- exempts certain
18 agricultural sources. So I'm just suggesting there
19 are other strong sources in the area. And, again,
20 we've quantified those. We have nasal ranger
21 readings that show that.
22 So the point here is that we're trying to
23 develop an odor picture, if you will, of the area.
24 And the nasal ranger allows us to quantify that.
25 And that's really what I'm -- what I'm trying to
116
1 give you here in these words.
2 We -- we -- okay. I mentioned earlier we
3 did plume chasing. And so the statement that odors
4 associated with the facility dissipate with distance
5 is based on those -- on that plume chasing.
6 Where -- in the instances where we detected a plume
7 of odor and we followed it, typically within a mile
8 or two that odor that may be attributable to the
9 plant basically falls back into the background of --
10 of the area. That is, you can't really distinguish
11 it from the background of the area. So, again,
12 odors tend to, not surprisingly, dissipate from the
13 facility. Per the previous point -- or per the
14 first point, the majority of the time they're not
15 strong odors and they do tend to dissipate.
16 And the other conclusion we draw from our
17 data is that the odors -- the plant is not a
18 consistent source of odors in the area. So how do
19 we know that? One of the measurements that we would
20 do during an odor observation in addition to doing
21 the nasal ranger reading was to make a determination
22 of how persistent was the odor at the time that we
23 were there. And we put a -- put a scale on that.
24 And so typically we found it wasn't -- it was not
25 unusual for an odor to come and go. Sometimes you
117
1 would step out to do the monitoring. And by the
2 time we had the nasal ranger in position, ready to
3 go, the odor was gone. And other times you detect
4 no odor, you say, okay, no odor, and an odor
5 appears, and then we would do a measurement. So the
6 plant is not a constant source. Again, I'm basing
7 this on the numbers.
8 And I believe that's all I was going to
9 talk about today. So open for questions, if there
10 are any.
11 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Mr. Conway.
12 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: So this is a new --
13 I'm learning in terms of this. I've had
14 conversations with Phil Brewer, our -- in our past
15 hearing trying to understand with noise there's a
16 specific number that associates with decibels, and
17 so you can identify the point source of that noise.
18 Help me -- help educate me in terms of how
19 you're able to delineate out sources of odors --
20 because you state in here there are odors, sometimes
21 strong, in the area not attributable to the plant.
22 Help me understand how you're able through your
23 science or study to delineate that out. And if
24 those odors aren't directly related to the plant,
25 can you identify some of the point sources of that?
118
1 MR. IWASZEK: I won't name names, but I
2 will say, for example, the dairy source has a
3 characteristic odor.
4 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: That's fine.
5 MR. IWASZEK: I think when I was here in
6 September somebody mentioned that there are ag
7 smells, so those exist out there.
8 But let me go back to your -- answer your
9 question. So one of the simplest ways to make a
10 determination that an odor is not coming from the
11 plant is if you're in an upwind condition from the
12 plant. So if the wind is blowing -- if you're
13 upwind of the plant and you're at a measurement
14 point, it logically doesn't follow that that could
15 be the plant. Could be if the wind had been blowing
16 in another direction. That's possible. It's always
17 possible. But after a certain amount of time, it
18 becomes pretty consistent that, you know, upwind
19 measurements from the plant are most likely not the
20 plant.
21 Further, you might detect an odor upwind
22 that's characteristic of, let's say, a feedlot or a
23 dairy. So that -- does that answer the question or
24 did I miss a piece of it? I think there was another
25 piece. Go ahead.
119
1 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Yeah. The piece was
2 how do you delineate the odor? Is there a specific
3 odor type that's associated with directly the plant
4 that you can identify? And so when you're -- you're
5 going out there and doing these samples, for
6 example, are there specific odor types to -- like
7 you said, dairies, feedlots, other point sources?
8 MR. IWASZEK: Odors are pretty complicated
9 and there's a lot of complexity. I'm going to turn
10 to my colleague here, Shari. Are you going to be able
11 to talk a little bit about this?
12 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: If you're going to
13 deal with this later --
14 MR. IWASZEK: Let's allow the next
15 presenter to. But I don't want --
16 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: It could be answered
17 by others.
18 MR. IWASZEK: The point is it's pretty
19 complicated. But over time -- and this is also why
20 it's important to have multiple observers and to
21 check against each other. At various times two of
22 us would go out and we'd do the run together and
23 kind of check each other --
24 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Okay.
25 MR. IWASZEK: -- based on numerics, and,
120
1 What do you smell? What are you smelling? You
2 could say it smells like.
3 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Okay.
4 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Actually, I'll wait.
5 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Any other --
6 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I have a
7 question.
8 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Go ahead.
9 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So basically by
10 your words, though, you could determine that there
11 are some odors that were existent that aren't
12 associated with the facility.
13 MR. IWASZEK: Based on wind conditions
14 and -- yeah.
15 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So it was just
16 based on wind conditions?
17 MR. IWASZEK: Well, wind conditions -- I
18 mean, if you're standing -- for example, if you're
19 upwind of the plant at -- if I may, this standard --
20 this standard location here, this is the
21 intersection of County 42 and 47. There's an
22 agricultural operation there. If you're standing at
23 that location, and you're upwind of the plant, and
24 you smell manure and perhaps silage, it's probably
25 not the plant.
121
1 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And could you
2 describe the odors that you were measuring?
3 MR. IWASZEK: I think I -- I think I
4 mentioned those the last time. We -- there are --
5 you can -- you can smell kind of a manure -like
6 smell, but it wasn't quite -- I'm going to go out on
7 a limb here. I'm sure I'm going to read about this
8 someplace. But there's that -- it's kind of a sweet
9 manure smell versus a more sour manure smell. There
10 you go. Always get laughing. But, you know, you
11 make those distinctions.
12 But really it is a perception kind of a
13 thing. And you do start to get accustomed, if you
14 will, or get familiarized -- is a better word --
15 with the kind of odors and aromas in the area. So
16 I'm not sure I'm answering your question.
17 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I'm good for
18 right now.
19 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Any other questions?
20 Okay. Thank you.
21 MR. IWASZEK: All right.
22 MR. THOMAS: Okay. So George just
23 discussed the odor measurements that were taken,
24 that kind of stuff. Now I'd like to introduce you
25 to Dr. Shari Libicki who is going to discuss the
122
1 odors and how they relate to complaints.
2 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Good afternoon.
3 DR. LIBICKI: Good afternoon.
4 Commissioners, Chair Freeman, thanks for your time
5 today. My voice was actually just fine before, so I
6 have to apologize for this.
7 I'm here to discuss the odor complaint
8 analysis. And that actually addresses some of the
9 questions that you were asking previously.
10 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Go ahead and put your
11 name and address in.
12 DR. LIBICKI: Okay. I didn't want to take
13 the time doing this.
14 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: I just mean for the
15 record. You can sign that whenever you get a
16 chance.
17 DR. LIBICKI: Got it. Okay. So my name
18 is Shari Libicki. Would you like me to read my
19 address into the record as well?
20 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Please.
21 DR. LIBICKI: I'm at 201 California
22 Street, No. 1200, in San Francisco, California.
23 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
24 DR. LIBICKI: I am with Ramboll Environ.
25 This is a little bit of bio of me. I have a Ph.D.
123
1 in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University. I
2 also teach there. I've been doing air quality work
3 for about 25 plus years. And a lot of that work has
4 been odor work as well.
5 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay.
6 DR. LIBICKI: So what this is all about is
7 the evaluation and characterization of odor
8 complaints. Because we've talked about numbers of
9 odor complaints, so I think it's important to talk
10 about what an odor complaint really is. It's a
11 single complaint reported by the County. And it's
12 important to note that there's somewhat uneven
13 reporting by the County. In other words, there
14 are some times when the County would take several
15 complaints into one complaint report. There
16 are other times when people would report several
17 times -- oh, sorry. Thanks. There we go. There
18 are other times where people would take several
19 complaints and ask the County to log them
20 separately. So the numbers are actually a little
21 bit variable in terms of how they log them.
22 So there was one instance where the
23 recording said, Please log four yes -- four
24 complaints from last evening, 5:15, 5:30, 6:45 and
25 8:15. And those were logged as four separate
124
1 complaints.
2 In addition, there's other times when the
3 County received a call with a number of complaints
4 on various days at one time. And those were also
5 logged separately as well.
6 What I want to talk about today is that
7 some complaints are not consistent with wind
8 direction, and many complaints are not consistent
9 with the odor monitoring data.
10 But first I want to talk about the
11 distribution of complaints among the top
12 complainants. And here we see the 12 top
13 complainants, which account for about 80 percent of
14 the total complaints. And sometimes a complainant
15 would record more than one complaint in a day. And
16 so it's just important to understand how those
17 numbers look.
18 In the instance of Complainant No. 1,
19 about 25 percent of the complaints reported were
20 duplicates. They were, in other words, complaints
21 that were occurring more than once in a day. And as
22 you can see from the -- the data that I read before,
23 sometimes it's -- frequently it's within 15 minutes
24 of one another. You can see this varied by
25 complainant in terms of ratio as well.
125
1 I want to talk a little bit about
2 consistency with wind direction. As Mr. Iwaszek
3 said, if a complaint is upwind, then it can't really
4 be associated with the facility itself. And there's
5 a couple of things you have to do in order to make
6 sure that you're really doing this carefully. If
7 the wind speed is very slow, there's really no such
8 things as upwind or downwind. So if the wind speed
9 was slow, we considered any direction to be
10 downwind.
11 In addition, we looked back two hours from
12 the timing of the complaint just to make sure that
13 if the complaint timing was a little bit off that we
14 picked up the correct wind direction. And what we
15 found was that -- oh, and we also used a fairly wide
16 range of wind directions.
17 So if the wind was blowing in the due east
18 direction, we said that anybody who was downwind,
19 between northeast and north-northeast and southeast
20 and south-southeast would be considered to be
21 downwind. So in other words, we allowed some wiggle
22 for the wind in addition to going back for two
23 hours. And even with that very wide range of
24 acceptability, we found that 13 percent of the
25 complaints were not downwind of the facility.
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1 So let me give you an example of what that
2 looks like. This is a drawing of the Heartland
3 facility. This is the wind direction. And it was
4 actually fairly consistent with those two hours. So
5 that's the wind direction there. That's that wide
6 range that I talked about that we allowed a fairly
7 wide range for allowance for that wind direction.
8 So if the complaint was received from
9 anywhere in this area, it would be downwind of the
10 facility. If the complaint was actually received
11 from this area, clearly not consistent with wind
12 directions in the facility.
13 I want to talk a bit about consistency
14 with odor monitoring. This was an analysis to pair
15 what Mr. Iwaszek did with his odor monitoring with
16 the complaint data. And we found 48 instances where
17 the odor monitoring was done contemporaneously with
18 the complaint data. And so that really allowed us
19 to understand whether the odor monitoring data was
20 consistent with the complaint data.
21 And in order to do this analysis, we
22 looked at distance of the complaint, wind speed, and
23 wind direction, and we considered the timing of the
24 monitoring versus the timing of the complaint. And
25 of the 48 instances that we had in the record, 25,
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1 or 52 percent, were not consistent with the odor
2 monitoring.
3 And so let me give you an example of that.
4 This is an example of where the odor monitoring was
5 consistent with the wind dir -- I'm sorry, the odor
6 complaint was consistent with the wind direction but
7 not consistent with the monitoring. So the wind
8 shifted over this two-hour period, as I mentioned
9 before. We looked to a two-hour period before the
10 complaint. And anything in that range would have
11 been consistent with wind direction.
12 This was the area that the odor complaint
13 was received from. You can see it's on the edge,
14 but nonetheless within what we would consider to be
15 valid with wind direction. However, this was the
16 monitoring that had taken place. And the monitoring
17 there you can see is all zero or 1. That means
18 basically no odor or faint odor. And this was
19 actually upwind of the facility when it was taken.
20 So the wind was going in this direction when this
21 odor measurement, which was a 4, was taken. And so
22 that's an example of where the odor complaint is not
23 consistent with the odor monitoring.
24 And interestingly enough, the consistency
25 of odor complaint with monitoring varied with
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1 individual. So these are, again, the top 12
2 complainants. This number is the number of
3 complaints in total received by that complainant.
4 You see that goes down over time. This represents
5 the number of complaints that corresponded with odor
6 measurement for that complainant.
7 So I -- so you can see this first
8 complainant, there were eight instances out of the
9 95 complaints where it corresponded with an odor
10 measurement itself. Five of those were inconsistent
11 with the odor measurement, three were consistent
12 with the odor monitoring.
13 And you can see it varied by individual.
14 And -- and really once you get beyond these top
15 four, this starts to get lost in the statistics.
16 But you can see it's fairly consistent for C2, C3
17 and c4.
18 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Conway,
19 did you have a question?
20 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: I think she just
21 answered it.
22 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay.
23 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Thank you.
24 DR. LIBICKI: So, you know, why are odor
25 complaints difficult to use --
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1 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Oh, I do.
2 DR. LIBICKI: Do you want me to go back?
3 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: No. So you had said
4 in 48 instances where odor monitor was -- correlated
5 the monitoring and the complaints.
6 DR. LIBICKI: In time.
7 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: What -- were you
8 able to delineate out what the source of the odor
9 was in terms of the data that was being collected in
10 terms of the -- in your review of the odor data?
11 DR. LIBICKI: You know, it's funny because
12 in that the one example I gave you, that -- that
13 actually seems to correlate with the -- with the
14 upwind value. But I'm not really sure that that's
15 the case because downwind we didn't see it. So I
16 think the answer is no, not really. In some
17 instances maybe we could, but it's hard to do.
18 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Okay. Thank you.
19 DR. LIBICKI: So, you know, why are odor
20 complaints difficult to use quantitatively? Well,
21 first, different people have different sensitivities
22 to odor. And I think we all recognize that.
23 Different odors are difficult to
24 distinguish. You asked about could you identify it
25 by the odor. And there are methodologies for doing
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1 that. But the complaint data actually doesn't have
2 enough information to allow us to do that either.
3 And -- and this is -- this third point is
4 actually really important. After a significant and
5 upsetting odor event, you know, something that, for
6 example, may have happened in April with this
7 facility, people become sensitized to odors. They
8 become angry. They become aggravated. And even the
9 smallest odor or something that's not quite the same
10 is upsetting, and it's reported as an odor. And
11 sometimes you wind up reporting odors as a result of
12 what's called odor memory. And I've had that
13 experience myself as well.
14 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. We don't need
15 that.
16 DR. LIBICKI: And odor monitoring, like
17 the nasal ranger, provides quantitative information.
18 And we were able to use that with the wind speed,
19 wind direction, odor dilution to really be able to
20 gauge the odors here. And, you know, consistent
21 odor monitoring -- and I think it's very
22 important -- can assist in odor identification and
23 mitigation.
24 So can odor complaints be used for an
25 accurate analysis? Unfortunately, odor complaints
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1 are not actually indicative of odor generation
2 because there's multiple complaints in a single day
3 in this case from single individuals. Some
4 complaints are inconsistent with wind direction.
5 Many complaints are inconsistent with odor
6 monitoring. And then, importantly, there's
7 inconsistencies in varying levels of odors. They
8 can be mild versus very strong.
9 And I'm happy to answer any questions.
10 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Questions?
11 Commissioner Kirkmeyer.
12 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Sure. In your
13 experience, can you tell us how you would determine
14 between what's a nuisance and a 7:1 standard?
15 DR. LIBICKI: So I've done this kind of
16 odor work in lots and lots of different states. And
17 that standard is actually always a state
18 determination. So for example, a nuisance standard
19 in Texas is very consistent with a 7:1, whereas in
20 Indiana and Ohio the nuisance standards are a little
21 more diffuse. So it's really a state -by -state call.
22 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay. So what is
23 it, in your opinion?
24 DR. LIBICKI: In my opinion it's whatever
25 the State determines it is. A nuisance is, at the
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1 end of the day, a legal call.
2 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So if it doesn't
3 reach the 7:1 standard, you don't believe that the
4 odor can be a nuisance?
5 DR. LIBICKI: So I don't believe that's
6 what I said. What I said it's a state -to -state
7 call.
8 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: No. I understand
9 that. But I'm asking what your opinion is since
10 you're presented here as an expert.
11 DR. LIBICKI: Right. I'm an expert in
12 analyzing these. I'm not an expert in state
13 regulations.
14 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay.
15 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Any other
16 further questions? Okay. Thank you.
17 DR. LIBICKI: Thank you.
18 MR. THOMAS: So we've addressed the odors.
19 We've also been discussing in the briefings LSA,
20 Liquid Soil Amendment, nutrient rich irrigation
21 water. Here to address that is Tom Haren with
22 AGPROfessionals.
23 MR. HAREN: Good afternoon, Commissioners.
24 Tom Haren, AGPROfessionals, 3050 - 67th Avenue,
25 Greeley, Colorado.
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1 And I do want to discuss and answer some
2 of your questions with regard to our Liquid Soil
3 Amendment. This is a very large project. And I
4 want to point out that there are not regulations you
5 will find in State statute or solid waste or Weld
6 County specific to anaerobic digestion.
7 When we started these projects, way back
8 to 2009 to 2010, we convened a series of meetings
9 with the developers, the CDPHE solid waste, Weld
10 County staff, and there were some other ancillary
11 groups involved, the energy office and things of
12 that nature, to establish what a regulatory
13 framework for this would be. It didn't fit under
14 Reg 14 exactly, the compost regs, although there are
15 many similarities. It didn't fit into the waste --
16 the energy regs. There's waste energy regs. That
17 sounds logical, but that was for incineration, which
18 is not even comparable. And this isn't strictly
19 solid waste.
20 So what we worked on and worked out was
21 this was a hybridization of pieces and parts of
22 Reg 14 and Reg 18 from the waste energy and the
23 composting regulations. And the regulation would be
24 a hybrid that would be formalized in the EDOP.
25 Now, the feedstocks to this from our
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1 original premise and today is primarily manures from
2 local dairies, ag waste, preapproved food waste,
3 substances that you would see and are in existing
4 Weld County Class I composting facilities, and that
5 the byproducts of this, the solids and liquids, are
6 beneficial. The products of this would be a
7 finished compost or finished product just like in
8 the composting regulations.
9 Once you meet the requirements stipulated
10 in the regulations, it can be freely marketed and
11 distributed as a product. So this is what it says
12 in Reg 14. I won't quote. You can read it. But
13 basically if we meet the specifications in Table 1
14 of Regulation 14 for anolytes, heavy metals,
15 pathogens, things of that nature, it is considered
16 finished. It is no longer a solid waste. It's a
17 product. Once it is finished and proven safe and is
18 a product, it's acceptable for unrestricted use.
19 So while biogas is the primary component
20 of this project, the solids and liquids were
21 classified under compost through in -vessel
22 composting. There's many different kinds of
23 composting. Familiar with windrow composting,
24 static pile, aerated composting, anaerobic, and
25 in -vessel composting. And this fits with the
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1 in -vessel composting under Reg 14.
2 And once we have finished compost criteria
3 by testing, we can have unrestricted distribution,
4 just like all Colorado commercial compost. And the
5 liquids from this digester are treated in the same
6 way.
7 Now, CDPHE gave us options for
8 transferring liquids as a product. So these chart
9 numbers might be small, but I'll paraphrase. This
10 is the anolytes in Table 1, primarily heavy metals.
11 But the most important ones are the biologicals,
12 fecal coliform and salmonella. That proves that
13 it's safe to be handled or meeting those
14 specifications it can be distributed as a product.
15 Now, what this product is like, it's very
16 similar in nature to our dairy and feedyard manure
17 wastewater that we're all familiar with that's
18 commonly land applied. The difference on this is
19 our LSA -- this is screened to meet efficacy
20 requirements of the soil amendment. It's screened
21 to meet the compost safety requirements of both CDA
22 and CDPHE. And unlike our dairy wastewater, this
23 product is raised to temperatures during digestion
24 to destroy those pathogens.
25 So this is the timeline. Lot of dates and
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1 discussions. But I'll, again, summarize that these
2 went back and forth between CDPHE and the County and
3 the Department of Agricultural about how to regulate
4 this product.
5 And after concurrence, primarily by CDPHE,
6 we followed the registration procedures with the
7 Colorado Department of Ag, and was issued a project
8 registration on June 6th, 2013, under a label as a
9 liquid soil amendment. At that time the CDA stated
10 the LSA could be distributed.
11 This is a copy of that registration.
12 Again, little hard to see in presentation format.
13 But what we're seeing is for agronomic
14 efficacy, this product is -- compared to
15 agricultural dairy waters and things that had more
16 common reference points, this is more stable, it's
17 more consistent, it has a lot of trace elements that
18 are very beneficial.
19 And we studied this intensely during this
20 2016 crop season. This material was transferred as
21 a product, third -party transfer of a finished
22 product on lots of crops, primarily corn, alfalfa,
23 and triticale, but we also worked with wheat and
24 oats. We've seen a great interest in the product.
25 And we met extensively with area growers before and
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1 when they were using the product about chemical
2 analysis, application scenarios, range, and
3 potential application rates.
4 We took soil samples, tissue samples
5 throughout 2016 to monitor quality characteristics
6 in the crop and monitor nutrient and salt levels in
7 the soil and to document the efficacy of the
8 product.
9 So I can answer questions.
10 I'd like to clear up the confusion both on
11 the soil -- Solid Soil Amendment and the Liquid Soil
12 Amendment. These are products. When we meet
13 Regulation 14, Table 1, these are no longer solid
14 waste, just like our other composting and Class I
15 facilities that have been before you.
16 We meet those requirements of Reg 14,
17 Table 1. That's been successfully used on different
18 crops this growing season. It has dramatic
19 beneficial use in accordance with CDA approved label
20 and registration.
21 And some of the correspondence and things
22 going around confused some terms that get
23 intermingled. And one is beneficial use, versus
24 beneficial use determination. One is generic, does
25 a product have a beneficial use, is it useful for
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1 some type of activity or service. And the other is
2 a beneficial use determination, which is a specific
3 determination usually for single site waste that are
4 being land applied that the State would determine
5 that it has a beneficial use determination or not.
6 And that's a specific designation.
7 We don't need a beneficial use designation
8 on this. It is a product. It meets the regulation,
9 Table 14 -- or Reg 14, Table 1. So I wanted to
10 clear -- clear that up.
11 Over a dozen growers have been utilizing
12 this for the 2016 crop season. And we're seeing a
13 strong emerging market for this organic natural
14 product. So a couple of other things that came up, I
15 thought I would answer them in sequence because we
16 have a lot going on today.
17 Commissioner Cozad had some questions
18 about the stormwater drainage and lagoons. Like I
19 said, there is not a regulation for anaerobic
20 digesters. This is a hybrid. The project was a
21 design -build and the regulatory process was almost a
22 design -build as well. We were in very constant,
23 strict communication with many agencies as we
24 developed this.
25 The EDOP is the guiding document, but it
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1 is a guiding document, and I want to stress that.
2 We were submitting change orders and amendments to
3 the EDOP at one point on almost a weekly basis.
4 This project is very complex. We have not only
5 monitoring wells, we have double liners, leachate
6 collections, all kinds of safety fail -safes that
7 were designed into this.
8 And as a design -build project, we kept
9 submitting these changes and EDOP alterations with
10 the State, which were fine, and they would be
11 approved. But at one point the State said, Wait a
12 minute, stop sending all of these EDOP changes
13 because, number one, you're overwhelming us, and,
14 number two, all of the safety requirements -- the
15 important things, the liners, the monitoring, the
16 fail -safes, all of the QA/QC, the third -party
17 verification had been submitted.
18 But when we're submitting EDOP amendments
19 to say this valve that was over here is now going to
20 be over here, that's not going to be a weir box,
21 it's going to be a spillway, the lagoon was going to
22 be this wide, now it's going to be a little longer.
23 The State said, Okay. Just wait -- finish the
24 project. And they said, Wait until the DSSOP, the
25 solids area where we're receiving those from the
140
1 digester, wait till that project is complete and
2 submit one final finished document.
3 So a lot of the questions have been in the
4 amendments and the documentation. They're in the
5 draft EDOP. They are by request of the agencies in
6 abeyance until we are totally complete with all the
7 modifications and changes.
8 So, Commissioner Cozad, to answer your
9 question, on the storm drainage, those have been
10 accounted for, those have been documented in the
11 as -built. They're in the amendments. They are
12 pending for the DSSOP, the pilot project, to be
13 complete, and all of this submitted in one final
14 document. So I hope that alleviates some of that
15 confusion.
16 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Cozad.
17 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Thank you, Mr. Chair.
18 I appreciate your answer to the questions,
19 Mr. Haren, but actually I do have some additional
20 questions for you. You've stated that -- that these
21 changes because it's a design -build are happening
22 kind of out in the field as you're going along, and
23 that the State says go ahead and just submit
24 everything when you're all done. But what
25 conversations have you had with the County on all
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1 these design changes? Because my understanding --
2 and I know you've done projects in Weld County for a
3 long time -- is that that process actually goes
4 through the County as you're making those changes,
5 because we have to determine from a land use
6 standpoint if those are substantial enough to make
7 you go back and do an amended USR or potentially
8 look at the CD as a part of that. So can you answer
9 that question, because to me the storm drainage is
10 really more of a County design and part of our
11 permit than it is the State's permit.
12 MR. HAREN: I can. And, you know, it's
13 ludicrous to think that we had such massive amounts,
14 and I mean massive amounts of documentation, for
15 three or four years and then it just quit. We have
16 worked in the County for over 20 years. And whether
17 it's water quality, air quality or solid waste,
18 correspondence and information going back and forth,
19 it's copied to your health department.
20 Now, am I to say every single e-mail and
21 private correspondence and phone call, those all
22 weren't copied. But the large documents, the
23 changes -- we have a MyDoc site, basically a Dropbox
24 type of site. These are AutoCAD files, very
25 large files. We upload and submit that. And all
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1 the parties involved, both the owners, the review
2 agencies, the health departments, they are party to
3 that site. And we can document and show who's been
4 in there, who opened and reviewed what. And we have
5 -- we have substantial amounts of records that
6 haven't been reviewed or even opened.
7 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Was one of those part
8 of the storm drainage design that was approved by
9 the County?
10 MR. HAREN: Well, there's more than that.
11 But I don't want to throw your staff under the bus
12 because here's why. This project is getting a lot
13 of scrutiny and looking back after the fact and
14 saying, well, we should have done this or we should
15 have done that. I've done several solid waste
16 facilities in Weld County, several Class I
17 facilities. And the County's position historically
18 has been the leading State agency has the technical
19 expertise and does the reviews, the County's a
20 participant, gets copied. But typically the County
21 doesn't review those until they're final and the
22 State agency says, okay, we're done, it's final,
23 it's okay with us, how about you?
24 It happens the same way with the Mine Land
25 Reclamation Board, your gravel mining permit. Your
143
1 staff's a party to those, but the MLRB does their
2 job, gets those documents. When they're final or
3 about final it goes to the County. The County
4 either says I got comments or I don't. But
5 historically you've neither had the staff manpower,
6 the technical expertise to be doing -- like the
7 anaerobic digester. It's a party that you're copied
8 on, but historically the County has waited until to
9 the end. And that's how all of our other projects
10 have gone. And I understand how looking back after
11 the scrutiny of this project saying would have,
12 could have, should have. But that's historically
13 how things have gone here.
14 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Well, and I
15 understand that since, you know, we do have all
16 kinds of land use applications that do go through
17 our County process, and there are State agencies
18 that -- lots of different State agencies that review
19 and approve different parts and permits. But, you
20 know, there -- just seems to me there is some
21 miscommunication between the County and the
22 respondent on this case in particular. And you
23 mentioned the DSSOP. That's another example.
24 So really I think today was the first time
25 I had heard that that was a pilot program that was
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1 put together for a one-year time frame. And prior
2 to that I don't think there's -- I didn't see
3 anything in the file that talked about that at all.
4 So to me some of those kinds of things
5 should be communicated back to the County because it
6 is a part of our -- our land use USR process, and I
7 think we should be aware of those things. And like
8 I said, today was the first time I had heard about
9 that.
10 But can you maybe address that, the pilot
11 program, too?
12 MR. HAREN: I can and we're not using the
13 term pilot program. DSSOP -- the receiving area for
14 the solids that come off of the digester are stored
15 on a compacted grated drained pad. Originally the
16 State had said, We want you to make a concrete and
17 impermeable pad. And we said, Wait a minute, this
18 is dried, finished product that we're stacking. And
19 they said, Okay, in lieu of a concrete impermeable
20 pad, you can stack it there, you can store it there.
21 We want you to monitor and do soil samples and check
22 that over the next year to see if there's any
23 problems with that. And that would -- if -- if that
24 data checks out, then we wouldn't have to do the
25 impermeable concrete pad. It's not really a pilot.
145
1 COMMISSIONER COZAD: So the actual process
2 is not a pilot. It's the materials that you're
3 using on the pad and the monitoring that has to
4 happen for those certain type of materials.
5 MR. HAREN: It's the pad itself. Do we
6 need a concrete pad to store dried, finished
7 product? And they said, Well, that makes sense, but
8 let's do some testing for a year, do the soil
9 testing. Those results of that procedure for the
10 last year are due the first of next year, as is the
11 final all -encompassing EDOP, because the State said
12 wait until the DSSOP. You get that data. That's
13 the final QA/QC checkout that we have to do. You do
14 that data, wrap all of the -- I think we're up to
15 16 various amendments, wrap all of that into one
16 final document, and submit it to us. And the
17 date's, like, the first quarter of 2017.
18 As far as documents, this project has gone
19 on for a number of years. Three of the four key
20 people at the State Health Department that have been
21 immensely involved with this are retired. Some of
22 the staff at the County that was very involved with
23 this -- to Ben's defense, I don't think he was here
24 or involved in this project through the majority,
25 definitely not in the beginning. I think one of
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1 your staff at the time was Heather Barbare. But
2 there has been turnover and changes both -- in my
3 organization as well. So, yes, there are some gaps.
4 But in general the body of work, all of the agencies
5 were informed and all the agencies were copied.
6 COMMISSIONER COZAD: And then just one
7 final question, if that's okay, Mr. Chair.
8 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes. Go ahead.
9 COMMISSIONER COZAD: On the land
10 application soil amendment process, you have the
11 registration from Department of Ag, correct?
12 MR. HAREN: Um -hum.
13 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Are there other
14 permits that are required for land application or is
15 that the only one?
16 MR. HAREN: Well, Commissioner Kirkmeyer
17 brought up do we have a Weld County land application
18 permit. And we don't need one. We don't need a
19 land application permit to apply manure. We don't
20 need a land application permit for fertilizer or
21 pesticides and herbicides. They're products. We're
22 dealing with wastes, like whey product from Meadow
23 Gold or paunch from JBS, which is typically -- or
24 historically been handled with some disposal -type
25 method for land application. You need a Weld County
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1 land application permit. But this is a finished
2 product.
3 Our other Class I compost facilities when
4 they have a finished compost and it's bulk sold or
5 even bag sold, and you go to Home Depot and buy your
6 bag of compost, those facilities, we do not have
7 land application permits to apply that material or
8 distribute that material.
9 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Was that a part of
10 your USR, that you were going to have that as a part
11 of this process and...
12 MR. HAREN: I don't recall that a Weld
13 County land application permit was specific in the
14 USR.
15 COMMISSIONER COZAD: So just to make sure
16 I'm understanding what you're saying, it is your
17 opinion that no other permits, including a Weld
18 County land application permit, is required?
19 MR. HAREN: Correct.
20 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Department of Ag
21 is -- you're done.
22 MR. HAREN: State Health Department, which
23 we continue to have to do analysis for consistency
24 and meeting the requirement of Table 1, that is an
25 ongoing requirement in the EDOP. And the Colorado
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1 Department of Agriculture registration.
2 COMMISSIONER COZAD: And it has to do with
3 being a finished product?
4 MR. HAREN: Correct.
5 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay. I don't have
6 anything else right now.
7 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
8 Commissioner Kirkmeyer.
9 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Just to follow up
10 on that, so your opinion, again, that it's a product
11 and -- it's essentially like liquid fertilizer is
12 what you're saying basically?
13 MR. HAREN: Actually it is tested and
14 registered as a Liquid Soil Amendment, yeah.
15 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay. And I am
16 assuming that Heartland is getting paid to apply it
17 to the farmer's land or not? Did you just say it's
18 a third -party transaction?
19 MR. HAREN: No. We have not been selling
20 or getting paid to apply this. We are in the -- the
21 product development stage of the market. We are
22 doing field testing. We're following -- we're --
23 we're doing and following all the soil sampling,
24 tissue sampling, things of that nature.
25 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: But Heartland
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1 isn't applying it to their own properties, they're
2 applying it to area farmers' properties with large
3 acreage, correct?
4 MR. HAREN: Area farmers are applying it,
5 yes.
6 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay. That's
7 great.
8 I do have just one other quick question.
9 So Heartland Renewable Energy, LLC, you were a
10 consultant for them?
11 MR. HAREN: Correct.
12 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And now you're a
13 consultant for Heartland Biogas, LLC?
14 MR. HAREN: Correct.
15 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And you had two
16 different contracts with each one?
17 MR. HAREN: Yes.
18 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Great. Thank
19 you.
20 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Any further questions?
21 Okay. Thanks, Tom.
22 MR. THOMAS: I know this has been a long
23 presentation. We're obviously talking about a lot
24 of information here as we heard at the very
25 beginning of the hearing. So I was going to say,
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1 there's only two more presenters, right, and they're
2 both relatively brief.
3 In the very beginning of the hearing we
4 heard about a conversation about the CD. And in
5 order to really clarify our position, I would ask
6 Garry Kaufman to the podium to present.
7 MR. KAUFMAN: Thank you. Garry Kaufman
8 from Holland and Hart on behalf of Heartland Biogas.
9 Really, I wanted to clear up some of the -- what I
10 think are misconceptions about the requirements
11 surrounding the CD because I think there was a lot
12 of discussion this morning that frankly wasn't
13 exactly on point.
14 First of all, I think it's important that
15 all of you understand that there's no specific
16 provision in the Colorado solid waste statute that
17 says that a new owner has to get a new CD from the
18 County or from the State. It's simply not addressed
19 in the statute.
20 The issue has come up based on a letter
21 from Mr. Kreutzer from the Attorney General's
22 Office, which took some language from a 1982
23 Colorado court opinion that, frankly, was somewhat
24 loose language, that didn't really address the
25 issues presented in that case, but suggested that
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1 under certain circumstances that may be the case.
2 Mr. Garcia talked about that case a
3 little. It really is important to note that the
4 Court did not squarely address that issue and did
5 not address what does the statute really mean when
6 you have a situation such as this where a CD is
7 issued to an owner, the facility itself is
8 transferred, and what is the process that followed.
9 Now, neither the statute, the court case,
10 the regulations, any of the guidance documents from
11 the State of Colorado provide that if you do need to
12 transfer the CD through some process, what that
13 process ought to be. I think there's been a lot of
14 assumptions about what that process ought to be,
15 that it's somehow a new full-blown hearing on the CD
16 that you start anew.
17 Well, that's just not reflected in any of
18 the legal documents that apply to this case and, in
19 fact, is not really what Mr. Kreutzer said.
20 If you look at Mr. Kreutzer's letter, what
21 he indicates is a very limited process would need to
22 be followed to discuss the new owner and to see if
23 that new owner was a proper owner of the facility
24 insofar as it had the ability to run that facility
25 consistent with the solid waste regulations.
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1 Now, you know, his rationale for his
2 opinion -- and, again, it's just his opinion. I
3 think there was some discussion this morning that
4 the State has decided that the facility does not
5 have a valid CD.
6 Well, that's not the case. There's never
7 been an adjudication on this. This is the first
8 chance that Heartland has had to discuss this issue
9 and offer its opinion. There hasn't been a trier of
10 fact who has considered both the facts and the law
11 and made a determination, but rather Mr. Kreutzer,
12 who I know and respect, has offered his opinion
13 based on some language from a case that that's what
14 he thinks the County ought to follow.
15 But the rationale for his opinion is that
16 the County needs to and ought to have an opportunity
17 to consider Heartland Biogas as the owner of the
18 facility, and make that assessment as to whether
19 Heartland Biogas is, in fact, a proper owner of this
20 kind of facility.
21 Now, we detail this a lot more in our
22 written submittal to you. And there's actually a
23 lot of information in that submittal, which I know
24 you just got today. You haven't had a chance to
25 consider all of that. We would ask that you
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1 consider all of that because we've gone into some
2 detail not only on the CD issue, but on all the
3 issues that we've discussed today.
4 But if you look at the materials in our
5 written submittal, you'll see that the County has,
6 in fact, had ample opportunity to consider whether
7 Heartland Biogas is an appropriate owner of this
8 facility and can run this facility consistent with
9 the solid waste regulations.
10 There's been a whole slew of actions by
11 the County as part of the planning process that has
12 specifically acknowledged that Heartland Biogas is
13 the owner, has specifically looked at the financial
14 guarantees, and approved the financial guarantees
15 from Heartland Biogas as the owner, and allowed
16 Heartland Biogas to go forward in reliance on all of
17 these approvals in the planning process to spend
18 approximately $115 million.
19 Now, under these circumstances, it's our
20 position that you can't say that there was never an
21 opportunity for the -- for the County to assess
22 whether Heartland Biogas truly is an appropriate
23 owner and should have the ability to run this
24 facility because, frankly, that's not what's
25 happened. And the County and the State and the
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1 company all along the process have understood who
2 the owner was, what they're going to do, and what
3 their capabilities are.
4 Now, I think it's important to note that
5 the CD issue even before Heartland Biogas took over
6 was never done as any sort of separate proceeding.
7 There was never a CD proceeding that the County
8 engaged in to issue a document called a CD. In
9 fact, there is no document that is a CD. It was
10 always done as part of the land use process, first
11 as part of the Use by Special Review, second by the
12 amendment to the Use of Special Review, and then, we
13 submit, as part of the subsequent planning efforts
14 of the County in issuing the plat, in accepting the
15 guarantees, and in moving forward with the building
16 permits and all the myriad of planning documents
17 that you guys deal with on a day-to-day basis.
18 Now, this isn't a case -- when somebody
19 says Heartland Biogas never got a CD, it sounds
20 really bad. It sounds like this company came in,
21 they built a whole solid waste facility, never told
22 anybody about it, and then said, aha, here we are,
23 now you guys have to accept it.
24 Well, that's not what happened here. The
25 company was always aboveboard from the very start
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1 about its ownership of the facility. It
2 submitted -- as soon as the transfer of ownership of
3 the facility occurred, it submitted a specific
4 change request to the State indicating that it was
5 the owner of the facility. The State specifically
6 approved that. Never said one word about needing to
7 go back to the County and get a CD.
8 Heartland Biogas specifically informed the
9 County -- and all this stuff's in our written
10 submittals. There's documents on all of this.
11 -- specifically informed the County that it was the
12 owner of the facility for the purposes of the CD.
13 The County never raised any concerns about it as an
14 owner or that it was not an appropriate owner of the
15 facility.
16 Under these circumstances it ought to be
17 considered that the County has given its de facto
18 approval to Heartland Biogas as the de -- as the
19 owner of the facility for the purposes of the CD.
20 Now, I think there's another question
21 that -- that I think there's a misunderstanding.
22 You know, certainly our position, and I think it's
23 well supported by both the facts and the law, is
24 that there is a valid CD in place for Heartland
25 Biogas, the current owner of the facility.
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1 But what if there was a determination
2 that, no, under the circumstances, somehow that
3 transfer of ownership wasn't properly undertaken. I
4 think there was some discussion this morning that,
5 well, if that wasn't happened, then the facility can
6 no longer operate.
7 Well, that's just simply not the case.
8 mean, this is one of the -- this is one of the
9 requirements that are applicable to this facility,
10 just like the myriad of other requirements, just
11 like the requirements to obtain air permits, like
12 the requirements to obtain water permits, like the
13 requirements to follow certain of the requirements
14 under the Weld County Code. If there's a deviation
15 from that, that doesn't mean the facility has to
16 stop operating. It means that it comes before the
17 Board. Oftentimes it means that it's just going to
18 be done on an administrative level.
19 But in some cases it may come before the
20 Board, and the Board has to decide what is the
21 appropriate remedy. And it's not the case that if
22 there is a deviation, then automatically that
23 justifies revoking or suspending the permit.
24 There's provisions in your own code that discuss the
25 factors that ought to be considered. Again, this is
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1 discussed at some length in our brief. And those
2 things need to be followed. And you need to
3 consider all these factors.
4 And these are real world factors. I mean,
5 this isn't some legal technicality, you forgot to
6 check a form, therefore you've got to lose your
7 $115 million facility. I mean, these are things you
8 look at. What are the good faith efforts of the
9 company? What's the financial impact? What's the
10 nature of the violation? What's the -- the history
11 of the violation here? I mean, these are all
12 important things to consider when you're going to
13 decide such a drastic remedy as shutting down a
14 facility and putting a bunch people out of work.
15 So in this case, we have a clear pattern
16 of what occurred. From the start, Heartland Biogas
17 informed both the State and the County that they
18 were the owners. This was accepted for a period of
19 three years. Now, three years after the fact the
20 State has come in and said, you know, we've changed
21 our opinion a little. We think that maybe under the
22 circumstances really there wasn't an effective
23 transfer.
24 But look closely at that David Kreutzer
25 letter. It doesn't say this facility needs to stop
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1 operating. Far from it. What Mr. Kreutzer says is
2 this is a technical violation. It's something that
3 needs to be handled in the due course, not something
4 that needs to be done immediately. But the facility
5 ought to come in, submit an application to the
6 County. The County can engage in the process that
7 Mr. Kreutzer thinks is appropriate, and then we can
8 move on. And that's what we've done.
9 Now, we do believe that under the
10 circumstances it's almost inconceivable to me to say
11 that the County has never really considered this
12 issue because we've had so many of these activities
13 over the last three years. And in each and every
14 one there's never been a concern raised about this
15 company as appropriate owner.
16 But if that's the direction that the Board
17 would like to go, then let's have the process.
18 Let's discuss this. Let's go, let's correct this
19 technical violation, and let's move on to things
20 that really matter.
21 And so with that, I'm happy to take any
22 questions.
23 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Questions?
24 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I have some
25 questions.
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1 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes. Go ahead.
2 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: When did
3 Heartland Biogas apply for the CD?
4 MR. KAUFMAN: We submitted a letter on
5 approximately December 7th, maybe.
6 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: You submitted a
7 letter. Is that an actual application?
8 MR. KAUFMAN: Well, we did have
9 discussions with the County and with the State as to
10 what is an application for a CD. And all of this is
11 very interesting to me because I didn't know before.
12 One, I didn't know there wasn't any provisions that
13 said how do you deal with this thing that happens
14 commonly. Two, there's no application for a
15 transfer of ownership CD.
16 So they said just indicate that you want a
17 transfer of ownership, provide the financial
18 guarantees, which we did, and that's all you need to
19 do.
20 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So all that was
21 submitted on 12-7-16?
22 MR. KAUFMAN: I believe that that was the
23 date. And I don't have the letter right in front
24 me. It was on or about that date.
25 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So if you believe
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1 that we had a --
2 MR. BARKER: It's the 9th.
3 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I'm sorry. What?
4 MR. BARKER: 9th.
5 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: December 9th. So
6 if Heartland Biogas believed they had, in fact, a de
7 facto approval, why did you submit the letter?
8 MR. KAUFMAN: Well, because you asked us
9 to.
10 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Only because we
11 asked for it? Is that what you said?
12 MR. KAUFMAN: We want to be responsive.
13 You know, this is a technical issue here. It's in
14 my mind a complete legal technicality. It's not
15 something that was not done aboveboard with
16 everybody's awareness and full consent. But if you
17 want to go through the process, then we're happy to
18 go through the process.
19 It was similar to -- there was discussions
20 today about the APEN. I think it's pretty clear
21 that the APEN for the DPS, in my mind, is not
22 something that's required. In fact, that's what the
23 State said, it's not something required. But it
24 doesn't hurt to submit something. You get the
25 paperwork on. If that makes somebody feel better,
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1 then we're certainly willing to do that. If we want
2 to go -- if the County wants to go through the
3 process, we can do that. We do think that you can't
4 come back after the fact, more than three years
5 later, and say, You -- sure, we've given you all
6 these approvals, we've allowed you to spend
7 $115 million to build this facility, now we're going
8 to yank that out from under your feet because
9 somebody back in 2013 didn't think, hey, maybe
10 there's this case from 25 years ago that might have
11 somehow suggested that there was a different process
12 that ought to be followed.
13 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I want to be sure
14 I have it correct, so -- what you said. You said
15 that -- in fact, that there is a de facto approval
16 by the County of Heartland Biogas, LLC's,
17 Certificate of Designation. That it's only a
18 technical violation is what you believe what the
19 State was saying, but it's a technical violation.
20 You submitted a letter on 12 -- on December 9th of
21 2016 essentially applying for -- talking about the
22 transfer of ownership of a Certificate of
23 Designation because you believe there is a legal
24 technicality. But that was it. And then did I get
25 this correct when you said that there's never been a
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1 concern or question over how the operator operates?
2 Did you say that? I was trying to write down as you
3 were talking. Is that what you said?
4 MR. KAUFMAN: I think there's never been a
5 concern that this company has the financial
6 wherewithal to operate this type of facility.
7 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Even though --
8 the fact that we've been through a Probable Cause
9 and a couple Show Cause hearings where we're trying
10 to deal with odor?
11 MR. KAUFMAN: Well, and I think that --
12 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So that's your
13 opinion?
14 MR. KAUFMAN: Well, I think it's more than
15 my opinion. Mr. Kurzenhauser can discuss some of
16 the specifics. But the facility has committed over
17 $3 million to mitigate odors at the facility. I
18 think that that's certainly indicative of having the
19 financial wherewithal to address an issue, which
20 according to Mr. Iwaszek's testimony is something
21 that hasn't resulted in a violation for over eight
22 months.
23 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So, again, that's
24 your opinion. Thank you.
25 MR. KAUFMAN: I mean, that's the facts.
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1 They committed $3 million. I mean, I guess --
2 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: They're committed
3 to spending money. But it's your opinion that it's
4 resolved the odor issues and that they've committed
5 enough financial means to be able to operate the
6 facility in a manner that is consistent and
7 compliant with the USR and State statutes and State
8 regulations.
9 MR. KAUFMAN: Well --
10 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So, thanks.
11 That's all I had.
12 MR. KAUFMAN: I think that -- well,
13 I'll --
14 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Let me follow up
15 with that.
16 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Conway.
17 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Some of your
18 comments were predicated on your interaction and
19 your comments with the State of Colorado, correct --
20 MR. KAUFMAN: That's correct.
21 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: -- in terms of your
22 testimony here?
23 So it wasn't just your opinion, it was as
24 a result of communication with the State and the
25 County, correct?
164
1 MR. KAUFMAN: Certainly with the State.
2 And I've had a number of conversations with the
3 State about the odor issues.
4 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Okay. Thank you.
5 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Any other questions?
6 Okay. Thank you.
7 MR. KAUFMAN: Thank you.
8 MR. THOMAS: So this is the end of our
9 presentation. I appreciate your patience as we go
10 through this. This is an awful lot of stuff.
11 At this time I would like to introduce to
12 you Al Kurzenhauser, the vice president of Bioenergy
13 for EDF EN.
14 MR. KURZENHAUSER: Thank you. I'm Al
15 Kurzenhauser, vice president of Bioenergy with EDF EN. And I'm
16 at 1000 Southwest Broadway in Portland, Oregon. I'm
17 also on the executive committee of EDF EN, which is
18 a several billion dollar company in North America,
19 specializing in various forms of renewable energy.
20 My background is I started as a plant
21 operator 30 some years ago. Don't want to date my
22 age exactly. But I've been on the operating side of
23 these projects for many, many years; bioenergy
24 projects, wind projects, solar projects, combustion
25 projects, gas turbine projects.
165
1 So I really do understand the difficulties
2 of operating these projects as well as the rewards
3 and the successes of getting these complicated
4 machines to run right.
5 I'm also intimately familiar with the
6 difficulty of complying with environmental
7 regulations, oftentimes overlapping and conflicting
8 regulations. The regulatory environment, my
9 experience is -- my life experience is it still is
10 not completely and a hundred percently (sic) sorted
11 out. It's not like traffic violations. There are
12 overlaps. There's inconsistencies. And we're
13 seeing it here today.
14 So let me move on. Yeah. For the last
15 two hearings I've sat right here, so I've been
16 active in helping Jason all along. I'm sorry I
17 missed the July hearing. I wasn't available at that
18 time.
19 So what do we do at Heartland Biogas? We
20 convert organic waste. Let me stress that. We take
21 food waste, we take animal waste, we take manure,
22 natural stuff, and we convert it into natural gas
23 and compost and Liquid Soil Amendment. Everything
24 we do -- or everything that comes into our plant is
25 organic and everything that leaves is organic. I
166
1 want to stress that because there are no nasty
2 chemicals and there are -- this is not a processing
3 plant, like an oil processing plant or a chemical
4 processing plant.
5 Let's go to the next slide. Sorry. Which
6 one do I push, Jason?
7 MR. THOMAS: I'll do it.
8 MR. KURZENHAUSER: Okay. So in this -- in
9 this slide it shows some of the changes that have
10 taken place. I got involved in May.
11 Got to figure a way to kind of do this and
12 look at the Commissioners respectfully and look at
13 the presentation and try to do both. Sorry about
14 that.
15 COMMISSIONER MORENO: You're good.
16 MR. KURZENHAUSER: I got involved in
17 May 2016. Jason took over in May 2016. I started
18 making some changes. Recognized right away we had
19 some oversights and we were making some errors.
20 New contractor, new program management, new project
21 management. And we hired world class engineer
22 Black & Veatch to take over.
23 I am in charge of this facility, Justin
24 works for me, and the buck stops with me. If you
25 have any questions, I want you to feel free to ask
167
1 them as I go through this presentation.
2 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Here's my
3 question. I'm sorry. Do we have a copy of this
4 presentation? I didn't see it in the file you
5 e -mailed to me.
6 MR. GATHMAN: It was e -mailed, like, this
7 morning.
8 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay. Thank you.
9 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay.
10 MR. GATHMAN: It's the first. It's the
11 EDF.
12 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Oh, the very
13 first one. Okay. Thank you.
14 MR. KURZENHAUSER: Since I've been
15 involved we've made some great progress, great
16 changes with the site, with the project. Jason has
17 done a remarkable job. The team -- some of the team
18 members are here -- have done a remarkable job
19 getting this project to run right, to run much
20 better. Really proud of them, really proud of
21 the results, and really sorry -- in my heart,
22 really sorry for the extra problems and extra
23 convenience -- extra inconveniences and extra
24 meetings we've had to have over this project. But
25 we're working to resolve it.
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1 Next slide, please.
2 Okay. A little bit about this facility.
3 It's $115 million facility. This is a serious
4 project, serious size, serious investment. We have
5 invested $4.2 million -- or will invest $4.2 million
6 for odor -related improvements to the facility. Let
7 me stress this.
8 I reject any argument people make that we
9 do -- are not committed to making this project
10 better. I reject that. And I reject any argument
11 that says or implies that we are in some way not
12 making payments or not paying fees that we're not
13 (sic) supposed to pay. We can afford it, and we are
14 doing the right thing to get this project to run
15 right. At $4.2 million we are committed to fix these
16 odor problems. We've already invested most of that.
17 Next.
18 We pay $310,000 a year to -- for property
19 tax, sales use, and other fees. And we have
20 39 full-time equivalents. Some of our guys are in
21 the back. They came in on their day off. Thank you
22 for coming in. Appreciate it.
23 And we -- we get our supplies from 42 Weld
24 County -based feedstock suppliers. That's important
25 because that stuff -- that garbage, that stuff would
169
1 be going in the ground somewhere or it could be
2 going to landfills somewhere. We're taking real
3 products and we're reusing it -- real waste and
4 we're using it.
5 Next slide please.
6 All right. I don't like this slide but
7 I'll put it up here because I think it's important,
8 and it leads to the next slide. And this is really
9 kind of a visual view of how the process works.
10 And in comes dairy manure, in comes food
11 waste, in comes animals products, it gets processed
12 and out comes digestate, which is a compost, and out
13 comes Liquid Soil Amendment, which is the nutrient
14 water.
15 Let's go to the next slide, please.
16 All right. And this was an effort to show
17 visually where the steps in the process are at the
18 plant. Okay. You can see -- you can see the
19 compost piles. You can see the lagoons. You can
20 see the process plant. You can see the DPS facility
21 all underneath the bubbles. Okay.
22 Next slide.
23 Here's a slide of the material we take.
24 We take manure and we take unsold, expired food
25 waste, dog food waste, all kinds of other products
170
1 that are generated in this County and other counties
2 nearby as part of the agricultural industry. It is
3 amazing to me how much food waste is never -- never
4 makes it to the grocery stores or to the end users.
5 What happens to all that stuff? What happens to all
6 that spoiled fruit? What happens to all that
7 spoiled food products and egg products and so on and
8 so forth? It ends up here. It ends up getting
9 ground up, processed, and generated into gas
10 compost.
11 Okay. So what do we output? Nutrient
12 rich water, high quality compost, and renewable
13 natural gas. Pretty simple. Three things go out of
14 the plant, all products we get paid for -- or will
15 be paid for.
16 Okay. So where are we at in the process?
17 Put my glasses on. Excuse me. We started
18 operations December 2015, with our main digesters.
19 Our only odor violation was April while we were
20 still starting up. We lowered the substrate tank
21 temperature in May to help reduce the amount of
22 gassing that came out of the substrate tanks.
23 It's important to understand that this
24 process to digest the food, the material in the
25 digesters, is done by heating it up, by heating it
171
1 up so the bacteria can work more aggressively, work
2 faster. Okay. But when you heat up things that
3 smell, they generate more odors. We reduced the
4 temperatures to reduce the amount of odors coming
5 out.
6 But we hired environmental engineering
7 firms in May. We installed our first odor control
8 misting system in June. We started our first of
9 nine public hearings -- meetings with the public
10 and -- in July. We limited gas production in
11 September for a Show Cause hearing at the time. We
12 changed our misting systems to improve them in
13 October. We've done biological treatment of our
14 lagoons to improve them.
15 COMMISSIONER MORENO: Can I stop you for a
16 second?
17 MR. KURZENHAUSER: Absolutely.
18 COMMISSIONER MORENO: As you're going
19 through this, you just said you're limiting gas
20 production to 60 percent. I thought you guys were
21 operating at 40 percent.
22 MR. KURZENHAUSER: Jason.
23 MR. THOMAS: We'll have to go back and
24 look at the Show Cause hearing from previous time.
25 But we limited the gas production to 60 percent,
172
1 total gas production, and then we limited the
2 materials that were coming in to that which we were
3 receiving at the time.
4 COMMISSIONER MORENO: Okay.
5 MR. KURZENHAUSER: So the Commission -- we
6 entered into a Consent Order with the State. I
7 think that's important. We were asked here to do
8 that. So normally these things take three, four,
9 five months to sort out and enter a Consent Order.
10 Consent Order is an agreement that says we will do
11 this and, you know, we have to do these things by
12 these dates. We did it very quickly. We did it
13 very fast. And we entered into it because you guys
14 asked us to do that. We have been responsive.
15 We installed more additional sponges and
16 carbon filters for our substrate and dosing tanks
17 which has worked wonders. We have a design system
18 we're waiting for. We found out we could install
19 something on a temporary basis. We installed it and
20 it works great.
21 I encourage you all to please come to the
22 site, determine for yourself if the site really
23 generates the odors being now claimed to be
24 continued to generate.
25 We completed the DPS Covered Building No.
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1 1. We saw a picture of that from the Planning
2 department. And we've extended the size of it by
3 twice. And we'll have a picture of that later. And
4 then we have an additional covered building going on
5 in place starting now that we just submitted the
6 building permits for.
7 In case the question gets asked why did it
8 take so long to submit the building permit? Because
9 we're putting a building on top of an existing
10 facility. It's complicated. There's utilities in
11 the ground, there's foundations in the ground,
12 electrical cabling in the ground. We had to design
13 the building around that so we didn't damage what
14 was already there. It's a complicated project, but
15 we just submitted the permit for that, building
16 permit. It's a covered building, too. It's a steel
17 building.
18 Next one.
19 So here's a temporary pollution control --
20 odor control system that's working. We've modified
21 the tanks and we've installed these additional
22 filters right now.
23 Next slide.
24 So we're going to flip back and forth
25 here. I'm going to walk over here for a second.
174
1 That's old -- that's the old DPS building. Let's
2 flip forward one. Now you can see it's twice as
3 big. Okay. Flip back. And this is the parking lot
4 here. There's gravel and dirt. The area here is
5 not quite paved. No concrete up here. Go ahead.
6 Flip forward. It's all concrete in this area now to
7 cut down dust. All concrete and asphalt in these
8 areas to cut down road traffic. And we've done a
9 number of other things. These are our temporary
10 filters. We've done a lot to the project. We've
11 not been resting on our laurels or not not doing
12 anything. We've been very active.
13 Next slide.
14 Okay. So what do we have going forward?
15 We're not done yet. Helps if I look at my notes
16 once in a while. Hold on just a second. Okay.
17 As I said, we're not done yet. We've got
18 more to go. We've got a permanent dosing tank
19 system, odor control system put in place. That will
20 be in March, 2017. We have a DPS building, that's a
21 solid covered building, we are installing over
22 existing equipment. That will be in place by
23 June, 2017. And the air handling system for those
24 buildings will also be installed and operating by
25 2017.
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1 Next slide.
2 Okay. What have we spent? This is what
3 we've spent to date, $1.17 million. We've committed
4 another $3 million. May not have already spent this
5 yet, but we've written purchase orders to buy this
6 equipment which we'll be receiving. We're scheduled
7 to budget around $4.24 million.
8 And how many violations have we had since
9 April? Zero. Zero violations. We would not have
10 had zero violations had we not been very active and
11 aggressive at trying to fix this problem. Can't
12 stress that enough. We are trying our best to fix
13 this problem.
14 Next slide, please.
15 Okay. Additional proposals for 2017.
16 That's not enough. We have to do more. What more
17 can we do? We'll talk about this slide, next slide.
18 What more can we do? Site tours. Board of County
19 Commissioners, please come out to the site. Please
20 come. Door's open.
21 Establishment of a formal third -party
22 moderated advisory group. I've gotten feedback from
23 Jason and other people that the community hearings
24 we've been having have not been very effective
25 recently. We should stop them. I think what we
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1 should do is get a third -party community advisory
2 group. Perhaps you guys can recommend -- the
3 Commissioners can recommend a company to moderate
4 for us, to mediate for us to help us work with the
5 community to resolve these problems. This plant
6 will never be odor free. No agricultural facility
7 will be odor free. We'll be in compliance with the
8 rules and we'll work to minimize all the sources of
9 odor, the best technology available. We will
10 continue to do that the best we can. That's our
11 commitment.
12 Engage U.S. and European bio groups.
13 There's a lot of people in the world that have
14 experience with this. Not at this level. This is a
15 very sophisticated plant. It's involving some new
16 technology -- some stretches in new technology.
17 That's what makes America great. We're always
18 trying something new. We're trying a few things new
19 here. Been a little bit problematic, but we're
20 working on fixing them. We've been working with
21 folks in Europe. We've already had some folks over
22 to share their expertise.
23 Next slide.
24 Okay. Last slide. I'm asking for this
25 hearing to be dismissed. We need to move on. We
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1 need to move and get our project running right.
2 We've been here three times. We take our odor
3 problem seriously. My people work there. I work
4 there. Jason works there. People you know work
5 there. They don't want to smell that. They don't
6 want to smell that either. We need to have a safe
7 work environment and a healthy work environment.
8 We're fixing it.
9 I suggest we report back in June on the
10 status of the plant. And that's consistent with the
11 Compliance for Consent Order. We have an agreement
12 with the State that requires us to have a fair
13 amount of work done by the end of June. I suggest
14 that's a good time for us to come back. Either come
15 back after June when we submit the report to the
16 State or come back in June before we submit the
17 report to the State.
18 We've hired the best people to help us
19 with this project. We used AGPRO from day one with
20 this project to help develop the site, make sure we
21 got all our paperwork in place. If things were
22 missed, then who could have we used to have done it
23 better? Who in the County of Weld could we have
24 used instead of AGPRO? This is a rhetorical
25 question. I don't expect you to answer it. I'm
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1 sorry for that. But we have tried to use and we
2 have used what we thought were the best people.
3 We continue to invest. We continue to
4 minimize the odors. And our efforts are solving the
5 problem. And we're seeing that with the results
6 from Trinity. We've been fully transparent with the
7 regulators. We've shared documents with them.
8 We've compared documents to make sure we all have
9 the right set of data, the right set of files we're
10 working with. We've not been hesitant to show them
11 anything. They've had full access to our site,
12 whether announced or unannounced.
13 I'm proud of Jason and his team. I'm
14 proud of what they've done. They've done a lot of
15 great work and they've been trying to manage a
16 project that's got hundreds of regulatory
17 requirements. I'm sorry if we missed a sign that
18 was 8 foot by 4 foot that should have been 4 foot by
19 4 foot. And I'm sorry if our trash can didn't have
20 a lid on it. But those aren't the same thing as
21 saying we don't have a CD. They're not in the same
22 category. We've already talked about the CD.
23 They're not in the same category.
24 We take our odor concerns seriously.
25 Every odor complaint I consider legitimate and
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1 valid. The preponderance of odor complaints tells
2 us we haven't yet solved the problem completely. We
3 need to continue to work on it. And we're not going
4 to stop working on it.
5 Okay. I think the last thing I want to
6 say is we've all become unfortunately more experts
7 in odors and regulatory details than we wanted to
8 be. And sometimes that's what happens with these
9 processes. We go down the rabbit trail and we find
10 out every time you peel the onion there's another
11 layer and there's another layer and there's another
12 layer.
13 We need to get on to the -- get back to I
14 think what's the high view, get back to overall view
15 here. We've only had one violation since April.
16 Every other complaint or -- every other discrepancy
17 that has been found by the regulatory agencies, by
18 the County agencies we fixed promptly or we enter in
19 dialogue to figure out exactly what it means. We've
20 been trying hard, and we will continue to try hard.
21 I ask for your consideration. I ask for
22 your consideration Commissioner Moreno, Commissioner
23 Kirkmeyer, Chairman Freeman, Commissioner Conway,
24 and Commissioner Cozad. We need to end this
25 process, we need to terminate the Show Cause
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1 hearing, and we need to move on with our business.
2 Bring us back. Have us come back. Have
3 us come back for another report. Have us come back
4 for another hearing or a Probable Cause if we cause
5 any violations in the future. That's my request.
6 Any questions?
7 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Mr. Conway.
8 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: So first and
9 foremost, I appreciate your presentation. I
10 appreciate your frankness in addressing what I know
11 has been a very difficult situation. I'm going to
12 be a little bit of a devil's advocate here.
13 MR. KURZENHAUSER: Yes, sir.
14 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: So in a little bit
15 we're going to hear from your neighbors. I refer to
16 them as your neighbors, and I'm sure you do, too.
17 MR. KURZENHAUSER: Yes, sir.
18 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: We're here because
19 the concerns that they had weren't getting
20 addressed. That's why we began the Show Cause
21 process and everything else. The question I have
22 is -- and I appreciate your -- your request to
23 dismiss the Show Cause hearing. But from a trust
24 but verify perspective, the folks that are here who
25 have been battling this now for almost a year,
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1 actually going back to November -- yeah, 13 months,
2 what assurance -- I mean, the only process we have
3 to keep your feet to the fire is the Show Cause
4 process through this process.
5 How -- how as a board -- I appreciate your
6 comments. I appreciate that you're here making a
7 commitment to us, and you have an agreement with the
8 Colorado Department of Health. But what -- give me
9 some assurance and the public, your neighbors, how
10 absent dismissing -- if we dismiss this case, what
11 assurances do they have -- and I realize you
12 outlined that very clearly, $4.2 million in
13 investment, all of the things that you're committing
14 to do. But how do we verify all that going forward
15 other than just simple trust? And I realize that's
16 what you're asking. Help me understand.
17 MR. KURZENHAUSER: Okay. First of all, I
18 want to thank the Board for putting the hammer to
19 us. It was your pressure that accelerated these
20 projects. Normally we have a purchasing process,
21 like every organization, just like you guys, just
22 like the Commission did here early at the very
23 beginning of the session where you reviewed the bids
24 and you figure out what's the best price, best
25 value, and you buy it. We have the same process.
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1 We have totally stopped that process or bypassed
2 that process so we can install this equipment as
3 fast as possible. So your pressure has worked for
4 us to move faster than we normally would have.
5 We're a company, too. We typically don't move
6 really fast. So first of all, to give credit where
7 credit's due, you have motivated us to move fast.
8 We are now committed with the State. We
9 have an agreement with the State called Compliance
10 of Consent. It says we must install this equipment
11 by these dates. And once that equipment's
12 installed, we have to test it afterwards with a very
13 specific set of standards that Phil Brewer is
14 familiar with as well as Garrison Kaufman who helped
15 negotiate that agreement. That is the hammer on us.
16 The State will be absolutely unforgiving
17 with us if we fail to meet those deadlines. That's
18 the hammer. And you can always open another
19 Probable Cause hearing.
20 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Can I follow up,
21 Mr. Chair?
22 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes.
23 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: So there was a lot
24 of discussion, and the Board held at the 60 percent
25 level. Do you need to go to a hundred percent in
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1 order to test this and to verify with the State that
2 what you're putting in place over the course of the
3 next six months works as was discussed at the last
4 Probable Cause hearing, or are you -- as you move
5 forward, are you going to do this in steps? Help me
6 understand that. Do you need to get to a hundred
7 percent of production in order to test this stuff to
8 make sure --
9 MR. KURZENHAUSER: We absolutely have to
10 get to a hundred percent of production not just to
11 test the equipment we're installing, to be in
12 compliance with our permit testing requirements,
13 which are due April -- March. March we have air
14 testing requirements that require us to be at
15 hundred percent.
16 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: So as you ratchet up
17 from 60 percent to a hundred percent, odors
18 increase, there potentially are more complaints and
19 concerns. If we've dismissed the Show Cause, how
20 are we going to deal with that?
21 MR. KURZENHAUSER: Okay. I want to
22 explain something that the larger sources of odors
23 have been what we call our dosing tanks. They are
24 just white spots in a storage pipe. It doesn't
25 really matter how much fluid we move through them,
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1 they generate the same amount of odor. We've solved
2 that problem by installing other filters. You can
3 go to the vent of those storage tanks, those dosing
4 being tanks at the site, which is not very far above
5 ground level, and you won't smell any odor coming
6 out of them. We can turn that dosing tank off and
7 you'll smell it immediately.
8 So two things. We've already got filters
9 installed, scrubbers installed that are working
10 perfectly fine.
11 And, two, the amount of volume going
12 through the tank doesn't change the amount of odors
13 generated by the tank, because the tank's just a
14 white spot. It's really the surface area at the top
15 of the tank, sort of like the surface area of a can.
16 You can move all the water underneath it, but the
17 surface doesn't change. So going to a hundred
18 percent won't change the amount of odors generated
19 by the plant from the dosing tank. It may change --
20 it -- it won't generate anything from the DPS system
21 because we're installing buildings over all that,
22 over the handling area for handling more food waste.
23 And we're also being careful not to take material on
24 the DPS system that is particularly odoriferous.
25 Now, the advantage now, it's wintertime, a
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1 lot of things aren't particularly odoriferous.
2 Everything is cold. Things aren't -- food isn't
3 rotting for five days in the hot sun as opposed
4 to -- or sitting in the back of a Safeway or in the
5 back of a grocery store.
6 So we're not going to generate any more
7 odors as we increase the capacity of the plant. And
8 if we did, our filter systems would catch them. And
9 they work.
10 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Thank you.
11 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Other questions? No.
12 Okay. Thank you.
13 MR. KURZENHAUSER: Thank you very much.
14 Appreciate your time.
15 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: So that concludes --
16 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. That does conclude
17 our presentation.
18 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Thank you.
19 Okay. So this is a public hearing. We will be
20 limited to three minutes.
21 The other part is, you know, it has been a
22 long day. We have a lot of this already in record
23 from previous Show Cause. So I would -- it would --
24 it would be really helpful if during the public
25 hearing if we hear new items or things that are
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1 directly related to these compliance issues that are
2 being listed today in this particular Show Cause
3 hearing. So we could limit it to that, and we can
4 limit it to new information, because we do have all
5 of the other stuff already in our records. We have
6 everything that's been sent in. All of us have
7 that. We've all reviewed all that. So I'll just
8 kind of lead with that. If it could be new
9 information related to these things.
10 And with that, as you come up please state
11 your name and address for the record. I do know
12 that we already have the sign -in sheet, but to help
13 over here, if you could go ahead and re-sign the one
14 that's up there as you're done or when you finish
15 or -- don't slow us down by doing it, but go ahead
16 and do that.
17 So go ahead and please just state your
18 name and address for the record.
19 MR. WELCH: My name's James Welch. I live
20 at 18626 County Road 49 in LaSalle. I will try to
21 keep my comments brief here.
22 So I want to respond to a couple things
23 that were said earlier this morning. So earlier
24 this morning Mr. Garcia stated on record that they
25 didn't have proper registration for grease storage
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1 for several months as well as a violation of the
2 State air quality standards. Both of these are
3 actually regulated by State statutes for solid waste
4 facilities under CRS 30-20, Part 1. And I'd
5 specifically like to read 30-20-112.
6 It says, "The governing body having
7 jurisdiction after reasonable notice and public
8 hearing shall temporarily suspend or revoke a
9 Certificate of Designation that has been granted by
10 it for failure of a site and facility to comply with
11 all applicable laws, resolutions and ordinances, or
12 to comply with the provisions of Part 1 or any rule
13 or regulation adopted pursuant thereto."
14 So right there in State regulations the
15 only two options that you have, if they do want to
16 argue that they have a valid CD, is -- because of
17 the violations of Part 1 is a suspension or a
18 complete revocation of the CD. Based on the history
19 of this facility, I think that revocation is
20 appropriate. I've stated it before. I don't know
21 how much more evidence can be presented with
22 violations of State regulations, State statutes.
23 They were mentioning that LSA is a
24 product. The State in all the letters I've seen is
25 still regulating it as a waste. I think if they
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1 were trying to be a good neighbor they would have
2 stopped and tried to negotiate with the State rather
3 than just continue applying it, millions and
4 millions of gallons. So at this point I personally
5 think the only option is a revocation.
6 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay.
7 MR. WELCH: Thank you.
8 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
9 MS. MIRANDA ARENS: Hi. My name is Miranda
10 Arens. I live at 19575 County Road 45. And while
11 our government wades through the regulations and the
12 noncompliance issues, let me tell you the human
13 impact of this plant. I am a fifth generation Weld
14 County resident. I live within two miles of where
15 my family has called home since 1894, where they
16 have worked tirelessly to build their lives. And
17 now it's my generation's turn to carry this legacy
18 on.
19 Today we discuss a much bigger issue for
20 our future. I stand here fighting for my home, not
21 fighting for a business. And whom am I up against?
22 We are up against an international multibillion
23 dollar company that is EDF. And that, frankly,
24 feels like a very unfair fight.
25 The odor that has been negatively
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1 affecting our lives and has been the focus of so
2 many conversations has been a diversion from what
3 Heartland and Weld County have been ignoring and
4 granting too much leeway to.
5 The fight is no longer over a plant that
6 stinks. The fight for my home is against a company
7 that has been operating without proper licenses,
8 illegally dumping waste, and a county and a state that
9 haven't acted quickly or effectively enough.
10 I want to be very clear. Heartland Biogas
11 is not our county's future. Your residents are. In
12 20 years Heartland Biogas will have likely expanded,
13 and at the rate they're going and the rate you are
14 allowing them to go they will continue to remain
15 noncompliant, rack up more violations and
16 complaints, and benefit from tax breaks granted by
17 our government. But it will make the local
18 residents' lives absolutely miserable.
19 And who knows what devastation Heartland
20 will cause to our local land, water and air. And so
21 in 20 years Heartland Biogas only benefits
22 Sacramento, California. But in 20 years Chris, who
23 will speak here in a bit, and I will have a couple
24 of kids who grow up in this community and attend
25 local schools, who will have to deal with Heartland
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1 Biogas on a daily basis. But we will plan to start
2 businesses in Weld County and continue my family's
3 farming legacy. We will help build a strong
4 community, be active members here. And someday we
5 will die in this community in a place we've called
6 home for so many years.
7 So please make your decision carefully
8 today because it's our future. Actions have proven
9 that this County is incapable of holding this plant
10 to proper regulations and ensuring its compliance.
11 Today you set our path, what you'll force us to
12 live with, how much longer Heartland Biogas will
13 trample on this county and its residents, and how
14 facilities like this will treat other communities.
15 Today I urge to you choose us, to support
16 and help this community thrive by defending quality
17 of lives for generations of loyal Weld County
18 residents over a corporation that is in it solely
19 for the revenue.
20 How convenient that they saw this
21 community as an accessible place for their dumping
22 ground. We have been easily duped and now we are
23 paying the price. It is your duty to fix this.
24 You don't know how to handle this plant,
25 as AGPRO delicately explained and pointed out. The
191
1 regulations are unclear and often not applicable.
2 So revoke all their permits, even though I'm not
3 even sure what permits I'm referring to right now,
4 but I guess revoke them, close this plant, and
5 penalize at County and State levels. Thank you.
6 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
7 MS. RENA ARENS: Rena Arens, 21730 County
8 Road 44, LaSalle, Colorado. And I'm 2-1/2 miles
9 from the plant. Our family is a five -generation
10 Weld County pioneer family. Most of our family are
11 native Coloradoans. We would like to think we are
12 good stewards of the land and water, caring for the
13 same land for 120 years.
14 This week I have reflected on those
15 generations who came before us, pioneers who left a
16 tremendous legacy for us to protect and pass on to
17 the next generation. I ask myself how can our
18 family accept Heartland Biogas continuing to operate
19 by poisoning the air we breathe, showing total
20 disregard for our land and water by illegally
21 dumping their waste near live water sources, abuse
22 the quality of life for all our neighbors and slowly
23 destroy any joy they feel.
24 How can we as a family accept Heartland's
25 and EDF's literally thumbing their noses at the good
192
1 people of Weld County and the State of Colorado that
2 we love so much by witnessing them continuing to
3 operate noncompliant of the rules and regulations
4 designed to protect us? And how we do we as a
5 family of generations of Weld County residents
6 accept our Commissioners who are entrusted with our
7 quality of life to allow this pattern of abuse in
8 our rules and regulations and the citizens of Weld
9 County to continue any longer.
10 The answer is we cannot. No one should be
11 asked to continue this abusive situation any longer
12 when in recorded comments our Commissioners admit
13 they were duped, give personal reflection on the
14 odor issues and disgust with the noncompliancy when
15 they have undeniable proof laid before them with
16 over 600 odor complaints and evidence of multiple
17 noncompliance. No one should be asked to continue
18 when they were denied the right to a new CD hearing
19 when EDF bought Heartland and the plans were
20 drastically changed. No one should be asked to
21 continue when there is so much proof of the lack of
22 ability to operate responsibly in total disregard
23 for County and State regulations, our environment,
24 humanity and authority, except to give corporate lip
25 service and try this, try that, experimental
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1 solutions at the neighborhood, the Biogas industry,
2 the county, the state, and sadly, their employees.
3 Misrepresentation, mismanagement, ill-conceived
4 plans and designs, noncompliant.
5 I ask you, the Commissioners, to revoke
6 all permits, shut -- whatever there is, shut down
7 the plant immediately, penalize heavily for every
8 regulation they were noncompliant with and every day
9 they operated against the people of Weld County and
10 the State of Colorado's rules and regulations. We
11 must remember this is an international billion
12 dollar company with unlimited resources, and all we
13 get as answers are excuses. Thank you very much.
14 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
15 MR. BENNETT: Hear me well enough? Chris
16 Bennett, 19575 County Road 45 in LaSalle. When I
17 moved to Weld County, I knew there would be the
18 usual smells and sites of an agricultural community.
19 The odors from the cattle and the feedlots and other
20 associated smells are to be expected. Until the
21 smell of the biogas hits your nose, those smells are
22 nothing in comparison. And as further information
23 has been brought to light, the odor and how to
24 address it has just been a shell game for EDF,
25 Heartland and AGPROfessionals. It takes away our
194
1 focus from the reals issues; the lack of a
2 Certificate of Designation and the mystery of what
3 is being dumped onto our land and dispersed into our
4 air.
5 This facility has been allowed to run out
6 of compliance with the laws and regulations of the
7 State and County for a number of months. I believe
8 allowing this type of business to continue will set
9 a scary precedent going forward here in Weld County.
10 As they continue to run without being in compliance,
11 the Commissioners still allow it to happen.
12 I understand business is important to Weld
13 County, and I agree with that sentiment. But should
14 a billion dollar business be allowed numerous
15 occasions to fix their issues and still come up
16 short with zero penalties and repercussions?
17 Quote, No person shall operate a Class 1
18 composting facility without having obtained a
19 Certificate of Designation from local governing
20 authority, end quote. But as we've figured out
21 today, they don't have one. They believe they have
22 a de fact to Certificate of Designation. What else does
23 this Board need in order to shut this facility down?
24 The facility manager also claimed, quote,
25 This is a matter of interpretation, end quote. Yet
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1 a new company took ownership, and per the Weld
2 County Department of Public Health and Environment,
3 quote, It appears that the facility is illegally
4 disposing of waste, end quote. This is not a matter
5 of interpretation. This is a matter of following
6 the regulations.
7 EDF, Heartland, and AGPROfessionals also
8 do not want us to call the water leaving the
9 facility wastewater, but that's exactly what it is.
10 It is wastewater that has a potential to run down
11 into our waterways and poison us all.
12 As of our last community meeting, EDF,
13 Heartland and AGPROfessionals could not answer the
14 question of chain of custody, who is responsible if
15 there's an issue at the wastewater that's being
16 dumped on our land? No one could answer that
17 question.
18 On numerous occasions analysis of the
19 water has been asked for, and yet never received.
20 Does this concern anyone on this Board?
21 Heartland is not currently dumping
22 wastewater, but can only hold around 30 days of
23 wastewater on -site, is what we were told at the last
24 meeting. What happens when they hit max capacity?
25 Again there was no answer, and the lack of
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1 transparency continued.
2 How is the company allowed to continue
3 doing business under such a shroud of mystery? I
4 urge you today, Commissioners, revoke all permits
5 and penalize all those involved for the wrongdoings
6 that have and are continuing to happen here. If
7 nothing is done, the Board is showing that billion
8 dollars companies are truly too big to fail. This
9 decision will set the standard going forward for not
10 only this county, but for this industry as a whole.
11 Please do not continue to allow the people
12 of this surrounding area to be guinea pigs to a
13 technology and a plant that is ruining their way of
14 life. Thank you.
15 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
16 MR. FLASCHENREIM: My name is Mel
17 Flaschenreim. I own M&J Dairy. And we're located
18 six miles north of Heartland. We supply some of the
19 manure used by Heartland. If Heartland was to shut
20 down short term or long term,
would be serious
21 consequences for us. We'd have to build larger
22 compost sites. We own 640 acres, but the lay of the
23 land would require massive amounts of dirt to be
24 moved and/or multiple compost sites. Each one of
25 those sites would have to have a certified lined
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1 pond to catch the runoff water.
2 All of our milk cows are under cover,
3 which means all of the manure we generate is wet.
4 We would have to purchase dry material to mix with
5 the wet manure to get it to stay in the compost
6 rules. Because of the wet manure, fly control would
7 be a major problem for us. To run the compost side
8 would take an additional labor, five to seven
9 people. I'm short four people today to run what
10 we're doing right now.
11 And then there's the cost. The cost for
12 equipment and construction would be in excess of a
13 million dollars. The yearly cost to run the
14 facility would be a quarter million dollars. Milk
15 prices today would not support this investment for
16 me.
17 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
18 MS. FLIPPIN: Hi. I'm Nancy Flippin. I
19 live at 19108 Weld County Road 47. I live
20 approximately half a mile west of the plant. And,
21 yes, I am still getting odors. I'm so glad these
22 experts have told me that I'm not getting odors
23 because I am. My house is filled up with them at
24 times. I have not really seen much improvement at
25 all in the odors with all the things they have done.
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1 We've been told multiple times they're doing fixes,
2 and I really can't see much change in it at all.
3 This has been my life. I've lived there
4 38 years. I definitely know the difference between
5 dairy and feedlot odors and the odors this plant
6 puts off. It's a very putrid odor and very hard to
7 live with. I have lost confidence in this company
8 being able to fix this because we've been told so
9 many times.
10 They started out by stealing my son's
11 address at his house, who lives just up the hill
12 from me. And they would have stuff delivered to his
13 house. And then we would take it up there and say,
14 Listen, what is your address? Why are you using my
15 son's address? And they'd say, Well, I don't know.
16 Do we live on 40 or do we live on 49? I mean, they
17 didn't know their address.
18 And then to find that they can't take care
19 of this odor problem -- they would tell us they
20 didn't know where the odor came from. And I could
21 walk up to their plant and say, well, right there is
22 your odor. They kind of duped all of us, you guys
23 also, by sending a letter out in 2009 saying there
24 would be no odors. And now they're saying, Oh,
25 well, there will be odors.
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1 Their experts here tell us that the wind's
2 going the wrong direction, it only goes one
3 direction. I'm sorry. I've lived out there enough
4 years to know how that wind swirls around. And I
5 have called more than one time in a day. I've had
6 odors two or three times a day. It's usually, you
7 know, in the morning, in the middle of the night or
8 in the evening. I don't think I've called every
9 15 minutes.
10 And then to find out that they -- it's
11 questionable if they have the right certificates to
12 be running this operation, I really question if they
13 really know what they're doing. I guess -- and I'm
14 a little disappointed in you and the Commissioners
15 with 600 plus complaints from the public on this
16 particular odor that you haven't done more or done
17 something sooner.
18 We, the people, are speaking. We're
19 talking to you guys telling you this is a very
20 obnoxious odor. I ask you to please revoke and
21 penalize this company. It has been proven to be a
22 community nuisance with this odor. Thank you.
23 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
24 MR. FLIPPIN: Hi. My name is Steve
25 Flippin. I live at 23295 Weld County Road 40. I'm
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1 the closest residence to this place, approximately
2 600 feet. I'm still getting odors. I called
3 Thursday and Friday. We're still getting it.
4 It's -- it's -- it's just there. I've been getting
5 the odors. I was one of the ones -- one of the
6 first ones that got the odors in 2014.
7 I did not know who to call. It wasn't
8 until a year ago we finally had enough. That's when
9 we contacted Phil with the County. And I have had
10 problems with this company. I'm the one that
11 they've sent the mail to. I've got all kinds of
12 packages. I've got tractor trailers showing up
13 at my house. I've gotten mail from the Department
14 of -- the Colorado Department of Revenue show up to
15 my house multiple times. It's -- I don't have the
16 confidence in this company to fix anything. They
17 can't get their address correct.
18 I enjoy working in my garage. I have some
19 old tractors I like to tinker with. It's something
20 I enjoy doing. But these odors come in and they
21 fill that building up. Then you could walk outside,
22 and the odor will be there and it'll disappear, but
23 it'll linger inside those buildings for up to an
24 hour or two. It stinks. I can go out there early
25 in the morning, and we won't have any odor, but you
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1 walk inside that building, it stinks.
2 My vehicles, same way. I've -- it's just
3 a nauseating odor. I'm tired of living like this.
4 Let the people from AGPRO and EDF live
5 near this, and their views might change. It stinks.
6 And you heard it today from Heartland and AGPRO that
7 the odors -- they cannot do away with the odors.
8 They'll never be able to do away with all of them.
9 So I don't think that they can fix this.
10 They have cut a lot of corners, as you've
11 seen in all of the presentations James has brought
12 up, just to save money, I believe.
13 When I did a tour this fall, the DPS tank
14 that's buried underground is open to atmosphere.
15 Anything that goes through that whole system, goes
16 into that tank through their augers, it is open,
17 that is releasing a lot of odor. When I stood over
18 the top of that tank, that thing will take your
19 breath away. It is bad.
20 So we ask for your help to revoke their
21 permit, send them back to California. Let
22 California deal with this. I'm sick of it. Thank
23 you.
24 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
25 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I have a question.
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1 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Cozad.
2 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Steve, you mentioned
3 the DPS tank that's open to the atmosphere. Do you
4 think that's the main source of odor?
5 MR. FLIPPIN: That's one of the sources
6 right now. The lagoons -- you know, I've only
7 taken -- I've taken two tours of that, but when I
8 stood over there with another community member, it
9 stunk.
10 COMMISSIONER COZAD: When did you go over
11 there, how long ago?
12 MR. FLIPPIN: I believe it was September.
13 It was the week before the commissioner hearing last
14 time, September.
15 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay.
16 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
17 MR. PUTT: Hi there, Commissioners. I'm
18 Otis Putt. I work for U.S. Water Services. My
19 address is 22 South Lincoln, Denver, Colorado 80209.
20 We provided Heartland with one of the odor
21 mitigation solutions, the misting systems referenced
22 on some of the PowerPoints. My company has a few
23 accounts nationwide doing odor control, but it's not
24 our core. However, the vendor that I use to get
25 these systems, it is their only business. They do
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1 odor control for anaerobic digesters like Heartland,
2 landfills, meatpacking facilities, animal food
3 producers, like dog food, cat food. They have --
4 the guy -- Nick is 65. He's got 35 years in the
5 field.
6 Working with them we chose a system that
7 had the broadest range of neutralizing effects to
8 encompass the widest range of odors possible. As we
9 know, there's a lot of different feedstock, so the
10 odors have different characteristics.
11 Speaking to Heartland in the work with us,
12 we have worked diligently with them on multiple
13 levels to ensure they were always treating odors in
14 the best way. What that looks like is stocking
15 agreements to ensure there's always product on -site
16 and available, multiple pieces of iterations, as we
17 said, multiple misting systems, using these
18 simultaneously at some points, multiple late nights
19 with operations setting up and troubleshooting these
20 when they were installed initially, and also flying
21 my vendor on -site to audit the system and put in his
22 recommendation so we can make the best choice.
23 Speaking of Heartland's commitment to
24 resolve this issue, as has been said multiple times
25 they've made a significant financial investment with
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1 us as well as other vendors to the tune of -- going
2 to be $4.2 million.
3 As to the attitude of the plant personnel,
4 in my experience they are unified in resolving this
5 odor issue, and have a great mind -set; get it done,
6 spare no expense, make no excuses.
7 To conclude, in my experience the plant
8 has been great to work with. They are keenly aware
9 of the gravity of the situation and they are fully
10 committed to its resolution. Thank you.
11 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
12 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: I have a quick
13 question.
14 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes, Commissioner
15 Conway.
16 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I do, too.
17 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: So this is your --
18 you said it's not your area of expertise, but you
19 deal with people that do.
20 MR. PUTT: Yeah.
21 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: So you've heard the
22 issue. The issue is odor. In terms of these
23 misting systems, from your experience in terms of
24 their -- I know this -- I don't know if this is the
25 first anaerobic digester that you've dealt with, but
205
1 in terms of companies that you deal with that do
2 have odor issues, what kind of decrease in terms of
3 odor -- odors have you witnessed in terms of your --
4 since you're talking about this, in terms of your
5 expertise as -- as to these systems? What is
6 anticipated these misters will reduce in terms of
7 odor?
8 MR. PUTT: So they are designed to
9 neutralize the odor. So I can't speak to the
10 metrics that they have, in terms of, like, it'll be
11 a 10, then a 1, but it's supposed to make it
12 acceptable to be around that system.
13 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: So from your
14 experience, has there been a decrease when you apply
15 these misters in terms of the odor, whether it's
16 significant?
17 MR. PUTT: Um -hum.
18 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Significant.
19 MR. PUTT: Significant decrease, I would
20 say.
21 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Thank you.
22 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Cozad.
23 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I have two questions.
24 One, are these misters used in more traditional
25 wastewater treatment facilities?
206
1 MR. PUTT: They are. My vendor uses them
2 in wastewater -- he has a lot of landfill business,
3 some, like, dog food producing business. He's based
4 out of Ohio and he does work all over the country.
5 COMMISSIONER COZAD: So the one time that
6 I was out at the facility, the misters were going,
7 the wind was blowing pretty hard. So are any of
8 these indoor or are they all outdoor misters?
9 MR. PUTT: So the skid that treats it is
10 indoor, but the misters are outdoor. So they treat
11 it right at the source of the issue.
12 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay. So my question
13 is technical, so I don't know if you can answer it
14 or not. So if not, if somebody else wants to answer
15 it later when the respondents get back up...
16 But when I was out there the one time that
17 the wind was blowing and the misters were on, it
18 looked like the wind was blowing the misters -- the
19 mist that was coming out basically downwind. But
20 the odor is basically inside or in that area where
21 there's unloading occurring, where the grate is. So
22 how would that work to -- can you explain how that
23 works to --
24 MR. PUTT: If I understand correctly,
25 you're saying the system is blowing the odor and
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1 neutralizing stuff away.
2 COMMISSIONER COZAD: No. The wind was
3 blowing the mist away. Right. So the mist is
4 coming out, but it was -- it was a windy day, so the
5 mist was blowing.
6 MR. PUTT: So in theory, if the mist is --
7 if the wind is carrying the mist, it would carry the
8 odors as well. It would neutralize in the path, I
9 believe. Correct?
10 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay. So that's the
11 technical explanation?
12 MR. PUTT: I would think so. Correct.
13 COMMISSIONER COZAD: That's why I'm asking
14 you, because it seemed like the mist was blowing, so
15 I didn't know if that would still address the odor
16 issues on -site.
17 MR. PUTT: It should work to the
18 advantage, because if the odor is being carried by
19 the wind, as well as the mist being carried by the
20 wind, then they would neutralize in the wind, and
21 then by the time they get to anyone that would have
22 an issue, they should be gone.
23 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay. Thank you.
24 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
25 MS. HERGENREDER: Good afternoon,
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1 Commissioners. My name is Jamie Hergenreder. I
2 live at 23295 Weld County Road 40. I live with
3 Steve Flippin. And I thought I would just provide a
4 point of view from the guinea pig perspective.
5 Our home is the closest, being 600 feet
6 away. I'll just give you an example of my first
7 experience being affected by this from the start.
8 So starting -- it started out with noise, and then
9 lights, and then all the odor started rolling in.
10 And it was in 2014. Like Steve pointed out, we did
11 not know who to contact.
12 My first experience with high
13 concentration of the odor was at 2 o'clock in the
14 morning, waking to my breath being taken away.
15 Excuse me. I'm emotional. I was in an immediate
16 panic attack. I ran outside thinking fresh air
17 would be my savior, and I experienced something much
18 worse. When you're in panic mode, smelling
19 something that intense is like a whirlwind of hell.
20 The odor was so thick in the yard that I could feel
21 it penetrating my skin. I could taste it in my
22 mouth. My panic continued to ensue. Do I call 911?
23 Is this a gas leak? Am I going to blow up? My mind
24 was racing a mile a minute, not calming for hours.
25 And as you can see I'm still very affected by it.
209
1 I have not slept a night since. I have
2 migraines, nausea, severe fatigue, all of which I
3 did not have before. This has happened to me more
4 times than I can count, as you can refer to, over
5 600 odor complaints.
6 I have called both the plant manager,
7 Jason Thomas, and Phil Brewer in the early hours of
8 the morning, just losing emotional control because I
9 couldn't take it anymore.
10 The plant manager's response to my story
11 was, Hmm, interesting, I can compare that to my
12 charts. Complete lack of empathy. It has also been
13 my experience sitting in every meeting I could,
14 listening, observing and learning that EDF,
15 Heartland Biogas, and AGPRO are unsafe,
16 untrustworthy, unreliable, irresponsible, and I
17 can't stress enough that they have absolutely no
18 respect for the Weld County citizens or the Board of
19 Commissioners. I vote for revocation and severe
20 penalization. Thank you.
21 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
22 MS. GRIEK: Good afternoon, and thank you.
23 My name is Marjorie Griek. I am a former Weld
24 County resident, but I currently live at 208
25 Westchester Street in Lafayette, Colorado. I lived
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1 in the county for 20 years and worked for the Weld
2 County Health Department for five years.
3 I at that time was a master composter. I
4 taught the master composting class for Larimer and
5 Weld Counties, and was the master composter
6 technician for the County during part of that time.
7 Then I went on to become the executive director of
8 the Colorado Association for Recycling, which I ran
9 for 15 years.
10 I want to speak in favor of this facility
11 and the benefits that it brings to the county and to
12 areas of the state. It currently employs nearly
13 40 people. And according to the economic impact
14 study of recycling on the State of Colorado, every
15 dollar that is paid to an employee in the rural part
16 of Colorado in the recycling industry generates an
17 additional 35 cents per dollar generated. So that
18 means the money is going into the local retail
19 outlets, it's going into the grocery stores, into
20 the gas stations. This also does not include the
21 additional state income taxes, sales tax, and
22 property taxes that are generated by those
23 individuals who can use that employment pay to
24 purchase housing and purchase goods in the
25 community.
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1 It also can generate additional
2 businesses. One of the things that we're seeing
3 right now with this company is that there is a
4 national company called Parallel Technologies that
5 is moving into Greeley. It will be bringing at
6 least six jobs in the first year. It will be able
7 to supply liquid to this facility and help with the
8 process.
9 It's extremely important to keep this
10 facility operational. Currently they're eliminating
11 food waste from landfilling. If you put food waste
12 into a landfill, according to a British society
13 called WRAP, they've done studies on this and
14 they've discovered that 3.8 tons of greenhouse gas
15 emissions are generated for every ton of food waste
16 that goes into a landfill. That is something we
17 really can't afford in this day and age.
18 In addition, we know that the Rocky
19 Mountain National Park has a nitrogen deposition
20 issue. And a lot of that comes from this part of
21 the state, Weld and Larimer Counties. And that one
22 of the great contributors to that is agriculture.
23 The fact that this facility accepts manure from
24 approximately 10 percent of the cows producing it
25 here in this part of the state reduces and mitigates
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1 the amount of nitrogen being deposited in Rocky
2 Mountain National Park.
3 They're also creating a renewable natural
4 gas here in the state, which according to the
5 Department of Energy is one of the ways that we can
6 maintain national security, by not having to go out
7 and purchase oil from foreign governments.
8 This plant is also one that can be around
9 for a long time and produce a great product and
10 employ a lot of people, reduce air quality
11 emissions, negative air quality emissions, and play
12 a great role in this county.
13 So I would encourage you to continue to
14 work with them, continue to hammer these things out,
15 get these issues taken care of, and let them run the
16 business. Thank you.
17 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Cozad.
18 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Marjorie, as a former
19 Weld County Department of Public Health employee, I
20 appreciate you, you know, letting us know about
21 those positive economic impacts and the benefits of
22 recycling. And I know that's important to you. I
23 know it was when you were here because I remember
24 when you were here.
25 But as County Commissioners, how --
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1 what -- for me, you know, I've got to weigh that
2 with the protection of the health and safety and
3 welfare of the citizens that are impacted by this
4 facility.
5 And so in your opinion as a former
6 employee in the health department, can you comment
7 on the protection of the health and safety and
8 welfare of the citizens that live there versus those
9 Impacts that, you know, positive impacts that you
10 just discussed?
11 MS. CRIER: Well, I would -- I would try by
12 saying, again, continue to work together with this
13 company and with the citizens that are being
14 affected. I think that it's important that lines of
15 communication stay open, that things are very
16 transparent. If there have been issues in the past
17 with that, perhaps that suggestion of a, you know,
18 third party that comes in and facilitates those
19 conversations to help with that, but continuing to
20 work with the Commissioners, with the State, with
21 the community so that it becomes a win -win -win, and
22 that it isn't something that is dividing the
23 community as it seems to be doing right now.
24 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Thank you.
25 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Thank you.
214
1 DR. SKUMATZ: Thank you. My name is
2 Dr. Lisa Skumatz. I live at 762 El Dorado Drive in
3 Superior, Colorado. And I thank you for the
4 opportunity to share my comments regarding this
5 plant today. I'm bringing statewide and national
6 perspective to this which I think is relevant to
7 your discussion.
8 First, my qualifications. I'm an
9 economist and principal of Skumatz Economic Research
10 Associates, a research and consulting firm that's
11 based in Superior in Boulder County. I'm not being
12 paid by anybody, and I am just, for full
13 information, also a former trustee in the Town of
14 Superior for 10 years, so I am empathetic.
15 I've been working nationally and
16 internationally in solid waste since 1987. I
17 have published more than a hundred papers and
18 articles on the topic. I've worked in six countries
19 and 35 states and for more than 30 clients here in
20 this state. I've won two national lifetime
21 achievement awards for my work in solid waste,
22 including -- and the one for the State of Colorado
23 CAFR. So I bring a lot of expertise on this topic.
24 I've also conducted a number of food waste
25 and organics projects for EPA, the State of
215
1 Illinois, and for towns and counties in Colorado and
2 around the nation.
3 Most importantly, however, I have
4 conducted multiple projects for the State CDPHE,
5 starting with work in 2006, again in 2010, and most
6 importantly this year's 2016 just released
7 Integrated Materials Management Plan. I spent a lot
8 of time investigating the processing infrastructure
9 and organics diversion here in this state.
10 I have three main messages here today.
11 One, most importantly, the State's integrated solid
12 waste management materials plan needs and depends on
13 this plant for progress towards its goal.
14 The Front Range generates about 85 percent
15 of the state's waste, and the Front Range goal in
16 the plan increases from about 27 percent now, which
17 is below the national average, to 32 percent, which is still
18 below the national average, to 51 and -- upwards of
19 51 percent between 2021 and 2036. Food waste is
20 crucial to making that progress.
21 For the Front Range the top three
22 materials that are part of the diversion plan's
23 focus are organics, which is 30 percent of what's
24 being disposed, and food is more than half of that,
25 17 percent. Second is paper at 20 percent, and
216
1 plastic at 12 percent. 17 percent of the
2 residential and commercial ton is -- disposed is
3 food. And this one plant can divert 20 to
4 30 percent of that in the Front Range. Organics
5 diversion is expected to be the lion's share of the
6 growth because it's the largest and least mature of
7 the divertible waste streams in the state.
8 This plant is pivotal to the plan's goals,
9 and we couldn't have projected meeting these kinds
10 of goals without this plant.
11 Another part of the statewide materials
12 management plan talks about the fact that the many
13 landfills in this state don't meet environmental
14 regulations, and the CDPHE is expected to crack down
15 on that statewide. We're looking for every
16 opportunity possible to divert materials going to
17 those landfills unnecessarily.
18 Furthermore, a major landfill in the Front
19 Range is closing because it's full, not because it's
20 out of compliance, because it's full, and it's
21 looking to re -site. And they're trying to look at
22 diversion first to minimize what's destined to
23 landfills, and to make it so the landfill has to be
24 sized as small as possible.
25 What this plan offers in terms of
217
1 diversion and technology is vastly environmentally
2 preferable from a greenhouse gas point of view and
3 from a sustainability point of view in landfilling.
4 Second, this is a pretty remarkable plant,
5 and really the envy of the rest of the state and
6 surrounds. It's up and running, it recovers
7 hundreds of tons per day of food waste, which is the
8 material stream of interest these days, and one of
9 the biggest remaining in the waste stream.
10 In the past I've been hired to conduct
11 work to try to figure out now to pay for public
12 compost facilities that were paid with public funds
13 that would never work. And we had to add extra
14 dollars to the top solid waste tipping fee in order
15 to pay for it.
16 We've done work for U.S. Department of
17 Energy reviewing Biogas facilities and found
18 difficulties with poor planning, supply issues,
19 storage issues and economic viability concerns.
20 This private plant here seems to be well
21 planned. It's operating and diverting substantial
22 amounts of materials that would otherwise go to
23 landfills. And to do so economically in a state
24 with such low landfill tipping fees is a real
25 testament.
218
1 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: You need to kind of
2 wrap up.
3 DR. SKUMATZ: This light isn't green, red,
4 et cetera?
5 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: No.
6 DR. SKUMATZ: The last point I want to
7 make is the inability to cite compost facilities is
8 a showstopper in ready to go states in other -- in
9 other states, even California. Some have been
10 trucking materials 150 miles away because they lack
11 nearby processing facilities. They would love to
12 have a plant with a capacity like this one, and with
13 the good neighbor attention and working to address
14 odor issues like this one. I applaud Weld County
15 and I urge you to continue to work positively with
16 this facility. Thank you.
17 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
18 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Mr. Chairman, I
19 would just ask that you remind everybody the purpose
20 of the meeting here today. This is a Show Cause
21 hearing. It's not to hear about the benefits of
22 composting or the need for landfills throughout the
23 State of Colorado, or anywhere else, for that
24 matter.
25 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: I'll reiterate what I
219
1 said at the beginning. Three minutes, and try to
2 keep it to exactly what's in our Resolution as far
3 as the Show Cause hearing from the November --
4 whatever day that was. That's really what the topic
5 is today. That's all. Go ahead.
6 MS. WELCH: Okay. I'm Sharon Welch. And
7 I reside at 18626 Weld County Road 49. And I just
8 wanted to address something that was asked actually
9 earlier by Heartland about who they could have
10 asked --
11 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Please address your
12 comments to us.
13 MS. WELCH: -- previously who they could
14 have asked to build their facility correctly. And
15 actually if they would have just stuck with their
16 original Design and Operations Plan that they
17 presented, they had all the answers originally. And
18 that's why we have a lack of confidence in them,
19 because they blatantly chose not to build their
20 facility that way when they had all the answers. A
21 lot of things that they're doing today are things
22 that they had the answers for when they started
23 their original plan. Thank you.
24 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
25 MR. WARNER: Good afternoon,
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1 Commissioners. MY name is Rich Warner. I am
2 president at Upstate Colorado Economic Development,
3 822 - 7th Street, Suite 550, here in Greeley. I'm here to
4 keep my comments very brief as I know we've all had
5 a long day, and I appreciate your time.
6 In economic development we're usually
7 talking about advocating for businesses to remove
8 unnecessary regulatory burdens. This type of
9 project is regulated on the federal level, on the
10 county level and at the state level. As you know,
11 this project -- and, again, just to be very brief --
12 has received national recognition. When I travel
13 around the country and we talk about the energy
14 economy in Weld County, we're not just talking about
15 oil and gas. We're talking about renewable projects
16 like this. And when this project was originally
17 permitted, it was pretty exciting, and I think
18 everyone was behind it.
19 Well, things have changed and problems
20 have occurred. And how we deal with those is what's
21 important going forward. You have heard from a
22 whole range of experts today and -- in regards to is
23 there a problem, is there not a problem. Well, we
24 hear from the neighbors and we know that they have a
25 problem that needs to be addressed.
221
1 But as you know, being here and working
2 here in Weld County, we have dealt with these issues
3 before. I can't think of any other example that is
4 more relevant than what this community has dealt
5 with for decades with JBS. That problem was
6 mitigated with new technologies. And I'll leave it
7 to the experts for the technicalities. But when
8 conflicts like this between neighbors have arisen in
9 the past, the County has responded. When we had
10 issues with the solar industry, the County came up
11 with a solution. When we had issues between
12 landowners and the oil and gas industry, the County
13 found a solution. And that's in the past year.
14 That's -- that's going on right now.
15 And so as we -- as you continually
16 champion economic development and create an
17 environment where businesses can flourish, we have
18 created one of the top counties in the country. Not
19 we. You and the businesses here. And that is
20 known.
21 And there is a direct tie-in to
22 agriculture and this company. When you look at the
23 supply chain and the jobs that are affected by this
24 project, to just unilaterally shut it down is a huge
25 problem. And so with all due respect to friends
222
1 like Bill Garcia and the other attorneys in the
2 room, this company is pledging to spend money on a
3 solution. I would much rather the company spend
4 money on technological solutions and the neighbors
5 in working out their problems than to maybe provide
6 it to all the attorneys, with all due respect.
7 So we've seen it, again, with oil and gas,
8 we've seen it with solar. We've even seen the
9 adjustments with Martin Marietta that had to happen
10 with that hearing. You guys have difficult
11 decisions. I really appreciate your support of
12 economic development, and look forward to your
13 decision. Thank you for your time.
14 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
15 MR. SHELTON: Good afternoon. My name
16 is Paul Shelton. And our family owns a dairy farm
17 just north of the Heartland project, 23043 County
18 Road 42. We are a family -owned farm and business.
19 I'm part of the third generation. My grandfather
20 and grandmother moved from Missouri in March of
21 1963. And we actually sold cream, five gallons at a
22 time, on the rail, and milked four to 10 cows for
23 the first 10 years that we were -- that they were
24 doing that.
25 Over the next 30 years my father, Ron
223
1 Shelton, slowly grew the herd, and by 1995 we were
2 milking about a thousand cows.
3 Then my brother and I have been involved
4 full-time in the family business for the better part
5 of the last five years. And although we continue to
6 grow as a business, we remember our small beginning
7 and take a lot of pride in nearly 55 years of family
8 ownership and involvement in our local agriculture
9 community here in Weld County.
10 As our business has grown, we face new
11 challenges. One of the most significant challenges
12 with milk production is the responsible
13 environmentally sustainable and economically viable
14 management of manure.
15 Just to give you an idea, our cows produce
16 nearly 12 semi -truck loads of manure per day. So
17 we've been pursuing a partnership with Heartland
18 Biogas for several years because of our desire to
19 have a long-term sustainable manure management
20 program. So currently we send them our manure, they
21 process it, they produce gas, separate out the solid
22 material, and then return to us the water to
23 irrigate our crops. And I think the technology and
24 processes is really rather remarkable, taking manure
25 that in its raw form is expensive and difficult to
224
1 manage, putting it through a process to produce
2 renewable energy, compost like solids and nutrient
3 rich irrigation water.
4 So if Heartland's operations were
5 suspended for a time, it would be very difficult for
6 us as we depend on trucks every day of the year to
7 transport the manure out of our facility. And we
8 currently do not have another sustainable plan to
9 manage our manure.
10 You know, we've gotten to know these folks
11 at Heartland over the last three years. And there's
12 been some difficult times, to be honest, but we've
13 all done our respective part to get through it. And
14 I can give you several examples of how Ralph and
15 Jason and Darrell have really demonstrated their
16 understanding of what it takes to make a long-term
17 business relationship work, and they've really done
18 their part.
19 We've found them to be good neighbors. I
20 recall one night where several on Heartland's night
21 crew actually helped push our cows back into our
22 pasture because they had gotten out.
23 Certainly there are some issues to work
24 through, as with any newer technology; however, I do
25 think this is a good project for agriculture. I
225
1 think it's a good project for renewable energy. And
2 I have found these gentlemen in leadership in
3 Heartland to be people that we would want to be in
4 business with long term. And I am confident that
5 they will do what they can to overcome the current
6 challenges. Thank you.
7 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Conway.
8 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: If the plant shut
9 down, and you weren't able to transmute (sic)
10 12 loads of manure, where would it go? What would
11 you do with it?
12 MR. SHELTON: Right. So we don't have a
13 sustainable long-term plan. Mel shared just a few
14 minutes ago that typically you have to try to
15 compost it or stockpile it on -site. And it creates
16 fly problems. There's an aggregation problem. You
17 add to it. You apply it to --
18 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: You would have no
19 other alternative basically besides on -site storage?
20 MR. SHELTON: Right. You process it. You
21 spend a million dollars on a separation system. And
22 you want to try to get it onto your fields when you
23 have it dry enough. But it's a problem.
24 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Okay. You say you
25 use the process water, right?
226
1 MR. SHELTON: We do.
2 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Have you experienced
3 any problems with it or do you have any concerns
4 with the water that you're applying?
5 MR. SHELTON: So the water that we apply
6 on our crops is very highly regulated by the
7 Colorado Department of Public Health. So everything
8 that we apply, you have to do it in accordance with
9 the nutrient balancing. We have found no problems
10 at this point. It's very similar to what we call
11 dairy wastewater in terms of its nutrients and the
12 characteristics of the water.
13 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Thank you.
14 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Moreno.
15 COMMISSIONER MORENO: Mine ties into the
16 first question Commissioner Conway asked, just
17 adding on to that. You made a statement earlier,
18 said -- estimated about 12 semi -trucks is what you
19 save for the manure that your cattle is generating
20 right now. But what -- are you delivering every day
21 so many semi -truck loads right now? Or can you tell
22 me how much? Or is it weekly delivery? What --
23 what --
24 A No. Right -- right now 10 to 12 semi
25 loads leave our dairy and go to the digester, every
227
1 day of the year.
2 COMMISSIONER MORENO: Okay. Thanks.
3 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
4 MR. MORRIS: Good afternoon,
5 Commissioners. My name is Michael Morris. I live
6 at 24505 Weld County Road 44. I'm a business owner.
7 I'm a very busy business owner that has had this
8 plant kind of take over my life. These folks in
9 this room are also busy trying to run their lives.
10 I take offense -- one of the things, Sean,
11 that you had said earlier is how can we feel like
12 you're going to be a good neighbor. We hear that
13 word all the time, we want to be good neighbors.
14 However, their actions -- they flew someone in from
15 California. And call me silly, and maybe I wear my
16 heart on my sleeve, but I thought -- I thought they
17 called me a liar, that those complaints were not
18 somehow accurate. She had that nice little graph.
19 Am I the only one that got that? I felt like, God,
20 they're questioning whether or not we're telling the
21 truth.
22 I got better things to do. It's very
23 difficult -- I'm a small business owner. I've owned
24 my own business since 1987. I have to deal with
25 regulations. I have hazardous waste issues. Call
228
1 it paint. They call it cow crap. I have to deal
2 with paint. I don't get to harm my neighbors. You
3 wouldn't believe what I have to go through to
4 license my paint booth, my filters and everything
5 that I have to do. But you can't smell anything.
6 This -- the Commissioners -- everything
7 that happens in my business comes back to me. One
8 of the things I heard was the buck stops here.
9 Well, the buck stops here with you folks, too,
10 because these folks with all due respect, I do not
11 believe they've done their job very effectively.
12 This has morphed into a mess. The fact that I'm
13 here, that I'm actually standing in front of this
14 room making these comments speaks volumes.
15 This never should have got this far. We
16 shouldn't be at this place. We shouldn't have
17 experts coming from California to tell us that we're
18 lying about the smell. I have -- I smell every day.
19 I got up this morning -- I had friends come over
20 yesterday. They asked, Jeez, what is that crazy
21 odor? But I guess we are just lying about it.
22 That -- I take offense to that, Sean. And I'm going
23 to tell you right now, anybody that calls me a liar
24 and says that, oh, you're just overreacting -- that
25 room full of people, they got things to do, folks.
229
1 If this plant ran effectively, they wouldn't be
2 here. They'd be on with their lives.
3 You people have a chance to right this.
4 These folks didn't do their job, and here we are.
5 And you guys are no different than me. I'm
6 responsible for every employee under me. You have a
7 chance to make this right. You have a chance to
8 make this right. I hope you do. Revoke it. Shut
9 it down until they can fix it. And if they can fix
10 it, put it back on. If it still smells, shut it
11 down again.
12 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
13 MS. MORRIS: Well, not sure I want to
14 follow that, but I'm going to. I'm Deb Morris and I
15 live at 24505 County Road 44.
16 So you asked us to just keep our comments
17 to new things. Well, I've had some surprises today,
18 so I'll just talk about those. I'm surprised that
19 Heartland Biogas was surprised that they were going
20 to be inspected. Are you kidding me, surprised?
21 I'm surprised that I have smell memory. Didn't know
22 that. Smell memory being something I've never
23 smelled before.
24 Oh, six generations -- let's just check in
25 here, six generations in Weld County. And I've
230
1 smelled BS, and I've smelled some of it today. And
2 I'm telling you I know the difference between a
3 feedlot that I chose to live next to, which is a
4 quarter mile away, and this smell that comes at me
5 in two miles. I understand that, oh, my gosh, what
6 is happening.
7 I was ready to call the fire department
8 the first night I had it invade my home because I
9 thought my house was on fire. That was how strong
10 the smell was.
11 The County -- I'm surprised at the County
12 people per their three times saying, well, I'm not
13 an expert. I was surprised that we don't -- we have
14 a panel of people that are here who haven't chose to
15 become experts in this. Like, I'm surprised, three
16 times, I'm not an expert. Lots of beliefs, lots of
17 those kind of words, but no -- you know, not really
18 solid comments.
19 And then this is -- this was a really --
20 surprise to me. The Heartland head -- I apologize,
21 I didn't get his name -- stands up in front of you
22 and says we're all -- none of us wanted to be this
23 informed and this big of experts -- and I'm just
24 paraphrasing -- on the regulations of this -- of
25 what we're doing here. Oh, my gosh. I was
231
1 surprised. He stood in front and said he is -- the
2 buck stops here, and then he's -- and then at the
3 end he said, I didn't want to be an expert at this.
4 I'm paraphrasing, but I'm sure that I heard, and I'm
5 surprised, the head of this development said I
6 didn't want to be an expert in the regulations.
7 Well, I'll tell you who didn't want to be
8 an expert is Jim Welch, these people over here that
9 have put hundreds of hours in doing these jobs,
10 we're the ones that didn't want to be an expert
11 because we're not getting paid for it.
12 I don't know what his dollar amount is for
13 his pay, but I'm guaranteeing you it's high enough,
14 he should darn well be an expert before he stands in
15 front of you on every regulation that is dealing
16 with this business.
17 And, finally, I just want to even the
18 playing field. I have $350,000 invested in my
19 property. Everybody else gets to tell you what
20 they've got invested. I've got 350,000, without
21 enclosing (sic) my personal finances, I'm going to
22 tell you that's a pretty damn big chunk of my
23 personal wealth. Pretty damn big chunk. So I want
24 to be on an even playing field. I've got money
25 invested in this game, too, and a lot of it, from my
232
1 perspective.
2 So thank you. I'm staying under the three
3 minutes, I hope. And thank you for your time.
4 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
5 MR. WALTERS: Afternoon. Name is Richard
6 Walters along with my wife Kathy. We reside at
7 18850 Weld County Road 49. We are the third closest
8 home, neighbor, to Heartland. We had smells on
9 Saturday morning. And I'm not sure of any more
10 things I can say other than this, I'd like you to
11 revoke it. I'd like you to penalize them. And if
12 you're not going to do that, I suggest one thing.
13 In Denver they did a couple things with
14 the nasal ranger where instead of doing 7:1, greater
15 than 7:1, they dropped it down. You know, swine is
16 greater than 2:1. I suggest that you do a 2:1 or a
17 4:1 change.
18 Or the number of complaints, over 600
19 complaints is ridiculous. There's no reason for
20 that. We don't make this up. We walk out the door
21 and there it is. I didn't have it on Sunday, but my
22 neighbors did because the wind was a different
23 direction. Thanks for your time.
24 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
25 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Thank you.
233
1 MS. HOYLAND: My name is Kathy Hoyland.
2 My husband and I live at 18612 County Road 49,
3 LaSalle.
4 Good afternoon, Commissioners. Here we
5 are again. EDF, Heartland Biogas, has been
6 operating since day one without multiple State and
7 County grants of permission to operate. They have
8 blatantly and repeatedly shown disregard for the
9 State and County rules and regulations. What we
10 don't want to hear from EDF, Heartland Biogas is we
11 didn't know because they have a plethora of lawyers
12 as well as AGPROfessionals reviewing the regulations
13 to operate a Class I solid waste facility.
14 And from that point I'm going to wing it
15 because as I sat there in the audience today, I
16 cannot tell you how angry and insulted I am by
17 Heartland's two odor expert people. Anybody from
18 that side that has an odor expert is welcome at my
19 home for one week to live, and we'll find out which
20 way the winds blow. And if a complaint is coming
21 from my house and they're telling you the winds are
22 blowing this way, you can't have a complaint,
23 bologna sauce.
24 Let me tell you, we live this nightmare
25 every single day of our lives. We live this. And
234
1 I'm going to tell you that on November 23rd, we had
2 to cancel Thanksgiving at our home. We had to
3 cancel July 4th because of the stench. This is not
4 a sweet manure. This is not a sour manure. This is
5 not a dairy smell. This is not a feedlot smell.
6 This is a stench that literally gets into your home
7 with your windows closed. And as Steve Flippin
8 said, once it's inside a building, it takes forever
9 to get out.
10 November 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th,
11 28th, 29th and 30th, that smell, that stench was so
12 bad at our house, it was unbelievable. We are
13 thankful -- my husband and I are thankful that we
14 canceled Thanksgiving. Can you imagine sitting
15 around the dining room table and 12 of us trying to
16 eat our dinner with that stench in the house?
17 And I can tell you for a fact I know that
18 stench was still there on November 30th because at
19 1:30 in the morning we got a call that our nephew
20 had passed away. Can you imagine my husband and I
21 trying to console each other with that stench in the
22 house and trying to go forward with our lives?
23 I understand the two dairies that have
24 come forward, and I understand the employees.
25 Those -- the dairies do not have to live there. The
235
1 employees get to go home. The Heartland employees,
2 they get to go home to a home. We are stuck in this
3 stench every day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
4 It doesn't matter. It comes, it gets in your house,
5 it doesn't leave.
6 Commissioners, by not revoking EDF,
7 Heartland Biogas' USR and MUSR, you are setting a
8 precedent in this County that you allow a Class I
9 waste facility to operate unlawfully, to not follow
10 regulations and guidelines set forth by the State
11 statutes and the County.
12 You have penalized small businesses for
13 much lesser offenses creating a double standard.
14 You're allowing this business to operate without a
15 valid CD, a valid BUD, as well as operating with
16 multiple potential solid waste violations.
17 Today we respectfully request of you,
18 revoke their USR, MUSR, and penalize.
19 Thank you for your time and consideration.
20 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
21 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Thank you.
22 MS. REYNOLDS: Hello, Commissioners. Can
23 you hear me? My name's Julee Reynolds. I live and
24 work at 24125 County Road 42. I am a small business
25 owner. I have read what your responsibilities are
236
1 as commissioners, and as a small business owner,
2 mine are much the same. I am responsible for the
3 health and welfare of my 20 plus employees, whether
4 it be through safety policies, HR policies,
5 company -specific policies, anything that protects
6 them. I am also responsible for vetting perspective
7 employees through background checks, MVR reporting,
8 drug screenings. This is a responsibility that I
9 take very seriously to ensure the safety and the
10 well-being of the community that we all live in.
11 I, too, have been through the process of
12 obtaining a USR; the cost, the time, the permitting,
13 the regulations. I know how intensive it is. I
14 know how costly it can be. I, too, have invested a
15 lot of money into owning a business and running it
16 where we live.
17 I guess I have a question. If I were --
18 if my business were known to be out of compliance,
19 not once, not twice, but multiple times, would I be
20 able to continue operating? That sets a very
21 dangerous precedence for doing business in Weld
22 County.
23 Are we to assume that there are numerous
24 businesses operating outside of the standards and
25 regulations that Weld County has set forth, that
237
1 violators need not worry about compliance in doing
2 business in Weld County? Good faith efforts can
3 also be left to interpretation.
4 Then I asked myself what would I do if my
5 business were a nuisance to my neighbors? I simply
6 would not continue the activity that causes the
7 nuisance. I would not treat it. I would not mask
8 it. I would stop it. So I urge you also to revoke
9 and penalize. Thank you.
10 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
11 MR. JUSTICE: Name's Ross Justice. I live
12 at 24125 County Road 42 in LaSalle, Colorado, right
13 off of 49, about a mile north of this plant. This
14 is the third time I've been in here and listened to
15 this dog and pony show from Heartland; they're going
16 to fix it, they're going to make it better. They
17 haven't done anything.
18 When they come up here with their odor
19 experts and tell me, Oh, well, there's only 48 odors
20 out there -- 48 complaints out there. There's 617
21 complaints, and they're all legitimate.
22 And if they'd been at my house at 6:30
23 this morning, they'd have smelled it again and
24 gotten one more complaint from -- that I did call in
25 and tell Phil. So it was probably 618, at least.
238
1 When they say this CD is a technicality,
2 are you kidding me? A technicality? Part of the
3 process of this CD is for it to go to public
4 comment. I don't remember the first CD going to
5 public comment. And that's under the rules and
6 regulations of solid waste. They're a solid waste
7 facility. We should have the opportunity for it to
8 go to public comment.
9 We should -- you know, I'm sorry they
10 spent $115 million. Maybe if they had listened to
11 the public to start with they wouldn't have spent
12 $115 million.
13 Nobody is saying that they don't have a
14 great idea, although I can't really say it's a green
15 gas idea. From what I understand they got a 6- or
16 an 8 -inch gas line coming from fossil fuels to heat
17 their digesters to create green gas to sell to
18 California for four times as much money.
19 These odors are not a technicality. They
20 are interfering with our lives. We also canceled
21 Thanksgiving. Guess where we went? Went to
22 Westlake Grill for Thanksgiving because it stunk too
23 bad at our house.
24 The comfortable enjoyment of life, we're
25 not living it. We're not living on our properties,
239
1 enjoying our life. We're living on our properties
2 around odors that they're creating, that we never
3 had a chance to speak up in public, because they
4 only had to notify everybody within 500 feet
5 according to the USR. But according to solid waste,
6 they should have notified the whole neighborhood and
7 we should have had a comment period.
8 So I'm sorry they spent $115 million. I
9 really am. Great idea, bad place to put it. First
10 hearing I said the same thing. I'm sorry you might
11 have to truck your waste farther, you might have to
12 truck your manure farther to make it work, but
13 there's a million acres out there in eastern
14 Colorado that don't have anything around it. They
15 picked a bad place.
16 We elect you guys to look out for us, to
17 protect our rights. And they're not being
18 protected. You know, I listened to this dog and
19 pony show; oh, in 2013 we did this, in 2013 we did
20 this, in 2015 we did this.
21 Well, guess what, now it's 2016 and all of
22 a sudden when the neighbors have had enough, Oh,
23 we're going to fix it. Really? Are you? Can you?
24 You stand here and tell me, We got more odors and
25 you're going to have to live with them. They're not
240
1 fixing it. We don't trust them. And we're tired of
2 it.
3 Nobody says it's not a great idea. As a
4 member of the community, and all these folks over
5 here, we're tired of it. We're tired of putting up
6 with it. We're tired of meetings. We're tired of
7 thousands of hours invested doing research that
8 isn't our job, only to come in here and listen to
9 these guys tell us, Well, you know, we should have
10 done this and we should have done that, but we
11 didn't, but now we're going to.
12 Mr. Ben Frissell himself told me it's not
13 about looking back at what's happened. We got to
14 look forward. It's about the last two years of my
15 life, that's what it's about. And I don't think you
16 can fix it.
17 Revoke it, fine them, and let's be on with
18 this. They can move somewhere else. I listened to
19 this talk about, Oh, composting and how great they
20 are and what they do and what they take. They done
21 stuff with manure a hundred years before this ever
22 happened here. That's all I have to say.
23 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Thank you.
24 MS. WILLIAMS: My name is Connie Williams.
25 I live at 21734 County Road 70 in Eaton, Colorado.
241
1 There is no doubt that Heartland is in the
2 fight of their life, and they've presented some very
3 compelling points today. But how dare they bring in
4 professionals who do not live in Weld County to
5 trivialize what a community has been going
6 through for close to two years. Heartland has put
7 $4.2 million into resolving the problem. What's the
8 net value of the 15 families, their land, their
9 home, and their businesses, all of which have been
10 impacted by Heartland? I would bet it's
11 significantly in excess of $4.2 million.
12 Commissioners, over the past six months
13 we've become good friends, and we've all realized
14 you've got a big problem in front of you. It's not
15 black and white. Heartland is not universally
16 creating bad products. As we said six months ago,
17 the concept is fabulous if it's executed properly.
18 It's been made clear over the past six
19 months they are not executing properly. They've
20 demonstrated a method of behavior that goes back
21 almost five years. And that behavior includes
22 misrepresentation, misinformation and mismanagement.
23 Since inception they've taken shortcuts
24 around your regulations, they've sidestepped State
25 statutes, and they've shown total disregard for
242
1 ordinances that are intended to keep the public
2 safe. Using smoke and mirrors they've operated
3 their plant unlawfully for over a year.
4 In July, I remember saying that you were
5 duped by the Planning Commission. Well, I was
6 wrong. The Planning Commission may have been
7 negligent, but they weren't being duplicitous. You
8 were duped by Heartland, EDF and AGPRO. By
9 continuing to give them time as you have over the
10 past six months the situation has worsened, because
11 not only now are they polluting the air, we have a
12 whole question about the land and the water.
13 And yet their experts who spoke today have
14 skillfully tried to put all of this on other ag
15 producers in our County.
16 At the last meeting, Commissioner Conway,
17 you were concerned about unintended consequences.
18 And you were right to have that concern, and there
19 were unintended consequences, but they were borne by
20 the community, not by Heartland.
21 Heartland continues to operate, they
22 continue to pollute, and they continue to thumb
23 their nose at each and every one of you and all that
24 Weld County stands for. They decide if and what
25 regulations they will follow with total disregard
243
1 for the community impact. Heartland has shown you
2 who they are. And I suggest you believe them.
3 At one point suspension may have been a
4 violation -- or a suspension may have been an
5 option. It's not anymore. The only way to resolve
6 this is to revoke the permits, let them fix the
7 operations, and let the community have its life
8 back. Thank you for your time.
9 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
10 MR. WELCH: Good afternoon, Commissioners.
11 My name's Jim Welch. I live at 24458 County
12 Road 40. My wife and I live there, and we've been
13 there for -- at that particular place for the last
14 20 years. I probably -- what I want to do is a
15 couple little random thoughts here as we proceeded
16 through the day.
17 The first thing I would really ask of you
18 as Commissioners is to disallow any of Mr. Garcia's
19 comments regarding Mr. Kreutzer. Mr. Kreutzer isn't
20 here, couldn't speak for himself. That's hearsay.
21 He knows that. So we can't really take into
22 consideration what Mr. Kreutzer said.
23 Do I want to trust his word? Under the
24 circumstances, no. So I ask that you disregard any
25 of Mr. Garcia's comments in regards to Mr. Kreutzer.
244
1 Going forward, I want to talk a little bit
2 about credibility. I think as a young child one of
3 the things I was always told was that my credibility
4 was one thing that I had to make sure that I kept.
5 You know, we had two experts up here
6 today, supposedly experts, because I doubt their
7 credibility quite honestly. One of them's got a lot
8 of degrees. Maybe he should have been doing more
9 physical work instead of book learning, as we would
10 say.
11 The -- the lady, Ph.D, man, that's
12 awesome. But, you know, at my age, there's not a
13 lot of things that impress me, and especially
14 degrees that aren't being used very well. So let's
15 start out with George.
16 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: So you need to keep
17 that to this, not about certain people. Keep it to
18 what the things are that we're looking at as far as
19 the Show Cause.
20 MR. WELCH: Well, I think because of what
21 they've said, it is part of the show cause. He gets
22 up here and states --
23 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: No. No. I know,
24 but --
25 MR. WELCH: Mike, I'm telling you, what he
245
1 said has to do with the Show Cause.
2 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: You can disagree with
3 what he said.
4 MR. WELCH: I'm not disagreeing. I'm
5 going to try and show you a conflict between him and
6 Heartland. He says that the odor is not coming from
7 Heartland. Heartland is standing up here and saying
8 we hate the smell as much as you do. Now --
9 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay.
10 MR. WELCH: Who's -- he's the expert. Do
11 they or don't they have an odor problem? I think
12 that side of the room says yes.
13 Mike, I'm here to just clarify and bring
14 to your attention that some of the miscommunication
15 these people have brought up.
16 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: You can do that, but
17 don't be personal about how you do it. Don't
18 personally attack anybody that's there. Okay. Go
19 ahead.
20 MR. WELCH: I'm attacking what they've
21 said.
22 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Thank you.
23 MR. WELCH: Okay. So anyway, we hear from
24 Trinity -- is that better?
25 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Sure.
246
1 MR. WELCH: Okay. We hear from Trinity
2 that the plant is not a significant source of strong
3 odor. Are you kidding me? And like I said just a
4 few minutes ago, Heartland has been up here and
5 stated that they hate the smell as much as anybody.
6 Well, credibility. We have a credibility gap there.
7 You know, I'm old enough that I just -- I
8 don't have a lot of use for certain things. But
9 anyway, she gets up here and talks about the fact
10 that the monitoring and the phone calls don't match
11 up. I never once saw after I made a phone call to
12 complain about the smell that somebody was out there
13 monitoring. So how can they compare the monitoring
14 and the calls? Like Mike said, we're not dummies,
15 you know. We know what a smell is. So I think that
16 we just really want to talk about the credibility of
17 this company.
18 And, yeah, they're going to spend
19 $4.2 million, people. Yay. They should have done
20 that up front. They shouldn't have taken that stuff
21 out so that now they have to come back and start
22 adding it back in.
23 I was in the electrical business when this
24 project started. I've seen all the plans from the
25 very get -go. And as I'm sitting there trying to bid
247
1 a job electrically, here's this first set of plans,
2 here's the next set of plans, and you go, jeez, they
3 took a lot of stuff out of here. You can tell that
4 because of the electrical work that's going into it.
5 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: You kind of need to
6 wrap up. Your time's pretty much up.
7 MR. WELCH: I think just because of their
8 credibility, Mike, this thing needs to be shut down
9 and gone. That's just all there is to it.
10 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: All right. Thank you.
11 Okay. Any other public input?
12 MR. KISKER: My name is Dave Kisker. I
13 live at 6681 Apache Road in Johnstown. I guess on
14 some level I don't have a dog in this hunt. I'm not
15 in the neighborhood. I don't have to wake up with
16 this particular odor. It's a matter of Weld County
17 residents overall, though, to determine whether or
18 not we let a business like that is obviously causing
19 some sort of a problem off the hook.
20 Today we heard the senior fellow from
21 Heartland say that if it wasn't for the Show Cause
22 hearing, they wouldn't have moved this quickly.
23 This is your stick. Don't give this stick away.
24 Okay. The other things may or may not be
25 enforceable. I understand there's been a lot of
248
1 issues raised with respect to the CD and the other
2 rules. But right now we don't know if those things
3 are going to apply or not without probably
4 litigation.
5 Right now the only stick you have is this
6 violation. And I urge you, whether you decide to
7 suspend it or not, don't give away your stick.
8 Because if you do, there's been no statement about
9 what standard will be used to determine whether
10 their mitigations are successful. They haven't said
11 here's what we promise to do and here's how we're
12 going to measure it. And without the ability to
13 measure something, it doesn't mean anything.
14 And 7:1 odor is awfully high in terms of
15 the intensity, particularly for this type of an
16 odor. If they were willing to, as somebody
17 suggested, agree to a tighter restriction, that
18 might be one way to have a guarantee, but it would
19 have to be added to the resolution that's out there
20 right now.
21 So basically right now you have one stick,
22 and if you give it away, the possibility exists that
23 these residents are going to have to live with this
24 forever. Thanks.
25 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Thank you.
249
1 MR. YOST: Hello, Commissioners. I'm Bob
2 Yost, Al Organics. 16350 Weld County 76 Eaton,
3 Colorado, vice president, CTO for the company. And
4 I've been there with Al 27 years. Al is starting
5 our 44th year in composting and organic recycling.
6 And we're the primary contract supplier to the
7 Heartland Biogas project for the food -based
8 substrates.
9 We take very seriously the Weld County
10 Code goal that states, quote, All facilities in the
11 County which handle, collect or process waste should
12 maintain an active role in solid waste management
13 resource recovery of such waste, close quote.
14 We also take seriously all the -- as well
15 the other goals and vision statements contained in
16 the Weld County Comprehensive Plan and other mission
17 and vision documents that -- state -- statements for
18 the County that are related to environmental impact,
19 storage, processing practices, sustainability,
20 resource recovery, recycling, impacts from
21 agriculture waste, composting and best management
22 practices.
23 Bottom line for us is that the Heartland
24 facility provides an enormous technologically
25 advanced best management solution to responsibly
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1 recycling and beneficially reusing the complex food
2 and agriculture based waste that is our collective
3 mission to address.
4 Its benefits to the County, its residents
5 and its businesses extend beyond sustainable
6 creation of renewable natural gas, recycled peat
7 moss, and liquid soil amendments.
8 Food based waste as well as manure are by
9 far best recycled through a digester. Composting --
10 and I know composting -- is an option, but it is not
11 without many challenges when related to a digester
12 for these types of materials.
13 Al and I personally care about Weld County
14 as much as anyone in this room. With collective
15 roots in Weld County going back to the late 1800s,
16 like many, national accreditation as pioneers and
17 innovators in our industry, we deeply care for Weld
18 County, too.
19 Al and I personally have invested
20 countless hours in the energy over the past 15 years
21 working to get a co -digestion facility in this
22 county because we generate the waste.
23 Without Heartland this valuable and
24 nationally acclaimed facility would not be here. I
25 can personally attest to the enormous investment of
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1 time, energy, money, risk that they have invested to
2 make it a reality here. And if allowed to, they can
3 ensure its success here.
4 This project was approved on merit. And
5 the County should be proud and energized for having
6 the foresight and vision to do so. It's the first
7 facility like this in America.
8 It's a complex project, and not dissimilar
9 to any complex project of this size and scope, it
10 needs to have some real life time to fully define
11 its operation.
12 This -- the Heartland Biogas project is an
13 unprecedented asset and benefit to Weld County, the
14 State, and for that matter the Rocky Mountain
15 region. Its positive impact on local economy, job
16 creation, environmental stewardship it has logically
17 and independently applied cannot be understated.
18 Weld County has an enormous opportunity
19 through this project and this process to establish a
20 leadership position in energy, both renewable and in
21 oil and gas. And not only in the state of Colorado,
22 but regionally and nationally as well.
23 Odors have a source. We know that in my
24 business. If it's a compost facility, a restaurant,
25 a landfill, a waste treatment plant digester, they
252
1 have a source. When you have an odor you identify
2 the source, and then you come up with ways to treat
3 and mitigate the source and you eliminate it. And
4 that's how you go forward. And that's what they've
5 been trying to do. And they will continue to do it,
6 because I've had personal experiences far beyond
7 anyone else in this room, I believe, with this
8 company, AGPRO, and the process leading up to this.
9 So I do take it seriously. And we -- this
10 is meant in no disrespect to the residents and the
11 complainants because I would not want that odor in
12 my house either. That's not the issue. The issue
13 is identify the source, fix it. There is no
14 disrespect to them.
15 Al Organics and I personally stand in
16 support of this facility and its mission. The
17 permitting items that have been raised in this
18 hearing are items that can and are being corrected.
19 And through a normal course of business in our
20 inspections when we have those type of issues, then
21 the County notifies us of what needs to be corrected
22 and we correct them. So they have been -- are being
23 corrected, and have little or no bearing on public
24 health and safety.
25 The plant upgrades are also being
253
1 completed as we speak, and will address the original
2 concerns expressed. I personally have been on the
3 site many, many times. I do not live off site. I
4 can tell you that the odor created on that site is
5 significantly better. The day they put those
6 biogas -- or those biofilters in place was an
7 enormous difference. And we're there every day.
8 I ask that the Board of County
9 Commissioners allow that to be completed, these
10 improvements, without moving this community back
11 15 years in the process. Thank you.
12 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
13 UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Maybe you should
14 have built that at your place.
15 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Stop.
16 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Hey, that's not called
17 for.
18 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: It's
19 inappropriate.
20 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: It's not appropriate.
21 MR. MCDONALD: Hello. My name is Scott
22 McDonald. I'm with McDonald Farms Enterprise. I've
23 been a resident -- I live at 1640 Diamond Well Drive
24 in Berthoud, Colorado. I've -- I'm a native
25 Coloradoan. My folks were native. We have several
254
1 farms in Weld County. I've worked my whole life
2 around dairy farms, pig farms, chicken farms, turkey
3 farms, all the fun stuff. Right?
4 So anyway, we do a lot of waste resource
5 recovery. We haul cow manure for the dairies to
6 this operation.
7 Prior to this we were working on several
8 other recycling processes with the restaurant groups
9 from -- like, in the Denver area, from Weld County,
10 and all these different places, these resources that
11 we recover to make this gas.
12 This is an amazing project. We were so
13 excited to be a part of this. And it's just really
14 discouraging to have this kind of -- never would
15 have expected this. But, still, I was out there
16 last night -- well, not last night, Sunday morning,
17 about 4 o'clock in the morning, trying to get one of
18 the trucks ungelled and get
running because it
19 was bitter cold. And I've been out there several
20 different times.
21 I believe there's been -- in my opinion,
22 as much as I've been out there -- and I usually get
23 out there late at night when people aren't there.
24 But it's been a huge improvement.
25 To take and to stop this project --
255
1 this is not the only project -- I don't know if
2 anybody -- this is going on across the nation. The
3 reason why it's happening is because it's really
4 important that this happens because there's --
5 there's not getting to be too many people -- there's
6 more and more people impacting the environment of
7 this -- of this -- the world that we live in. And
8 there's more and more of us. And if we don't handle
9 it properly, it's going to really come up and get us
10 in the end.
11 I mean, our landfills -- we're lucky
12 because out here we have big landfills and -- but
13 they're not unlimited. I mean, they can go away.
14 There's limited space. And to have something like
15 this go to a landfill, this food waste and this
16 manure and different things going to the landfill or
17 be -- you know, especially the food waste is just
18 such a waste. And if something happens to this
19 project here -- we employ about a hundred people.
20 There would be about an impact on about probably 25,
21 30 families directly. We will start transferring
22 hundreds and hundreds of thousands of tons a year
23 into -- back into the landfill. And it's just
24 discouraging.
25 Now, I feel comfortable -- I've been
256
1 working with these guys for a long time. I know
2 it's hard to see for the residents in the area, but
3 they are working on it. They've put that in out
4 there. And it is going to happen, they are going to
5 fix it. And I've been around them for all -- since
6 they started on it, in fact, probably about a year
7 before it even started going to construction. And
8 I've been pretty impressed with them. And I would
9 not have a problem -- of course I'm --
10 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: You need to kind of
11 wrap up.
12 MR. MCDONALD: I would not have a problem
13 living out there. I've lived in this kind of stuff.
14 I've lived out in agriculture. Weld County is known
15 for that. It's agriculture. And, anyway, well,
16 thanks.
17 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
18 MR. RATZLAFF: My name is Kalvin Ratzlaff.
19 And I live on 20526 County Road 50. Probably one of
20 the furthest away of anybody we've heard, mile east
21 of La Salle. And within the last six months, how
22 they say they're improving it, is the time in which
23 I have started experiencing this smell.
24 And other than that, I work in the oil and
25 gas industry. And when we're not compliant and
257
1 people can hear equipment, we shut in. We're shut
2 in until it's fixed, turned back on. If the
3 community is not happy, we shut in again until it's
4 fixed. So I think if you're going to give them an
5 opportunity to fix it, I don't -- I think it should
6 be revoked, but it needs to be shut in until it's
7 fixed.
8 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
9 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Can you give your
10 name again for the record? I actually didn't get
11 it.
12 MR. RATZLAFF: Kalvin Ratzlaff.
13 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you. Okay. Is
14 there any other public input?
15 Okay. Seeing no more public input, we
16 will close public input and we are going to take a
17 10 -minute recess.
18 (Break taken at 4:12 p.m.)
19 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: So the first thing,
20 there is a sign-up sheet. If you came up and spoke
21 but didn't actually sign this clipboard here,
22 sometime could you -- if you get a chance, could you
23 come up and fill this out. I think we've got a few
24 speakers that maybe missed signing this one. So
25 just clean that up when you can. Thank you.
258
1 With that -- so now we'll go back to the
2 respondents for -- oh, Chris.
3 MR. GATHMAN: Can I make one point? And
4 it's in regards to one of the development standards,
5 Development Standard No. 6.
6 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: He wants one
7 clarification.
8 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay.
9 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Go ahead and make your
10 clarification, and then we'll have the respondent
11 come back up.
12 MR. GATHMAN: So Development Standard
13 No. 6 under the MUSR states, "The property owner or
14 operator shall comply with the applicable sections
15 of the regulations pertaining to the Solid Waste
16 Disposal Sites and Facilities Act, and be
17 constructed, operated and monitored as detailed in
18 the application materials and conditions detailed in
19 the Engineering Design and Operations Plan approval
20 letter dated April 7th, 2010."
21 That letter is actually -- it talks
22 about -- it's partly titled Certificate of
23 Designation Recommendation of Approval with
24 Conditions.
25 So based on what happens with the
259
1 Certificate of Designation, if a new one is required
2 this -- you know, this standard is referring to the
3 original Certificate of Designation, in 2010. So if
4 that has to be changed, that Development Standard no
5 longer applies to that Certificate of Designation.
6 It would be a new certificate. Typically when there
7 are modifications to development standards, there's
8 a requirement that there would be an amendment of
9 the USR in that instance.
10 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Okay.
11 Commissioner Cozad.
12 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I just want to make
13 sure I'm understanding what Chris is saying. So if
14 we determine that a CD -- or if we make a finding
15 that a CD -- a new CD is required, are you stating
16 that we would need to amend -- re -amend -- or amend
17 again this USR?
18 MR. GATHMAN: Yes.
19 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay. Thank you.
20 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Now the respondent.
21 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I don't believe
22 that's correct.
23 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Which?
24 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: That we would
25 have to require an amendment to the USR, because you
260
1 have to look at Development Standard No. 10 which
2 talks about in the event that there are changes.
3 So the first part of that sentence states
4 that they have to comply with the Solid Waste
5 Disposal Sites and Facility Act and be constructed,
6 operated and monitored as in the Engineering Design
7 and Operations Plan, the EDOP, dated in --
8 April 7th, because that was at that point in time.
9 But No. 10 speaks to if there's revisions
10 to the EDOP in the future. So I'm not sure they
11 would have to have an amendment to their USR.
12 Because No. 10 allows for in the event there should
13 be a change in their EDOP, they have to get approval
14 from everybody, as was stated earlier. That's just my
15 opinion.
16 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. We'll sort that
17 out when we get there.
18 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And we're not
19 talking about that here today anyways.
20 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. So with that, if
21 the respondent would please come forward, and
22 whatever statements, comments. Hopefully we can
23 limit this to a fairly short amount of time.
24 MR. KURZENHAUSER: Three minutes.
25 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Not three minutes. You
261
1 can have longer than that.
2 MR. KURZENHAUSER: Thank you very much.
3 Al Kurzenhauser. And I will keep it short. Again,
4 I appreciate the dedication and focus of the
5 Commissioners. It's been a long day. Lot of new
6 things have been learned today. And it's very, very
7 trying. I do want to stress again, we take this
8 seriously. And in no way do I want to impugn the
9 reputations of any of the citizens in this room or
10 in our community.
11 Odor is a complicated issue. It is not
12 black and white. And it has many subtle -- many
13 subtle pieces to it. I was going to say flavors to
14 it, but I didn't think that would sound right. But
15 it's very subtle. And -- and it is very, very
16 difficult to quantify when people personally
17 experience it. We recognize that.
18 We are dedicated to fixing this site. We
19 have shown we're putting money into the site. And
20 we are incredibly focused. You heard from some of
21 the citizens -- some of the folks who came up and
22 talked who have worked with us. We're a reputable
23 company, and we're trying to do all the right
24 things.
25 Shutting this plant down is not easy.
262
1 It's not like shutting an oil well. It's a living,
2 breathing animal. It's really important to
3 understand. It's no different than a cow or a
4 person. It's a digestive process. You have
5 microbiological processes, and you have to let them
6 run their course. And when they run their course,
7 then you can shut the plant down. It would take
8 several months to shut this plant down, another
9 several months to clean it out. So shutting down
10 this project would take a long time and wouldn't
11 necessarily eliminate the odors immediately.
12 So, finally, I ask that you terminate the
13 Show Cause hearing, and we'll come back in six
14 months. If you're not willing to do that, then
15 please extend our next Show Cause hearing until
16 June. We have a plan in place. We have a Consent
17 Order with the State that provides very specific
18 requirements for us, equipment to implement, dates
19 we have to meet, with fixed penalties of $15,000 a
20 day. That's the hammer.
21 Have us meet with the public -- with the
22 Planning Department on a monthly basis, give them an
23 update on what we're doing. Have them come to the
24 sites and inspect. Our doors are open.
25 We are a responsible, dedicated member of
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1 this community. We're integrated into the
2 agricultural flow of this community. We want to be
3 a success. We absolutely want to be a success.
4 Thank you very much for your time. Appreciate it.
5 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you. Does the
6 Board have any questions?
7 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I actually do
8 have some questions of Heartland.
9 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Commissioner
10 Kirkmeyer has some questions. If they're not
11 directed to you, you can bring up whoever.
12 MR. KURZENHAUSER: Thank you.
13 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: In looking
14 through the 2 inches or so of materials that
15 Mr. Garcia gave to us earlier, I'm looking at what
16 is Exhibit 28 and Exhibit 29. So in Exhibit 28 it's
17 an e-mail from Roger Doak, who's with the Colorado
18 Department of Public Health and Environment, who talks
19 about -- he sent this to Marci, whoever that is. Solid waste
remains
20 a waste unless the material achieves established
21 standards for unrestricted release. Talks about the
22 finished product as labeled or advertised in the
23 soil amendment or compost --
24 (Interruption by the court reporter.)
25 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: You can just
264
1 refer to Exhibit 28. I'm just reading directly from
2 it.
3 And so if the finished product is labeled
4 or advertised as a soil amendment or compost, you'll
5 be subject to CDA rules and requirements. So that
6 was May 20th of 2013.
7 And then right after that, Exhibit 29 is
8 an application for a Solid Waste Beneficial Use
9 Determination. And that was submitted 12-7, 2016.
10 And it appears that it's related to the either
11 product or waste that is being used for the soil
12 amendment.
13 So could you please explain to us why
14 you applied for a Solid Waste Beneficial Use
15 Determination with the Colorado Department of Public
16 Health and Environment on December 7th, 2016, in
17 relationship to the land application product or
18 waste.
19 MR. KURZENHAUSER: Tom Haren will answer
20 that question, Commissioner Kirkmeyer.
21 MR. HAREN: Tom Haren here again. AGPRO,
22 3050 - 67th Avenue.
23 Yes, Roger Doak's outlining what I
24 outlined in my presentation that Table 1 in
25 Regulation 14, when you meet specifications on
265
1 Table 1, it is no longer a solid waste, it is a
2 product. And the State through many meetings passed
3 that off, said with a -- with the Liquid Soil
4 Amendment we could get a label through the
5 Department of Ag.
6 I also stated earlier that in this lengthy
7 process, three of the four State regulators we've
8 worked through throughout this whole period are no
9 longer there or have retired, as well as some
10 turnover in County staff and some of our staff.
11 Mr. David Snapp, who has been involved
12 more recently, has suggested since there is no --
13 the -- the Colorado Department of Ag labeling for
14 compost, fertilizer and soil amendments is
15 relatively new. There is not a defined process for
16 how it would get handed off from solid waste to the
17 Department of Ag.
18 The discussion started, the suggestion was
19 made that a Beneficial Use Determination could be an
20 official way that the Solid Waste Department could
21 hand that off to the Department of Ag.
22 So it was -- I don't believe that it's --
23 has been necessary, is necessary, but as has come up
24 a couple times today, somebody suggested it. And in
25 an abundance of caution, prudence, with -- with EDF,
266
1 we've tried to follow our regulatory directives, and
2 we followed David Snapp's recommendation.
3 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And the
4 recommendation was to do an application for a Solid
5 Waste Beneficial Use Determination?
6 MR. HAREN: Correct.
7 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So since there
8 wasn't any other material, really, other than your
9 letter from December 6th attached to the application
10 that I was reading through, does that mean then that
11 the State is maybe reconsidering?
12 MR. HAREN: No.
13 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Then why file an
14 application?
15 MR. HAREN: There has not been -- in my
16 experience with five other regulated facilities that
17 are under Reg 14 that are both solid waste and
18 Class 1 or CD facilities, there's no certificate
19 or -- or document that the State gives you that
20 says, okay, this is now a product. It's inherent in
21 the regulation. We're required to do testing.
22 We're required to keep records, make them available
23 for inspection. But when our material meets the
24 requirements of Table 1, it is no longer a solid
25 waste.
267
1 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: All right. Thank
2 you.
3 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Can I ask a
4 follow-up?
5 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Go ahead. Yeah.
6 Sure.
7 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Mr. Haren, is there a
8 response that will come back from CDPHE on this
9 determination, beneficial use determination?
10 MR. HAREN: Since it was an application,
11 yes, we did expect a response.
12 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Do you know when?
13 MR. HAREN: I do not.
14 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay.
15 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Thank you.
16 Commissioner Kirkmeyer.
17 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Yeah. I have a
18 couple questions for Mr. Garcia and Mr. Kaufman.
19 So, again, in reading through all the documents that
20 you gave us, Exhibit 20 is a letter dated
21 October 8th, 2014. And as I was looking through
22 here, this one talks about Certificate of
23 Designation. And it speaks to the -- amending your
24 Engineering Design Operations Plan, therefore, the
25 Division considered changes to the Heartland CD --
268
1 does not consider changes to the Heartland CD as
2 being necessary.
3 There wasn't anything in this letter with
4 regard to the transfer of ownership. So I'm
5 wondering if anywhere in all of your documents if
6 there was anything that you received other than the
7 letter from -- that we forwarded to you, Weld County
8 forwarded to you from November 9th, if there was
9 anything from the State Department of Health
10 speaking to the transfer of ownership -- so anything
11 prior to November 9th, anything that spoke to the
12 transfer of ownership and not requiring a change to
13 the Heartland CD.
14 MR. KAUFMAN: There was the -- there was
15 the initial notification change order to the
16 Department of Public Health that identified
17 Heartland Biogas as the owner and operator of the
18 facility. And then there's a signature on that that
19 says approved back from 2013.
20 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: But was there
21 something in that letter that said the Division does
22 not consider these changes or this transfer of
23 ownership, meaning that the Heartland CD -- changes
24 to the Heartland CD would be necessary?
25 MR. KAUFMAN: Not that we've seen along
269
1 the lines of this letter.
2 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay. Thank you.
3 And then along those board -- or along that line,
4 so, Mr. Kaufman, the way you were talking, you kind
5 of indicated you've had the letter that the Attorney
6 General's Office sent to the Board of County
7 Commissioners in Weld County -- or to Weld County
8 from -- it was November 9th of 2016.
9 And within that letter it does basically
10 say that the Certificate of Designation is not valid
11 and that your facility is due to submit a revision
12 to the EDOP following the completion of its pilot
13 project. And in the meantime, the Division's EDOP
14 application -- I don't know -- it goes on to say
15 essentially that they're encouraging you to -- this
16 is from the Attorney General's Office, encouraging
17 Heartland Biogas to get a new Certificate -- or
18 apply for a Certificate of Designation.
19 And then further, on November 30th, the
20 Department of Health -- and this is -- let me see if
21 there was an exhibit. This was in that stack that
22 Mr. Garcia gave us. Sorry. I don't see an -- oh,
23 there is, Exhibit 30.
24 Furthermore, there was an exhibit here
25 that states -- and it is from the Department of
270
1 Health, Douglas M. Ikenberry, dated November 30th.
2 It talks about the purpose of the Division's
3 inspection was to evaluate the facility's compliance
4 status with respect to the applicable minimal
5 standards put forth at the Solid Waste Disposal
6 Sites and Facilities Act and regulations. And it
7 lists what those all are.
8 And then it says, the Division is
9 currently encouraging the Heartland Biogas, LLC,
10 facility to apply to Weld County for a Certificate
11 of Designation soon, which I'm assuming you took to
12 heart because on -- this is Exhibit 25,
13 December 9th, Mr. Kaufman, you sent a letter to
14 Bruce Barker and Tom Parko, both with Weld County,
15 that you were wishing to formally modify your
16 Certificate of Designation.
17 So I find that odd because it's not
18 talking about transferring or anything, but modify
19 your designation.
20 So if -- with all of this information --
21 and you actually even sent a letter to us to
22 modify -- what -- if you believed that you have a --
23 or if you believed that the Attorney General's
24 Office was incorrect that the Certificate of
25 Designation is not valid, which is what they put in
271
1 their letter, then why didn't you seek a court order
2 stating that you have a valid CD?
3 MR. KAUFMAN: Well, you know, we're not
4 particularly interested in fighting over this legal
5 technicality of whether there was some rubber stamp
6 process on this particular piece of paper or
7 nonpiece of paper. We'd rather follow the direction
8 of the regulators.
9 The direction back in 2013 was that there
10 was no indication that a new CD would be needed.
11 There was plenty of process through the State and
12 through the County that identified Heartland Biogas
13 as the owner, that identified its financial bona
14 fides, that was specifically approved by the County,
15 and allowed the process to go forward.
16 3-1/2 years later we have a letter kind of
17 out of the blue from the Attorney General's office.
18 It appears to be something of a cleanup. Our
19 understanding is there may be other facilities in
20 this particular boat. That -- you know, we've
21 looked at this issue a little more closely, and what
22 was said in 2016 -- or in 2013 doesn't reflect our
23 understanding now, so why don't we go clean this
24 process up. You apply to the County. Put
25 everything aboveboard. We can wrap it up and move
272
1 on. And so that's what we've done.
2 I don't think that that's inconsistent
3 with our position that we did everything that was
4 asked of us and that was required at the time in
5 2013, that a process was followed, that the County
6 and the State all assumed that there was a valid CD,
7 there's a lot of exhibits in there that indicate
8 that that was the case, and that now they've changed
9 their mind and they think a little differently about
10 this.
11 It's not unusual in a case like this where
12 there really is no statutory or regulatory
13 provisions that address the issue. We've got
14 somebody who is trying to make an interpretation.
15 Again, with all due respect to Mr. Kreutzer, we
16 never had an opportunity to present our case to him.
17 There was a number of facts that weren't considered
18 in his letter.
19 But we want to move forward. There's no
20 question about who is the owner of this facility.
21 There never has been. There never has been for the
22 last three years. So let's move forward with the
23 process. If that requires a hearing in front of
24 this Board, we're certainly willing to do that and
25 talk about the ownership of this facility and why
273
1 it's an appropriate owner.
2 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: That's fine. I
3 don't have a question, but I do have a comment.
4 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay.
5 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: There actually is
6 a regulation that speaks to the transfership to a
7 new owner or operator, and it's in the Solid Waste
8 Disposal Sites and Facilities Act, and it's in their
9 state's regulations, which requires that the
10 governing body having jurisdiction reviews and
11 approves, just so we know. Thank you. I didn't
12 have any further question or comment.
13 MR. KAUFMAN: May I respond.
14 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: It's up to the
15 Chair.
16 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Sure.
17 MR. KAUFMAN: I am aware of that. It's a
18 very narrow provision that provides in the instance
19 where there's financial assurances that have been
20 provided and then are transferred as part of the
21 transfer of ownership, that that process has -- that
22 there has to be some sort of approval. In this
23 case -- and I can't tell you -- speak as to why it
24 happened -- the original owners never provided the
25 financial assurances. There was nothing to transfer
274
1 at that time when they transferred ownership of the
2 facility, so there was nothing to approve in the
3 transferring of the financial guarantees.
4 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. All right.
5 Other questions for Heartland?
6 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I guess I'll have a
7 follow-up on where Commissioner's Kirkmeyer is
8 going.
9 In reading the letter from the Attorney
10 General's Office, it also says that Certificates of
11 Designation do not transfer to new owner operators
12 because the CD is more than a simple zoning
13 document.
14 And it also talks about how it's our
15 responsibility to make sure that that owner/operator
16 can meet all the requirements and can run the
17 facility and has the financial bond or whatever it
18 is that has to be submitted as part of the CD to
19 make sure that it's operated correctly. So can you
20 address that provision?
21 And then I think Mr. Garcia also mentioned
22 the City and County of Denver versus Eggert case.
23 And when I was reading through that and looking at
24 that section,
also talks about the only reason
25 why that case -- that they did not ultimately
275
1 require a new CD was because Denver was listed on
2 the CD. So it specifically talks about that case,
3 which I think is different than this case. So can
4 you address both those two things?
5 MR. KAUFMAN: Yes. Certainly. We're not
6 saying that there doesn't need to be some
7 acknowledgment and examination by the County of the
8 ability of the facility to run the -- run the plant.
9 We're saying that that was all handled through
10 the -- the ongoing land use process where Heartland
11 Biogas was identified as the owner of the facility.
12 In at least a couple of instances there was actually
13 financial guarantees that were approved by the
14 County as to the company's ability to, you know,
15 handle the myriad of responsibilities that they were
16 going to have.
17 So, you know, it's our position that that
18 process was followed, that the County did have an
19 opportunity -- if you look at Mr. Kreutzer's letter
20 and also at the case, the idea is that, yes, the
21 County has to have an opportunity to examine whether
22 the owner is an appropriate owner.
23 What's not explained by the statute, the
24 regulations, guidance documents, anywhere, from what
25 I can find, is what that process has to look like.
276
1 And I think our position is there was plenty of
2 process in this case. There was a myriad of
3 planning documents that went forward with Heartland
4 Biogas as the owner with the opportunity for the
5 County to question Heartland Biogas, whether they
6 can really build this facility, whether they can
7 really run this facility. And they allowed that
8 stuff to go forward.
9 Now, can we come back and have a specific
10 hearing that says, okay, now we're going to talk
11 about just the CD, sure. And we're willing to do
12 that, and that's why we submitted that application.
13 I don't think it's any different in substance than
14 what's occurred over the past three years with
15 respect to this facility. The same issues have
16 always been discussed. The same questions about the
17 ability to build this facility are part of all of
18 these land use determinations. And so we believe
19 that that meets the what I would say is very vague
20 and -- and not very well explained intent of the
21 Court in the City of Denver case.
22 I mean, if you look at the case, it's a
23 throw -off line they put in there. It doesn't
24 directly address the issues, as we mentioned in our
25 brief. And it really had the opportunity to
277
1 struggle with what does this mean in the context of
2 the statute. What does this process look like when
3 you've already gone through a full Certificate of
4 Designation hearing and looked at all the factors
5 that are required under the statute, and you have
6 this one narrow issue with respect to is this an
7 appropriate owner.
8 So we're suggesting under the
9 circumstances that's been followed. If we need more
10 process, then we're certainly willing to do that.
11 COMMISSIONER COZAD: So I guess, you know,
12 personally I would kind of disagree with you because
13 I think in the letter that's dated November 8th, the
14 Attorney General's Office actually says, "Therefore
15 the facility no longer has a CD."
16 I understand you're saying that there were
17 other things that happened, the plat recording, the
18 Improvements Agreement, and those things. But that
19 was prior to us receiving this letter from the
20 Attorney General's Office.
21 I think, you know, probably Heartland as
22 well as the County relied on the previous
23 documentation that came from the State that said --
24 that didn't -- that said that you didn't need to do
25 anything. But when this happened on November 8th,
278
1 that actually was the date that it did come to our
2 attention and that we -- we are notified that you do
3 not have a valid CD. So would you agree with that
4 or comment?
5 MR. KAUFMAN: Well, I agree that's
6 Mr. Kreutzer's opinion. And as I mentioned before,
7 Mr. Kreutzer is not a trier of fact. And certainly
8 he is entitled to his legal opinion. He's read the
9 case and he's expressed that in the letter.
10 You know, to be fair, there were a number
11 of facts that I don't think Mr. Kreutzer considered.
12 He didn't consider a number of the proceedings that
13 went before the County, and not just the County
14 staff, but the County commission on some of the
15 approvals.
16 And I think those are key given the
17 rationale that's expressed both in his letter and in
18 the case. You know, that being said, you know, as
19 Mr. Garcia pointed out at the very beginning, this
20 is a gray area. You know, there's nothing in the
21 statute that really provides what you do on this.
22 The State took a position back in 2013. It wasn't
23 appropriate. Now they rethought that position.
24 They think that maybe it is.
25 So let's move forward. And if that's
279
1 their new interpretation, let's move forward with
2 that. We'll button it up. You know, this isn't
3 like there wasn't ever a CD, that none of these
4 things were ever considered that are required under
5 the statute. This was, you know, a technical
6 process that wasn't required back then or wasn't
7 seemingly required back then, and they think maybe
8 it is.
9 Now, yeah, could we have a legal fight and
10 take this all the way to the Supreme Court and have
11 an argument about, well, you know, did we really
12 have a CD or not? The fact of the matter is, as a
13 practical matter, we all know who the owner of the
14 facility is. They operated in good faith. They
15 presented all the information. They satisfied the
16 County at every turn through the planning process.
17 And that shouldn't be the kind of thing that results
18 in the revocation of the USR.
19 Now, should we go through more process?
20 That's fine. But to 3, 3-1/2 years after the fact,
21 after we relied on all of these processes, after
22 we've spent money in reliance on those processes and
23 say, well, you know what, the State changed its mind
24 on this, or I should specifically say there's an
25 Attorney General -- Assistant Attorney General at
280
1 the State who now thinks that the process wasn't
2 completely aboveboard, that it wasn't followed the
3 way they would like it now, I don't think that
4 that's proper or right.
5 And I don't think you have to look at what
6 Mr. Kreutzer is recommending. He's not recommending
7 shutting down the facility. He's not recommending
8 revoking the USR. His language is very mild with
9 respect to what needs to be done. It's, hey, you
10 know, this is a technicality. You guys have to deal
11 with it, both the County and the facility. And
12 we're certainly prepared to do that.
13 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay.
14 MR. GARCIA: If I may, more so not only
15 we're prepared to do that, we have made the
16 application which was asked of us. And the --
17 really the -- the next step is in the hands of the
18 County. The next step is, as Mr. Haug mentioned
19 very early on in our day today, that the County will
20 review. The County will then submit to the State
21 for their review. And so the steps really are not
22 in our hands at this time. We've -- we have tried
23 to comply.
24 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay. So I think I
25 asked this question at the very beginning. So isn't
281
1 it a formal application or is it just a letter
2 requesting modification to the CD?
3 MR. KAUFMAN: Our understanding --
4 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: It's not a
5 modification. If I may.
6 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Go ahead.
7 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I just want to
8 know if any time before November 9th when we
9 forwarded the letter to you from the Attorney
10 General's Office, which is different than any
11 notification or any comments from the Department of
12 Public Health, if you had an understanding of the
13 rules with regard to the transfer of ownership, that
14 it required the governing body to review and
15 approve. Not only the department, but the governing
16 body. Did you have knowledge of that, that rule?
17 MR. KAUFMAN: Our understanding from what
18 we were told is that we submitted the appropriate
19 paperwork, and that the transfer of ownership was
20 approved.
21 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So you did have
22 knowledge of the rule? Because that's why I also
23 asked if there was anything in your documentation
24 that showed, from the Department, that when they
25 kept saying that you didn't need to modify your CD,
282
1 that it was related to the transfer of ownership.
2 Because everything that I read through and
3 everything that you submitted to us just talked
4 about the EDOP. It didn't really talk about
5 transfer of ownership. So I don't even know if the
6 department -- and I assume they're not here today
7 because they didn't get up to speak. So I don't
8 even know if the Department understood about the
9 transfer of ownership or understood that the two
10 LLCs were different because their names are so
11 similar.
12 MR. KAUFMAN: Well, there certainly is in
13 the doc -- there's documentation in our packet that
14 is the exhibit of the change request, the --
15 changing the ownership of the facility from
16 Heartland Renewable Energy to Heartland Biogas, and
17 then the indication from the Department that that
18 was approved. And then there's also documentation
19 that that fact was made aware -- that Weld County
20 was made aware of that fact that -- specifically
21 that we identified. And it was all in the same time
22 frame right there.
23 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: But this letter
24 that's -- Commissioner Freeman just gave me a letter
25 that's Exhibit 15, dated October 28th, 2013, is from
283
1 Heartland Biogas, LLC, To whom it may concern. So I
2 don't know who this letter was sent to. And it just
3 says, To whom it may concern, we've transferred
4 ownership. There's -- I didn't see anything from
5 the Department of Health or from the Attorney
6 General's Office stating that you didn't need to get
7 the Department's review and approval. So I don't
8 see anything where the Department actually approved
9 the transfer. And that's what I asked for, and I
10 didn't see it. I asked you if you had anything like
11 that, and you told me no.
12 MR. KAUFMAN: No. I -- there -- attached
13 to that, the -- the document was the approval. And
14 I think it's in our packet in a couple different
15 places.
16 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Could you point
17 to those exhibits, please?
18 MR. KAUFMAN: Yes. Sorry. In the course
19 of the hearing my exhibits have gotten out of order.
20 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: That's fine. If
21 they want to take a few minutes to look through
22 things I have questions for the staff.
23 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. So go ahead
24 and -- go ahead and look for those. And go ahead --
25 Commissioner Kirkmeyer will go ahead with the
284
1 questions she has for staff, and then we'll come
2 back.
3 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Sure. So this
4 is -- so this is for the health department. With
5 regard to the application for a Solid Waste
6 Beneficial Use Determination, could you tell me your
7 interpretation of this and why they -- why you think
8 they're applying now for it?
9 MR. FRISSELL: Sure. I have to go back a
10 little bit to kind of describe on -- and go forward
11 with this and kind of what my interpretation and
12 what I have seen with this. It goes back to the --
13 to the digester, the DSSOP. They made a Change
14 Request 10. Based on that Change Request 10 they
15 gained approval for that, for that Digester Solids
16 Operation Plan. And it was an approval with
17 conditions.
18 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I'm sorry.
19 Change Request 10, what is that?
20 MR. FRISSELL: They submitted on July 1st,
21 2015. It was called a Response on Low Permeability
22 Pad Change Request 10. This was submitted by AGPRO.
23 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Submitted that to
24 who? You?
25 MR. FRISSELL: This is all through the
285
1 State at this time.
2 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay.
3 MR. FRISSELL: So this was submitted to
4 the State July 1st, 2015. Based on conversations
5 between the State and the facility and/or AGPRO, an
6 Approval with Conditions letter was sent out on
7 November 20th, 2015.
8 In this letter it is approving the -- the
9 DSSO plan. And it specifically states that the
10 Division has reviewed the DSSO and hereby approves
11 it and the full scale pilot project with the
12 conditions described herein.
13 As part of one of the conditions, it says
14 that an updated Beneficial Use Determination is
15 required. That's on November 20th, 2015.
16 Additionally, on September 8th, 2016, a
17 letter between the State and it looks like Heartland
18 and -- at least with Heartland -- we were not
19 included on this letter. I got this third party.
20 It states in this letter that the CDPHE
21 considers the waste generated from the digestion
22 process a solid waste, and water generated from the
23 anaerobic digester, a digest or wastewater. So
24 based on those items, it still appears that the
25 CDPHE is requiring a beneficial use determination.
286
1 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Because they're
2 calling it wastewater?
3 MR. FRISSELL: They're calling the digest
4 material, which is the Liquid Soil Amendment that
5 they're describing, a -- still a waste. So
6 regardless of the Department of Agriculture's
7 determination, they still consider that and still
8 need this information.
9 Based on that, that is where this BUD
10 letter came from. Their application on November --
11 I'm sorry. I don't have the date.
12 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: The application
13 was just the 7th of December.
14 MR. FRISSELL: Yeah. There you go.
15 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay. Thank you.
16 So my question now is for the county
17 attorney's office or the planning department. So in
18 looking at the resolution where it was passed for
19 this USR, I didn't see anything in there with regard
20 to land application. So regardless of the
21 Certificate of Designation and regardless of whether
22 it's a waste or a product, wouldn't it have had had
23 to have been covered in their USR? So now if
24 they're adding yet another use to their USR,
25 wouldn't they have to have amended that into their
287
1 USR?
2 MR. BARKER: I think the health department
3 is going to have to address that with respect to --
4 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Health department
5 or the planning department?
6 MR. BARKER: Either one. -- with respect
7 to the requirements for land application.
8 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I'm talking about
9 the requirements of the USR. Typically when
10 people -- when applicants apply for a USR, they list
11 all of the uses that are covered under that USR.
12 Land application is not a use that's in here.
13 Typically we've had this in other cases where a land
14 application is included with composting facilities,
15 and they talk about land application. So if it's
16 not included in the original application and all of
17 this --
18 MR. BARKER: But the answer would be is it
19 required to get a USR to do that. In other words,
20 did it have to be in the USR? Did you have to get
21 USR approval to be able to do that?
22 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So if they are
23 producing waste on their property and they're moving
24 it to another acreage, not their own, that typically
25 requires a USR.
288
1 MR. BARKER: There's land application
2 permits that are allowed without a Use by Special
3 Review. I don't know if this would fit within that.
4 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So -- so that's
5 the first question. Who wants to answer that?
6 MR. FRISSELL: I can answer to some parts
7 of it. There are land applications of manure and
8 manure slurries through pivots and all those things
9 that do not require any type of USR things. And
10 that is generally okay to apply to farm fields.
11 As far as a beneficial use part of a USR,
12 I have not gone through that process or have seen
13 that as a USR so far; however, that doesn't mean
14 that it might not have to be part of that.
15 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Can I ask a
16 follow-up?
17 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Chris, did you
18 want to add anything to that?
19 MR. GATHMAN: I think he's covered it. I
20 don't think I've specifically dealt with that
21 situation either. I mean, I've dealt with dairies
22 and, you know, the land application associated with
23 that, but...
24 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay. So
25 basically what I think I hear you saying from the
289
1 health department is that they wouldn't need a land
2 application permit for biosolids through our health
3 department.
4 MR. FRISSELL: For biosolids they would
5 have to go through a permitting process through
6 the -- I'm sorry here -- Board of Health.
7 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Yeah.
8 MR. FRISSELL: And they get their permit
9 through that. However, I don't think that is a part
10 of a USR process.
11 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: No. Let's not
12 confuse the two. I just want -- my question to you
13 is this. If this is considered to be a biosolid, do
14 they need a permit through the health department?
15 MR. FRISSELL: If it would be considered a
16 biosolid, then they would need to go through the
17 Department of -- sorry, the Board of Health.
18 However, I'm not sure what the beneficial use
19 determination -- it would actually be called --
20 called a biosolid versus what they are calling as a
21 Liquid Soil Amendment. So I don't want to get the
22 two biosolids in whatever this product is confused
23 either.
24 Not having to have gone through an
25 approval for a beneficial use, we are still working
290
1 on what the actual -- how this will look going
2 forward.
3 One requirement from the CDPHE is
4 basically saying that if we make this beneficial use
5 determination, and we approve it, it's still up to
6 the local governing body to make the final approval.
7 We have not gone to that -- that far yet.
8 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay. And then
9 my question for Chris is within the USR process,
10 whether it's called a product, a product of
11 what's -- you know, produced from the waste that's
12 there or whatever, or whether it's called waste,
13 wouldn't it have to have been included under what
14 was being permitted under the USR?
15 MR. GATHMAN: Well, if they planned to do
16 that, it would have been good to have it in the
17 application.
18 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Would they have
19 needed it in the application? Would it have had to
20 have been in the application is the question.
21 MR. GATHMAN: I think it goes back to --
22 and I'm not an expert. I don't mean to say that
23 again. But is it defined as a waste or is it
24 defined as a soil amendment?
25 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: No. I think it
291
1 goes back to the uses permitted under the USR. And
2 this was a use. It's not permitted under the USR.
3 And I want to know if it needed to be permitted as a
4 use under the USR. That's my question.
5 MR. BARKER: For the answer to that you
6 would have to go back to Section 23-3-40 which deals
7 with Use by Special Review in the ag zone. So is it
8 listed as one of those things, meaning that part of
9 this operation, or is it something in which it's use
10 by right, and then you only permit if it's a
11 biosolid. They would need -- would be under
12 Chapter 14 getting that permit.
13 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So is that a use
14 by right?
15 MR. BARKER: I'm looking through and
16 seeing under Use by Special Review, and I don't see
17 it being listed, so --
18 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: You're assuming,
19 then, it's a use by right?
20 MR. BARKER: Have to back up and take a
21 look at the use by right.
22 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay. All right.
23 I'm sorry. Commissioner.
24 COMMISSIONER COZAD: No. Actually, I have
25 some additional follow-up that's following along the
292
1 lines of what you guys are both talking about.
2 In the USR, it lists that the USR is for a
3 solid waste disposal site and facility, and includes
4 Class I composting and animal waste recycling or
5 processing facility.
6 So I guess my question to Chris and/or Ben
7 would be would the LSA -- would that be -- would you
8 interpret that as being a part of those uses that
9 are listed in the title of what the USR is for? And
10 would that be included as a part of their composting
11 or animal waste recycling and processing facility?
12 MR. FRISSELL: I believe the LSA was
13 actually described in the 2013 EDOP as being a
14 product during that time. However, 2013 to 2016,
15 there are differences. And there's -- like has been
16 stated, staff have changed and things have changed
17 at the State. And requirements have been made
18 because of documentation submitted, i.e., the DSSOP
19 in 2015. So just because the item was described in
20 2013, it has morphed into a possible requirement of
21 a BUD with the County approval.
22 And then under the USR that would be --
23 since they are approved -- they do have an approved
24 EDOP, that we have looked at -- or at least the
25 State have looked at and approved, then that item
293
1 was described as being a product or at least a
2 byproduct in that -- in their Engineering Design
3 Operations Plan.
4 COMMISSIONER COZAD: From 2013?
5 MR. FRISSELL: Correct.
6 COMMISSIONER COZAD: But from 2013 to 2016
7 when those modifications were made, is it still in
8 there?
9 MR. FRISSELL: Yeah. That product has
10 always been a part of this plan and -- which was
11 described in their DSSO plan, which got the State to
12 basically say this is why you need the beneficial
13 use determination.
14 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay. So even if
15 it's -- even if it was included in the EDOP, and it
16 was interpreted to be a part of the USR plan, it
17 doesn't mean that they didn't need to get a permit,
18 potentially, from CDPHE, this beneficial use
19 determination -- I don't know if that's considered a
20 permit, but at least a determination from the State.
21 It didn't -- didn't waive that other requirement to
22 meet the State regulations.
23 MR. FRISSELL: My understanding would be
24 no.
25 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Thank you.
294
1 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. So did you
2 find what --
3 MR. KAUFMAN: We have.
4 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Thank you.
5 MR. KAUFMAN: So it's a series of exhibits
6 starting with Exhibit 14, which is the resolution of
7 this Board on the MUSR, which does list Heartland
8 Renewable Energy as the -- as the owner, and
9 discusses the Certificate of Designation.
10 Then -- Exhibit 15 is the document that
11 was provided to Weld County. I know it doesn't say
12 that. The people who have done that indicate that
13 that was provided to Weld County on the, To whom it
14 may concern.
15 And then Exhibit 16 is actually the change
16 request to the State which was submitted in December
17 of that year -- or was submitted in November of that
18 year.
19 And then if you look at the next copy on
20 17, you can see the approval on that. I apologize.
21 Looking at this document, Exhibit 16, there is --
22 there is an approval that's on the back of this, but
23 for some reason that didn't get copied.
24 If you look at the -- the subsequent
25 submission on December 4th, 2013, to the County,
295
1 it's got the approval from Larry Bruskin with the
2 solid waste approving the -- the Change Request 5,
3 which is the one that has the transfer of ownership.
4 And then subsequently to that, shortly
5 thereafter, the County took up the plat, and
6 approved the plat. And this is the significant
7 part, they approved it in the name of Heartland
8 Biogas, LLC. And that was signed by the then chair,
9 Commissioner Rademacher. So that's part of the
10 overall process that indicates the intent to adopt
11 Heartland Biogas as the owner of the facility.
12 And it's all part of -- you know, it's all
13 part of the same planning process, which
14 unfortunately, this probably would have all been
15 clearer if the process had been separated out from
16 the CD process and the approval -- the land use
17 process, but it was all done together. There is --
18 as I mentioned, there is no independent Certificate
19 of Designation. There's the resolution from the
20 County that includes the phrase Certificate of
21 Designation, and then there's the subsequent plat
22 that executes that.
23 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay. So just
24 for the record, I'm looking at Exhibit 14, which is
25 a resolution to approve or request and modify the
296
1 site layout. I don't see anything in it with regard
2 to the transfer of ownership.
3 MR. KAUFMAN: That's correct. That was
4 before the transfer of ownership. Then the transfer
5 of ownership was accomplished shortly thereafter.
6 The notification was given to the County of the
7 transfer of ownership. The notification was given
8 to the State of the transfer of ownership. The
9 State approved the transfer of ownership. That
10 approval was then sent to the County. Then the
11 County took up the proceeding as part of the land
12 use process approving the plat in the name of -- and
13 this is Exhibit --
14 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Sure. I
15 understand all that. I just don't -- I was asking
16 for any kind of document that said we actually
17 reviewed and approved the transfer of ownership.
18 And then in the -- Exhibit 16, this is a
19 description of change to update the Engineering
20 Design and Operations Plan, which the State in
21 Exhibit 17 apparently said that they approved that
22 change. But, again, I don't see anything that
23 formally says that the State reviewed and approved
24 the change of ownership, I guess, other than it was
25 buried here in the EDOP, updating the EDOP. Is that
297
1 it?
2 MR. KAUFMAN: Well, it's Item 3 of the
3 description of change.
4 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Yeah. I
5 understand. It was buried in updating the EDOP. Is
6 there anything elsewhere the State specifically said
7 they approved -- reviewed and approved the change of
8 ownership other than this?
9 MR. KAUFMAN: That's -- that's the
10 approval right there.
11 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Thank you.
12 MR. KAUFMAN: Now, subsequently there's --
13 there is additional material that we presented
14 that indicates that the State took the position that
15 the -- the CD was in the name of Heartland Biogas.
16 If you look at Exhibit 20, it specifically talks
17 about -- and this is a little less than a year
18 later, the Certificate of Designation for Heartland
19 Biogas, LLC, where they refer to the fact that you
20 don't need to again change the Certificate of
21 Designation.
22 So, you know, again, that's evidence that
23 all of the parties involved intended that the
24 Certificate of Designation was transferred, and was
25 certainly done aboveboard. Whether there should
298
1 have been any different type of process, if
2 Mr. Kreutzer takes that opinion, I take a more
3 practical viewpoint of it; was there a practical
4 opportunity for the County to review all this
5 material, rule on this. And it certainly was as
6 part of the plat and as part of the other documents
7 where there were County resolutions that acknowledge
8 Heartland Biogas as the owner of the facility.
9 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Any other
10 questions for Heartland?
11 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Thank you.
12 MR. GARCIA: Thank you. To be brief, I
13 wanted to address two of the items that were
14 discussed by the Commissioners while we were looking
15 at these documents. One is please recall the
16 comments of Mr. Haren regarding LSA. LSA is compost
17 material.
18 And the second one, there was some
19 question, discussion regarding biosolids. Biosolids
20 have a specific definition both within State statute
21 and in regulations. And that definition includes
22 human waste. And that is not something that is
23 utilized here at this facility, so it does not.
24 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Any other
25 questions?
299
1 Okay. Thank you. With that, I will bring
2 it to the Board for discussion. Who would like to
3 start?
4 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Given the hour,
5 I'll start. I'm trying to get all my little notes
6 put together here real quick. So, you know, when
7 we -- when the Board approved this USR and
8 Certificate of Designation, I was on the Board then.
9 And even subsequent to that I know that there are
10 quotes by me in -- I think in an NPR radio or in a
11 news clipping about the benefits of the facility.
12 And at that time I was proud.
13 But I can tell you right now, I'm not.
14 I'm not proud of what's going on here. I mean, I
15 think one of our citizens got up and said that this
16 has morphed into a mess. He could not have defined
17 it better. It has morphed into a mess.
18 So -- and we aren't just unilaterally
19 looking to try and shut something down. We have all
20 spent a lot of time, all of us, including the people
21 who are in the area and in the neighborhood. And I
22 would agree with their comments, it's not their job.
23 It is not their job to become an expert, but they've
24 had to become an expert.
25 We have had e-mail after e-mail from
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1 people who are now -- I mean, I understand what it's
2 like to have to read Subtitle D and to read the
3 Solid Waste Disposal Act. It takes a lot. You've
4 got to go back and forth and try and read it. And
5 if you're not an engineer or if you haven't put in
6 an application, there's a lot there to do.
7 So, you know, Mr. Welch sent us -- I don't
8 know. I was trying to count them, but I didn't get there.
9 But sent us numerous e -mails where obviously he has
10 done a lot of research with regard to the Solid
11 Waste Act. And it's not his job. It's our job.
12 It was our job, as Commissioner Cozad
13 said, to protect the health and welfare of our
14 residents. That's our job.
15 You know, we've all spent a lot of time,
16 none of us live there, we've all gone by there,
17 we've all smelt the smell. This is a solid waste
18 disposal facility.
19 This is a Show Cause hearing. This is not
20 a USR hearing. We're essentially in a compliance
21 hearing. It's not about do they meet our co -- do
22 they meet our Comprehensive Plan. That's not what
23 this is about. All of that testimony really, quite
24 frankly, wasn't relevant.
25 I think we all understand the -- the
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1 importance and the financial benefits to Weld County
2 of this facility. But I also understand the
3 benefits of our residents and the financial impact
4 that they have been dealing with, but the financial
5 impact that they have to the County as well and to
6 our whole neighborhood.
7 And, you know, I agree with you,
8 Commissioner Conway, we want everybody to be a good
9 neighbor. And we tell people -- on pretty much
10 every hearing we tell everybody, just be a good
11 neighbor and that would solve a lot of these issues.
12 You know what, I'm just to the point where we don't
13 have a good neighbor. And, again, it's morphed into
14 a mess.
15 And I would agree with the comments
16 that -- you know, essentially what I heard from the
17 experts on odor was that, you know what, it's not
18 really -- people call in complaints, really, when
19 there wasn't one because the wind wasn't going the
20 right way or whatever. I just think that's kind of
21 disrespectful as well. And I didn't appreciate it
22 either. And I can only imagine that they didn't
23 appreciate it. Of course, they all told us they
24 didn't.
25 So I don't think we can dismiss the
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1 investments our residents have made into their
2 properties and into this area. I don't think that
3 we can dismiss all of the testimony that we have
4 heard.
5 And, you know, granted when we started
6 this Probable Cause hearing, we were not aware of
7 the rule with regard to the transfer of ownership.
8 I wasn't aware of it. And I don't read through all
9 those rules anymore. Well, I do now, but I didn't
10 read through them back then. I didn't know about it
11 at the time. We weren't aware. So if we weren't
12 here for this odor complaint and for the compliance
13 order from the State health department and the
14 violation that occurred -- and there is a violation.
15 And let's not minimize it. We have one violation.
16 Most of our sites, we don't even get one violation.
17 We have a violation. You want to know what that
18 tells me? We just haven't been out there at the
19 right time to get any more violations.
20 So this is in front of us now. It is all
21 in front of us now. We went through the correct
22 process to ensure -- and, in fact, I put on the
23 record that we were going to discuss the validity of
24 the Certificate of Designation at the previous Show
25 Cause hearing, putting everyone on notice that
303
1 that's what we were going to be doing.
2 And for the last month, 60 days, whatever
3 it's been, that's what I've been doing. And I think
4 that's what all the rest of you have been doing.
5 And certainly there have been several other people
6 who have been doing it as well.
7 So I don't think it's a matter of
8 interpretation, and I think it is pretty black and
9 white. So I am -- I'm prepared to make a motion to
10 revoke the permit, and base it on the findings that
11 our staff have given us and that are in our
12 resolution that is before us. I don't think I need
13 to repeat all of those given the late hour, but I
14 would include those in any findings when we get to
15 that point.
16 And I'm going to go on further, because
17 I've been reading the law quite a bit as well. And
18 there's a clear violation of State Rule and
19 Regulation -- and it's 6 CCR 1007-1.8.4D -- I
20 believe I have the correct citation -- says that, a
21 CD may not be transferred unless the financial
22 assurance has been reviewed and approved by the
23 Department -- and that's the State Health
24 Department -- and the governing body, which is us. And
25 that has never occurred.
304
1 And quite frankly, burying it in an update
2 to the EDOP is not an approval to me. I read
3 through all that documentation and went through all
4 of Mr. Garcia's comments and the letters there, and
5 followed along with what Mr. Kaufman was saying it.
6 They buried it in an EDOP revision. That's not an
7 approval for a transfer. That was an approval on
8 updating their EDOP. And so it was kind of buried
9 there. And I guess I just don't like that and I
10 don't agree with it.
11 The -- there's also -- the State
12 requires -- and this was in the Attorney General's
13 letter. And it's in Section 30-20-102, No. 1.
14 That -- essentially the State Attorney General's
15 Office told us that there is not a valid CD. That's
16 their opinion, their attorneys'. That's what
17 they're supposed to be doing as well. And it states
18 very clearly in there that a person who owns and
19 operates a solid waste disposal facility, which this
20 is, must obtain a CD.
21 And in the Attorney General's letter, he
22 states it very clearly. The two Heartland LLCs are
23 not related to each other. I don't know if the
24 State Health Department understood that. I don't
25 know that we understood that. I mean, it's very
305
1 clever, Heartland Renewable, Heartland Biogas. Kind
2 of seems like the same company. But they're not
3 related to each other.
4 The land ownership changed, and no longer
5 does Shelton Land and Cattle Company own the land.
6 And it is not operated by Heartland Renewable
7 Energy. They were very clear in stating that. So
8 it's not a technicality. It's a violation of the
9 State statute. The people who own it have not had
10 the CD transferred to them properly. It hasn't
11 happened. We have never -- as a board we've never
12 done it. And I asked everybody, and nobody has
13 anything that shows that we have.
14 And furthermore, when we go on to consider
15 whether we are granting a CD the first time or
16 whether we are transferring a CD, under the statutes
17 it's very clear, under 30-20-104, 1C, that we have
18 the ability -- that we have to decide when we are
19 considering granting a CD -- so that would be in
20 transferring a CD as well -- the ability of the
21 applicant to comply with the health standards and
22 operating procedures in the Act and the State
23 Department's rules and regulations.
24 We're in a Show Cause hearing from a
25 complaint. And from -- as you go through this, what
306
1 our staff has done, there is evidence here to show
2 that they're in violation of Development Standard
3 No. 6, which is they have to comply with all
4 applicable sections of the Solid Waste Disposal
5 Sites and Facilities Act, CCR 107 -- or 6 CCR 107.
6 So the rules and the -- the statutes, they have to
7 comply with that.
8 It talks about that they have to have an
9 EDOP, and that those EDOPs -- those Engineering
10 Design and Operations Plans when they're modified,
11 they have to be consistent with the original grant
12 to the CD, and that's not happening.
13 It goes on. I would probably agree that
14 in No. 16 there probably was not enough evidence to
15 show that fugitive dust and fugitive particulate
16 emissions are not controlled on the site. I don't
17 think we had anything there, so I would probably
18 delete that one.
19 But No. 17 where it says it has to come --
20 operate in compliance with the Colorado Air Quality
21 Control, okay, they had to enter into a Certificate
22 of Compliance, so obviously -- a Consent Agreement
23 is what it is. I'm sorry. And so apparently they
24 aren't in -- they aren't in compliance with our
25 development standard.
307
1 I don't know that we had enough proof for
2 No. 18, Development Standard No. 18, which was to
3 exhaust the removal system, so I would probably not
4 include that one in the findings.
5 But in No. 21, it doesn't say that you get
6 one and then you get into compliance or you don't
7 get into compliance or you get a Consent Agreement
8 or whatever. It just says you're supposed to be in
9 compliance. Well, they're not. We have one on
10 April 27th -- a violation on April 27th. So they
11 are in violation of that Development Standard.
12 And then I would agree that they probably
13 are not in compliance with 30. Do I think those
14 are -- 30 is as substantial as not having a valid
15 Certificate of Designation? No. But it's still
16 there and I'm going to list it.
17 And the other ones, 34, 42 and 45, I would
18 agree with the comments that were put in on the
19 record and that are written here by our staff that,
20 again, clearly they're not in compliance with those
21 Development Standards.
22 You know, it is not easy to revoke a
23 permit. I know that Commissioner Conway and I have
24 been here before. And I've been here a few times
25 before. And it's not easy.
308
1 We understand the amount of money that you
2 put into the facility. We understand the impacts to
3 those people who are using your facility, those
4 entities that are using your facility. For God's
5 sake, I grew up on a dairy farm and owned a dairy
6 farm, so I get it. But it is our job as County
7 Commissioners to protect the health, welfare and
8 safety of our residents. And I would feel like we
9 are not doing our job if we don't revoke this permit
10 today. So that's where I'm at.
11 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Why are you -all
12 looking at me? All right. I'll go next. I've
13 listed a few things, too.
14 While I don't disagree with the findings
15 that Commissioner Kirkmeyer listed -- I also have
16 those in my notes as well. Development Standard
17 No. 6, they are not in compliance, do not have a
18 valid CD. And they're not in compliance with the
19 EDOP currently.
20 Also, on No. 10 I think the deviations of
21 the EDOP, including the drainage, which I think
22 actually go back to Development Standards No. 10 and
23 No. 42. And, you know, I think as Commissioner
24 Kirkmeyer stated, while some of those development
25 standards are maybe not as big of a deal as not
309
1 having a CD and those types of things, you know,
2 still says that they need to be in compliance with
3 their Design and Operation standards. And that
4 includes their approved drainage report which they
5 are not -- it was not constructed in compliance with
6 that.
7 As far as the APEN on Development Standard
8 No. 17, you know, I think on that one it's a little
9 bit -- it's somewhat questionable, although I think
10 the Consent Agreement that they have with the State
11 also does indicate that they are not in compliance
12 on that either. But as far as the DPS facility, I
13 don't think we're sure until that -- they make a
14 determination.
15 But I think with the fact that we do have
16 a Consent Agreement with the State indicates that
17 they are not in compliance with that one.
18 I think the only other thing that I wanted
19 to have some discussion about, though, is -- I
20 understand where Commissioner Kirkmeyer is going on
21 a revocation. I would like to hear from the rest of
22 the Board before we go down that path. I do think
23 that potentially there could be an alternative to
24 that.
25 I would like to at least have discussion
310
1 about -- I know the -- the people that are here
2 today -- I really appreciate all of you being here
3 for so long -- are probably not going to like this
4 idea per se. But I think if we could look at a
5 potential continuance with a similar type of an
6 agreement that they have with the State, a
7 compliance agreement.
8 I think the only way that I would be
9 willing to look at something like that is if the
10 applicant would also be willing to look at a reduced
11 odor threshold as was brought up by a couple of the
12 other people that testified today.
13 But I would like to go down that path
14 because I think a couple people also mentioned the
15 teeth that the County has if this facility moves
16 forward is really in the fact that we have this
17 application -- this permit that's in place, and we
18 can come back to do another Probable Cause or Show
19 Cause if they are not in compliance.
20 And I think the only way to do that,
21 though, is to have a written stipulation or
22 agreement, and also reduce the odor threshold that's
23 in the current permit.
24 But I'd like to hear from the county
25 attorneys if that's possible, and also hear from my
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1 fellow County Commissioners.
2 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Did you want to address
3 that, Bruce?
4 MR. BARKER: Sure. Two things. One thing
5 is I think you need to make a findings of fact on
6 each of these items. Once you've done that, then,
7 if you're at a point where you've made a findings of
8 fact that there have been violations, you can then
9 consider the remedy.
10 Remedy would be -- could be a number of
11 things. Really there are only two things that are
12 called for in the code. And that would be
13 suspension and revocation. You could, as you do
14 with, for example, food service licenses where you
15 have a suspension, but it's held in abeyance pending
16 an agreement that -- a Consent Agreement and, in
17 fact, they'll do certain things.
18 So that's where the -- the agreement could
19 come into play really is it would be something where
20 you made a Findings of Fact, and then you're looking
21 at the remedy, the proper remedy to meet your
22 expectations.
23 COMMISSIONER COZAD: So if we are
24 looking at the findings of fact, as I think both
25 Commissioner Kirkmeyer and I have already stated in
312
1 the specific development standards, would it be
2 appropriate -- well, I don't know how you would
3 either revoke it or suspend it. I was asking could
4 we do a continuance if we had an agreement in place,
5 of the Show Cause hearing.
6 MR. BARKER: Well, you could do that, too.
7 I mean, you can continue it, if you have a Consent
8 Agreement, that they agree to do certain things.
9 Again, my recommendation is to go ahead
10 and make the Findings of Fact today, but then have a
11 determination as to how you would like to look at
12 the remedy. And remedy, again, would be one of
13 those two things, but having the agreement that
14 would be used for the purpose of gaining compliance,
15 but holding those other things in abeyance.
16 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So if we were to
17 continue, we can't just continue and try and
18 negotiate, essentially, a Consent Agreement?
19 MR. BARKER: You could. I mean, I guess
20 the thing is that you could continue it and then
21 have an agreement with them. You don't have the
22 stick, so to speak, that you have with making the
23 Findings of Fact, and then saying, yeah, we're going
24 to suspend it, but we're going to hold it in
25 abeyance. I mean, again, that's -- that's the
313
1 process you use in a variety of different scenarios
2 for different things.
3 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Mr. Chair.
4 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Go ahead.
5 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: So this would be
6 similar to what we do on restaurants when we find --
7 MR. BARKER: Procedurally.
8 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Procedurally. In
9 terms of that, we give them a chance to -- whatever
10 period. We make a finding that they're in
11 violation, and then come back and deal with
12 mitigating the circumstance, correct?
13 MR. BARKER: Correct. You've made a
14 finding, No. 1. And No. 2 you've gone ahead and
15 said, yeah, we're going to have a penalty, a
16 suspension. For a period of time we're going to
17 hold that in abeyance. As long as you comply with
18 these things, that will go away.
19 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Would we be• looking
20 at -- I'll just throw this out for discussion. I
21 want to get clarification. Would we be looking at
22 the agreement they have with the State of Colorado
23 Department of Health or can we add additional things
24 to that?
25 MR. BARKER: Well, I would think that -- I
314
1 mean, I'm not certain you'd even go with what
2 they've got. I mean, basically you could put it in
3 a similar format, but you would also, then, have it
4 include those things that are important to you.
5 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Based on the
6 Findings of Fact.
7 MR. BARKER: Based on the Findings of
8 Fact.
9 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Okay. Thank you.
10 COMMISSIONER COZAD: May I follow up on
11 one more thing?
12 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yeah.
13 COMMISSIONER COZAD: If we did go down
14 that route, could we do a suspension and fine and
15 hold in abeyance?
16 MR. BARKER: There's no fine procedure set
17 forth in your ordinance. And that -- you know, when
18 you have violations that are zoning violations, we
19 do have a penalty process for that. For a deal
20 where they're not complying with development
21 standards in the USR chapter, there is no process
22 for doing a fine.
23 There is for the CD part of it is. There
24 is a cease and desist and a fine process. The fine
25 is actually set by the District Court. I don't know
315
1 if that may be what you're thinking of. But that's
2 in the determination that there is violation of the
3 CD, and they're actually acting without a CD, or
4 having one being revoked and they're still acting.
5 COMMISSIONER COZAD: So did you want me to
6 go back and put in my findings? I think I already
7 did, but I think I did leave one out.
8 COMMISSIONER MORENO: Before you go there,
9 kind of where we're going here with some of this
10 here, but I guess with the County Attorney here, as
11 we heard earlier, to suspend them, it takes a
12 two -month process for them to actually shut it
13 completely down there. Does that suspension just --
14 would it, then, include such things as no material
15 delivered there anymore? Is that basically what we
16 would do for the suspension right now? It's not
17 like a restaurant.
18 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: It's a suspension, and
19 you hold that in abeyance while they're complying,
20 if that's direction you go. So you would make the
21 determination of suspension, but you would put that
22 on hold while they're complying with what
23 Commissioner Cozad is discussing.
24 MR. BARKER: You need to have a stick, and
25 that's a stick that you use.
316
1 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Does that make sense,
2 Commissioner Moreno?
3 COMMISSIONER MORENO: Okay.
4 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes. Commissioner
5 Kirkmeyer.
6 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Well, I'd like to
7 know how we can change the development standards in
8 a Show Cause hearing. Essentially, if we were to do
9 a suspension, hold it into abeyance because we're
10 going to get a Consent Agreement pending an
11 agreement in place, and that agreement is that it's
12 a reduced threshold for odor, that's essentially an
13 amendment to the USR, and that's not what we're here
14 for today. So I don't know how we do that.
15 MR. BARKER: It is. I suppose you could
16 have a situation in which they consent to a lower
17 standard that they are going to meet. But it's not
18 in the development standards. It basically would be
19 pursuant to that. And to get it into the
20 development standards, eventually you'd have to have
21 a hearing to amend those. So Commissioner Kirkmeyer
22 is correct.
23 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I have another
24 question.
25 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Please.
317
1 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I'm sorry. Did
2 you have comments? You can go ahead.
3 COMMISSIONER MORENO: No, I don't.
4 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: With the validity
5 of the Certificate of Designation, it appears, at
6 least, they don't have a valid CD. So I'm not sure
7 how they can continue to operate without one. So I
8 don't think we have any other choice.
9 MR. BARKER: I think what the -- what the
10 State was doing was saying you don't have a valid
11 CD, but we are going to ask that you apply for one.
12 The process for dealing with a lack of having a CD,
13 meaning they are operating without one, in statute
14 there are two things that you can do. One would be
15 issue a cease and desist order and ask for a
16 penalty. You'd be asking the District Court for
17 that. Second thing you can do is seek an
18 injunction. Either way you do need to follow up in
19 the District Court to get that accomplished.
20 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So just following
21 through on that, again, I really truly don't believe
22 we have a choice. From the Attorney General's
23 Office they said there is no valid CD. I've gone
24 through and shown that we have never approved the
25 transfer. So they don't have a valid CD.
318
1 So Development Standard No. 6, again,
2 speaks to the Solid Waste Disposal Sites Facilities
3 Act, which in there -- and it also speaks to the
4 statutes that they have to comply with.
5 And in the Solid Waste Disposal Act and in
6 the statutes it is a requirement that they have a
7 Certificate of Designation. And if they don't have
8 one, it's a "shall." They "shall" have to stop. You
9 cannot operate a solid waste disposal facility
10 without a valid CD. They do not have a valid CD. I
11 don't know how we can change -- we can't change
12 that.
13 MR. BARKER: I think it was the approach
14 as to how you deal with that. Mr. Kaufman was
15 saying that the State -- and I would agree with him,
16 the State has taken the position that they're saying
17 you need to get this done, meaning apply for it.
18 They have the same remedies, to go ahead and either
19 get a cease and desist order, have that be enforced
20 through the District Court, or an injunction. They
21 do have that capability. They've chosen not to do
22 that. But it's up to you. You have the
23 capability, also, to do the same thing as the
24 governing board that issues that type of permit.
25 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So within the
319
1 statute -- and it's in Section -- let me find my
2 notes. It is in Section 30-20-113 and in 112. It
3 says if they don't have a valid CD, that we have to
4 revoke or -- well, if they're not complying with all
5 laws, that we have to revoke or we can suspend. And
6 in 113 it says if they don't have it they can't
7 operate. And it's a "shall." It's not a "maybe." It's
8 not a "you could decide to do a consent."
9 MR. BARKER: And I don't disagree with
10 you.
11 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: It's not a
12 Certificate of Designation.
13 MR. BARKER: It's the method by which you
14 enforce that.
15 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay. But it
16 says "shall not operate."
17 MR. BARKER: The method you enforce that
18 is to go into court to get that accomplished, either
19 through an injunction or through a cease and desist,
20 seeking a fine for continued violations.
21 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Commissioner
22 Conway.
23 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Well, I guess, yeah,
24 I'm -- I'm -- I'll -- first of all, I think
25 Mr. Kisker stood up and said don't take away the
320
1 stick. I think we need a stick. And the question I
2 asked during the hearing was that trust was
3 verified. I mean, we're hearing that we're doing
4 these things, where there has been, I think,
5 demonstrated an effort by Heartland to try to remedy
6 this.
7 But the fact is we have no trust. And how
8 do we -- how do we ensure that those things that --
9 and this is -- this -- you know, I concur with
10 Commissioner Kirkmeyer, this is a mess. And quite
11 frankly, you know, Weld County has let the citizens
12 down. We've let you down. This isn't all on
13 Heartland. This isn't all on the State. We allowed
14 some things to proceed in 2013, 2014. I believe if
15 you point a finger at somebody, you've got three
16 pointing back at you. And we do. So how do we move
17 forward in terms of maintaining a stick that allows
18 this?
19 I am concerned by the testimony that
20 Commissioner Moreno brought up that it's going to
21 take two months to shut this down, and then more
22 months after that, and the smell's not going to go
23 away. So if the real issue here -- I know this is a
24 Show Cause hearing. But the real issue that started
25 this was the odor complaint. And how do we move
321
1 forward in remedying that?
2 There is an agreement with the State of
3 Colorado and Heartland that they have to perform
4 certain things over the next six months.
5 And, you know, we heard testimony in the
6 hearing today that the misters have had considerable
7 impact in terms of that. We've got technical
8 testimony on that. The facility that at the second
9 hearing -- second Show Cause we had is now
10 constructed and is probably ready to be operational.
11 I think that -- having that completely covered in
12 terms of the intake will have an impact, a positive
13 impact in terms of odor.
14 So -- but I'm also cognizant of Mr. Yost's
15 comments from Al Organics and the dairy farmers,
16 where is this waste stream now going to go after
17 having -- you know, where is this going to go and
18 what's that going to mean in terms of impacts? So
19 I'm very cognizant of the impact that the area
20 residents are having and how we solve this odor
21 issue, but I'm also cognizant of the ripple effect
22 that this could cause in terms of our agricultural
23 community.
24 And so I think as part of this
25 deliberation we need to have a discussion in terms
322
1 of how we deal with some of those issues also as
2 part of that in terms of public testimony. But I'll
3 wait to weigh in further in terms of my findings
4 after I hear from my other Commissioners.
5 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Moreno.
6 COMMISSIONER MORENO: Mr. Chair, I don't
7 know what else to add. It is a mess. I mean, it's
8 a lose -lose for everyone. And the citizens who have
9 been living out there have been on the losing end
10 for a long time here.
11 I know Heartland has been working as hard
12 as they can trying to make the improvements to get
13 there, to correct everything. And I fully
14 understand that.
15 But I keep circling back to the beginning
16 of this morning's meeting about the CD. I really
17 believe without that CD in place -- I think that's
18 really where I'm at personally is just that we don't
19 have a CD in place. And without that CD, I don't
20 believe that they should be operating without that,
21 from what I read here from the State and everything.
22 I know our county attorney is telling us a
23 little bit different. There's some gray area with
24 this. And we've heard that from the other
25 attorneys.
323
1 But I am not at a point where I fully
2 would be in full support yet, unless I'm convinced,
3 for a full revocation. I'm more inclined to looking
4 at the suspension which shuts it down, but doesn't
5 solve it all. I think -- you know, is the
6 suspension a two -month suspension? Is it all the
7 way to June till they get everything completed, that
8 they believe they'll be in compliance in June? I
9 mean, that's clearly what Heartland said to us, that
10 they would have everything ready to go by June. I
11 don't know where we're at with that. So I still
12 have a lot of questions.
13 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. All right.
14 Well, so I think there's some --
15 MR. BARKER: One thing I might add.
16 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Oh, go ahead.
17 MR. BARKER: Section 23-2-270 on
18 development standards does provide civil penalties
19 can be charged in lieu of a suspension.
20 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Can I ask a
21 question?
22 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes.
23 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So Statute
24 30-20-112 talks about revocation of a certificate.
25 And it says essentially if they aren't meeting any
324
1 applicable laws, shall temporarily suspend or revoke
2 a Certificate of Designation. I guess I don't see
3 anywhere in law where we have the authority to
4 create a Consent Agreement. And I understand that
5 in our other violation situations we do. But in a
6 USR process, I don't know where we have that in our
7 Code that we can do that. And I'd like to know
8 where it's at.
9 MR. BARKER: I think the thing is the --
10 you do what you want to do with respect to the civil
11 penalties, suspension or revocation. And it's an
12 enforcement. I mean, one is a Findings of Fact.
13 Second part is enforcement. You can choose how you
14 wish to enforce it. And it doesn't say you have to
15 do the suspension without doing an agreement to say
16 you need to come into compliance with certain things
17 before you clean up the violations of the
18 development standards.
19 One thing I might add is the -- I
20 understand why they don't want to do the new CD,
21 because that also means that you have to go back and
22 make a Findings of Fact in granting the CD. And one
23 of them is the effect that the solid waste disposal
24 site facility will have on the surrounding property.
25 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Right.
325
1 MR. BARKER: You know, and if you're
2 making that determination, which I think you have to
3 do under --
4 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Even if it's a
5 transfer.
6 MR. BARKER: -- the State Attorney
7 General's letter. And they're basically saying --
8 they're saying that they have no CD.
9 The process is one in which you'd ask that
10 they -- I mean, I understand why the letter came in,
11 that they wanted to formally modify it. They don't
12 want to go through that process. But the State's
13 saying they have to.
14 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay.
15 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Let me ask another
16 question to the County Attorney. So I'm looking for
17 this section that Commissioner Kirkmeyer just -- I
18 think it was Commissioner Kirkmeyer just brought
19 up -- or maybe it was you -- on what at this point
20 we can do.
21 So you said that the CD section -- and I
22 don't know who it was. Was it you, Commissioner
23 Kirkmeyer?
24 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Go for it.
25 MR. BARKER: I've got it right here. I'll
326
1 read it. Noncompliance with any of the approved
2 Development Standards may be reason for revocation
3 or suspension of a Special Review Permit by the
4 Board of County Commissioners. Civil penalties in
5 lieu of suspension may also be imposed with the
6 express prior agreement of the applicant.
7 COMMISSIONER COZAD: What section is that?
8 MR. BARKER: That is 23-2-270. It's on
9 the screen also.
10 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Thank you.
11 MR. GATHMAN: It's on the screen also.
12 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Thank you.
13 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Maybe our
14 attorney could explain to me how if they don't have
15 a valid CD, how they can continue to operate,
16 because that talks to a USR -- speaks to a USR. If
17 they do not have a valid Certificate of Designation,
18 you just explained that the State Attorney General's
19 Office has stated that they need to go through a
20 Certificate of Designation process with the County.
21 The State Department of Health in their
22 letter and in this Exhibit 30 has stated they're
23 encouraging them to apply to Weld County for a
24 Certificate of Designation soon. So they're going
25 to have to go through a Certificate of Designation
327
1 process. And in the meantime, while they're doing
2 that, we're going to let them continue to operate?
3 MR. BARKER: It's a matter of enforcement,
4 how you choose to enforce. And under the CD, the
5 two things you can do, again, are cease and desist
6 order seeking penalties in court, second thing you
7 can do is you can get an injunction in court. Those
8 are the two remedies.
9 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And under the USR
10 and also under the CD we can suspend or do a
11 revocation.
12 MR. BARKER: And you can also do civil
13 penalties in lieu of suspension.
14 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Sure.
15 COMMISSIONER COZAD: So the reason why I
16 wanted to look at this full section is in the very
17 last sentence it talks about suspension or fee -- or
18 not fees, but penalties and revocation, but it also
19 says, Availability of these remedies in no way
20 limits the Board of County Commissioners from
21 seeking or applying any other remedies which are
22 available for noncompliance with the development
23 standards. So that's why I brought up the idea of
24 sort of like a Consent Agreement, Compliance
25 Agreement like they have with the State. So would
328
1 that not fit under that last sentence in that
2 section?
3 MR. BARKER: It would fit.
4 COMMISSIONER COZAD: But the other
5 remedies are also to do a cease and desist or an
6 injunction with the courts.
7 MR. BARKER: That's for the CD.
8 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Just for the CD.
9 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Well, they don't
10 have a CD.
11 MR. BARKER: If they don't have a CD --
12 the idea is that they're not in compliance with the
13 statutes and regs because they don't have one. And
14 to get compliance with those, the enforcement
15 mechanism is one of those two things.
16 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay.
17 COMMISSIONER COZAD: So I have another
18 question.
19 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Go ahead.
20 COMMISSIONER COZAD: They have a letter in
21 to the Planning Department apparently requesting a modification
22 of the CD. Is that considered their application to do a
23 new CD? And what process are you going through?
24 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So the letter
25 that you're talking about is Exhibit 25. And it was
329
1 dated December 9th. And they want to formally
2 modify the Certificate of Designation associated
3 with the facility, which they can't do because there
4 is no CD.
5 COMMISSIONER COZAD: So their letter is asking to
6 modify it, but they actually need to do a brand new CD.
7 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Yes. And that's
8 what the State told them in the letter on
9 November 30th. And that's what the Attorney General
10 office told us in their letter in November. So they
11 can't modify something that doesn't exist. They
12 can't even transfer it now either.
13 I know this is tough, but I'm just going
14 to point out to you the other answers to some of the
15 questions that Commissioner Conway asked. They need
16 to get to full production to see if it works.
17 Really? So we all want to allow them to get to full
18 production after what we've been hearing and the
19 e -mails we've been getting and what we have
20 ourselves witnessed and smelled? Really, we want to
21 let them get to full production to see if it works?
22 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Well, I'm not willing
23 to do that. And, you know, as I stated, I think,
24 again, we're here today because this is a Show Cause
25 hearing. And I think we've actually -- there has
330
1 been evidence, I think we've stated, both you and I,
2 that -- the findings that they are not in compliance
3 with their USR.
4 So we have a couple options. I was
5 throwing out an additional option of potentially
6 either a suspension or a continuance of the Show
7 Cause hearing today with the potential of doing some
8 type of an agreement with them. To get up to a
9 hundred percent, I'm not willing to go there. But I
10 would be willing to look at either a suspension with
11 an agreement or potentially a continuance. But
12 there would -- it would have to be very defined, as
13 I stated earlier, which would include the respondent
14 agreeing to a lower -- meeting a lower threshold
15 during this period, whatever the period is.
16 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So you understand
17 all that may result in is that they are further out
18 of compliance.
19 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I know that. And
20 then we can bring them right back in here.
21 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: If I may --
22 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Go ahead.
23 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: -- the other
24 thing that I wanted to add to the Findings was
25 actually within -- within the Solid Waste Act they
331
1 are also supposed to be preventing off -site nuisance
2 conditions. And I found this within Mr. Garcia's
3 PowerPoint where he discussed odor as a nuisance.
4 And his bullet point was this, "Odors that result in
5 an unreasonable and substantial interference with
6 the use and enjoyment of property and the gravity of
7 that impact." I think we've had enough testimony and
8 enough e -mails to state that there is a nuisance
9 condition that exists at the site.
10 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Yeah. I actually
11 wrote that down as well.
12 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Yeah, and I
13 forgot to mention it. So, you know, I don't
14 disagree you with that Heartland Biogas is working
15 to try to rectify the problem. But the reality is
16 they were supposed to have a whole bunch of this
17 stuff done before they even opened up for their
18 operations, and they didn't. I don't understand
19 that.
20 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Well, I think we also
21 heard testimony from some of the people that live
22 out in that area that initially their EDOP did
23 include some of the things that they're doing now,
24 that they probably should have done right from the
25 beginning.
332
1 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Before they
2 opened up.
3 COMMISSIONER COZAD: That's what I'm
4 saying.
5 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. So
6 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Can I ask one more
7 question?
8 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Go ahead.
9 COMMISSIONER COZAD: If we revoke the
10 permit today, it's going to take -- we heard them
11 say it's going to take them 60 days, basically, to
12 shut everything down totally.
13 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: And then another few
14 months.
15 COMMISSIONER COZAD: So in that period of
16 time, would they come back -- I guess I'm just
17 having this discussion with all of you. They could
18 come back and reapply for the USR and a new CD. If
19 we suspend them, they could do the same thing. We
20 could ask them to -- as part of the suspension that
21 they're not in compliance with certain Development
22 Standards, suspend them for a period of time, give
23 them the opportunity to get into compliance. At
24 that same time they could apply for the CD and go
25 through a public process with the CD, if that's what
333
1 we put into our Findings and as a part of the
2 conditions.
3 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Kirkmeyer.
4 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Whether we revoke
5 or suspend today, they have to come apply for a
6 Certificate of Designation. And whether that's a
7 transfer of ownership or an actual application for a
8 Certificate of Designation we still have to go
9 through -- we still have to go through and make
10 certain determinations with regard to -- as was
11 listed in the Attorney General's letter, with regard
12 to health and safety -- I'll just read it off.
13 We still have to make determinations on
14 the ability of the applicant to comply with the
15 health standards and operating procedures in both
16 the Solid Waste Act and the Department's rules and
17 regulations. And part of that -- so this is all in
18 30-20-104, No. 1A.
19 Also we have to make a determination of
20 the effect of -- if they were to be granted the CD,
21 the effect on the surrounding property owners. So,
22 regardless, if it's -- if you want to dismiss,
23 continue, suspend, revoke, come up with agreements,
24 they got to come in front of us and be getting that
25 CD transferred or a new CD, essentially. And we're
334
1 still going to have to look at all of that.
2 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Right.
3 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And so it may be
4 at that time -- I mean, I don't know if they think
5 they have a whole year to do that or what they think
6 they have. But it may be even at that time that
7 they don't even get their CD. And in the meantime
8 we would have let them continue operating without a
9 CD -- without a valid CD. I understand it's tough.
10 It's kind of a catch 22. But, quite honestly, they
11 should have had a lot of these things done before
12 they even started their operations. And that was
13 what was in their EDOP.
14 And they have stated on the record several
15 times that to be able to test what they're doing
16 with their DSS and their -- everything else they're
17 doing, their DPS, I guess it is, their digester
18 processing system, that they need to get to full
19 production. They're only at 60 percent and they're
20 only accepting approximately 40 percent of the waste
21 that they need to get there.
22 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I think we've heard a
23 lot from you and I.
24 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I agree.
25 COMMISSIONER COZAD: But I really don't
335
1 know exactly where we're going. I think I've heard
2 from you, you want to revoke. I'm probably leaning
3 more towards suspension. So I just would like to
4 hear from everybody else, and we need to make a
5 decision.
6 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yeah, we do. So what
7 I started to say is I think that -- I think that
8 that's -- I think that that's kind of where I'm at
9 as well. Where I struggle is the fact of the matter
10 is if you revoke it, we're still in the process of
11 at least three or four months of actually the odor
12 going away. And it would make -- it would seem to
13 make more sense to me that rather than just stop and
14 try to clean -- we'd be better off trying to
15 continue doing what they're doing, putting these
16 next things in place. They've got the building.
17 They've got the filters. We've heard a number of
18 testimony that have been on the site recently that
19 the odor has gotten better. I think that as they
20 continue to do those things, it'll continue to get
21 better. And at some point -- at the end of the day,
22 from the very beginning what we've always wanted in
23 this was for it to work for everybody.
24 Now, you're right, we may not ever get
25 there. We may not. But at this point I would be
336
1 more along the lines of as trying to figure out a
2 way to put something into place that things have to
3 be accomplished, but in a certain and a very fine
4 timeline to get there with the opportunity to make
5 the entire process work. Because it is not just a
6 small deal.
7 It's a big deal on a lot of levels. Not
8 just for the amount of money or -- that Heartland's
9 going to make or not make, but it does have a
10 tremendous impact on agriculture, on a number of
11 agriculture -- other things going on in Weld County.
12 And the other part of that is it didn't
13 make a whole lot of sense to me to take stuff that's
14 got to go somewhere and now go dump it in a landfill
15 when you could actually use it for something that's
16 beneficial at the end of the day, which is what
17 we're all trying to do. That's why we're not the
18 energy -- that's why we're the energy capital of
19 Colorado. And it's not just oil and gas. It's
20 solar. It's renewable. It's wind. It's all these
21 things. And this process is a very important part
22 of that.
23 And so I guess I'm not at the spot where
24 I'm just willing to just give up on this thing and
25 say let's quit, because I think there's some real
337
1 benefits that can come out of this in the long run.
2 That's where I'm at.
3 COMMISSIONER MORENO: Mr. Chair, with
4 that, if I may keep the conversation going here,
5 again, I'm back to a suspension, are we looking at a
6 timeline to complete everything that we put out
7 there? Because, I mean, it's going to take them two
8 months, as we said, again, to shut this down, clean
9 it all out. And they're saying it's going to take
10 them till June before they really believe they'd
11 have everything corrected. So would that be our
12 timeline? Is that what we'd be talking about?
13 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Well, I mean, I think
14 it's a progression. I think they're saying June
15 before everything is done. But the first building
16 is up, the next thing happens, and I think it's a
17 progression to getting to June. I think it
18 continues -- I think it's a very likely that the
19 odor continues to get better over that period of
20 time, but we're not going to know that, so I don't
21 know.
22 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: We're not going
23 to know unless they get to full production. They've
24 stated that several times.
25 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: I understand that. But
338
1 they also said that it didn't matter -- and so I
2 don't know this because I'm not an engineer, but
3 whether it was 60 percent gas or a hundred percent
4 gas, that didn't change the amount of odor. The
5 odor was the same with the gas production because of
6 the way that process works. I have no idea if
7 that's correct. I wouldn't have any idea whether
8 that's right or not. I'm just taking it off of
9 what we were told in testimony today.
10 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I keep going back to
11 the CD. They do not have a valid CD.
12 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: I understand. That's a
13 problem.
14 COMMISSIONER COZAD: That, for me, is the
15 biggest problem right now is they do not have a
16 valid CD.
17 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: They need to apply for
18 one.
19 COMMISSIONER COZAD: And we have a letter
20 from the Attorney General that states that. So I
21 don't know how we can do anything but at least
22 suspend the operation until they get a valid CD.
23 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: But my understanding
24 is that as they go through -- this is for the County
25 Attorney. When they go through the process of
339
1 getting the CD at the State, which they've applied
2 for, they're going to have to come back to us and
3 have a hearing with us to approve the CD that's
4 approved by the State. Am I missing something
5 there, Bruce?
6 MR. BARKER: No. They have to have a
7 hearing. You issue the CD.
8 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Oh, we have to have
9 a hearing?
10 MR. BARKER: You do.
11 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: So there would be an
12 opportunity for people to comment on that process.
13 MR. BARKER: Correct.
14 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Kirkmeyer.
15 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So when you say
16 suspend until the facility gets a valid CD, you're
17 saying suspend all operations until that occurs?
18 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I think we have to.
19 I mean, how can they operate without a valid CD.
20 That's what I'm struggling with, they do not have a
21 valid CD.
22 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I agree.
23 COMMISSIONER COZAD: They've been told
24 that. If that's the only Finding that we have
25 today, we know that, we have a letter from the
340
1 Attorney General's Office, they've admitted that
2 they don't have a valid -- that they don't have a CD
3 for this facility, and I think that they shouldn't
4 be operating without a valid CD. It's -- it's in
5 the regulations.
6 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: So I don't disagree.
7 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I mean, it is a hard
8 decision. It's a very tough thing. And I don't
9 disagree with your remarks that you made, Mr. Chair.
10 I think it would be great to have this facility be
11 up and operating and functioning and not, you know,
12 be in violation. But the fact of the matter is --
13 the facts are that they are in violation. They have
14 had an odor violation. And there are other
15 Development Standards that they are in violation of.
16 But the CD is the biggest thing to me. They have no
17 valid CD.
18 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: And I don't disagree.
19 Where I struggle a little bit is -- and I struggle a
20 little bit with the suspension versus revocation
21 because the thing about it is it's not like
22 something you can flip a switch. And so when you're
23 suspending operations, what's going on is you're
24 still going to have the odor, you're going to be
25 trying to bring that thing back down to zero so that
341
1 you can get to that spot so that you can essentially
2 start over, back to where you were starting over.
3 So to me -- to me that -- if you're going to try to
4 figure out a way to operate it, I don't see that it
5 makes sense to kind of stop in the middle and then
6 try to restart. I don't know.
7 COMMISSIONER COZAD: So how do we allow
8 them to do that without a CD?
9 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: I don't know that. I
10 don't know the answer. That's a tough question.
11 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: We can't.
12 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Well --
13 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I mean, I hear what
14 you're saying. And I don't know if there's some way
15 that they can work -- if it's suspended and not
16 revoked, if we -- if they could work with our staff
17 in that process until they can get a -- until they
18 can get a valid CD again.
19 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: I don't disagree. I
20 think here's where I also struggle just a little bit
21 with this. And that is we're talking about nothing
22 has changed with that CD or the way it was in place
23 in 3-1/2 years. The only thing that changed was we
24 had a different opinion from the State Attorney
25 General's office that was a different opinion than
342
1 it was prior. That's an issue. I mean, that's not
2 an issue -- I don't know who that's an issue on.
3 That's an issue on the State or somebody.
4 I mean, essentially what we're saying is
5 is they've been operating for the last 3-1/2 years
6 without a valid CD. We just didn't know it because
7 the State didn't --
8 COMMISSIONER COZAD: And it also ties into
9 the EDOP. And I think that's the other piece of it,
10 that Engineering Design and Operation Plan is a part
11 of that CD. And I think that we've heard today that
12 they do not -- they are not operating in accordance
13 to their EDOP, because even with just the minor
14 thing of a drainage -- the drainage and how that's
15 constructed, it is not in compliance with their
16 EDOP.
17 So just even if we just looked at
18 Development Standard No. 6 alone, we know -- and we
19 heard it in testimony from our staff, but also from
20 the applicants, that that was not constructed in
21 accordance with their approved stormwater plan or
22 drainage plan that we have with the County, which is
23 a part of the EDOP, grading and all that.
24 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Chris.
25 MR. GATHMAN: Just a point of
343
1 clarification. Commissioner Cozad, you had a
2 question about if we had a CD application. We don't
3 have a separate application for a CD. It's -- in
4 the past it's always been processed in conjunction
5 with the Use by Special Review permit, so it was a
6 USR for a solid waste facility. The CD was
7 basically processed in conjunction with this. I
8 think this was on one motion. Nowadays you have --
9 you know, at the same hearing you have approval of
10 the USR and then approval of the CD at the same
11 time.
12 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Yeah, I understand
13 that, but --
14 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: But there are
15 findings that have to be made before a CD can be
16 issued.
17 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: I agree. Completely
18 agree.
19 COMMISSIONER COZAD: And it could actually
20 affect the USR because they may need an amendment to
21 their USR. So they actually may need to come in and
22 do an amendment to the USR, which would also be a
23 part of a new CD. I'm just -- you know, I don't
24 know for sure. They'd have to sit down with
25 Planning staff. But it sounds to me like
344
1 potentially they're not in compliance with their
2 USR -- well, they're not in compliance with their
3 USR. We've already stated that. But they're not in
4 compliance with a lot of the design elements of
5 their USR, so that may need to be amended.
6 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Kirkmeyer.
7 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I'm prepared to
8 make a motion.
9 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay.
10 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And we can argue
11 the motion.
12 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Good idea.
13 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Mr. Chairman, I
14 would move that after hearing all testimony
15 presented today, that the Board find it advisable to
16 suspend the Certificate of Designation and Use by
17 Special Review Permit based on findings of facts and
18 evidence listed and as stated by both -- by all of
19 the Board of County Commissioners of the Show Cause
20 hearing, and that the suspension would stay in
21 effect until the facility gets a valid Certificate
22 of Designation and comes into compliance with the
23 Development Standards in the USR.
24 And with regard to the Findings, I want to
25 just make sure that -- for the record that the
345
1 Findings that were presented by our staff and that
2 are written out here in this draft Resolution, with
3 regard to Development Standard No. 6, that evidence
4 was presented that Heartland Biogas was in violation
5 of their EDOP, which is their Engineering Design
6 Operations Plan and the solid waste regulations and
7 laws due to various aspects of the operation. They
8 all are listed here.
9 I also want to list in there with regard
10 to Development Standard No. 6 all the comments that
11 I made with regard to the law and the statute and
12 the lack of a valid Certificate of Designation, and
13 include in the record and in the findings the letter
14 that we received from the State Attorney General's
15 office stating that the facility did not have a
16 valid Certificate of Designation.
17 I also want to add into these Findings
18 that the site has a responsibility to prevent
19 off -site -- or that the facility has a
20 responsibility to prevent off -site nuisance
21 conditions. And that would be with respect to odor,
22 in addition to what is here. And that any odor
23 resulting in an unreasonable and substantial
24 interference with the use and enjoyment of property
25 has been evidenced by all of the public that we have
346
1 received, and, in addition, from all of the
2 complaints. I believe there are 617 complaints with
3 regard to that. I would deem that huge gravity of
4 impact to the neighborhood, and would consider that
5 this site -- this facility has become a public
6 nuisance.
7 Development Standard No. 10, that the
8 property owner or facility owner -- or facility
9 operator was to notify the Department of Public
10 Health and Environment, Department of Planning
11 Services, and the State Department of Health in the
12 event of any deviations from or proposed changes to
13 the facilities. Again, the Findings here are that
14 they are not in compliance with the Engineering
15 Design and Operations Plan. Evidence has been
16 presented that indicated they've modified those
17 plans and they're inconsistent with the originally
18 granted CD.
19 Development Standard No. 17 would find
20 that they are not in compliance with that. Again,
21 they -- previously what has been entered into the
22 record is that they have a Consent Agreement with
23 the Colorado Air Quality Control Division, that
24 quite honestly within their Consent Agreement they
25 can't even get to compliance until, apparently, June
347
1 of 2017. And so I would, again, include that in
2 there and include any other statements that were
3 made by our staff with regard to Development
4 Standard 17.
5 Also, I would include Development Standard
6 No. 21. They are supposed to be in accordance with
7 the Regulation No. 2, "The odor detected off site
8 shall not exceed the level of 7:1." There actually was
9 a violation on April 27th, 2016, that
10 certified that the odor exceeded greater than 7:1
11 threshold.
12 Development Standard No. 30, again, there
13 is evidence that shows that there was potential
14 nuisance conditions that existed not only with
15 regard to the odor, but there was testimony and
16 photographs of trash outside of the facility. And
17 it was admitted that everybody said they had an --
18 open trash containers and they were going to try and
19 take care of that.
20 Than also Development Standards No. 34,
21 42, and 45, which all require essentially they
22 comply with all applicable rules and regulations of
23 state and federal agencies and the Weld County Code.
24 There was evidence, again, that was presented. I
25 think I went through it all very -- went through all
348
1 of it, but just to make sure that it's included in
2 here, all that evidence that I presented, that the
3 facility is operating without a valid CD.
4 And 42 talks about that they have to
5 comply with all the Design and Operations Standards
6 in Chapter 23. Without a valid CD, they're in
7 violation of that.
8 And they're also in violation of air
9 quality standards. And that they have to comply
10 with all the foregoing Development Standards, which
11 is in 44, and I think as listed it demonstrates that
12 they are not.
13 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay.
14 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Second.
15 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: It's been moved by
16 Commissioner Kirkmeyer, seconded by Commissioner
17 Cozad to Suspend with all of the Findings that
18 Commissioner Kirkmeyer put into the record.
19 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: So is that motion an
20 immediate suspension, Commissioner?
21 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Yes. It's
22 suspended until the facility gets a valid
23 Certificate of Designation and comes into compliance
24 with Development Standards within the USR.
25 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Okay.
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1 COMMISSIONER COZAD: The only additional
2 comments, during the hearing I did state also a lot
3 of other Findings of Facts. So as long as those are
4 all included as part of the record into those
5 Findings, I do agree.
6 And, again, I think, you know, it's a
7 difficult decision, but they don't have a valid CD,
8 so...
9 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Commissioner
10 Kirkmeyer.
11 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I would just
12 state again that it is not easy to make this kind of
13 decision. And, you know, it's not like we're all
14 making it up here very lightly. I think it's very
15 grave, and I think we're all very disappointed in
16 the decision that is before us. I mean, I think by
17 our comments, we all are. I know certainly I am.
18 It's not something that I ever look forward to
19 having to do. But I do think that it's my
20 responsibility as a County Commissioner, and I think
21 we have to follow through. And as Commissioner
22 Cozad said and as stated by the Attorney General
23 they do not have a valid Certificate of Designation.
24 There's a reason for all of this. There's a reason
25 that we're supposed to be looking at all this and
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1 ensuring these things. There's a reason for the
2 Development Standards. There's a reason for the
3 economic -- not economic development, the
4 Engineering Design and Operations Plan. And when
5 they're not in compliance with it, that's when we
6 end up with people not being good neighbors, and
7 with neighbors coming in on three different
8 occasions to meet with the Board of County
9 Commissioners to complain.
10 And, again, it's our job to ensure and
11 protect the health and welfare of our residents.
12 And I feel by this suspension that's what we're
13 doing. And, again, it's not an easy decision, but I
14 feel that it is the decision that we need to make.
15 MR. BARKER: May I ask one thing, which is
16 your suspension is based upon -- you talked a lot
17 about the CD, but there are other factors, other
18 development standards that you're finding them in
19 violation of. And your suspension is based upon all
20 of that; is that correct?
21 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: That's correct.
22 That's why my motion was that we would suspend until
23 the facility gets a valid Certificate of Designation
24 and comes in compliance with the Development
25 Standards and the Use by Special Review Permit.
351
1 MR. BARKER: All of the ones that were
2 found in violation?
3 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Yes. That's why
4 I went through and listed them off. And I did not
5 list off Development Standards No. 16 or 18 because,
6 as I stated previously, I didn't feel that there was
7 enough evidence to show that they're out of
8 compliance with those two Development Standards.
9 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Any other
10 comments? Okay.
11 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Go ahead.
12 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Are you sure?
13 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Yeah.
14 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. So do we need a
15 roll call vote?
16 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: I'm fine. Do you
17 need one?
18 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yeah. Well, why don't
19 we have a roll call vote.
20 CLERK GESICK: Commissioner Kirkmeyer.
21 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Yes.
22 CLERK GESICK: Commissioner Cozad.
23 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Yes.
24 CLERK GESICK: Commissioner Moreno.
25 COMMISSIONER MORENO: Yes.
352
1 CLERK GESICK: Commissioner Conway.
2 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Yes.
3 CLERK GESICK: Commissioner Freeman.
4 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes.
5 Okay. With that, seeing no further
6 business, we are adjourned.
7 (The proceedings adjourned at 6:13 p.m. on
8 December 19, 2016.)
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CERTIFICATE
STATE OF COLORADO)
) ss
COUNTY OF WELD )
I, Esther E. Gesick, Clerk to the Board of Weld County Commissioner and Notary Public
within and for the State of Colorado, certify the foregoing transcript of the digitally recorded
proceedings, In re: A SHOW CAUSE HEARING, PCSC16-0004, CONCERNING A MINOR
AMENDMENT TO A SITE SPECIFIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN, MUSR14-0030, AND USE BY
SPECIAL REVIEW PERMIT, USR-1704, FOR A SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL SITE AND FACILITY
(INCLUDING CLASS I COMPOSTING, AN ANIMAL WASTE RECYCLING OR PROCESSING
FACILITY [AN ANAEROBIC DIGESTER -BASED RENEWABLE ENERGY PLANT GAS], ALONG
WITH A CONCRETE BATCH PLANT TO BE USED FOR CONSTRUCTION OF THE FACILITY
FOR THE ADDITION OF A DIGESTER PROCESS AND A 70 -FOOT FLARE) IN THE
A (AGRICULTURAL) ZONE DISTRICT - HEARTLAND BIOGAS, LLC, before the Weld County
Board of County Commissioners, on Monday, December 19, 2016, and as further set forth on page
one. The transcription, dependent upon recording clarity, is true and accurate with special
exceptions(s) of any or all precise identification of speakers, and/or correct spelling or any
given/spoken proper name or acronym.
Dated this 24th day of February, 2017.
Esther E. Gesick, Notary
Weld County Clerk to the Board
ESTHER E. GESICK
NOTARY PUBLIC
STATE OF COLORADO
NOTARY ID 19974016478
MY COMMISSION EXPIRES SEPT. 29, 2017
ORIGINAL ( )
CERTIFIED COPY ( )
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING
Deposition
WELD CUNTY SHO W CAUSE HEA RING
12/19/2016
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
216 16th Street, Suite 600
Denver Colorado, 80202
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Page 1
WELD COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
1150 O Street, Greeley, Colorado 80634
SHOW CAUSE HEARING REGARDING HEARTLAND BIOGAS, LLC
December 19, 2016
WELD COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS:
Chairman Michael Freeman
Commissioner Julie Cozad
Commissioner Sean Conway
Commissioner Barbara Kirkmeyer
Commissioner Steve Moreno
COUNTY ATTORNEY:
Bruce Barker
WELD COUNTY STAFF:
Chris Gathman
Frank Haug, Esq.
Ben Frissell
Evan Pinkham
Hayley Balzano
Phil Brewer
EXPERT WITNESSES:
Thomas Haren
George Iwaszek
Shari Beth Libicki, Ph.D.
COMPANY REPRESENTATIVES:
Al Kurzenhauser
Jason Thomas
Page 3
1 PROCEEDINGS
2 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: We'll go ahead and go
3 back in session. Let the record reflect that all
4 five county commissioners are present. Call up
5 Docket No. 2016-74, Show Cause Hearing PCSC 16-004.
6 MR. BARKER: Docket No. 2016-74A. The
7 respondent in this case is Heartland Biogas, LLC,
8 15445 Innovative Drive, San Diego, California,
9 921258.
10 The -- this show cause hearing is to show
11 whether good cause exists for revocation of a minor
12 amendment to a site specific Development Plan, MUSR
13 14-0030, in use by Special Review Permit USR-1704,
14 for a solid waste disposal site and facility,
15 including Class 1 composting and animal waste
16 recycling or processing facility, anaerobic
17 digester -based renewable energy plant gas, along
18 with a concrete batch plant to be used for
19 construction of a facility for the addition of a
20 digester process and a 70 -foot flare in the A,
21 agricultural, zone district, legal description as
22 being part of the southeast quarter of
23 Section 25-4-65.
24 Issues that are present today include the
25 following. Whether or not the permit holder is in
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APPEARANCES:
COAN PAYTON & PAYNE, LLC
By William F. Garcia Esq.
5586 West 19th Street, Suite 2000
Greeley, Colorado 80634
and
HOLLAND & HART LLP
By Garrison Kaufman, Esq.
and
James B. Borgel, Esq.
5555 -17th Street Suite 3200
Denver, Colorado 80202
Appearing on behalf of Heartland
Biogas, LLC.
Taken Monday, December 19, 2016, before
Sharon R. Dobson, Registered Professional Reporter
and Notary Public within and for the State of
Colorado.
Page 4
1 compliance with the following: Roman numeral I,
2 Heartland Biogas, LLC, is required to operate with a
3 valid Certificate of Designation pursuant to CRS
4 30-20-101 et seq., Colorado Code of Regulations
5 1007-2, 1 et seq., and pursuant to various
6 provisions of the Weld County Code. And evidence
7 was presented, including a letter from the State,
8 that these conditions had not been complied with.
9 Pursuant to review of the financial assurance by the
10 County, failure to obtain a valid Certificate of
11 Designation when Heartland Biogas took over the
12 Heartland Renewable Energy, and other factors.
13 And Roman numeral II, Heartland Biogas,
14 LLC, may be in violation of various development
15 standards of use by Special Review Permit USR-1704
16 and MUSR 14-0030 as follows: Development Standard
17 No. 6, property owner or operator shall comply with
18 applicable sections of the regulation pursuant to --
19 pertaining to the Solid Waste Disposal Sites and
20 Facilities Act, 6 CCR 1007-2, and be constructed,
21 operated and monitored as detailed in application
22 materials and conditions detailed in the Engineering
23 Design and Operations Plan approve -- approval
24 letter dated April 7, 2010, from the Colorado
25 Department of Public Health & Environment in
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
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Page 7
1 conjunction with the application materials and
2 conditions detailed in the digester processing
3 system Engineering Design and Operation Plan
4 addendum approved letter dated December 18, 2014,
5 from the CDPHE.
6 Development Standard No. 10, The property
7 owner or facility operator shall notify the Weld
8 County Department of Public Health & Environment of
9 planning -- Department of Planning Services and the
10 Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment
11 in the event of any deviations from or proposed
12 changes to the facility's Engineering Design and
13 Operations Plan.
14 Development Standard No. 16, Fugitive dust
15 and fugitive particulate emissions shall be
16 controlled on the site. Facility shall comply with
17 their approved particulate emissions control plan.
18 Development Standard No. 17, The facility
19 shall operate in compliance with applicable Colorado
20 air quality control regulations and comply with any
21 permits issued by the air pollution control
22 division.
23 Development Standard No. 18, Exhaust
24 removal system shall be installed, when necessary,
25 for enclosed areas, and dust producing processes and
1 And Development Standard No. 45, The
2 property owner or operator shall be responsible for
3 complying with all of the foregoing notice --
4 foregoing development standards. Compliance with
5 any of the foregoing development standards --
6 noncompliance with any of the foregoing development
7 standards may be reason for revocation of the permit
8 by the Board of County Commissioners.
9 This notice was dated December 2, 2016,
10 and it was published December 7, 2016, in the
11 Greeley Tribune.
12 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Commissioner
13 Kirkmeyer.
14 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Yeah. I just
15 have some questions, if I may, for the county
16 attorney.
17 So in reading through all this material
18 over the weekend, it's been determined by the State
19 that there is not a valid Certificate of Designation
20 for this facility, correct?
21 MR. BARKER: Correct.
22 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And so it's not
23 like the Board can revoke -- because we issued that
24 Certificate of Designation, so the Board can't
25 revoke a Certificate of Designation that is not
Page 6
1 equipment. Visible stack emissions from the exhaust
2 removal material processing and any combustion
3 source shall not exceed 20 percent capacity measured
4 in accordance with EPA Reference Method 9. There
5 shall be no visible emissions from any building
6 openings measured in accordance with EPA Reference
7 Method 22.
8 Development Standard 21, In accordance
9 with the Air Quality Control Commission's Regulation
10 No. 2, odor detected off site shall not exceed the
11 level of 7:1 dilution thresholds.
12 Development Standard No. 30, Waste
13 materials not specifically addressed by other
14 development standards shall be handled, stored and
15 disposed of in a manner that controls fugitive dust,
16 blowing debris and other potential nuisance
17 conditions.
18 Development Standard 34, The operations
19 shall comply with all applicable rules and
20 regulations in State -- State and federal agency in
21 the Weld County Code.
22 Development Standard No. 42, The
23 property owner or operator shall be responsible for
24 complying with the design and operation standards of
25 Chapter 23, the Weld County Code.
Page 8
1 essentially in existence.
2 MR. BARKER: Correct.
3 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Development
4 Standard No. 6 requires compliance with the Solid
5 Waste Disposal Sites and Facilities Act.
6 MR. BARKER: Correct.
7 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And within that
8 Act is a requirement that they have a valid
9 Certificate of Designation.
10 MR. BARKER: Yes.
11 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So if we were
12 either to revoke or suspend the USR today, we would
13 have to -- we're going to have to, at some point
14 anyway, reissue -- or issue, actually, a Certificate
15 of Designation.
16 MR. BARKER: Correct.
17 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And during the
18 time of issuance of a Certificate of Designation,
19 there's a requirement that they have a USR,
20 essentially, in good standing.
21 MR. BARKER: Yes.
22 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So if we were to
23 revoke or suspend today, right now, because this is
24 a show cause hearing, and it's already been
25 presented -- it was presented, in fact, at our last
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
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Page 9
1 hearing, but we had to go through due process to
2 assure that everyone had appropriate time, but there
3 is nothing that anyone can show at this point to say
4 that they have a valid CD, Certificate of
5 Designation.
6 MR. BARKER: Correct.
7 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So -- and we
a would be able to address -- again, if we were to
9 revoke or suspend, we would be able to address the
10 Certificate of Designation and the development
11 standards of the USR at the time of the issuance of
12 the Certificate of Designation.
13 MR. BARKER: I think that's correct. They
14 have applied for a new CD.
15 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I know. But we
16 haven't heard that. So for them to get a new CD --
17 MR. BARKER: Correct.
18 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: -- we could,
19 then, at that time look at compliance with the USR.
20 MR. BARKER: I believe that's correct.
21 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: If it was just in
22 suspension.
23 MR. BARKER: There are some -- the -- to
24 issue the CD, there is some factors that are
25 required by State statute.
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Page 11
USR.
MR. BARKER: You're -- you're open to do
so. I mean, you have a hearing today set to go over
all of those issues, one of which is they don't have
a valid CD. So the -- you've noticed them on all of
those issues. You can hear all those issues. Do
whatever you'd like to do with respect to those.
I think for adequate due process purposes
on that issue and any others you choose to hear, you
do need to allow them the opportunity to speak, to
say whatever they would like to say in regard to
that issue.
COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So I guess, then,
my question would be to the Board -- or request of
the Board is that we limit any discussion today to
the issuance of the Certificate of Designation and
the validity of the Certificate of Designation,
because, in fact, the other development standards,
whether we show -- whether they show or not today
that they're in compliance with those doesn't matter
because we have to have a Certificate of Designation
and they don't have one.
So, I mean, while -- I mean, we've read --
I've read, certainly, through the e -mails and
through comments and seen PowerPoints and read
Page 10
1 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Yes.
2 MR. BARKER: And so I can't recall if one
3 of those is compliance with local ordinances.
4 Usually it is.
5 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: It is. Well, in
6 our issuance of a CD, we require compliance with the
7 Use by Special Review permit.
8 MR. BARKER: Urn -hum.
9 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So we can address
10 the development standards other than 6 -- but
11 actually even 6, so 6, 10, 16, 17, 18, 21, 30, 34,
12 all the ones that were mentioned, at the time of
13 looking at the issuance of the Certificate of
14 Designation.
15 So I'm curious as to why do I need to have
16 any further public hearing or public testimony, or
17 even any testimony whatsoever, because there is
18 absolutely no way -- in their applying for a
19 Certificate of Designation, they are admitting to
20 that, in fact, they do not have a valid Certificate
21 of Designation, which honestly, okay, great. But at
22 the same time, the State has already said that they
23 do not have a valid CD. So this is an operation
24 that does not have a valid CD. So I was wondering
25 why I can't make a motion right now to suspend the
Page 12
1 through it all. And, you know, at the end of the
2 day we can make a determination on all of the other
3 development standards, 10 through --
4 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: 45.
5 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: -- 45 that were
6 mentioned here, but quite frankly we would have to
7 do that again when we make a determination that
8 there isn't a valid CD. And the State sent us a
9 letter stating that there is no valid CD. So they
10 do not have a valid CD from the Board of County
11 Commissioners.
12 MR. BARKER: I guess the thing is that
13 you're -- to take up the issue on the USR, what
14 you're suggesting is to limit it to that one issue.
15 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I'm suggesting we
16 limit it to limit it to Development Standard No. 6,
17 because the Certificate of Designation is also
18 required underneath the Solid Waste Disposal and
19 Facilities Act. I'll find it. Solid Waste Disposal
20 Sites and Facilities Act. A Certificate of
21 Designation is required within there. That's the
22 Development Standard No. 6.
23 Because all the other ones we're going to
24 have to address at a different time if that becomes
25 the desire to have a Certificate of Designation,
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
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1 which apparently it is, reissued. Or issued,
2 actually. It's not even reissued at this point.
3 It's just issued. Because there is no CD at this
4 time.
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MR. BARKER: I -- I think what you're
proposing is that it would be either to suspend or
revoke the USR at this time. If it's revoked, then
they need to come back and apply for a new USR at
the same time that they would apply for a CD.
COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So -- and the way
I'm reviewing it is whether or not the USR is
revoked or suspended, at the time of the issuance of
a Certificate of Designation we could take up all of
the development standards within a USR, whether it's
a new one or a suspended one.
MR. BARKER: Okay. But if it's suspended,
then they're suspended for whatever you found to be
out of compliance.
COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Sure. That would
be No. 6.
MR. BARKER: Once they come into
compliance, that suspension goes away.
COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I understand
that. But on No. 6 in the development standard, in
the Solid Waste Disposal Sites and Facilities Act is
Page 15
1 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I don't need to.
2 MR. BARKER: Yeah, you do.
3 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I don't think so.
4 MR. BARKER: Right now you have a show
5 cause hearing that's before you to find those things
6 that they're out of compliance with. It doesn't --
7 when they -- you take up the CD, what you'd be
8 saying is, oh, well, that all goes away. And that's
9 not true.
10 I mean, it basically is today you've got
11 all of those issues before you. If you just limit
12 it to 6, it's a suspension because of that. When
13 they come into compliance with that, then at that
14 time it comes back and the USR is in full force and
15 effect.
16 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: But the CD
17 requires them to be in compliance with everything
18 within the USR.
19 MR. BARKER: Correct. But --
20 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Yeah. So at that
21 time we could determine whether or not they were
22 compliant.
23 MR. BARKER: Okay. So you'd be continuing
24 the show cause hearing to take up those issues. I
25 mean, I understand where you're saying that the
Page 14
1 a requirement that they have a valid Certificate of
2 Designation. So I'm saying that we would be able to
3 find cause. In fact, there is cause already in the
4 record showing that they don't meet that.
5 MR. BARKER: But what you proposed was
6 that the time that they would -- you would take up
7 the CD, then you could look at all of the
8 development standards. And the thing is that at
9 that time the only thing that you would be
10 suspending them for would be No. 6. So when they
11 come into compliance with No. 6, at that time then
12 basically they're in compliance. You haven't found
13 them out of compliance of the other development
14 standards.
15 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: But compliance
16 with No. 6 requires an issuance of a Certificate of
17 Designation.
18 MR. BARKER: Correct.
19 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And issuance of
20 Certificate of Designation requires that we get to
21 have development standards and a USR in good
22 standing.
23 MR. BARKER: But you haven't taken up the
24 issue of them being out of good standing on the
25 remaining development standards.
Page 16
1 CD -- they need to show that they're in compliance.
2 But part of that would be to find that they're out
3 of compliance. And either do that now or you
4 continue this hearing to such time as they -- you
5 take up the CD and reconvene the show cause hearing
6 to find they're out of compliance on those other
7 issues.
8 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Cozad, you
9 had a question.
10 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I have a follow-up
11 question to Commissioner Kirkmeyer's questions. If
12 we move forward today, we need to look at the
13 development standards that you've already cited, and
14 look at those things, including Development Standard
15 No. 6, because in my understanding of the CD, the
16 operation of the facility, they cannot operate
17 without a valid CD.
18 MR. BARKER: Correct. Correct.
19 COMMISSIONER COZAD: And my understanding
20 of what we're doing today is looking at all of those
21 development standards and making a decision -- a
22 determination today whether or not they are in
23 compliance. And then there's the different things
24 that we can do from suspension all the way to
25 revocation.
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1 MR. BARKER: Yes.
2 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay.
3 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So if we were to
4 revoke the permit today, though, with their new
5 application for a Certificate of Designation, they'd
6 have to reapply for a USR then?
7 MR. BARKER: Yes.
8 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: But not if you would
9 suspend it, correct?
10 MR. BARKER: Correct.
11 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: According to the
12 County --
13 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: I'm trying to clarify
14 where we're at. Okay. Okay.
15 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Well, then the
16 question is to the Board. Because in reading
17 through all of the information that's already part
18 of the public record, so those are things that we
19 can already consider at this point, it's already
20 determined that they don't have a valid CD. So
21 there's already good enough cause to show to revoke
22 the permit now.
23 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Or suspend.
24 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Or suspend it.
25 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Moreno.
Page 19
1 staff and Chris.
2 MR. GATHMAN: Good morning. Chris
3 Gathman, Department of Planning Services. Again,
4 this is a slide we saw last time. It's actually a
5 continuation from the November 14th, 2016, hearing.
6 It talked about previously that there was a letter
7 received from the State dated November 8th, 2016,
8 regarding the validity of the Certificate of
9 Designation requiring a new certificate. And this
10 was due to the name change from Heartland Renewable
11 Energy to Heartland Biogas in 2013.
12 Should be notified that the State -- or
13 should be noticed that the State was notified and
14 approved the change, and stated no change to the CD
15 was necessary in 2014.
16 There was a Consent Order on compliance
17 with the -- I guess the air violation on
18 November 10th, 2016. The USR is a County procedure,
19 and the CD is both a County and State procedure.
20 I'm going to go ahead and do a timeline in
21 regards to the USR, the minor amendment. And then
22 from there we're going to go through each
23 department, and they're going to look at each of the
24 development standards that were brought up at the
25 hearing today, and go through those as far as
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COMMISSIONER MORENO: County Attorney
Barker, just following up with some of these
questions, if it goes back to a USR, does this go
back to the Planning Commission or just to the
Board?
MR. BARKER: If they apply for a new USR,
it goes to the Planning Commission for review before
it comes to you.
COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: May I ask county
10 attorney?
11 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Go ahead.
12 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: There isn't a
13 requirement that we have a hearing at this point if
14 we have everything within the public record
15 necessary to make a determination that cause exists
16 to revoke a permit.
17 MR. BARKER: You've noticed the
18 respondents on this issue. My advice is to give
19 them ample due process and the ability to respond to
20 that allegation.
21 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay.
22 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Any other
23 questions?
24 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I agree with that.
25 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. So we'll go to
Page 20
1 whether or not they're in compliance with those
2 development standards.
3 A USR was approved for this site on
4 July 21, 2010. That was for a Class 1 composting
5 facility, animal waste recycling or processing
6 facility, including an anaerobic digester -based
7 renewable energy plant, along with a concrete batch
8 plant to be used for construction.
9 Should be pointed out that prior to this
10 application being submitted and brought through the
11 County referral process, the application was
12 forwarded to the State Department of Public Health &
13 Environment for review. This included review of the
14 Engineering Design and Operations Plan.
15 The case was not set up or sent out to
16 outside County -- outside referral agencies and
17 County referral agencies, and land use hearings for
18 the USR were not scheduled until a conditional
19 approval letter was provided to Weld County from the
20 Department -- Colorado Department of Public Health &
21 Environment on April 7th, 2010.
22 In regards to the USR, the original USR
23 notice was mailed to surrounding property owners on
24 May 3, 2010. And an additional notice was mailed
25 out once hearing dates were scheduled on June 21st,
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1 2010. Additionally, a sign noticing the hearing was
2 posted at the site.
3 On February 25th, 2013, the USR-1704 that
4 was approved in July of 2010 was still in process of
5 being finalized. The applicant came back in and
6 proposed changes to the design of the site that
7 included changing from six lined ponds, one
8 stormwater pond, and five additional process ponds
9 to three lined ponds, which included two stormwater
10 ponds, one settling basin and one covered digester
11 lagoon. And also proposed to change the digester
12 designed from 24 rectangular inground covered
13 digester pits to five aboveground digester tanks,
14 approximately 50 feet in height.
15 The USR was still in process, however, we
16 did also send notice to property owners within 500
17 feet of these proposed changes. These changes were
18 okayed by the Board on February 25th, 2013.
19 It should be noted that there was some
20 changes to the design of the tanks. Originally they
21 were talking about five aboveground digester tanks
22 approximately 50 feet in height. The tanks that
23 they proposed to put into the site were a little bit
24 wider, but they were shorter so the -- the tanks --
25 they ended up putting in six tanks, and those tanks
Page 23
1 Also, Development Standard No. 30 was
2 modified to make a more general -- refers to all
3 state and federal agencies versus a compliance with
4 the Colorado Department of Public Health and
5 Environment and local laws.
6 Development standards approved under
7 MUSR 14-0030 are the development standards of record
8 currently for the Heartland site.
9 It should also be noted we did -- staff
10 did have a pre -application meeting with Heartland on
11 August 7th, 2014, before they applied for this use.
12 And we did receive a letter from the State of
13 Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment
14 dated October 14th, 2014, indicating that the
15 proposed DPS was an operational change issue only,
16 and that no changes to the CD would be required from
17 the State.
18 So based on the fact that at the time
19 CDPHE was not requiring a new or amended CD, also
20 per the application the proposed DPS and flare were
21 within the boundaries of the USR, they were not
22 changing the boundaries of the USR, and additionally
23 per the application traffic to the facility would
24 actually be decreasing as a result of these changes,
25 staff determined that the -- this could be processed
Page 22
1 were approximately 35 feet in height versus 50 feet
2 in height. Staff reviewed that and felt that
3 because the tanks were a lower profile that that was
4 an acceptable change to the site and did not require
5 re -review. There was just an operational change.
6 On November 7th, 2013 -- it talks about
7 on October 30th, 2013, the consultant for the
8 facility submitted a change request form outlining
9 the property and provisional changes, which
10 included changes to the owner/operator, project
11 development -- project developer and legal
12 description. And the State approved the name
13 changes on November 7th, 2013.
14 On February 5th, 2014, the USR-1704 plat
15 was recorded.
16 On February 25th, 2015, the applicants
17 applied for a minor amendment to USR-1704. The
18 minor amendment was for the addition of a digester
19 process system and a 70 -foot flare. This notice of
20 the minor amendment was mailed to property owners
21 within 500 feet.
22 It should be noted that Development
23 Standard 6 was modified to refer to the EDOP or
24 Engineering Design and Operations Plan approval
25 letter dated December 18th, 2014.
Page 24
1 as a minor USR amendment. Fundamentally it was
2 still approved as a Class 1 composting facility,
3 which is consistent with their original approval
4 under USR-1704.
5 Let me get into the compliance process
6 here. We sent out an initial letter for the
7 July 11th, 2016, probable cause hearing on
8 June 30th. A hearing was held on July 11th for
9 probable cause. It was determined that there was
10 show cause, so a show cause hearing was scheduled
11 for September the 19th, 2016.
12 We have since had some additional building
13 permits that have been submitted. On November 3rd,
14 2016, a building permit under OLG 16-00338 was
15 submitted for a 5,040 square foot clearspan fabric
16 building for receiving feedstock material and
17 temporary storage to control odor. This building
18 permit -- it says issued, but I have verified that
19 this actually -- this building permit has been
20 finaled.
21 On November 14th, a show cause hearing was
22 continued until today, December the 19th, 2016.
23 On December the 9th, 2016, the Department
24 of Planning Services conducted a site inspection of
25 the facility to determine compliance with the
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1 MUSR 14-0030 development standards. Additionally,
2 we did post signs at two locations for this
3 December 19th hearing.
4 December 9th, 2016, also a letter
5 requesting to modify the Certificate of Designation
6 was submitted to Weld County.
7 On December 13th, 2016, a building permit
8 was submitted under Case No. OLG 16-00391 for a
9 13,240 square foot structural steel clearspan fabric
10 commercial building to cover the receiving area and
11 temporary storage to control odor.
12 Finally, on December 15th, 2016, a
13 building permit for a 32 -by -72 -inch freestanding
14 sign for the facility was submitted, and this permit
15 is currently under review. Additionally the permit
16 submitted on December the 13th is under review as
17 well.
18 Additionally, as of December 15, 2016,
19 there have been 617 odor complaints and 57 odor
20 violations.
21 And, again, I can just go through this
22 real quick. These are the conditions. I guess
23 Bruce has already read through those, so I won't
24 belabor this one.
25 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Mr. Chair --
Page 27
1 tanks there.
2 This is the digester processing system
3 enclosure. So originally roughly half of the
4 enclosure was in place. And they came back in and
5 reapplied for a building permit to add roughly an
6 additional 50 percent to cover the receiving area.
7 These are water tanks associated with the digester
8 processing system.
9 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Conway.
10 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Chris, can you go
11 back to that? So which side of the enclosure and
12 when was that completed?
13 MR. GATHMAN: The permit was just
14 finaled -- would have been last week. I think end
15 of last week, because I checked earlier in the week
16 and it was still in process. You can kind of see
17 the division line where they added the addition.
18 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Right. So the
19 section to the right is the new addition?
20 MR. GATHMAN: I believe so, yeah.
21 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: That was certified
22 just last week?
23 MR. GATHMAN: Correct.
24 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Thank you.
25 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Moreno.
Page 26
1 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes, Commissioner
2 Cozad.
3 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I want to make sure,
4 if you go back to the previous slide I think you may
s have stated something incorrectly. You said that
6 there have been 617 odor complaints and 57 odor
7 violations.
8 MR. GATHMAN: Evaluations.
9 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I think you meant
10 evaluations.
MR. GATHMAN: Yes. I apologize.
12 I just wanted to point out -- so this is
13 the minor amendment plat. It's a little hard to see
14 here, but the original operations area is roughly
15 this location here. The digester processing system
16 is located here. So this was added to the site
17 under the minor amendment.
18 And, additionally, kind of hard to see,
19 but there is also -- the 70 -foot flare is to the
20 west of their tanks. That was added to the site.
21 Got a few pictures during our site
22 inspection. So these are the substrate tanks and
23 then the digester tanks. This is looking -- I guess
24 this is on the east side of the tanks. Again, this
25 is looking to the north. You see the substrate
11
Page 28
1 COMMISSIONER MORENO: Go back to that
2 slide again. This is where the material's coming in
3 and out of there, and they -- they're --
4 MR. GATHMAN: Yeah. And, actually, I've
5 got some additional slides on the other side that
6 also maybe show that a little bit clearer. But,
7 yeah, actually, materials for the digester
8 processing system where they take in the -- like the
9 packaged materials and it separates it out, that is
10 in this particular building.
11 There also is an offload area for other
12 materials that are not prepackaged where it goes
13 into a grated system that would actually be on the
14 east side of the structure that you can't see from
15 this slide. But we have some pictures of that as
16 well. That area where they're taking in material
17 and offloading it into this grating system, into the
18 substrate tanks, that is currently being applied for
19 for for another permit that just came in for a
20 13,000 fabric -- square foot fabric enclosure as
21 well. So that's still in process.
22 COMMISSIONER MORENO: Just to clarify, for
23 the enclosure we're not just talking the top, we're
24 talking the sides and everything, it's fully --
25 MR. GATHMAN: It's enclosed on all sides.
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There is one -- the entrance has, like, a plastic
flap. So there's one opening on the south side of
this enclosure. And I didn't -- I think my photos
kind of were a little fuzzy on that. It was kind of
a cold day.
COMMISSIONER MORENO: I'll wait till you
show the other pictures.
MR. GATHMAN: Yeah. So they can access
into the structure, but it's closed on all the other
sides.
COMMISSIONER MORENO: Okay. Thank you.
MR. GATHMAN: Yeah. When we were out
there on December the 7th, there were still some
prepackaged materials to the south of the DPS or
digester processing system enclosure; however, a lot
of those had been relocated into the structure when
when we were out there.
And this is the offload area that is to
the -- to the east of the DPS. And this is, again,
what they are proposing to enclose in another
structure as well that they have applied for.
This kind of shows the system where the
material gets pushed into this grate into the
substrate tanks.
This is the south -- she called it
Page 31
1 the access adjacent to County Road 40 will be the
2 permanent access for the facility. I'd be happy to
3 answer any questions you have.
4 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Cozad.
5 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I have a question for
6 Chris. I wanted just to clarify something you said.
7 I think it's in your PowerPoint. Let me see if I
8 can go back to which page it's on. It has to do
9 with -- I think it was on December 9th.
10 December 9th, 2016, it says, A letter requesting to
11 modify Certificate of Designation was submitted. So
12 they didn't apply for a new CD, they just submitted
13 a letter; is that correct?
14 MR. GATHMAN: I think the letter was their
15 request for a new Certificate of Designation.
16 COMMISSIONER COZAD: But it wasn't a
17 formal -- would you consider that a formal
18 application?
19 MR. GATHMAN: I'm not an expert on
20 Certificate of Designations, so.
21 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I just need that
22 question answered by someone at some point.
23 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Would the county
24 attorney like to answer it?
25 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Frank.
Page 30
1 wastewater drainage pond.
2 This is the 70 -foot flare that was part of
3 the minor amendment application as well. And this
4 is to the west of the -- basically the tanks. You
5 can kind of see the tanks from this location. So
6 basically between the tanks and the waste ponds.
7 This is a sign that was at the site when
8 we were out there on December the 7th. The
9 applicants have actually submitted a building permit
10 for a smaller sign, a just under 16 square foot sign
11 to replace this sign. And I will, I guess, defer to
12 public works.
13 MR. PINKHAM: Evan Pinkham, Department of
14 Public Works. An Improvements Agreement was
15 accepted on August 19th, 2013, which accepted along
16 with a $735,630 corporate guarantee. The funds for
17 that corporate guarantee were held for the upgrade
18 of the intersection at 40 and 49, for the
19 installation of the auxiliary lanes, the right
20 acceleration and the right deceleration.
21 On September 14th, 2016, a payment of the
22 same amount, 735,630, was accepted to pay for the
23 upgrades to that location.
24 As seen in the picture, the existing
25 access to the north is going to be taken away, and
Page 32
1 MR. HAUG: Frank Haug, assistant county
2 attorney. The letter was received from Holland &
3 Hart. It was an application to modify the existing
4 Certificate of Designation. They did include, I
5 believe, all of the appropriate attachments and
6 exhibits that would be needed. However, the process
7 at this point is that we have to basically decide
8 how to approach that in terms of with the USR and
9 does it require a modification to the USR. We then
10 have to submit it to the date for a 30 -day
11 completeness review. So the determination as to
12 whether that is a complete application or an
13 appropriate application, the State has 30 days to
14 decide from us submitting it to them.
15 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Has that been
16 submitted?
17 MR. HAUG: I don't believe we have
18 submitted that. We just received it last week.
19 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Was there a new fee
20 that was part of that requirement?
21 MR. HAUG: I don't believe they submitted
22 a new fee.
23 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Is that going to be
24 required?
25 MR. HAUG: It would be required for a new
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1 CD. It would be required.
2 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay. Thank you.
3 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Mr. Conway.
4 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Just back to the
5 intersection, those improvements were generated
6 because of the warrants; is that correct?
7 MR. PINKHAM: Yes. That's correct.
8 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Thank you.
9 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay.
10 MS. BALZANO: Hayley Balzano, Planning
11 Department engineer. Based on the site visit on
12 December 13th, 2016, it appears that the approved
13 drainage report that the Planning Department has on
14 file does not match the actual condition in the
15 field. It looks like there were revisions or
16 modifications made that were not submitted to Weld
17 County planning department. And this is required in
18 Development Standard No. 10. I'll be happy to
19 expand on that if you'd like any more information.
20 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Cozad.
21 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I think I'll wait,
22 actually, to ask my question.
23 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Okay.
24 Commissioner Kirkmeyer.
25 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So do you have a
Page 35
1 documentation of it to show that we reviewed it and
2 accepted it.
3 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay. I do,
4 actually, have a follow-up question. I was going to
5 wait, but -- so for the applicant to get into
6 compliance on Development Standard No. 10, would
7 they need to do a new drainage report?
8 MS. BALZANO: Or give us a copy of the
9 drainage report that does have the matching gauge
10 readings that they're indicating.
11 COMMISSIONER COZAD: That's physically out
12 in the field?
13 MS. BALZANO: That's correct.
14 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay. Thank you.
15 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Conway.
16 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Let me get this
17 straight. In terms of this documentation, they were
18 supposed to dig a pit that is -- that can deal with
19 up to 14 feet; is that correct?
20 MS. BALZANO: In terms of this
21 documentation, the top of the berm would be 16 feet,
22 but 14 would be the top water volume, including both
23 stormwater and process water.
24 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Upon your inspection
25 you found the pit to only be up to 9 -- 11 up to the
Page 34
1 list or do you have something that you've already
2 presented that needs to be put into the record?
3 MS. BALZANO: There is -- Chris, if you'll
4 go back a slide. These were -- that works. So this
5 is the site map that's in the approved drainage
6 report. The plumbing and swales are there, as
7 indicated. But if you go to the next slide, these
8 two tables were included that indicate the gauge
9 height.
10 The pounds -- ponds are designed to hold
11 the process water, and then have a volume on top of
12 that that would hold the design storm. The gauge
13 reading indicates that the process water would go to
14 13.3 feet or 13 feet for the south and north ponds,
15 and then the volume up to 14 feet would have your
16 volume for your stormwater. Then you'd have a
17 2 -foot freeboard from 14 to 16 feet.
18 We do have a document that indicates they
19 were given a variance for a 1 -foot freeboard.
20 However, when I visited the site they said that
21 9 foot was their maximum and 11 foot was their top
22 of berm. So there's a 5 foot discrepancy that
23 indicates that either the volume of the ponds were
24 changed or the shape. And the planning department
25 did not receive that information or doesn't have
Page 36
1 berm and 9 feet retention?
2 MS. BALZANO: That's what they indicated.
3 It was covered in snow, and it was too slippery to
4 go down the plastic slope and clean off the gauge.
5 But that's what they thought.
6 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Just from a
7 processing standpoint, do we go out and inspect
8 those when those are dug or do we rely on the
9 applicant to provide the information upon -- once
10 it's constructed?
11 MS. BALZANO: We rely on the applicant to
12 build what they have submitted as the approved
13 drainage report.
14 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Okay.
15 MS. BALZANO: We don't normally visit the
16 site.
17 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: So there's no
18 inspection previous to this to know what the pit was
19 or whether it was --
20 MS. BALZANO: No.
21 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Okay. Thank you.
22 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: We're good? Okay.
23 MR. FRISSELL: Ben Frissell, Environmental
24 Health. I'm going to go over basically all of
25 Environmental Health's issues today. We're going to
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1 kind of take a step back and go through some of the
2 definitions as it pertains to the CD, the EDOP, and
3 try to clarify some issues today.
4 As far as the air quality, what we're
5 going to try to do is outline the odor evaluation
6 and associated compliance order. We're going to try
7 to overview of -- the compliance issues associated
8 with the USR as it pertains to the air quality. And
9 then we'll be going over solid waste issues. We're
10 going to try to define the CD, try to kind of
11 clarify some of those letters and why they're in the
12 USRs and how those development standards kind of
13 have come to evolve. And then overview the approved
14 Engineered Design Operation Plans and the addendums,
15 and then some of the compliance issues associated
16 with the USR.
17 So into the air quality. So here are the
18 two items that the facility has. The facility needs
19 to I.D. sources that may require either an APEN or a
20 permit. And really the -- what's important here is
21 that an APEN is in excess of 1 ton per year, but
22 below the nonattainment area pollutant limits, while
23 a permit is going to be above the nonattainment area
24 pollution limits. And really that's all it's saying
25 is where it falls into play here. They are still
1 facility.
2 So during this inspection, there was a
3 regulatory compliance issue that Mr. Brewer noted.
4 It was an APEN needed to be submitted for the
5 digester processing system. And at -- I believe
6 there was some correspondence currently that this
7 may have been submitted in the last day or so or
8 that they might not need to; however, at the time of
9 the inspection and when this PowerPoint was made
10 they had not done that.
11 Additionally, there was some development
12 standards that Mr. Brewer looked at. And these are
13 Development Standards 17, 18, and 21. I believe
14 these are part of the original show cause hearing on
15 November 14th. So Development Standard 17, because
16 of the requirement for the APCD to approve a report,
17 we do not have any information at this time because
18 that report has not been approved by the Air
19 Pollution Control Division. So Mr. Brewer was not
20 allowed to release his findings at this time.
21 Development Standard 18, at the time of
22 the inspection, the facility was found to be in
23 compliance with this. This basically is the stack
24 emissions one and the opacity. There was photo -- a
25 photo presented to staff on July 24, 2016. But that
Page 38
1 required to meet these items. But it is up to the
2 facility to I.D. the sources that might require
3 either one of these.
4 Here are the items at the Heartland
5 facility that either have a permit or an APEN
6 associated with them. And these would be the items
7 that would be part of an inspection.
8 Mr. Phil Brewer with the Weld County
9 Department of Public Health & Environment did
10 perform an inspection on December 1st and 6th of
11 this year. Part of his inspection is to review the
12 operation and maintenance plan for compliance for
13 this facility, to review the air permit compliance,
14 and then also look at compliance with the USR.
15 Development standards. It should be
16 noted, though, that the APEN and the permits and the
17 operations and maintenance plans, those would be
18 separate and presented in a separate report reviewed
19 by the air pollution control division. And the USRs
20 may not be reviewed. And so those -- that's a
21 specific item where those two reports are -- are
22 different and they're not in -- the same. And
23 that's kind of indicated down below that all those
24 reports must be approved by the Air Pollution
25 Control Division prior to the final submittal to the
Page 40
1 photo was taken by a community member or public on
2 July 22nd, 2016. The Air Pollution Control Division
3 has indicated that violations cannot be determined
4 through photographic evidence. A proper EPA
5 Method 9 and/or Method 22 would need to be done.
6 And that was not done on this one, so there would be
7 no violation. Yes.
8 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: What is a Method 9
9 or 21 -- 22. I'm sorry.
10 MR. FRISSELL: That would be the opacity
11 methods. And I'm not an expert in that; however, my
12 general understanding is that you need to be -- you
13 need to have the sun in a certain location, you need
14 to be in a certain direction to see the stack, and
15 there's very specific requirements. If you have
16 additional questions, Mr. Brewer would be happy to
17 answer some of those technical ones.
18 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Thank you.
19 MR. FRISSELL: Moving on, Development
20 Standard 21, this is the development standard in
21 relation to Regulation No. 2, the odor detected off
22 site. There's been one documented violation to
23 date. That occurred on April 27th, 2016, as you're
24 aware. No other violations have been documented. A
25 compliance order on consent was issued to Heartland
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1 and -- effective as of November 17th, 2016.
2 Basically what this compliance order
3 outlined was the -- that required Heartland to begin
4 construction of additional odor control structures,
5 which may include enclosures and treatment systems.
6 And, again, this is just general. Mr. Brewer can
7 speak to specifics, if needed. But that was entered
8 in on November 17th.
9 There have been no other odor evaluations
10 other than the April 27th that have exceeded the 7:1
11 dilution threshold. To prove a 7:1 -- that's
12 greater than 7:1, an odor reading needs to be
13 greater than 8:1 but less than 16:1 and two readings
14 separated by more than 15 minutes, but less than
15 60 minutes is required for a violation.
16 So the sources which are -- we presented
17 before, that you have a permit or an APEN, they are
18 allowed to emit odors that are less than the 7:1
19 dilution threshold concentration. Off site odor
20 free operations are not required by Regulation 2 of
21 the Air Quality Control Commission and as
22 Development Standard 1 of the MUSR 140-0030.
23 To date -- or as of December 15th, I
24 should say, there's been 617 complaints and there's
25 been 57 odor evaluations.
Page 43
1 answer that question at this time because I
2 haven't -- I'm not privy to the inspection letter.
3 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay. And he can't
4 release that information?
5 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Just as a
6 follow-up, they don't currently have a permit, then?
7 COMMISSIONER COZAD: For the DPS.
8 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: For the DPS.
9 MR. FRISSELL: The DPS, as part of the
10 EDOP they were required to submit an APEN
11 application or determine if it's a source. I
12 believe at the time of the inspection, when this
13 PowerPoint, they had not done that. However, there
14 was some e -mails flying around that they are -- they
15 might have been trying to say this was not a source.
16 But, again, that would not be something that the
17 County would determine. That would be something
18 that the Air Pollution Control Division would
19 determine.
20 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay.
21 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I just want to
22 make sure we're clear. So you're saying that the
23 County would determine -- the County would not
24 determine whether or not a permit is required and
25 the State hasn't made a determination?
Page 42
1 Here is a map where the red shows the
2 location of complaints and the blue shows locations
3 of the odor readings.
4 So moving into the solid waste, again,
5 we're going to try to kind of go over the CD, the
6 EDOP issues, and some of the compliance issues
7 noted. Yes.
8 COMMISSIONER COZAD: May I ask a quick
9 question?
10 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes. Go ahead.
11 COMMISSIONER COZAD: On the air quality,
12 on Development Standard No. 17 you said that there's
13 a permit that's -- there's something that's pending
14 with CDPHE on the DPS.
15 MR. FRISSELL: Correct. Mr. Brewer's
16 inspection on December 1st and 6th, he has written
17 that inspection and has presented his findings to
18 the Air Pollution Control Division; however, they
19 need to review those findings and approve that
20 letter before it can actually go out. And that
21 approval is still pending from them.
22 COMMISSIONER COZAD: So is Development
23 No. 17 -- are they in compliance or not in
24 compliance?
25 MR. FRISSELL: I wouldn't be able to
Page 44
1 MR. FRISSELL: That is my understanding.
2 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: But they -- but
3 there is a permit pending?
4 MR. FRISSELL: That is from what -- the
s e -mails I've been trying to read, that they've
6 possibly submitted evidence that they either need an
7 APEN or that they do not need one. But, again, that
8 would be made by the Air Pollution Control Division.
9 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And when do we
10 expect the State to make that determination?
11 MR. FRISSELL: I would hope soon.
12 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Do they have a
13 certain timeline that they have to meet within?
14 MR. FRISSELL: I'm unsure on that.
15 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And they can't
16 give us any information?
17 MR. BREWER: Phil Brewer, Weld County
18 Department of Health and Environment. I understand
19 that an APEN application was submitted last night.
20 I got an e-mail verification of that at 9:47.
21 And --
22 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Please.
23 MR. BREWER: -- the Air Pollution Control
24 Division would have at 8 o'clock this morning
25 received that and logged it into their system. So
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Page 47
1 there is no action on the Air Pollution Control
2 Division's -- there's no action on their part to
3 approve it or disapprove it or determine if it's
4 needed or not needed at this time. It's only been
5 in their office for two hours.
6 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Thank you.
7 MR. BREWER: You're welcome.
8 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Go ahead, Ben.
9 MR. FRISSELL: Going back, solid waste
10 issues, like I said, we're going to try to kind of
11 define the CD and clarify some issues that have been
12 brought up with regard to the EDOP and then some of
13 the compliance issues as well.
14 I'm not going to read this definition of
15 the CD, but basically it gives the local governing
16 body the ability to approve an item or not. There's
17 a recommendation as made by the State based on that
18 CD application. And then that is presented to the
19 local governing body for their final approval.
20 Included in this application is the -- the
21 EDOP. And that is basically what the State reviews
22 to determine the compli -- that the facility can
23 comply with the solid waste regulations and Act.
24 Additionally, there is Section 1.3.5 of
25 the regulations. Basically what this is -- is
1 CD into one resolution, that is basically why
2 Development Standard 6 is -- was included as that
3 development standard and with the specific language
4 to the April 7th, 2010, because the technical
5 conditions of that letter, which were the eight
6 conditions for the final approval, needed to be put
7 in there.
8 Based on that USR-1704, the site was
9 originally approved for the Class 1 composting
10 facility.
11 And as such the -- the eight conditions
12 from those -- from that April 7th, 2010, were
13 addressed in the resubmittal of the Engineer Design
14 Operations Plan that was submitted November 7th,
15 2012. This EDOP was never approved, however,
16 required numerous revisions.
17 But the EDOP did show the change from the
18 inground digesters to the aboveground which, again,
19 was approved by the County on May 1, 2013.
20 So that original EDOP with the eight
21 conditions turned into a revised November 7th, 2012,
22 EDOP. From there there was four different
23 resubmittals or revisions to the EDOP. There was a
24 February, a March, a May, and a June of the 2013,
25 and eventually the June 7th, 2013, EDOP was finally
Page 46
1 saying is that the facility needs to comply with
2 their design and procedures outlined in the CD or
3 amendments to that application. So this is -- the
4 EDOP is part of that CD application. And amendments
5 to that EDOP would then require CDPHE review for
6 approval. But this allows for basically a
7 continuance on of adding documents to the EDOP as
8 needed.
9 For any waste facility that is required to
10 have an EDOP, it's basically a living document that
11 will continue to be updated and amended with
12 approval throughout the life of the facility to
13 basically update operations and new procedures, new
14 construction as a -- as a business hopefully grows.
15 So going back, the April 7, 2010, CDPHE
16 letter, what this letter is really stating is that
17 there's -- there is two items. There's a
18 recommendation for approval for the CD. And then
19 there's eight conditions that still need -- are
20 still needed for the final approval of that 2010
21 EDOP. There's a -- in the regulations it states
22 that any technical conditions of approval made by
23 the CDPHE in its final report shall be incorporated
24 as requirements in the CD.
25 Since the USR combined the land use in the
Page 48
1 approved by the CDPHE. So all the way back from
2 that -- November 7th all the way to -- it took three
3 years to get that EDOP actually approved with all
4 those eight conditions from the original CD letter
5 basically completed.
6 The most current version, which is this
7 June 7, 2013, EDOP is the approved version, and it's
8 considered the acting document by both the County
9 and the State.
10 On October 30th, the consultant for the
11 facility submitted a change request form outlining
12 the property information changes which included the
13 owner/operator, project developer and legal
14 description. The State approved this name change on
15 November 7th, 2013.
16 The construction quality assurance report
17 dated December 14th, 2013, was submitted for review
18 to the CDPHE. A final approval letter was issued
19 April 4th, 2014, after revisions. However, the
20 CDPHE did approve the facility to accept feedstock,
21 just the manure feedstock at this time, on
22 January 10th, 2014. The first feedstock deliveries
23 at the site for manure only was delivered to the
24 site January 11, 2014.
25 So since the facility was approved as a
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1 Class 1 composting facility based on that original
2 USR, they were able to take basically 1, 2, and 3
3 type feedstocks. However, really what they're
4 taking is Type 1 and Type 2, with the ability to
5 take Type 3 with the approval from the County and/or
6 the CDPHE. But Type 1 is the agricultural waste and
7 Type 2 is basically your food waste.
8 So since they're approved to take all this
9 stuff, but the -- they kind of needed a system to
10 take in the other food waste to get it into a
11 process in which their anaerobic system can process
12 it and they can put in the correct nutrients that
13 they need, so this is why the digester processing
14 system came about.
15 This handles basically all the other waste
16 other than the manure waste. This is described in
17 the November 18th, 2014, DPS Engineer Design
18 Operation System addendum. This addendum, again,
19 just describes the digester processing system. This
20 was approved by the CDPHE on December 18th, 2014, as
21 indicated in their letter.
22 During this time, because of the addition
23 of this digester processing system, the CDPHE
24 indicated that an updated CD was not required. And
25 this was shown in an October 8th, 2014, letter.
Page 51
1 product would be tested.
2 And, again, this doesn't fall into a
3 normal compost facility. The digested solids that
4 are coming out of the digester is what they're
5 considering a composted material. It does not -- in
6 the regulations it doesn't fall into the pathogen
7 reduction part of it very easily.
8 So as part of this, they are required to
9 do some additional testing to make sure that they
10 meet those requirements for pathogen reductions
11 outlined in the regulations. And so this
12 essentially is helping with that as well. This plan
13 was -- was approved, and it is acting as a pilot
14 project in which after a year, which will be coming
15 up shortly, they will need to submit a final project
16 overview and analysis along with an amended Engineer
17 Design Operations Plan that has this section in
18 there because it is part of their operation.
19 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And the plan was
20 approved by?
21 MR. FRISSELL: The CDPHE.
22 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: What was the name
23 of that plan again?
24 MR. FRISSELL: We call it the DSSOP. It's
25 a digested solid site operation plan.
Page 50
1 However, the DPS, since it was a larger facility
2 going on the land, did require amendment to the USR.
3 And this was approved through the MUSR 14-0030.
4 So this where it gets a little bit even
5 more confusing if it's not already. I apologize for
6 this. But -- so as part of the 2013 EDOP, there was
7 a sentence or a statement basically stating, A
8 separate standalone low permeability pad work plan
9 will be submitted under separate cover to the solid
10 waste division of the CDPHE and Weld County for
11 review and approval.
12 To meet this condition, the facility
13 submitted a digester solid site operation plan to
14 the CDPHE on November 20th, 2015. So this goes back
15 to the -- basically it turns into a pilot project
16 because of what they're doing. And to try to get
17 through this a little bit quicker, it's where they
18 store the digested solids. That's where it's at.
19 They basically didn't put a whole lot of controls
20 underneath there, not that they needed to.
21 But this is a pilot project to show that
22 runoff from that would not be contaminating
23 groundwater, would run correctly, any liquids that
24 they would be applying to the digested solids for
25 compost operations would meet testing, their final
Page 52
1 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And there's no
2 requirement that the County approve that?
3 MR. FRISSELL: Basically all the EDOPs are
4 never really required that the County approves any
5 of them. It's always based on the CDPHE approval.
6 However, we do have a chance to interject what our
7 thoughts are on it, our recommendations. However,
8 these may or may not be actually taken into
9 consideration by the CDPHE. So, again, it's what we
10 would prefer, however, if they don't agree, they
11 might not actually make those changes.
12 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Were we ever
13 notified?
14 MR. FRISSELL: I believe so, yes.
15 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Do we need to be
16 sure?
17 MR. FRISSELL: I can definitely
18 double-check.
19 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay.
20 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Cozad.
21 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I actually had some
22 questions along the same lines Commissioner
23 Kirkmeyer was asking. Generally when we have pilot
24 programs going on in the County -- you know, there's
25 a lot of different kinds of pilot programs that can
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1 happen, whether it's oil and gas or sometimes with
2 mining and those kinds of things -- we are notified
3 because they could affect the land use on a Use by
4 Special Review, and that could actually potentially
5 trigger an amendment. So it sounds like -- and I
6 just want to make sure that I'm understanding this
7 correctly -- from the 2013 EDOP they were asked to
8 do this work plan, and it became a pilot program.
9 That pilot program started November of 2015.
10 MR. FRISSELL: The actual plan was
11 approved the -- November, I believe, 9th.
12 COMMISSIONER COZAD: So the plan was
13 approved, but when did the program actually start
14 and when's the one year time frame up?
15 MR. FRISSELL: I'll have to do some
16 checking on that one to determine exactly the time.
17 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Because I think along
18 with Commissioner Kirkmeyer's questions, I'm just
19 surprised that the State would allow a pilot program
20 without approval from the County. It just surprises
21 me. I guess it could be a part of the special use
22 permit.
23 MR. FRISSELL: The applicant might have a
24 little bit more knowledge on this as well.
25 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes.
Page 55
1 MR. FRISSELL: Um -hum.
2 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So we never
3 reviewed and approved?
4 MR. FRISSELL: I need to double-check on
5 that.
6 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay. That would
7 be good. Thank you.
8 MR. FRISSELL: So moving forward with the
9 DPS acceptance of the waste, they first took waste
10 grease at the DPS facility on October 9th; however,
11 they never received their waste grease facility
12 registration until February 3rd, 2016. So there was
13 a few months there in which they didn't have the
14 proper registration to actually take the waste
15 grease; however, waste grease is accepted under
16 their Class 1 composting status.
17 They did receive approval from the CDPHE
18 to take basically all listed waste on February 25th
19 of 2016 at the DPS facility.
20 And basically that bottom bullet point is
21 they received waste prior to these approvals. And
22 we'll cover it in later slides, but that's basically
23 referring to the waste grease that we kind of went
24 over.
25 So the approved documents for the site is
Page 54
1 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I want to make
2 sure I have the timeline right. So the April 7th,
3 2010, letter did not have the DSSOP in it, right?
4 MR. FRISSELL: Correct.
5 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: The 2013 approved
6 EDOP did not have the DSSOP in it.
7 MR. FRISSELL: It had language for -- that
8 stated a low permeability work pad plan will be
9 submitted under separate cover.
10 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: The plan would be
11 submitted?
12 MR. FRISSELL: Correct.
13 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And the plan
14 wasn't submitted until November of 2015?
15 MR. FRISSELL: Correct.
16 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: It doesn't say
17 that the plan gets to be implemented. Just says a
18 plan would be submitted.
19 MR. FRISSELL: It just says -- again, it's
20 up on the screen -- A separate standalone low
21 permeability pad work plan will be submitted under
22 separate cover to the Solid Waste Division of CDPHE
23 and Weld County for review and approval.
24 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And Weld County
25 for review and approval?
Page 56
1 the June 7th, 2013, EDOP, along with the
2 December 18th, 2014, digester processing system EDOP
3 addendum, and the November 9th digested solids site
4 operation plan. So those are the three acting
5 documents for this facility.
6 Based on the November 14, 2016, show cause
7 hearing, there was evidence presented that the
8 facility may be in violation of various department
9 standards. And, again, our county attorney went
10 over many of those. A November 8, 2016, letter from
11 the Attorney General's office indicated that the
12 facility does not have a valid CD.
13 I conducted an inspection on
14 November 29th, 2016, and found compliance issues
15 with Development Standard 6, 7, 10, and 34. On
16 December 7th, 2016, a request to immediately cease
17 applying waste off site was sent. And, again, the
18 facility did notify that they received that e-mail
19 and that letter that same day, along with a
20 December 12th, 2016, inspection letter was sent to
21 the facility. And they -- they e -mailed and --
22 saying that they received that as well.
23 As was stated before, Development
24 Standard 6 is basically the property owner/operator
25 shall comply with applicable sections of the
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1 regulations pertaining to the Solid Waste Disposal
2 Sites and Facilities Act.
3 The facility was found to be out of
4 compliance based on the following items which are
5 going to be covered in a few slides.
6 So basically what we found during our
7 inspection was the facility does not have a valid
8 CD. They were illegally disposing of waste through
9 land application. They do not have a beneficial use
10 determination approval letter or approval from the
11 County to apply these -- these liquid or sludges
12 from their wastewater ponds as a beneficial use.
13 They did receive waste prior to approval
14 from the CDPHE as a waste grease facility. There's
15 a few months there. They since have their facility
16 registration up to date and no issues, but just a
17 point of clarification.
18 There were some inconsistencies with the
19 EDOP. And this hopefully will cover some of these.
20 Again, please let me know if you have questions
21 since it does get a little confusing.
22 There were no shelters over the unloading
23 areas as indicated in their approved EDOP, which --
24 which says that shelters will be provided for
25 substrate unloading and dewatered solids storage.
Page 59
1 fence.
2 Site security measures are not as
3 described in the EDOP. There's no security control
4 entrance or access via an I.D. card.
5 The regulations pertaining to solid waste
6 indicate that a facility will prevent off -site
7 nuisance conditions, including odor, while
8 Development Standard 21 indicates a dilution
9 threshold below 7:1 is required. The Colorado Air
10 Quality Control Commission Regulation No. 2 takes
11 precedence there.
12 The implementation of the biofilters --
13 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I'm sorry. Could
14 you go back to that. May I? I'm sorry.
15 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Go ahead. Yeah.
16 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Could you go back
17 to the odor requirements and the nuisance
18 requirements in the Solid Waste Act.
19 MR. FRISSELL: Sure.
20 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: What did you just
21 say?
22 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: The Colorado Air
23 Quality Control Commission Regulation No. 2 takes
24 precedence over the nuisance conditions in the
25 regulations, in the solid waste regulations.
Page 58
1 Unloading practices for manure were not
2 consistent with the approved EDOP. The 2013 EDOP
3 states, A hose will be used to pump out manure
4 tankers. Manure is currently unloaded through an
5 open hatch.
6 Material staged for depackaging is not
7 stored in a coverall building. The 2014 DPS
8 indicates that all materials staged for depackaging
9 will be stored in a coverall building. And they're
10 trying to remedy that as the addition of that
11 coverall building that you saw earlier from Chris's
12 presentation; however, there's still waste being
13 stored outside.
14 Appendix X of the 2013 EDOP states, All
1s incoming waste streams will be stored in a closed,
16 covered storage area. Currently the manure waste is
17 being stored in an open pit.
18 Continued items. The fencing is not as
19 described in the EDOP, which states a 6 -foot high
20 chain link fence will be -- will surround the
21 digester facility, and the soil amendment area will
22 be fenced with barbed wire. There is no fence
23 around the soil amendment area, and a 6 -foot high
24 chain link is not around the digester. I believe
25 it's a three- or four -strand 4 -foot high barbed wire
Page 60
1 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And that's
2 located where, that sentence?
3 MR. FRISSELL: That sentence is not
4 located anywhere. That is the determination because
5 the actual air quality control does regulate very
6 specifically air --
7 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: But that's not in
8 the Solid Waste Act?
9 MR. FRISSELL: No, it is not.
10 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: The Solid Waste
11 Act, what does it state with regard to nuisance?
12 MR. FRISSELL: It says, Facility will
13 prevent off -site nuisance conditions, which includes
14 odor.
15 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Thank you.
16 MR. FRISSELL: The facility has not
17 implemented a biofilter at the substrate processing
18 tanks associated with the DPS. And this was
19 outlined that they would in Appendix X of the 2013
20 EDOP.
21 Some of the items that we didn't address
22 that were brought up during the show cause hearing
23 were the dust. During the inspection dust was not
24 observed to be leaving the site. It should be noted
25 though that if winds or -- winds are above 30 miles
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1 per hour, compliance violations are not made. So on
2 very high wind days, it is known that they can't
3 control their dust at that time. But during our
4 time we have not seen dust leaving the site.
5 Garbage. The garbage -- no garbage was
6 observed to be blowing off site at the time of the
7 inspection or during the odor evaluations performed
8 at or around the site. Since this was not observed,
9 we will not be going into further detail of
10 Development Standard 16 and 30.
11 Odor levels at the time of the inspection
12 were not encountered above 7:1 dilution threshold
13 off site.
14 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Cozad.
15 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Ben, I just have a
16 quick question. So the dust, you have that under
17 Development Standard No. 6 Compliance Issues
18 Continued, but then you're also saying that it's
19 under Development Standard No. 17. Is it under both
20 development standards?
21 MR. FRISSELL: I believe so. I believe it
22 was under the notice that was given out. A lot of
23 items were -- were referenced for numerous
24 development standards. I was just trying to make it
25 clear that under each one, both Phil's inspection --
Page 63
1 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Thank you. And I
2 appreciate that. But are there any points of this
3 that are relevant back to the EDOP?
4 MR. FRISSELL: No, there are not.
5 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Thank you.
6 MR. FRISSELL: Development Standard 10 was
7 not notified from deviations for the proposed
8 changes to the approved 2013 EDOP, the 2014 DPS
9 addendum or the digester solid site operations plan.
10 Basically they failed to let us know of changes
11 during this time.
12 There were numerous change orders
13 submitted to the State, but not to the County. This
14 was shown in a February 24th, 2014, e-mail exchange
15 between the CDPHE and AGPROfessionals. As part of
16 this they said they submitted for approval a change
17 request that we never received. And we didn't
18 actually receive any of the change requests prior to
19 that either. So I don't know all the items that
20 have not been submitted to the County. This just
21 shows at least items had not been.
22 Heartland did indicate that they are
23 understanding that modifications do not need to be
24 submitted to the County because of an e-mail with
25 the CDPHE and interpretation of one of their -- one
Page 62
1 Mr. Brewer's inspection and mine kind of covered
2 different development standards, since he enforces
3 or looks more at the air and I look more at the
4 solid waste. And dust on either one of those was
5 not observed.
6 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay.
7 MR. FRISSELL: During my inspection there
8 was an inconsistency with Development Standard 7.
9 Basically the construction certification report
10 shall be submitted at least 60 days prior to the
11 acceptance of feedstock. However, based on
12 documentation, we received the certification report
13 on December 4th, but manure waste was delivered to
14 the site on January 11th. There was approval from
1s the CDPHE; however, that doesn't mean that our
16 development standards are not applicable.
17 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: But actually --
18 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Go ahead.
19 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: -- Development
20 Standard 7 is not applicable here because it wasn't
21 listed as one of the items for the show cause
22 hearing.
23 MR. FRISSELL: Correct. This is something
24 that was found during our inspection that we thought
25 might be relevant in general.
Page 64
1 condition from the CDPHE letter basically stating
2 that once the facility is constructed, the pilot
3 project is done, they shall submit a final EDOP for
4 review. And because -- based on that they didn't
5 think they needed to submit any of the documentation
6 as well.
7 Heartland indicated that they had
8 submitted a waiver request concerning their
9 groundwater monitoring plan to the CDPHE, but the
10 County was not able to find that and Heartland was
11 not able to present that if they did submit it. So
12 if they were able to give that e-mail notification
13 to us, then we would consider that one fine, but we
14 were not able to find that at the time of the
15 inspection.
16 Development Standard 34, this basically
17 states that the operation will comply with all
18 applicable rules and regulations of the State and
19 federal agencies and the Weld County Code.
20 Based on our inspection, we believe
21 Heartland has failed to pay their solid waste
22 surcharge fees. And we understand that there are
23 some exempt items under that County code; however,
24 there are many items that Heartland does take in
25 that do fall underneath this. And they have not yet
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1 paid even after a few e -mails to them reminding them
2 to do so.
3 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: May I?
4 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes.
5 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: When you say a
6 few e -mails, how many is that?
7 MR. FRISSELL: It would be two different
8 e -mails.
9 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Conway.
10 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: And based on your
11 inspection, do you have a guesstimate in terms of
12 what kind of fees we're talking about?
13 MR. FRISSELL: I have no idea at this
14 point. We would have to go through a more detailed
15 list with the facility to determine exactly what
16 items they -- we and they consider exempt and what
17 items would not, and then come up with some type of
18 volume for those ones that are nonexempt and figure
19 out the surcharges on that.
20 So as you know, there's a lot of items
21 that could fall under Development Standard 34.
22 Those were basically presented in previous slides
23 and I didn't want to clutter this up more than needs
24 be, so that's why they're not all under 34 as well.
25 So trying to bring it all back home, a
Page 67
1 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: This may be a
2 question for Phil, so, Phil, I'm giving you
3 notification here. So the facility started
4 accepting deliveries in January 2014, is that
5 correct, as I understand from your presentation?
6 MR. FRISSELL: I think so. I'd have to go
7 back and check the slide.
8 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: So I'd like to ask
9 Phil, when did you start getting complaints from
10 surrounding property owners? Can you give me an
11 idea in terms of time frame because clearly they
12 operated throughout 2014. Did you receive any
13 complaints throughout 2014 that you recall?
14 MR. BREWER: Phil Brewer. Is that on?
15 Hello. Hello.
16 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: She's bringing you
17 another mic, Phil. Sometimes these batteries don't
18 last too long. It happens often.
19 MR. BREWER: Thank you. Phil Brewer, Weld
20 County Department of Public Health. The first
21 complaint of odor that I received was November 10th,
22 2015.
23 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: '15. So you went
24 throughout 2014 and most of 2015 without complaints,
25 is that correct?
Page 66
1 recap for this is the facility -- for the air
2 quality, the facility has had a single violation of
3 Development Standard 21 in the Air Quality Control
4 Commission Regulation No. 2. The facility must
5 submit an APEN for the DPS, which it sounds like
6 they did this morning; however, at the time of the
slides on Friday afternoon that was not done.
8 Facility's part of a compliance order with the Air
9 Pollution Control Division, and they have outlined
10 specific items that they needed.
11 For the solid waste, the facility's
12 operating with an approved EDOP, which is a 2013
13 EDOP and approved addendums. The facility is
14 operating without an approved CD. Waste was taken
15 after CDPHE approval, except for waste grease. Site
16 was approved to change from inground digesters to
17 above. All waste received on -site are approved
18 wastes.
19 Compliance issues were noted in the
20 County's December 12th inspection letter. A plan
21 to correct all items listed in the inspection letter
22 is -- is required by December 28th, 2016.
23 And I'd be happy to answer some questions
24 or clarify.
25 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Conway.
Page 68
1 MR. BREWER: That is correct.
2 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: From your numerous
3 visits out there, and maybe this is a question for
4 somebody else, what happened in terms of the
5 deliveries that they were taking out there and
6 processing between January of 2014 and November of
7 2015 which saw an increase in terms of odor
8 compliance, in your opinion, and maybe or someone
9 else.
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
MR. BREWER: I can anecdotally say
something. I don't know if it's appropriate for
this hearing. Is it?
COMMISSIONER CONWAY: I don't know. I'm
just trying to figure out -- you've answered my
question.
CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: The answer is probably
17 not.
18 MR. BREWER: The first complainant
19 commented to me she would have called earlier had
20 she known who to call.
21 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: So many of the
22 complaints, they just didn't know who to complain
23 to.
24
25
MR. BREWER: That is correct.
COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Thank you. From
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1 2014 to November '15 you didn't receive any
2 complaints?
3 MR. BREWER: That is correct.
4 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. You're done.
5 Any other questions of staff? Okay. So at this
6 point I would go ahead -- oh, yes.
7 MR. GATHMAN: Just one final thing.
8 Department of Planning Services wanted to go through
9 a couple of the -- some of the development standards
10 as far as compliance items on the planning side.
11 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay.
12 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Before that,
13 could I ask a question? I'm sorry.
14 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes.
15 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Could you tell
16 me, in the original USR permit, Type 1 waste was
17 okay because that's the agricultural waste. Was
18 Type 2 waste approved?
19 MR. FRISSELL: As a Class 1 operator,
20 composter Type 1, 2, and 3 are approved.
21 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I understand
22 that. But in the original USR was it discussed that
23 there was going to be something other than Type 1
24 waste?
25 MR. FRISSELL: I mean, I don't -- I wasn't
Page 71
1 to limit it through the land use; however, under the
2 regulations if you are a Class 1, you are blanketed
3 by Class 1, 2 -- or Type 1, 2, and 3 feedstocks.
4 There are other compost operations that fall into a
5 different classification, so a 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5
6 currently; however, that is changing probably
7 sometime early 2017. But with those
8 classifications, they are then limited to quantity
9 and which waste type.
10 COMMISSIONER COZAD: But as a County, we
11 could limit our permit to Class 1, Type 1 waste
12 only.
13 MR. FRISSELL: I would have to refer to
14 county attorney on that specific, but I would -- I
15 would think so.
16 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay. Thank you.
17 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Yeah, we can.
18 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you. Okay.
19 Chris.
20 MR. FRISSELL: Give it over to Chris.
21 MR. GATHMAN: Just had a few items on the
22 planning end, so not near as comprehensive as the
23 environmental health side.
24 So the first item, Development Standard
25 No. 30, indicates waste materials not specifically
Page 70
1 here during that time period; however, for
z composters around that same time or even earlier, if
3 they are a Class 1, they are able to take those --
4 those wastes. The 2009 or 2010 EDOP that was
5 submitted as part of the CD application did describe
6 Class 1 and Class 2 waste. So those wastes have
7 actually not changed, what they described from the
8 original to current. They've always described it ag
9 waste and some type of food waste.
10 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: But in the
11 original USR, there wasn't -- and original EDOP,
12 there wasn't the land application process.
13 MR. FRISSELL: I don't believe so. I
14 would have to double-check on that. That is a very
15 specific question for that, and to cross-reference,
16 oh, three or four revisions.
17 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay.
18 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Can I have a
19 follow-up?
20 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Go ahead.
21 COMMISSIONER COZAD: In other types of
22 facilities, can they limit just to the Class 1,
23 Type 1, or is itjusta -- if you -- if you get a
24 permit for a Class 1, can you do all three types?
25 MR. FRISSELL: I believe you would be able
Page 72
1 addressed by other development standards shall be
2 handled, stored and disposed of in a manner that
3 controls fugitive dust, blowing debris, and other
4 potential nuisance conditions.
5 When we were out at the site on December
6 the 7th, we did notice there were some trash
7 containers that were open, not covered. So we're
8 requesting that those be covered to prevent
9 potential for blowing trash. I will note that the
10 applicant has indicated that these trash containers
11 will be moved into the proposed 13,240 square foot
12 fabric commercial building in their offload area, so
13 that is in process.
14 Development Standard 34 indicates the
1s application -- the operation shall comply with all
16 applicable rules and regulations of State, federal
17 agencies and the Weld County Code. Per Chapter 3 of
18 the Weld County Code, mobile home zoning permits are
19 required for office trailers associated with
20 construction projects and otherwise. There are two
21 office trailers that were permitted for the site
22 under Case No. ZPMH 15-0016 and 0017. These office
23 trailers can be permitted for up to 18 months.
24 These zoning permits expired, per our records, on
25 November of 2016.
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1 The operators indicated that they want to
2 keep the trailers on -site for the additional on -site
3 construction that is occurring in regards to the
4 cover buildings. Therefore, either an extension
s would need to be requested and granted by our
6 director of the planning services department or a
7 new mobile home zoning permit application would be
8 required.
9 Item 2 under Development Standard 34,
10 there's a sign at the entrance to the facility that
11 exceeded the 16 square foot maximum size sign
12 allowed in the agricultural zone district. Went
13 through the record for the USR, and I didn't see
14 that there was ever a request for a larger sign that
15 was approved by the Board at the time of the USR.
16 So that would either require a variance or they
17 would need to modify the sign size.
18 The applicant has submitted a building
19 permit for a 16 square foot sign that would replace
20 the existing sign. And this was submitted on
21 December the 15th, 2016.
22 Final item under this is that there are
23 three cargo containers on the site when we were out
24 to inspect the facility that do not appear to have
25 building permits per our records. Building permits
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
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1 Previously we've done from the table.
2 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: They need to go
3 to the podium.
CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Probably just go to the
podium.
MR. GATHMAN: Which PowerPoint do you want
first?
MR. THOMAS: First EDF. That's it.
Good morning, Commissioners. Jason
Thomas, plant manager for the Heartland Biogas
facility. Heard a lot from me over the last couple
of months, so I'm here as a familiar face. I'm
going to introduce to the -- our presentation. I'd
also like to introduce Al Kurzenhauser. Al is the
vice president of Bioenergy Group at EDF EN. And
you'll be hearing from him significantly throughout
the presentation.
I mean, today we're reporting back to you
again on the show cause hearing. Couple of things
we'd like to do. We'd like to provide some legal
context to the proceedings and to the findings from
the recent inspections and from, you know, our long
conversation about odors at the facility. We'd like
to provide you an update on the status of our
projects, provide a third -party -- independent
Page 74
1 are required to be submitted for cargo containers or
2 the cargo containers shall be removed.
3 Development Standard No. 42 indicates the
4 property owner or operator shall be responsible for
5 complying with the design and operation standards
6 of Chapter 23 of the Weld County Code. Again,
7 this is applying to the same thing, but under
8 Section 23-2-240, the design standards of Weld
9 County Code, there are 12 items under there. Item
10 12 just talks about the placement of the signs on
11 the site shall comply with the requirements of
12 Chapter 23 of the Weld County Code.
13 Again, they are in the process of doing
14 that. They have applied for a building permit. So
15 once that's issued and they replace the sign, they
16 would be in compliance.
17 That's all I have. I'd be happy to answer
18 any questions.
19 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Any other questions?
20 Okay. So I guess at this time we'll go ahead and
21 ask the respondent to -- or the respondent's
22 representative to please come forward and give us
23 your comments.
24 MR. THOMAS: Are you going to stay there
25 or are we going to present from the podium?
Page 76
1 third -party analysis of both the odors and the
2 complaints associated with the odors, and then
3 ultimately to respectfully ask that you would
4 dismiss the show cause hearing.
5 As can you see in this slide, and as you
6 just heard, the facility has been under a very
7 intense series of inspections associated with what
8 you can see is a lot of regulations associated with
9 the facility. This slide will show you all of the
10 inspections that have occurred since the last show
11 cause hearing, seven of them, including unannounced
12 inspections, inspections from basically every
13 department that inspects or that governs or
14 regulates the facility.
15 We -- we show who did the inspection, what
16 day they did the inspection, and also what they
17 found. And we'll respond to those. To respond to
18 those, I'd like to turn the presentation over to
19 Bill Garcia of Coan Payton & Payne.
20 MR. GARCIA: Thank you, Jason.
21 MR. THOMAS: This is the next one.
22 MR. GARCIA: Good morning, Commissioners.
23 Bill Garcia, Coan, Payton & Payne, 5586 West 19th
24 Street here in Greeley. And as this is a
25 continuation of prior show cause hearings, for the
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1 record I continue any objections that were made from
2 those prior hearings.
3 And today we'll first start off by talking
4 about the procedural history. You've heard a lot
5 about the procedural history from staff already, so
6 I won't belabor the point. But this really came
7 before the Commissioners based on the exceedence of
8 the odor standard that was described one time that
9 was noted. And that was on April 27th of 2016.
10 That's why the matter was set for probable cause
11 hearing.
12 And as that -- that slide that you just
13 saw demonstrates, there have been aggressive
14 testing, unprecedented, I would say, testing of this
15 facility just in the past -- the past month, since
16 we were last before you on November 14th of 2016.
17 And that testing comes from a number of different
18 bodies, including the State CDPHE, the County.
19 Also, we've had air testing from others
20 such as Heartland third -party consultants and
21 neighbors. And, again, one -- the only violation --
22 or exceedence, I mean, of the Air Quality Control
23 Commission Regulation No. 2, Part A, was the one
24 that was found by Phil Brewer on April 27th of 2016.
25 This is the information on the noticed
Page 79
1 Office. This was a document that was sent to Frank
2 Haug. And that's the one that was discussing the CD
3 and whether there was a valid and accurate CD that
4 was in place on this facility. That document was
5 not initially provided to Heartland Biogas, LLC, and
6 that -- and Heartland Biogas, LLC, representatives
7 were not involved in those discussions.
8 However, I would like to thank Frank Haug
9 at this time because Frank was good enough to
10 provide me with that information. He also provided
11 my contact information to David Kreutzer. And I was
12 able to talk to David Kreutzer about his opinions
13 and -- that are included in that letter of
14 November 8th, 2016.
15 And when I spoke with David Kreutzer, he
16 pointed out that this is not a matter for immediate
17 action. They knew -- they know of Heartland Biogas,
18 LLC. You know about Heartland Biogas, LLC. We've
19 all been working under the understanding that there
20 is a CD in place, and we've been working under that
21 impression, and -- as has the State and as has Weld
22 County.
23 So it was presented that this is something
24 that Heartland needs to -- to go ahead and take some
25 action on, but it does not need to -- this is not an
Page 78
1 issues. And Mr. Barker did a fine job of going
2 through that with you, so I won't read this to you,
3 that -- and as was correctly noted by Commissioner
4 Kirkmeyer, other matters presented that are not --
5 are not on the table to be considered if they are
6 not noticed for your decision -making process. And I
7 appreciate that consideration.
8 Regarding the Certificate of Designation
9 Heartland Biogas, LLC, has been operating under a
10 valid CD. The CD is valid. The CD was issued and
11 it was -- and the ownership of this facility was
12 transferred from Heartland Renewable Energy, LLC, to
13 Heartland Biogas in early November of 2013. Do not
14 be mistaken. This was not something that was done
15 in a vacuum or was not noticed to anyone.
16 But Heartland Biogas, LLC, has been
17 working diligently with the County and the CDPHE and
18 a myriad of regulatory agencies to prepare all of
19 these permitting and planning activities we've been
20 discussing these various months. So this is not a
21 matter that just came about without any notice to
22 the County or to the State.
23 In fact, on November 8th, 2016, a letter
24 was received by Weld County. And that was from
25 David Kreutzer of the State Attorney General's
Page 80
1 immediate cease and desist order matter. So that is
2 why we -- we had that discussion with David
3 Kreutzer.
4 And our next step was to take a look, what
5 is the process to transfer a CD under statute or
6 under regulation. And that process is not clear.
7 And, further, the -- the process was -- was
8 discussed on whether a CD is needed in a case that
9 was in Mr. Kreutzer's letter. And that case is the
10 City and County of Denver versus Eggert. And that
11 case is cited in the -- the letter itself. That
12 cite can be provided to you if you wish to have
13 that.
14 However, in that case, in the Eggert case,
15 the Court found that the CD was valid. And they
16 didn't go through the process for the -- for what's
17 required for a transfer of a CD. So that case is
18 not illustrative of what was necessary for our next
19 steps to proceed. So we're -- we're dealing with an
20 area that is gray in terms of what is the regulatory
21 process to follow in terms of the new CD or a
22 transfer of the CD if you're just changing the
23 ownership of a property, which is what we have here.
24 Furthermore, as I stated, Weld County has
25 acted in conformity with the -- with the prior CD
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1 and understanding of that prior CD since the end of
2 2013. And just a couple of examples -- there are
3 many examples in the public record, but several of
4 the examples are the -- the original recorded plat
5 was issued to Heartland Biogas, LLC, in 2014.
6 The -- the -- we talked about the transfer and
7 the -- not the transfer, but the -- the improvements
8 agreement and the collateral for that improvements
9 agreement. And that was also approved by the Board
10 of County Commissioners with Heartland Biogas, LLC.
11 And with regard to that, pursuant to the
12 discussion with David Kreutzer, and the review of
13 the case and the statutes and the regulations, the
14 pertinent regulations, decision was made to request
1s that transfer. And that was what was provided, as
16 discussed by Mr. Haug, by Holland & Hart. And that
17 was submitted to the Board of County Commissioners
18 and the County for review.
19 So we are moving forward and attempting
20 to address that issue and make sure that as
21 Mr. Kreutzer asked, if -- that we can -- we can tie
22 that up and make sure it's clear that on paper we
23 know that the CD belongs to Heartland Biogas, LLC.
24 And it is also important to note that the
25 investment that has been made, all the efforts that
Page 83
1 Department of Agriculture did issue a Certificate of
2 Registration for the material and allowed its use in
3 the application.
4 So the Department of Agriculture did take
5 jurisdiction over that decision -making process and
6 that material.
7 Air quality --
8 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Excuse me.
9 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes.
10 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Sorry. I don't mean
11 to throw you off. Can you tell me what the
12 Certificate of Registration date was again?
13 MR. GARCIA: The Certificate of
14 Registration date on the -- from the Department of
is Agriculture -- do we have that -- June 6th, 2013.
16 COMMISSIONER COZAD: June 6th. Okay.
17 MR. GARCIA: Other air quality standards.
18 Several other items have been brought up and the
19 staff has addressed these. The first is the -- the
20 stack emission and the opacity discussion. And Ben
21 Frissell did discuss that there was an EPA test
22 process, EPA Method 9, that would -- that is -- that
23 is required to -- to -- to utilize -- that's the
24 testing required to determine whether there is a
zs violation under this. And as described by
Page 82
1 have been made by everyone in this matter were done
2 in reliance on the process, a process that did not
3 seem to require a transfer of the CD in 2014,
4 despite knowledge of all of the regulatory bodies,
5 but now in 2016 it is requesting that -- that
6 change. So we're complying with that. But we have
7 a matter of reliance of all parties that they've
8 relied upon those -- the process that had been
9 previously followed. And that was to recognize the
10 CD.
11 Regarding the land application of LSA,
12 Liquid Soil Amendment, Heartland has been authorized
13 to distribute Liquid Soil Amendment for land
14 application under license from Colorado Department
15 of Agriculture since June of 2013. Back then the
16 Solid Waste Division identified several acceptable
17 options for how to dispose of digestate liquid.
18 And one of those options was to -- to seek
19 from the Department of Agriculture an approval
20 and -- of utilizing that -- that product. Because
21 that's really what it is. It's not a waste. This
22 is a soil amendment.
23 And so the decision was made to proceed
24 under the State -- or the State's Department of
25 Agriculture. And in June of 2013 the State
Page 84
1 Mr. Frissell, the evidence is not -- was not
2 provided to be able to determine any sort of
3 violation there.
4 There was a second one regarding emissions
5 from the building openings that was noticed. And
6 there is a process under EPA Method No. 22 that
7 would be utilized. However, there were not any --
8 there was -- there wasn't photographic or any
9 testing evidence that showed emissions from building
10 openings separate from the opacity testing question
11 from the staff.
12 The -- Condition 16 of the air permit
13 discusses the Operations and Maintenance Plan.
14 Those allegations that were made were unclear at the
15 presentation at November 14th. Heartland is
16 complying with Condition 16 of its air permit.
17 There has been no evidence presented that there is a
18 violation under the Operations and Maintenance Plan.
19 Also, with regard to dust abatement, the
20 Air Quality Control Commission Reg 1 and the air
21 permit do -- do permit the presence of dust, and
22 that that in and of itself is not a violation. The
23 requirement is that the dust -- fugitive dust --
24 that there be a fugitive dust control plan, and that
2s that plan be applied and complied with. And there
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1 is no evidence that the company failed to follow
2 their fugitive dust control plan. So the -- there
3 was one picture that was provided to the
4 Commissioners, but that in and of itself does not
5 show that there was a violation of complying with
6 the control plan.
7 The Engineering Design and Operations
8 Plan, EDOP, as I have previously stated, there have
9 been many inspections of this facility just in the
10 past month in this case.
11 In -- the EDOP is a living document, and
12 it changes with the operations and activities of the
13 operator. And those -- those -- those changes would
14 be submitted on a regular basis. You've heard a
15 number of the different change orders and such.
16 The State requested that these changes be
17 reserved until the construction completion because
18 it takes quite a bit of work to review each of these
19 changes, and they asked that these be held off until
20 construction completion.
21 There are -- there are some
22 inconsistencies, some differences that you've heard
23 from Mr. Frissell and -- with regard to how some of
24 these are handled. Some of the various topics are
25 handled within the EDOP. And any of those that are
1 was submitted in a -- in a letter submission. And
2 that letter is dated December 16th of 2016.
3 So if it comes down to a decision,
4 Commissioners, with regard to do we wait on the
5 State to make a determination, do we -- do we make
6 sure that we exhaust every single argument, or do
7 we -- do we provide you and provide the State with
8 information, we're choosing to provide that
9 information and make that application.
10 The solid waste surcharge. Heartland
11 replied in writing -- actually, this was -- this was
12 a letter on my letterhead, replied in writing to the
13 applicability of surcharge on November 22, 2016. In
14 review of the County code and State regs, it does
15 not appear that -- that the items that are brought
16 into the facility meet the -- the requirements of
17 the solid waste surcharge. That was the basis of my
18 letter. Much of Heartland's waste received is
19 exempt from the surcharge. And -- and so that's
20 where we -- where we left it at.
21 In a discussion with Mr. Frissell last
22 week, we learned that there might be some items --
23 he mentioned one item, one waste stream that comes
24 in that could potentially be considered. So we are
25 at a position of considering and continuing
Page 86
1 found that are valid, we're working through those
2 and ensuring that when we submit the next EDOP, that
3 those are clarified and any inconsistency is
4 corrected.
5 The issue of waste grease disposal,
6 Heartland is currently registered as a waste grease
7 facility. As was mentioned, between October 25th
8 and February 16th, there was an acceptance -- there
9 was acceptance of waste grease -- a minor amount of
10 waste grease prior to obtaining that Certificate of
11 Registration. This was accepted for storage and it
12 was not for use. And this filing was made in
13 December 2015 for that permit. So there -- there --
14 this is a matter that has been resolved. This is
15 a past item that shows up on an inspection, but
16 since -- since February 2016 this matter has been
17 resolved.
18 The APEN for the DPS, with regard to the
19 APEN for the DPS -- this -- we're providing this
20 information despite the fact that there was a short
21 notice on the APEN issue coming before the Board.
22 However, this is a matter that's been
23 discussed with the State regarding whether an APEN
24 is necessary for this. And before receiving a final
25 answer that an APEN is required from the State, this
Page 88
1 discussions with Weld County staff to determine if
2 there is a waste item that is coming onto the
3 facility that the surcharge would apply to, and
4 evaluate and determine what that surcharge would be
5 and provide that.
6 Please note, it's not as though a -- a tax
7 bill arrived saying this is what -- this is your
8 charge. It was we believe that there are waste
9 streams coming onto your facility, and then there
10 was a response in writing November 22nd. Those
11 conversations, we welcome those to continue on, but
12 we have not -- we have not identified what those
13 waste streams are or what the total amounts are.
14 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Conway.
15 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Let me -- I don't
16 mean to interrupt you, Mr. Garcia. But in keeping
17 with that line of discussion, so on November 22nd or
18 earlier, you were notified that there was a
19 potential that nonexempt waste was -- was being
20 received. And you said our -- our records indicate
21 that all the waste is tax exempt, but please tell us
22 what might be subject to this appropriate surcharge.
23 And since the November 22nd letter, you've not been
24 provided by the County any follow-up in regards to
25 that?
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1 MR. GARCIA: If I could clarify the fact
2 pattern description.
3 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Sure.
4 MR. GARCIA: My letter, I do not believe I
5 invited any determination of -- of what those waste
6 streams might be, but I provided my explanation as
7 to why I did not believe they were covered under
8 the solid waste surcharge, why we were exempt.
9 And then the -- I did receive -- I did not receive
10 in writing, but I did receive in -- orally in
11 meetings -- because it's been -- and as an aside,
12 it's been great to work with Weld County staff.
13 This is a very difficult case and it's a very
14 complicated case, but I have been -- I have been
15 able -- when I need a question answered, I've been
16 able to get somebody to -- to speak to me and
17 provide that information. Mr. Frissell did identify
18 one item of waste stream.
19 Probably -- on my part this has been a
20 pretty busy and complicated matter to prepare and
21 come before the Commissioners on a regular basis.
22 And probably staff has been busy preparing reports
23 and doing inspections. So I don't want to cast any
24 aspersion or question regarding staff. I believe
25 it's a matter we're going to continue talking about.
Page 91
1 going to the operator. There's -- this is a very
2 important issue that -- that -- where various people
3 are talking and not everyone is getting the
4 information. And that's one item that we found and
5 staff has found in this -- in this process.
6 For example, we believe that the
7 groundwater waiver request that was mentioned was
8 previously submitted. We've been sharing
9 information on other items as we find them and say,
10 here's the e-mail that this was provided, here's the
11 letter that it was sent on. So we're providing that
12 information, sharing that to make sure that everyone
13 has the same information to go on.
14 With regard to the --
15 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Sorry.
16 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Hold on.
17 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Mr. Garcia, you say
18 that the groundwater waiver request was submitted to
19 Weld County. Do you know specifically which
20 department or who that was sent to?
21 MR. GARCIA: I believe it's -- it's in
22 the -- is that in the -- I believe it was sent -- I
23 spoke with -- with Garry Kaufman of Holland & Hart
24 who is with us today. And he indicates that that
25 was sent to Mr. Frissell by e-mail. And he's
Page 90
1 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Okay. So you're
2 involved in discussions to determine whether that
3 waste stream is appropriate to a surcharge, and that
4 dialogue is ongoing between staff and you -all?
5 MR. GARCIA: I would say that we're open
6 to being involved in that discussion, yes.
7 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Okay. Thank you.
8
9
10
COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Mr. Chairman.
CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes.
COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Did we have a
11 copy of the notification from November 22nd?
12 MR. FRISSELL: Yes, we do.
13 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Could you get a
14 copy to all of us, please?
15 MR. FRISSELL: Yes.
16 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Thank you. Thank
17 you.
18
MR. GARCIA: Communication with Weld
19 County. You've heard a number of items in -- in the
20 staff's presentation where there's information
21 that's going to the State, there's information
22 that's going to Weld County but not the State.
23 Maybe Weld County didn't get the information, went
24 to the State. Maybe there's information going
25 between the County and the -- and the State and not
Page 92
1 looking for a date and more information on that.
2 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay. Okay. Thank
3 you. You can get that to me later.
4 MR. GARCIA: This was an e-mail where a
s copy was sent on October 3rd of 2016.
6 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Thank you.
7 MR. GARCIA: With regard --
8 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Go ahead.
9 MR. GARCIA: With regard to the
10 December 13th, 2016, inspection regarding site
11 grading, there was a mention that there was
12 information needed to be provided. December 13th
13 inspection was very recent, and we'll be working on
14 making sure that we have that information provided
15 to the County.
16 With regard to -- as I said, communication
17 is important. Communication builds trust among all
18 people that are involved and all agencies that are
19 involved. And there are a lot of agencies involved
20 in this matter. And Heartland Biogas, LLC, is
21 committed to improving the communications with the
22 County, with the State, and, where we can, between
23 the State and the -- State agencies and the County.
24 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Can I ask another
25 question?
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CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes. Go ahead.
COMMISSIONER COZAD: Mr. Garcia, as far as
the site grading inconsistencies, I think you're
referring to the drainage plan that Hayley discussed
during her presentation. I guess my question to you
and probably to the applicant -- or the
respondent -- and you don't have to answer it right
now, but, you know, even in a little while, when
you're building your facilities, if you have an
existing drainage plan that's an engineered plan,
wouldn't you build it according to your plans?
MR. GARCIA: I'm going to defer on that
one because I was not involved in the project at the
time of the building of the -- of those lagoons, so
I can't -- I can't answer anything with regard to
that.
COMMISSIONER COZAD: If somebody can
answer that question later, that's fine. I just
would like to have an answer to that.
MR. GARCIA: Thank you, Commissioner
Cozad.
COMMISSIONER COZAD: Thank you.
MR. GARCIA: Number of additional concerns
also brought up. Outside unloading, unloading is --
is not prohibited. Storage is prohibited, but
1 would cause and trigger a biofilter on that one
2 particular tank. So that's to answer that one that
3 was brought up.
4 Again, what brought this matter to the
5 forefront and to your table, Commissioners, is odor.
6 And as stated and described, we've -- we've talked
7 about the process under Reg 2, Part A, and how you
8 test and the 15 minutes and the odor ranger. That's
9 our standard that we follow. And this was --
10 recall, we discussed this previously.
11 There is a compliance order on consent
12 that Heartland Biogas, LLC, entered into to resolve
13 this through the State Colorado Air Pollution
14 Control Division. And this requirement has a
15 number -- this has a number of requirements and
16 deadlines that we need to follow to be able to -- to
17 provide enclosure, for example, enclosure of the
18 buildings. So this is a matter that was taken very
19 seriously by Heartland Biogas, LLC. And Heartland
20 Biogas, LLC, chose to enter into a Consent Agreement
21 on this matter. And to date Heartland is fully in
22 compliance with what is required under that -- that
23 compliance order. And there has not been a
24 determination of violation under the 7:1 standard
25 under Reg 2, Part A.
Page 94
1 unloading is not prohibited under the odor
2 management plan. And as has been stated and shown
3 in photographs, covered storage is to be phased in
4 by December 31st of 2016. And, in fact, you're
5 going to hear about the progress on that here
6 shortly.
7 Removal or limitation of materials is not
8 required under the odor management plan. What is
9 required is when off -site odors are detected above
10 acceptable levels, that those materials are to be
11 reviewed. And acceptable levels are determined as
12 those that -- when there's an odor detected above
13 that 7:1 threshold.
14 Nuisance debris, inadequate signage,
15 fencing, these items that were noted in the
16 November -- were not noted in the November 22nd,
17 2016, Colorado solid waste program inspection.
18 There -- there are a lot of moving parts here,
19 and -- and we have inspections where we're not cited
20 for various items.
21 Also, the -- there was an issue regarding
22 the biofilter. And that's not part of the EDOP. It
23 was -- the EDOP was not triggered to require the
24 biofilter due to the -- the tank that was involved
25 was not causing an odor. So that -- that is what
Page 96
1 Lastly, the issue of odor as a nuisance.
2 Odors transported off site do not constitute a
3 nuisance unless the odors, among other things,
4 result in an unreasonable and substantial
5 interference with the use and enjoyment of property.
6 Question -- the question before, in this
7 case, the Court -- and I'm citing from Public
8 Service Company of Colorado versus Van Wyk. And
9 that citation is up here on the screen. The
10 question is based on the balancing of utility of the
11 actions causing the harm and the gravity of the
12 impact. This is the test that was applied by the
13 Court in that case.
14 And to address Commissioner Kirkmeyer's
15 question on this topic, where an agency establishes
16 a quantitative level for an allowed impact, in this
17 case, 7:1, that quantitative level sets the standard
18 for what is reasonable. So the odorous nuisance,
19 that standard is 7:1 because there is a quantitative
20 standard that's been placed in -- in the USR.
21 That concludes my comments, if there are
22 no further questions.
23 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: I just have one.
24 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Conway.
25 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: This compliance
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1 order that you have entered into with the State,
2 what are the consequences if you don't live up to
3 that compliance? What happens -- what -- what
4 action is undertaken against you if you don't live
5 up to that order?
6 MR. GARCIA: If I may, since I was not the
7 attorney that engaged with the CDPHE, Mr. Kaufman,
8 would you...
9 MR. KAUFMAN: Thank you, Commissioner
10 Conway, Board members. There's --
11 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Please state your name.
12 MR. KAUFMAN: I'm sorry. Garry Kaufman,
13 with Holland & Hart, on behalf of Heartland Biogas,
14 LLC. There are several potential consequences for
15 violating an order under the State air quality rules
16 ranging from -- typically it would be a penalty up
17 to $15,000 a day. In certain extreme circumstances
18 it might be a revocation of your quality permit.
19 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Okay. Thank you.
20 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I have a
21 question.
22 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes.
23 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: You said you
24 received a license from the Department of
25 Agriculture for the land application.
Page 99
1 MR. GARCIA: I appreciate your position,
2 Commissioner Kirkmeyer. I respectfully submit that
3 the Van Wyk case actually states that the
4 quantitative number rules.
5 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: That's fine.
6 That's your position.
7 Then with regard to the transfer of the
8 Certificate of Designation, are you aware that
9 within State statute, it requires -- any transfer
10 requires the approval of the governing body, the
11 local government?
12 MR. GARCIA: Yes.
13 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And to this date
14 the Board has not -- the Board -- that wouldn't mean
15 the planning staff or the health staff, but the
16 Board has not approved a transfer of the Certificate
17 of Designation; is that correct?
18 MR. GARCIA: The Board has had notice of
19 the -- of the transfer, and -- and the Board has
20 not, while you're -- yes. First let me answer your
21 question, Commissioner Kirkmeyer. There has not
22 been a hearing scheduled by the Board of County
23 Commissioners on a transfer to Heartland Biogas,
24 LLC. However, the Board of County Commissioners and
25 Weld County staff, as well as the State and and
Page 98
1 MR. GARCIA: In 2013.
2 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Yes. 6-6 of '13.
3 Did you ever receive a permit from the Weld County
4 Public Health Department for land application?
5 MR. GARCIA: I am not aware of one. If
6 one of our team knows of that, we'll present that to
7 you.
8 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay. Well, we
9 need to have that.
10 And then you talked about the standards
11 with regard to odor in the Solid Waste Disposal
12 Sites and Facility Act versus the Air Quality
13 Control Commission's regulations. But you're aware
14 that within our development standards, we have both.
15 MR. GARCIA: The -- are you speaking
16 about the --
17 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: We have two
18 different standards.
19 MR. GARCIA: -- quantitative?
20 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So they both
21 apply. So the requirement with odor and nuisance
22 under the Solid Waste Act applies because it's
23 within a different development standard in ours. So
24 it's not like in an either/or or one supersedes the
25 other. They both apply within our USR.
Page 100
1 Heartland Biogas, LLC, have performed in accordance
2 with the CD that was in place and under the
3 understanding that there was a CD in place.
4 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I understand
5 that. But at this point you don't have a formal
6 approval, and neither does the Board, from the
7 CDPHE, from the State Health Department, approval of
8 the transfer. In fact, we have a letter stating
9 that your Certificate of Designation isn't valid,
10 and you have no approval from the Board of County
11 Commissioners on the transfer.
12 MR. GARCIA: In regard to that, I would
13 point out that this was a letter that was sent from
14 the State Attorney General's Office to Weld County,
15 not sent initially to us.
16 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I understand
17 that. I'm just stating you're of the understanding
18 that there is no approval by the Board of County
19 Commissioners on the transfer of a Certificate of
20 Designation.
21 MR. GARCIA: There is a -- there is a
22 statement in that letter that indicates -- and that
23 letter is dated November 8th of 2016 -- that this
24 determination been made without any input from
25 Heartland Biogas.
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1 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay. So this
2 just requires a yes or no.
3 MR. GARCIA: So what --
4 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: To date do you
5 have any proof that the Board of County
6 Commissioners has approved a transfer of the
7 Certificate of Designation?
8 MR. GARCIA: I have proof, and it's
9 provided in your brief, that the Weld County
10 Commissioners and Weld County staff have acted
11 in accordance with the recognition of the CD
12 post -transfer, yes.
13 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So on what date
14 did the Board of County Commissioners approve the
15 transfers of the Certificate of Designation?
16 MR. GARCIA: They recognized the transfer
17 upon the signature of the final plat, which is
18 provided in your records. It was actually shown by
19 staff. There -- it -- the Weld County Commissioners
20 approved the -- the improvements agreements and the
21 collateral agreements to Heartland Biogas. That was
22 discussed by staff.
23 Furthermore, we have proof that -- that
24 the Commissioners received property with regard to
25 the extension of -- of County Road 49, the County
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we're at. Obviously we've got to break for lunch at
some point. I think it makes more sense since you
guys were kind of at sort of a stopping point -- I
know you've still got a fairly lengthy part of a
presentation. We're going to go ahead and break now
for lunch, and we'll reconvene at 1 p.m.
MR. GARCIA: I have one procedural matter.
I mentioned in my comments a brief and some
exhibits. And I see them sitting there, so I wanted
to ask that the hearing brief be entered and the
exhibits entered into the record and provided to
you.
CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Perfect. Okay. So
with that, we are in recess until 1 p.m.
(Lunch break taken.)
CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Go ahead and
reconvene the Board of County Commissioners. Let
the record reflect that all five County
commissioners are present and we're back to
Heartland.
MR. THOMAS: Hello, Commissioners. Jason
Thomas again. I'd like to introduce -- right at the
end of the presentation by Bill Garcia, we were
talking about the odor standards. And we -- we've
been talking about odors for a long time, so we want
Page 102
1 Road 49 project. And that was done through a deed
2 to the County from Heartland Biogas. So there are a
3 number of items in the record that show that.
4 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Are you aware of
5 any date that the Board took formal action to
6 approve a transfer?
7 MR. GARCIA: There has not been a date
8 for formal transfer, Commissioner Kirkmeyer, because
9 this matter was only brought to the point -- to
10 the attention thanks to Mr. Haug who provided the
11 letter that went between the County and the State.
12 So the -- the State has not formally even provided
13 that to us.
14 But I did have a conversation with Stuart
15 Kreutzer. And pursuant to that conversation with
16 Stuart Kreutzer of the AG's office, we did go
17 forward and submit the application that's before you
18 today.
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CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you, Mr. Garcia.
MR. GARCIA: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: So at this point we're
22 going to go ahead and take a five-minute break --
23 five-minute recess.
24 (Break taken.)
25 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: So here's kind of where
Page 104
1 to make sure that we give you an update on -- on
2 what was going on with the odors. And to start off
3 that discussion, I'd like to bring up George
4 Iwaszek. You've seen George before, with Trinity
5 Consultants.
6 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Good afternoon.
7 MR. IWASZEK: Good afternoon,
8 Commissioners. I think the battery sounds okay.
9 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes.
10 MR. IWASZEK: I can hear myself. So if it
11 starts to die, just please let me know. My name is
12 George Iwaszek. I am a managing consultant and
13 manager of consulting services at Trinity
14 Consultants, the Denver office.
15 I was here in September to report on the
16 odor monitoring and measurement that we had
17 performed prior to the September meeting. And I'm
18 here to give you an update on basically what we've
19 found and some of the measurements that we've been
20 making since that time. So I'll kind of cover the
21 full period, if you will, but I'll try to make -- if
22 necessary, make distinctions.
23 My teleslide says, Odor measurement
24 summary and conclusion. So last time, as you
25 recall, we presented a lot of tables and graphs and
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1 data. All of that still exists, and I'm happy to
2 share that. But I wanted to take a little different
3 focus this time and kind of give you my conclusions,
4 if you will, based on my -- looking at the data, my
5 experience and what I'm seeing.
6 So before we continue on, just a quick
7 refresher on my credentials. My most recent degree
8 is a master's in chemical engineering. I have other
9 degrees in biology. Also a bachelor's in chemical
10 engineering and a variety of advanced degrees. So
11 I've been a student my whole life and found that
12 it's been very useful in my career which has
13 extended over 35 years of experiences in process
14 engineering as well as in air quality, environmental
15 consulting. And as I mentioned, I manage Trinity's
16 Denver office, and I've been managing that since
17 2012.
18 So just -- I'm going to cover a couple
19 points -- or a few points maybe a few times just to
20 make sure we have an opportunity to look into and
21 talk about it so you'll see me repeat a couple
22 things.
23 One of the things I'll say also later on
24 is that since the beginning of the measuring period,
25 which started on August 30th, through the 16th of
Page 107
1 there, so I collected a lot of dust.
2 The measurements were made by multiple
3 qualified observers. There were actually four of us
4 doing this. So this isn't data that's just based on
5 one individual. And I think you've heard this a few
6 times, but it bears repeating, I think, that all of
7 the measurements that we've conducted of -- of these
8 approximately 800 measurements, there have been no
9 violations -- or, rather, we've demonstrated
10 compliance -- or these measurements demonstrate
11 ongoing compliance with the State's odor regulation.
12 Okay.
13 So the next two slides I just want to kind
14 of set -- again, kind of set maybe as a reminder
15 about, you know, what this is about. And I'm going
16 to -- are either one of these better or worse?
17 Looks like you're all looking kind of this way. I'm
18 going to use this one to illustrate.
19 So what am I showing you here? This is
20 just a Google earth image of the general vicinity.
21 So here's the Heartland Biogas plant in the center.
22 This ring is just a 5 -mile ring. Actually, I chose
23 5 miles because over the course of the monitoring,
24 we went up to 5 miles from the facility. We didn't
25 always go out 5 miles from the facility, but
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Page 106
December, we've made over -- almost -- approximately
800 odor measurements around the site and in the
general area. And I'll talk more in detail about
those.
That monitoring of those measurements were
conducted over a broad range of hours of the day, so
early morning, late night, sunset. And also on a
broad range of days across the week. So there
weren't any particular times. We didn't look at an
8 to 5 kind of a schedule. We tried to look at all
times.
And we also -- and I mention here that we
13 included what I call adverse weather conditions.
14 What do I mean by that? If you have a high wind
15 situation or even a sustained wind situation where
16 the wind is blowing in a particular direction for a
17 certain -- for a certain duration of time, that
18 might be considered an adverse condition because you
19 can imagine that if there is an odor plume, it could
20 be propagated for some distance. And so we -- we
21 didn't go out of our way to avoid certain weather
22 conditions.
23 Unfortunately, I was out there a couple of
24 weeks ago when the wind was blowing at 50 miles an
25 hour. That was my scheduled run day, and I was
Page 108
1 that's -- we have measurements going out that far.
2 And I don't mean to insult anybody's --
3 you know, you know Weld County, but there are a lot
4 of sources here. And that's the other point here.
5 There are a lot of sources of odors in this area.
6 You know, this is not a very easy image to see but,
7 you know, you can see various kind of feedlots or
8 other kinds of agricultural operations. I
9 personally have not visited it, and I don't know for
10 a fact, but one of my colleagues mentioned there's a
11 Class 1 composting facility down here. But this is
12 the general area around the plant as we know it.
13 So this next slide shows, just as a
14 reminder, again, of in our monitoring scheme or
15 protocol we had certain what I called standard
16 locations. But there were locations that were near
17 the plant that every time a monitoring event
18 occurred, that is, when we went out and monitored,
19 each of these standard locations was visited,
20 measurement was made, and an observation was
21 recorded.
22 So I think I have the data, but I believe
23 there are, like, 600 and -- over 600 measurements
24 taken in the standard area. So we really focused or
25 concentrated, if you will, on the areas near the
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1 plant. Why? Kind of logically makes sense if the
2 plant's generating odors, we would be most likely to
3 catch those or find those near the plant at these
4 standard locations.
5 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Can I ask a
6 question?
7 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Go ahead.
8 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Of the 600 samples,
9 are you going to get to that in terms of duration?
10 MR. IWASZEK: Yeah. Again, I have it
11 right here in front of me because I don't want to
12 remember it. We did a total of 612 measurements
13 over the period of August 30th through December 16th
14 at these standard locations. We did a total of 789
15 measurements in the general area going back to that
16 slide that we had earlier.
17 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: The circumference.
18 MR. IWASZEK: Roughly the circumference.
19 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Okay. And goes
20 without saying this is August 30th through
21 December 16th of this year?
22 MR. IWASZEK: I'm sorry. Yes.
23 August 30th. This is all 2016. That is correct.
24 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Thank you.
25 MR. IWASZEK: So that is -- oh, and one
Page 111
1 MR. IWASZEK: Yeah. Actually, I was
2 talking to somebody. I wish I brought the nasal
3 ranger with me because everybody talks about it but
4 how many of you have actually seen it. Yes, we use
5 a nasal ranger. When I talk about measurements, I'm
6 talking about quantifying them with a nasal ranger.
7 I will clarify that by saying that if we got to --
8 once we get to a standard location, we step out of
9 the vehicle, we smell, literally. If you don't
10 smell anything at all, you're not going to pull the
11 nasal ranger out, necessarily. But if you smell the
12 smallest whiff of an odor, the nasal ranger comes
13 out and you go through the nasal ranger
14 monitoring -- or measurement routine.
15 COMMISSIONER MORENO: Okay. Thank you.
16 MR. IWASZEK: So the short answer is any
17 measurement that we took was taken with a nasal
18 ranger.
19 COMMISSIONER MORENO: Thank you.
20 MR. IWASZEK: Answer the question for you?
21 Very good. Thank you. Thanks for the
22 clarification.
23 Okay. So let's talk about odor -- I call
24 this odor monitoring by the numbers. So I've told
25 you already that we made about 800 measurements,
Page 110
1 other point, if I may make. It's not listed on this
2 chart, but if you recall, when I previously was here
3 I talked about something I called plume chasing. So
4 the -- the idea is that we're going to each of these
5 standard locations every time you do monitoring and
6 when we collect the data. But as we're driving
7 along, if we smell something, we would track it. So
8 smell something, if we just detected an odor,
9 regardless of whether we measured that odor, we
10 stopped, we might do a measurement, and then we
11 would track that odor to follow it to its --
12 essentially its extinction point. And I could
13 probably come up with how many times we did plume
14 chasing, but it was on numerous occasions. I don't
is know what the number is offhand. You'll see me
16 refer to that later on when I talk about how the --
17 one of the characteristics of the odors from the
18 plant.
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21
COMMISSIONER MORENO: George.
CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Moreno.
COMMISSIONER MORENO: When you're going
22 out there testing it, are you using what they
23 referred to many times as the nasal ranger? Or what
24 are you doing to monitor? What's your equipment to
25 test?
Page 112
1 789, to be exact, covering in that area. We did not
2 call the plant and say, What's going on today?
3 Shall we come out? But in the course of our
4 monitoring, I believe, in my opinion, that we
5 captured all different operating conditions.
6 Because afterwards I might say, So what was going on
7 at the plant today? And we'd have conversations.
8 And, frankly, there was nothing -- there's nothing
9 significant about it other than I could make the
10 statement that I think we've covered all kinds of --
11 all -- various gamut -- various conditions that --
12 that the plant experiences.
13 I think that's important because, again,
14 I'm -- doing the statistics on this could be
15 interesting. And I'm not going to -- we're not
16 going to go through that. But I think the point I'm
17 trying to establish here semiquantitatively is that
18 there's no cherrypicking going on, that we're really
19 trying to find -- look at the plant in its -- in its
20 actual operation.
21 I already mentioned we looked at a variety
22 of times and variety of weather conditions. And,
23 again, in none of those measurements or observations
24 did we find a violation of Regulation 2, Part A.
25 One -- one little statistic that I just
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1 want to point out, that when odor measurements were
2 taken upwind, we -- we detected an odor 36 percent
3 of the time using the nasal ranger, quantifying that
4 reading. That odor could not be attributed to the
5 plant. So what I'm not saying is that the plant
6 doesn't generate odors. I'm saying that there are
7 odors in the area, not surprisingly, that are not
8 generated by the plant. And in our data we saw that
9 about 36 percent of the time.
10 So this next graphic gives you an idea of
11 when I say upwind, downwind, what am I talking
12 about. If you don't mind, I'm going to go ahead and
13 point to things again. So here's -- here's the
14 Heartland plant right here. This is a Google Earth
15 image. This image is dated September 9th, 2016, so
16 it's a fairly recent image. You can see the
17 standard locations.
18 In this illustration the wind is blowing
19 from the east. So the wind is coming from the east.
20 If you were standing with your back facing the east,
21 you would feel the wind on your back. This red
22 line, this imaginary red line provides a reference
23 point for what is upwind and downwind.
24 How did I determine what the line is? If
25 you look at what the potential -- if this is the
Page 115
1 One conclusion is the plant's not a
2 significant source of strong odors outside the plant
3 boundary. What do I mean by that? When I look at
4 the nasal ranger readings, and I categorize them by
5 the dilution threshold, in roughly about 90 percent
6 of the times that we're measuring downwind odors at
7 the plant, there either is no odor or they're very
8 slight odors. So, you know, I don't want to get
9 into specific numbers, but the point is that for a
10 significant period of the time the plant odors are
11 either nonexistent or are light. Okay.
12 Okay. I mentioned this. There are odors,
13 sometimes strong in the area, that are not
14 attributable to the plant. I am not suggesting that
15 there should -- that there are sources of odor in
16 the area that are subject to the regulation. As we
17 know the Regulation 2 does -- is -- exempts certain
18 agricultural sources. So I'm just suggesting there
19 are other strong sources in the area. And, again,
zo we've quantified those. We have nasal ranger
21 readings that show that.
22 So the point here is that we're trying to
23 develop an odor picture, if you will, of the area.
24 And the nasal ranger allows us to quantify that.
25 And that's really what I'm -- what I'm trying to
Page 114
1 plant with all of the potential sources, this line
2 is upwind of all the sources.
3 On this side of the line we're downwind of
4 all the sources. So upwind, downwind is very just
5 simply what is the orientation of the wind relative
6 to facility sources.
7 One thing I'd point out is that what if
8 there's no wind, how do we categorize that? On a
9 conservative basis we categorize it no wind
10 condition, that is no perceptible wind, this being a
11 downwind measurement. So that's -- when I say
12 conservative, what I mean is let's say a more
13 stringent or more rigorous application of downwind.
14 So the concept behind that is that in a no wind
is condition, odors that are generated could travel
16 uniformly. It's not exactly true, but that's kind
17 of the concept.
18 So I just want to present some
19 conclusions. And I'm happy to -- if I -- if I don't
20 substantiate a conclusion adequately for you,
21 please, you know, let me know.
22 The first -- okay. This is an incorrect
23 version. I apologize. We have another version
24 loaded up. We're going to see Point 2 first and
25 then we're going to go back to Point 1.
Page 116
1 give you here in these words.
2 We -- we -- okay. I mentioned earlier we
3 did plume chasing. And so the statement that odors
4 associated with the facility dissipate with distance
5 is based on those -- on that plume chasing.
6 Where -- in the instances where we detected a plume
7 of odor and we followed it, typically within a mile
8 or two that odor that may be attributable to the
9 plant basically falls back into the background of --
10 of the area. That is, you can't really distinguish
11 it from the background of the area. So, again,
12 odors tend to, not surprisingly, dissipate from the
13 facility. Per the previous point -- or per the
14 first point, the majority of the time they're not
15 strong odors and they do tend to dissipate.
16 And the other conclusion we draw from our
17 data is that the odors -- the plant is not a
18 consistent source of odors in the area. So how do
19 we know that? One of the measurements that we would
20 do during an odor observation in addition to doing
21 the nasal ranger reading was to make a determination
22 of how persistent was the odor at the time that we
23 were there. And we put a -- put a scale on that.
24 And so typically we found it wasn't -- it was not
25 unusual for an odor to come and go. Sometimes you
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1 would step out to do the monitoring. And by the
2 time we had the nasal ranger in position, ready to
3 go, the odor was gone. And other times you detect
4 no odor, you say, okay, no odor, and an odor
5 appears, and then we would do a measurement. So the
6 plant is not a constant source. Again, I'm basing
7 this on the numbers.
8 And I believe that's all I was going to
9 talk about today. So open for questions, if there
10 are any.
11 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Mr. Conway.
12 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: So this is a new --
13 I'm learning in terms of this. I've had
14 conversations with Phil Brewer, our -- in our past
15 hearing trying to understand with noise there's a
16 specific number that associates with decibels, and
17 so you can identify the point source of that noise.
18 Help me -- help educate me in terms of how
19 you're able to delineate out sources of odors --
20 because you state in here there are odors, sometimes
21 strong, in the area not attributable to the plant.
22 Help me understand how you're able through your
23 science or study to delineate that out. And if
24 those odors aren't directly related to the plant,
25 can you identify some of the point sources of that?
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1 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Yeah. The piece was
2 how do you delineate the odor? Is there a specific
3 odor type that's associated with directly the plant
4 that you can identify? And so when you're -- you're
5 going out there and doing these samples, for
6 example, are there specific odor types to -- like
7 you said, dairies, feedlots, other point sources?
8 MR. IWASZEK: Odors are pretty complicated
9 and there's a lot of complexity. I'm going to turn
10 to my colleague here, Shari. Are you going to able
11 to talk a little bit about this?
12 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: If you're going to
13 deal with this later --
14 MR. IWASZEK: Let's allow the next
15 presenter to. But I don't want --
16 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: It could be answered
17 by others.
18 MR. IWASZEK: The point is it's pretty
19 complicated. But over time -- and this is also why
20 it's important to have multiple observers and to
21 check against each other. At various times two of
22 us would go out and we'd do the run together and
23 kind of check each other --
24 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Okay.
25 MR. IWASZEK: -- based on numerics, and,
Page 118
1 MR. IWASZEK: I won't name names, but I
2 will say, for example, the dairy source has a
3 characteristic odor.
4 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: That's fine.
5 MR. IWASZEK: I think when I was here in
6 September somebody mentioned that there are ag
7 smells, so those exist out there.
8 But let me go back to your -- answer your
9 question. So one of the simplest ways to make a
10 determination that an odor is not coming from the
11 plant is if you're in an upwind condition from the
12 plant. So if the wind is blowing -- if you're
13 upwind of the plant and you're at a measurement
14 point, it logically doesn't follow that that could
15 be the plant. Could be if the wind had been blowing
16 in another direction. That's possible. It's always
17 possible. But after a certain amount of time, it
18 becomes pretty consistent that, you know, upwind
19 measurements from the plant are most likely not the
20 plant.
21 Further, you might detect an odor upwind
22 that's characteristic of, let's say, a feedlot or a
23 dairy. So that -- does that answer the question or
24 did I miss a piece of it? I think there was another
25 piece. Go ahead.
Page 120
1 What do you smell? What are you smelling? You
2 could say it smells like.
3 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Okay.
4 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Actually, I'll wait.
5 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Any other --
6 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I have a
7 question.
8 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Go ahead.
9 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So basically by
10 your words, though, you could determine that there
11 are some odors that were existent that aren't
12 associated with the facility.
13 MR. IWASZEK: Based on wind conditions
14 and -- yeah.
15 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So it was just
16 based on wind conditions?
17 MR. IWASZEK: Well, wind conditions -- I
18 mean, if you're standing -- for example, if you're
19 upwind of the plant at -- if I may, this standard --
20 this standard location here, this is the
21 intersection of County 42 and 47. There's an
22 agricultural operation there. If you're standing at
23 that location, and you're upwind of the plant, and
24 you smell manure and perhaps silage, it's probably
25 not the plant.
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1 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And could you
2 describe the odors that you were measuring?
3 MR. IWASZEK: I think I -- I think I
4 mentioned those the last time. We -- there are --
5 you can -- you can smell kind of a manure -like
6 smell, but it wasn't quite -- I'm going to go out on
7 a limb here. I'm sure I'm going to read about this
8 someplace. But there's that -- it's kind of a sweet
9 manure smell versus a more sour manure smell. There
10 you go. Always get laughing. But, you know, you
11 make those distinctions.
12 But really it is a perception kind of a
13 thing. And you do start to get accustomed, if you
14 will, or get familiarized -- is a better word --
15 with the kind of odors and aromas in the area. So
16 I'm not sure I'm answering your question.
17 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I'm good for
18 right now.
19 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Any other questions?
20 Okay. Thank you.
21 MR. IWASZEK: All right.
22 MR. THOMAS: Okay. So George just
23 discussed the odor measurements that were taken,
24 that kind of stuff. Now I'd like to introduce you
25 to Dr. Shari Libicki who is going to discuss the
Page 123
1 in chemical engineering from Stanford University. I
2 also teach there. I've been doing air quality work
3 for about 25 plus years. And a lot of that work has
4 been odor work as well.
5 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay.
6 DR. LIBICKI: So what this is all about is
7 the evaluation and characterization of odor
8 complaints. Because we've talked about numbers of
9 odor complaints, so I think it's important to talk
10 about what an odor complaint really is. It's a
11 single complaint reported by the County. And it's
12 important to note that there's somewhat uneven
13 reporting by the County. In other words, there
14 are some times when the County would take several
15 complaints into one complaint report. There
16 are other times when people would report several
17 times -- oh, sorry. Thanks. There we go. There
18 are other times where people would take several
19 complaints and ask the County to log them
20 separately. So the numbers are actually a little
21 bit variable in terms of how they log them.
22 So there was one instance where the
23 recording said, Please log four yes -- four
24 complaints from last evening, 5:15, 5:30, 6:45 and
25 8:15. And those were logged as four separate
Page 122
1 odors and how they relate to complaints.
2 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Good afternoon.
3 DR. LIBICKI: Good afternoon.
4 Commissioner, Chair Freeman, thanks for your time
s today. My voice was actually just fine before, so I
6 have to apologize for this.
7 I'm here to discuss the odor complaint
8 analysis. And that actually addresses some of the
9 questions that you were asking previously.
10 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Go ahead and put your
11 name and address in.
12 DR. LIBICKI: Okay. I didn't want to take
13 the time doing this.
14 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: I just mean for the
15 record. You can sign that whenever you get a
16 chance.
17 DR. LIBICKI: Got it. Okay. So my name
18 is Shari Libicki. Would you like me to read my
19 address into the record as well?
20 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Please.
21 DR. LIBICKI: I'm at 201 California
22 Street, No. 1200, in San Francisco, California.
23 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
24 DR. LIBICKI: I am with Ramboll Environ.
25 This is a little bit of bio of me. I have a Ph.D.
Page 124
1 complaints.
2 In addition, there's other times when the
3 County received a call with a number of complaints
4 on various days at one time. And those were also
s logged separately as well.
6 What I want to talk about today is that
7 some complaints are not consistent with wind
8 direction, and many complaints are not consistent
9 with the odor monitoring data.
10 But first I want to talk about the
11 distribution of complaints among the top
12 complainants. And here we see the 12 top
13 complainants, which account for about 80 percent of
14 the total complaints. And sometimes a complainant
15 would record more than one complaint in a day. And
16 so it's just important to understand how those
17 numbers look.
18 In the instance of Complainant No. 1,
19 about 25 percent of the complaints reported were
20 duplicates. They were, in other words, complaints
21 that were occurring more than once in a day. And as
22 you can see from the -- the data that I read before,
23 sometimes it's -- frequently it's within 15 minutes
24 of one another. You can see this varied by
25 complainant in terms of ratio as well.
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1 I want to talk a little bit about
2 consistency with wind direction. As Mr. Iwaszek
3 said, if a complaint is upwind, then it can't really
4 be associated with the facility itself. And there's
s a couple of things you have to do in order to make
6 sure that you're really doing this carefully. If
7 the wind speed is very slow, there's really no such
8 things as upwind or downwind. So if the wind speed
9 was slow, we considered any direction to be
10 downwind.
11 In addition, we looked back two hours from
12 the timing of the complaint just to make sure that
13 if the complaint timing was a little bit off that we
14 picked up the correct wind direction. And what we
15 found was that -- oh, and we also used a fairly wide
16 range of wind directions.
17 So if the wind was blowing in the due east
18 direction, we said that anybody who was downwind,
19 between northeast and north-northeast and southeast
20 and south-southeast would be considered to be
21 downwind. So in other words, we allowed some wiggle
22 for the wind in addition to going back for two
23 hours. And even with that very wide range of
24 acceptability, we found that 13 percent of the
25 complaints were not downwind of the facility.
Page 127
1 or 52 percent, were not consistent with the odor
2 monitoring.
3 And so let me give you an example of that.
4 This is an example of where the odor monitoring was
5 consistent with the wind dir -- I'm sorry, the odor
6 complaint was consistent with the wind direction but
7 not consistent with the monitoring. So the wind
8 shifted over this two-hour period, as I mentioned
9 before. We looked to a two-hour period before the
10 complaint. And anything in that range would have
11 been consistent with wind direction.
12 This was the area that the odor complaint
13 was received from. You can see it's on the edge,
14 but nonetheless within what we would consider to be
15 valid with wind direction. However, this was the
16 monitoring that had taken place. And the monitoring
17 there you can see is all zero or 1. That means
18 basically no odor or faint odor. And this was
19 actually upwind of the facility when it was taken.
20 So the wind was going in this direction when this
21 odor measurement, which was a 4, was taken. And so
22 that's an example of where the odor complaint is not
23 consistent with the odor monitoring.
24 And interestingly enough, the consistency
25 of odor complaint with monitoring varied with
Page 126
1 So let me give you an example of what that
2 looks like. This is a drawing of the Heartland
3 facility. This is the wind direction. And it was
4 actually fairly consistent with those two hours. So
5 that's the wind direction there. That's that wide
6 range that I talked about that we allowed a fairly
7 wide range for allowance for that wind direction.
8 So if the complaint was received from
9 anywhere in this area, it would be downwind of the
10 facility. If the complaint was actually received
11 from this area, clearly not consistent with wind
12 directions in the facility.
13 I want to talk a bit about consistency
14 with odor monitoring. This was an analysis to pair
15 what Mr. Iwaszek did with his odor monitoring with
16 the complaint data. And we found 48 instances where
17 the odor monitoring was done contemporaneously with
18 the complaint data. And so that really allowed us
19 to understand whether the odor monitoring data was
20 consistent with the complaint data.
21 And in order to do this analysis, we
22 looked at distance of the complaint, wind speed, and
23 wind direction, and we considered the timing of the
24 monitoring versus the timing of the complaint. And
25 of the 48 instances that we had in the record, 25,
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1 individual. So these are, again, the top 12
2 complainants. This number is the number of
3 complaints in total received by that complainant.
4 You see that goes down over time. This represents
5 the number of complaints that corresponded with odor
6 measurement for that complainant.
7 So I -- so you can see this first
8 complainant, there were eight instances out of the
9 95 complaints where it corresponded with an odor
10 measurement itself. Five of those were inconsistent
11 with the odor measurement, three were consistent
12 with the odor monitoring.
13 And you can see it varied by individual.
14 And -- and really once you get beyond these top
15 four, this starts to get lost in the statistics.
16 But you can see it's fairly consistent for C2, C3
17 and C4.
18 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Conway,
19 did you have a question?
20 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: I think she just
21 answered it.
22 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay.
23 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Thank you.
24 DR. LIBICKI: So, you know, why are odor
25 complains difficult to use --
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1 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Oh, I do.
2 DR. LIBICKI: Do you want me to go back?
3 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: No. So you had said
4 in 48 instances where odor monitor was -- correlated
5 the monitoring and the complaints.
6 DR. LIBICKI: In time.
7 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: What -- were you
8 able to delineate out what the source of the odor
9 was in terms of the data that was being collected in
10 terms of the -- in your review of the odor data?
11 DR. LIBICKI: You know, it's funny because
12 in that the one example I gave you, that -- that
13 actually seems to correlate with the -- with the
14 upwind value. But I'm not really sure that that's
15 the case because downwind we didn't see it. So I
16 think the answer is no, not really. In some
17 instances maybe we could, but it's hard to do.
18 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Okay. Thank you.
19 DR. LIBICKI: So, you know, why are odor
20 complaints difficult to use quantitatively? Well,
21 first, different people have different sensitivities
22 to odor. And I think we all recognize that.
23 Different odors are difficult to
24 distinguish. You asked about could you identify it
25 by the odor. And there are methodologies for doing
Page 131
1 are not actually indicative of odor generation
2 because there's multiple complaints in a single day
3 in this case from single individuals. Some
4 complaints are inconsistent with wind direction.
5 Many complaints are inconsistent with odor
6 monitoring. And then, importantly, there's
7 inconsistencies in varying levels of odors. They
8 can be mild versus very strong.
9 And I'm happy to answer any questions.
10 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Questions?
11 Commissioner Kirkmeyer.
12 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Sure. In your
13 experience, can you tell us how you would determine
14 between what's a nuisance and a 7:1 standard?
15 DR. LIBICKI: So I've done this kind of
16 odor work in lots and lots of different states. And
17 that standard is actually always a state
18 determination. So for example, a nuisance standard
19 in Texas is very consistent with a 7:1, whereas in
20 Indiana and Ohio the nuisance standards are a little
21 more diffuse. So it's really a state -by -state call.
22 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay. So what is
23 it, in your opinion?
24 DR. LIBICKI: In my opinion it's whatever
25 the State determines it is. A nuisance is, at the
Page 130
1 that. But the complaint data actually doesn't have
2 enough information to allow us to do that either.
3 And -- and this is -- this third point is
4 actually really important. After a significant and
5 upsetting odor event, you know, something that, for
6 example, may have happened in April with this
7 facility, people become sensitized to odors. They
8 become angry. They become aggravated. And even the
9 smallest odor or something that's not quite the same
10 is upsetting, and it's reported as an odor. And
11 sometimes you wind up reporting odors as a result of
12 what's called odor memory. And I've had that
13 experience myself as well.
14 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. We don't need
15 that.
16 DR. LIBICKI: And odor monitoring, like
17 the nasal ranger, provides quantitative information.
18 And we were able to use that with the wind speed,
19 wind direction, odor dilution to really be able to
20 gauge the odors here. And, you know, consistent
21 odor monitoring -- and I think it's very
22 important -- can assist in odor identification and
23 mitigation.
24 So can odor complaints be used for an
25 accurate analysis? Unfortunately, odor complaints
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1 end of the day, a legal call.
2 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So if it doesn't
3 reach the 7:1 standard, you don't believe that the
4 odor can be a nuisance?
5 DR. LIBICKI: So I don't believe that's
6 what I said. What I said it's a state -to -state
7 call.
8 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: No. I understand
9 that. But I'm asking what your opinion is since
10 you're presented here as an expert.
11 DR. LIBICKI: Right. I'm an expert in
12 analyzing these. I'm not an expert in state
13 regulations.
14 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay.
15 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Any other
16 further questions? Okay. Thank you.
17 DR. LIBICKI: Thank you.
18 MR. THOMAS: So we've addressed the odors.
19 We've also been discussing in the briefings LSA,
20 Liquid Soil Amendment, nutrient rich irrigation
21 water. Here to address that is Tom Haren with
22 AGPROfessionals.
23 MR. HAREN: Good afternoon, Commissioners.
24 Tom Haren, AGPROfessionals, 3050 - 67th Avenue,
25 Greeley, Colorado.
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1 And I do want to discuss and answer some
2 of your questions with regard to our Liquid Soil
3 Amendment. This is a very large project. And I
4 want to point out that there are not regulations you
5 will find in State statute or solid waste or Weld
6 County specific to anaerobic digestion.
7 When we started these projects, way back
8 to 2009 to 2010, we convened a series of meetings
9 with the developers the CDPHE solid waste, Weld
10 County staff, and there were some other ancillary
11 groups involved, the energy office and things of
12 that nature, to establish what a regulatory
13 framework for this would be. It didn't fit under
14 Reg 14 exactly, the compost regs, although there are
15 many similarities. It didn't fit into the waste --
16 the energy regs. There's waste energy regs. That
17 sounds logical, but that was for incineration, which
18 is not even comparable. And this isn't strictly
19 solid waste.
20 So what we worked on and worked out was
21 this was a hybridization of pieces and parts of
22 Reg 14 and Reg 18 from the waste energy and the
23 composting regulations. And the regulation would be
24 a hybrid that would be formalized in the EDOP.
25 Now, the feedstocks to this from our
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1 in -vessel composting under Reg 14.
2 And once we have finished compost criteria
3 by testing, we can have unrestricted distribution,
4 just like all Colorado commercial compost. And the
5 liquids from this digester are treated in the same
6 way.
7 Now, CDPHE gave us options for
8 transferring liquids as a product. So these chart
9 numbers might be small, but I'll paraphrase. This
10 is the anolytes in Table 1, primarily heavy melts.
11 But the most important ones are the biologicals,
12 fecal coliform and salmonella. That proves that
13 it's safe to be handled or meeting those
14 specifications it can be distributed as a product.
15 Now, what this product is like, it's very
16 similar in nature to our dairy and feedyard manure
17 wastewater that we're all familiar with that's
18 commonly land applied. The difference on this is
19 our LSA -- this is screened to meet efficacy
20 requirements of the soil amendment. It's screened
21 to meet the compost safety requirements of both CDA
22 and CDPHE. And unlike our dairy wastewater, this
23 product is raised to temperatures during digestion
24 to destroy those pathogens.
25 So this is the timeline. Lot of dates and
Page 134
1 original premise and today is primarily manures from
2 local dairies, ag waste, preapproved food waste,
3 substances that you would see and are in existing
4 Weld County Class 1 composting facilities, and that
5 the byproducts of this, the solids and liquids, are
6 beneficial. The products of this would be a
7 finished compost or finished product just like in
8 the composting regulations.
9 Once you meet the requirements stipulated
10 in the regulations, it can be freely marketed and
11 distributed as a product. So this is what it says
12 in Reg 14. I won't quote. You can read it. But
13 basically if we meet the specifications in Table 1
14 of Regulation 14 for anolytes, heavy metals,
15 pathogens, things of that nature, it is considered
16 finished. It is no longer a solid waste. It's a
17 product. Once it is finished and proven safe and is
18 a product, it's acceptable for unrestricted use.
19 So while biogas is the primary component
20 of this project, the solids and liquids were
21 classified under compost through in -vessel
22 composting. There's many different kinds of
23 composting. Familiar with windrow composting,
24 static pile, aerated composting, anaerobic, and
25 in -vessel composting. And this fits with the
Page 136
1 discussions. But I'll, again, summarize that these
2 went back and forth between CDPHE and the County and
3 the department of agricultural about how to regulate
4 this product.
5 And after concurrence, primarily by CDPHE,
6 we followed the registration procedures with the
7 Colorado Department of Ag, and was issued a project
8 registration on June 6th, 2013, under a label as a
9 liquid soil amendment. At that time the CDA stated
10 the LSA could be distributed.
11 This is a copy of that registration.
12 Again, little hard to see in presentation format.
13 But what we're seeing is for agronomic
14 efficacy, this product is -- compared to
15 agricultural dairy waters and things that had more
16 common reference points, this is more stable, it's
17 more consistent, it has a lot of trace elements that
18 are very beneficial.
19 And we studied this intensely during this
20 2016 crop season. This material was transferred as
21 a product, third -party transfer of a finished
22 product on lots of crops, primarily corn, alfalfa,
23 and triticale, but we also worked with wheat and
24 oats. We've seen a great interest in the product.
25 And we met extensively with area growers before and
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1 when they were using the product about chemical
2 analysis, application scenarios, range, and
3 potential application rates.
4 We took soil samples, tissue samples
5 throughout 2016 to monitor quality characteristics
6 in the crop and monitor nutrient and salt levels in
7 the soil and to document the efficacy of the
8 product.
9 So I can answer questions.
10 I'd like to clear up the confusion both on
11 the soil -- Solid Soil Amendment and the Liquid Soil
12 Amendment. These are products. When we meet
13 Regulation 14, Table 1, these are no longer solid
14 waste, just like our other composting and Class 1
15 facilities that have been before you.
16 We meet those requirements of Reg 14,
17 Table 1. That's been successfully used on different
18 crops this growing season. It has dramatic
19 beneficial use in accordance with CDA approved label
20 and registration.
21 And some of the correspondence and things
22 going around confused some terms that get
23 intermingled. And one is beneficial use versus
24 beneficial use determination. One is generic, does
25 a product have a beneficial use, is it useful for
Page 139
1 is a guiding document, and I want to stress that.
2 We were submitting change orders and amendments to
3 the EDOP at one point on almost a weekly basis.
4 This project is very complex. We have not only
5 monitoring wells, we have double liners, leachate
6 collections, all kinds of safety fail -safes that
7 were designed into this.
8 And as a design -build project, we kept
9 submitting these changes and EDOP alterations with
10 the State, which were fine, and they would be
11 approved. But at one point the State said, Wait a
12 minute, stop sending all of these EDOP changes
13 because, number one, you're overwhelming us, and,
14 number two, all of the safety requirements -- the
15 important things, the liners, the monitoring, the
16 fail -safes, all of the QA/QC, the third -party
17 verification had been submitted.
18 But when we're submitting EDOP amendments
19 to say this valve that was over here is now going to
20 be over here, that's not going to be a weir box,
21 it's going to be a spillway, the lagoon was going to
22 be this wide, now it's going to be a little longer.
23 The State said, Okay. Just wait -- finish the
24 project. And they said, Wait until the DSSOP, the
25 solids area where we're receiving those from the
Page 138
1 some type of activity or service. And the other is
2 a beneficial use determination, which is a specific
3 determination usually or single site waste that are
4 being land applied that the State would determine
5 that it has a beneficial use determination or not.
6 And that's a specific designation.
7 We don't need a beneficial use designation
8 on this. It is a product. It meets the regulation,
9 Table 14 -- or Reg 14, Table 1. So I wanted to
10 clear -- clear that up.
11 Over a dozen growers have been utilizing
12 this for the 2016 crop season. And we're seeing a
13 strong emerging market for this organic natural
14 product. So couple of other things that came up, I
15 thought I would answer them in sequence because we
16 have a lot going on today.
17 Commissioner Cozad had some questions
18 about the stormwater drainage and lagoons. Like I
19 said, there is not a regulation for anaerobic
20 digesters. This is a hybrid. The project was a
21 design -build and the regulatory process was almost a
22 design -build as well. We were in very constant,
23 strict communication with many agencies as we
24 developed this.
25 The EDOP is the guiding document, but it
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1 digester, wait till that project is complete and
2 submit one final finished document.
3 So a lot of the questions have been in the
4 amendments and the documentation. They're in the
5 draft EDOP. They are by request of the agencies in
6 abeyance until we are totally complete with all the
7 modifications and changes.
8 So, Commissioner Cozad, to answer your
9 question, on the storm drainage, those have been
10 accounted for, those have been documented in the
11 as -built. They're in the amendments. They are
12 pending for the DSSOP, the pilot project, to be
13 complete, and all of this submitted in one final
14 document. So I hope that alleviates some of that
15 confusion.
16 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Cozad.
17 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Thank you, Mr. Chair.
18 I appreciate your answer to the questions,
19 Mr. Haren, but actually do have some additional
20 questions for you. You've stated that -- that these
21 changes because it's a design -build are happening
22 kind of out in the field as you're going along, and
23 that the State says go ahead and just submit
24 everything when you're all done. But what
25 conversations have you had with the County on all
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1 these design changes? Because my understanding --
2 and I know you've done projects in Weld County for a
3 long time -- is that that process actually goes
4 through the County as you're making those changes,
s because we have to determine from a land use
6 standpoint if those are substantial enough to make
7 you go back and do an amended USR or potentially
8 look at the CD as a part of that. So can you answer
9 that question, because to me the storm drainage is
10 really more of a County design and part of our
11 permit than it is the State's permit.
12 MR. HAREN: I can. And, you know, it's
13 ludicrous to think that we had such massive amounts,
14 and I mean massive amounts of documentation, for
15 three or four years and then it just quit. We have
16 worked in the County for over 20 years. And whether
17 it's water quality, air quality or solid waste,
18 correspondence and information going back and forth,
19 it's copied to your health department.
20 Now, am Ito say every single e-mail and
21 private correspondence and phone call, those all
22 weren't copied. But the large documents, the
23 changes -- we have a MyDoc site, basically a Dropbox
24 type of of site. These are AutoCAD files, very
25 large files. We upload and submit that. And all
Page 143
1 staff's a party to those, but the MLRB does their
2 job, gets those documents. When they're final or
3 about final it goes to the County. The County
4 either says I got comments or I don't. But
5 historically you've neither had the staff manpower,
6 the technical expertise to be doing -- like the
7 anaerobic digester. It's a party that you're copied
8 on, but historically the County has waited until to
9 the end. And that's how all of our other projects
10 have gone. And I understand how looking back after
11 the scrutiny of this project saying would have,
12 could have, should have. But that's historically
13 how things have gone here.
14 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Well, and I
15 understand that since, you know, we do have all
16 kinds of land use applications that do go through
17 our County process, and there are State agencies
18 that -- lots of different State agencies that review
19 and approve different parts and permits. But, you
20 know, there -- just seems to me there is some
21 miscommunication between the County and the
22 respondent on this case in particular. And you
23 mentioned the DSSOP. That's another example.
24 So really I think today was the first time
25 I had heard that that was a pilot program that was
Page 142
1 the parties involved, both the owners, the review
2 agencies, the health departments, they are party to
3 that site. And we can document and show who's been
4 in there, who opened and reviewed what. And we have
5 -- we have substantial amounts of records that
6 haven't been reviewed or even opened.
7 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Was one of those part
8 of the storm drainage design that was approved by
9 the County?
10 MR. HAREN: Well, there's more than that.
11 But I don't want to throw your staff under the bus
12 because here's why. This project is getting a lot
13 of scrutiny and looking back after the fact and
14 saying, well, we should have done this or we should
15 have done that. I've done several solid waste
16 facilities in Weld County, several Class 1
17 facilities. And the County's position historically
18 has been the leading State agency has the technical
19 expertise and does the reviews, the County's a
20 participant, gets copied. But typically the County
21 doesn't review those until they're final and the
22 State agency says, okay, we're done, it's final,
23 it's okay with us, how about you?
24 It happens the same way with the Mine Land
25 Reclamation Board, your gravel mining permit. Your
Page 144
1 put together for a one-year time frame. And prior
2 to that I don't think there's -- I didn't see
3 anything in the file that talked about that at all.
4 So to me some of those kinds of things
5 should be communicated back to the County because it
6 is a part of our -- our land use USR process, and I
7 think we should be aware of those things. And like
8 I said, today was the first time I had heard about
9 that.
10 But can you maybe address that, the pilot
11 program, too?
12 MR. HAREN: I can and we're not using the
13 term pilot program. DSSOP -- the receiving area for
14 the solids that come off of the digester are stored
15 on a compacted grated drained pad. Originally the
16 State had said, We want you to make a concrete and
17 impermeable pad. And we said, Wait a minute, this
18 is dried, finished product that we're stacking. And
19 they said, Okay, in lieu of a concrete impermeable
20 pad, you can stack it there, you can store it there.
21 We want you to monitor and do soil samples and check
22 that over the next year to see if there's any
23 problems with that. And that would -- if -- if that
24 data checks out, then we wouldn't have to do the
25 impermeable concrete pad. It's not really a pilot.
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1 COMMISSIONER COZAD: So the actual process
2 is not a pilot. It's the materials that you're
3 using on the pad and the monitoring that has to
4 happen for those certain type of materials.
5 MR. HAREN: It's the pad itself. Do we
6 need a concrete pad to store dried, finished
7 product? And they said, Well, that makes sense, but
8 let's do some testing for a year, do the soil
9 testing. Those results of that procedure for the
10 last year are due the first of next year, as is the
11 final all -encompassing EDOP, because the State said
12 wait until the DSSOP. You get that data. That's
13 the final QA/QC checkout that we have to do. You do
14 that data, wrap all of the -- I think we're up to
15 16 various amendments, wrap all of that into one
16 final document, and submit it to us. And the
17 date's, like, the first quarter of 2017.
18 As far as documents, this project has gone
19 on for a number of years. Three of the four key
20 people at the State Health Department that have been
21 immensely involved with this are retired. Some of
22 the staff at the County that was very involved with
23 this -- to Ben's defense, I don't think he was here
24 or involved in this project through the majority,
25 definitely not in the beginning. I think one of
Page 147
1 land application permit. But there is a finished
2 product.
3 Our other Class 1 compost facilities when
4 they have a finished compost and it's bulk sold or
5 even bag sold, and you go to Home Depot and buy your
6 bag of compost, those facilities, we do not have
7 land application permits to apply that material or
8 distribute that material.
9 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Was that a part of
10 your USR, that you were going to have that as a part
11 of this process and...
12 MR. HAREN: I don't recall that a Weld
13 County land application permit was specific in the
14 USR.
15 COMMISSIONER COZAD: So just to make sure
16 I'm understanding what you're saying, it is your
17 opinion that no other permits, including a Weld
18 County land application permit, is required?
19 MR. HAREN: Correct.
20 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Department of Ag
21 is -- you're done.
22 MR. HAREN: State health department, which
23 we continue to have to do analysis for consistency
24 and meeting the requirement of Table 1, that is an
25 ongoing requirement in the EDOP. And the Colorado
Page 146
1 your staff at the time was Heather Barbare. But
2 there has been turnover and changes both -- in my
3 organization as well. So, yes, there are some gaps.
4 But in general the body of work, all of the agencies
5 were informed and all the agencies were copied.
6 COMMISSIONER COZAD: And then just one
7 final question, if that's okay, Mr. Chair.
8 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes. Go ahead.
9 COMMISSIONER COZAD: On the land
10 application soil amendment process, you have the
11 registration from Department of Ag, correct?
12 MR. HAREN: Um -hum.
13 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Are there other
14 permits that are required for land application or is
15 that the only one?
16 MR. HAREN: Well, Commissioner Kirkmeyer
17 brought up do we have a Weld County land application
18 permit. And we don't need one. We don't need a
19 land application permit to apply manure. We don't
20 need a land application permit for fertilizer or
21 pesticides and herbicides. They're products. We're
22 dealing with wastes, like whey product from Meadow
23 Gold or paunch from JBS, which is typically -- or
24 historically been handled with some disposal -type
25 method for land application. You need a Weld County
Page 148
1 Department of Agriculture registration.
2 COMMISSIONER COZAD: And it has to do with
3 being a finished product?
4 MR. HAREN: Correct.
5 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay. I don't have
6 anything else right now.
7 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
8 Commissioner Kirkmeyer.
9 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Just to follow up
10 on that, so your opinion, again, that it's a product
11 and -- it's essentially like liquid fertilizer is
12 what you're saying basically?
13 MR. HAREN: Actually it is tested and
14 registered as a Liquid Soil Amendment, yeah.
15 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay. And I am
16 assuming that Heartland is getting paid to apply it
17 to the farmer's land or not? Did you just say it's
18 a third -party transaction?
19 MR. HAREN: No. We have not been selling
20 or getting paid to apply this. We are in the -- the
21 product development stage of the market. We are
22 doing field testing. We're following -- we're --
23 we're doing and following all the soil sampling,
24 tissue sampling, things of that nature.
25 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: But Heartland
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isn't applying it to their own properties, they're
applying it to area farmers' properties with large
acreage, correct?
MR. HAREN: Area farmers are applying it,
yes.
COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay. That's
great.
I do have just one other quick question.
So Heartland Renewable Energy, LLC, you were a
consultant for them?
MR. HAREN: Correct.
COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And now you're a
consultant for Heartland Biogas, LLC?
MR. HAREN: Correct.
COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And you had two
different contracts with each one?
MR. HAREN: Yes.
COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Great. Thank
you.
CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Any further questions?
Okay. Thanks, Tom.
MR. THOMAS: I know this has been a long
presentation. We're obviously talking about a lot
of information here as we heard at the very
beginning of the hearing. So I was going to say,
Page 151
1 under certain circumstances that may be the case.
2 Mr. Garcia talked about that case a
3 little. It really is important to note that the
4 Court did not squarely address that issue and did
5 not address what does the statute really mean when
6 you have a situation such as this where a CD is
7 issued to an owner, the facility itself is
8 transferred, and what is the process that followed.
9 Now, neither the statute, the court case,
10 the regulations, any of the guidance documents from
11 the State of Colorado provide that if you do need to
12 transfer the CD through some process, what that
13 process ought to be. I think there's been a lot of
14 assumptions about what that process ought to be,
15 that it's somehow a new full-blown hearing on the CD
16 that you start anew.
17 Well, that's just not reflected in any of
18 the legal documents that apply to this case and, in
19 fact, is not really what Mr. Kreutzer said.
20 If you look at Mr. Kreutzer's letter, what
21 he indicates is a very limited process would need to
22 be followed to discuss the new owner and to see if
23 that new owner was a proper owner of the facility
24 insofar as it had the ability to run that facility
25 consistent with the solid waste regulations.
Page 150
1 there's only two more presenters, right, and they're
2 both relatively brief.
3 In the very beginning of the hearing we
4 heard about a conversation about the CD. And in
5 order to really clarify our position, I would ask
6 Garry Kaufman to the podium to present.
7 MR. KAUFMAN: Thank you. Garry Kaufman
8 from Holland & Hart on behalf of Heartland Biogas.
9 Really, I wanted to clear up some of the -- what I
10 think are misconceptions about the requirements
11 surrounding the CD because I think there was a lot
12 of discussion this morning that frankly wasn't
13 exactly on point.
14 First of all, I think it's important that
15 all of you understand that there's no specific
16 provision in the Colorado solid waste statute that
17 says that a new owner has to get a new CD from the
18 County or from the State. It's simply not addressed
19 in the statute.
20 The issue has come up based on a letter
21 from Mr. Kreutzer from the Attorney General's
22 Office, which took some language from a 1982
23 Colorado court opinion that, frankly, was somewhat
24 loose language, that didn't really address the
25 issues presented in that case, but suggested that
Page 152
1 Now, you know, his rationale for his
2 opinion -- and, again, it's just his opinion. I
3 think there was some discussion this morning that
4 the State has decided that the facility does not
5 have a valid CD.
6 Well, that's not the case. There's never
7 been an adjudication on this. This is the first
8 chance that Heartland has had to discuss this issue
9 and offer its opinion. There hasn't been a trier of
10 fact who has considered both the facts and the law
11 and made a determination, but rather Mr. Kreutzer,
12 who I know and respect, has offered his opinion
13 based on some language from a case that that's what
14 he thinks the County ought to follow.
15 But the rationale for his opinion is that
16 the County needs to and ought to have an opportunity
17 to consider Heartland Biogas as the owner of the
18 facility, and make that assessment as to whether
19 Heartland Biogas is, in fact, a proper owner of this
20 kind of facility.
21 Now, we detail this a lot more in our
22 written submittal to you. And there's actually a
23 lot of information in that submittal, which I know
24 you just got today. You haven't had a chance to
25 consider all of that. We would ask that you
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1 consider all of that because we've gone into some
2 detail not only on the CD issue, but on all the
3 issues that we've discussed today.
4 But if you look at the materials in our
5 written submittal, you'll see that the County has,
6 in fact, had ample opportunity to consider whether
7 Heartland Biogas is an appropriate owner of this
8 facility and can run this facility consistent with
9 the solid waste regulations.
10 There's been a whole slew of actions by
the County as part of the planning process that has
12 specifically acknowledged that Heartland Biogas is
13 the owner, has specifically looked at the financial
14 guarantees, and approved the financial guarantees
15 from Heartland Biogas as the owner, and allowed
16 Heartland Biogas to go forward in reliance on all of
17 these approvals in the planning process to spend
18 approximately $115 million.
19 Now, under these circumstances, it's our
20 position that you can't say that there was never an
21 opportunity for the -- for the County to assess
22 whether Heartland Biogas truly is an appropriate
23 owner and should have the ability to run this
24 facility because, frankly, that's not what's
25 happened. And the County and the State and the
11
Page 155
1 about its ownership of the facility. It
2 submitted -- as soon as the transfer of ownership of
3 the facility occurred, it submitted a specific
4 change request to the State indicating that it was
5 the owner of the facility. The State specifically
6 approved that. Never said one word about needing to
7 go back to the County and get a CD.
8 Heartland Biogas specifically informed the
9 County -- and all this stuff's in our written
10 submittals. There's documents on all of this.
11 -- specifically informed the County that it was the
12 owner of the facility for the purposes of the CD.
13 The County never raised any concerns about it as an
14 owner or that it was not an appropriate owner of the
15 facility.
16 Under these circumstances it ought to be
17 considered that the County has given its de facto
18 approval to Heartland Biogas as the de -- as the
19 owner of the facility for the purposes of the CD.
20 Now, I think there's another question
21 that -- that I think there's a misunderstanding.
22 You know, certainly our position, and I think it's
23 well supported by both the facts and the law, is
24 that there is a valid CD in place for Heartland
25 Biogas, the current owner of the facility.
Page 154
1 company all along the process have understood who
2 the owner was, what they're going to do, and what
3 their capabilities are.
4 Now, I think it's important to note that
5 the CD issue even before Heartland Biogas took over
6 was never done as any sort of separate proceeding.
7 There was never a CD proceeding that the County
8 engaged in to issue a document called a CD. In
9 fact, there is no document that is a CD. It was
10 always done as part of the land use process, first
11 as part of the Use by Special Review, second by the
12 amendment to the Use of Special Review, and then, we
13 submit, as part of the subsequent planning efforts
14 of the County in issuing the plat, in accepting the
15 guarantees, and in moving forward with the building
16 permits and all the myriad of planning documents
17 that you guys deal with on a day-to-day basis.
18 Now, this isn't a case -- when somebody
19 says Heartland Biogas never got a CD, it sounds
20 really bad. It sounds like this company came in,
21 they built a whole solid waste facility, never told
22 anybody about it, and then said, aha, here we are,
23 now you guys have to accept it.
24 Well, that's not what happened here. The
25 company was always aboveboard from the very start
Page 156
1 But what if there was a determination
2 that, no, under the circumstances, somehow that
3 transfer of ownership wasn't properly undertaken. I
4 think there was some discussion this morning that,
5 well, if that wasn't happened, then the facility can
6 no longer operate.
7 Well, that's just simply not the case. I
8 mean, this is one of the -- this is one of the
9 requirements that are applicable to this facility,
10 just like the myriad of other requirements, just
11 like the requirements to obtain air permits, like
12 the requirements to obtain water permits, like the
13 requirements to follow certain of the requirements
14 under the Weld County Code. If there's a deviation
15 from that, that doesn't mean the facility has to
16 stop operating. It means that it comes before the
17 Board. Oftentimes it means that it's just going to
18 be done on an administrative level.
19 But in some cases it may come before the
20 Board, and the Board has to decide what is the
21 appropriate remedy. And it's not the case that if
22 there is a deviation, then automatically that
23 justifies revoking or suspending the permit.
24 There's provisions in your own code that discuss the
25 factors that ought to be considered. Again, this is
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1 discussed at some length in our brief. And those
2 things need to be followed. And you need to
3 consider all these factors.
4 And these are real world factors. I mean,
5 this isn't some legal technicality, you forgot to
6 check a form, therefore you've got to lose your
7 $115 million facility. I mean, these are things you
8 look at. What are the good faith efforts of the
9 company? What's the financial impact? What's the
10 nature of the violation? What's the -- the history
11 of the violation here? I mean, these are all
12 important things to consider when you're going to
13 decide such a drastic remedy as shutting down a
14 facility and putting a bunch people out of work.
15 So in this case, we have a clear pattern
16 of what occurred. From the start, Heartland Biogas
17 informed both the State and the County that they
18 were the owners. This was accepted for a period of
19 three years. Now, three years after the fact the
20 State has come in and said, you know, we've changed
21 our opinion a little. We think that maybe under the
22 circumstances really there wasn't an effective
23 transfer.
24 But look closely at that David Kreutzer
25 letter. It doesn't say this facility needs to stop
Page 159
1 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes. Go ahead.
2 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: When did
3 Heartland Biogas apply for the CD?
4 MR. KAUFMAN: We submitted a letter on
5 approximately December 7th, maybe.
6 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: You submitted a
7 letter. Is that an actual application?
8 MR. KAUFMAN: Well, we did have
9 discussions with the County and with the State as to
10 what is an application for a CD. And all of this is
11 very interesting to me because I didn't know before.
12 One, I didn't know there wasn't any provisions that
13 said how do you deal with this thing that happens
14 commonly. Two, there's no application for a
15 transfer of ownership CD.
16 So they said just indicate that you want a
17 transfer of ownership, provide the financial
18 guarantees, which we did, and that's all you need to
19 do.
20 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So all that was
21 submitted on 12-7-16?
22 MR. KAUFMAN: I believe that that was the
23 date. And I don't have the letter right in front
24 me. It was on or about that date.
25 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So if you believe
Page 158
1 operating. Far from it. What Mr. Kreutzer says is
2 this is a technical violation. It's something that
3 needs to be handled in the due course, not something
4 that needs to be done immediately. But the facility
5 ought to come in, submit an application to the
6 County. The County can engage in the process that
7 Mr. Kreutzer thinks is appropriate, and then we can
8 move on. And that's what we've done.
9 Now, we do believe that under the
10 circumstances it's almost inconceivable to me to say
11 that the County has never really considered this
12 issue because we've had so many of these activities
13 over the last three years. And in each and every
14 one there's never been a concern raised about this
15 company as appropriate owner.
16 But if that's the direction that the Board
17 would like to go, then let's have the process.
18 Let's discuss this. Let's go, let's correct this
19 technical violation, and let's move on to things
20 that really matter.
21 And so with that, I'm happy to take any
22 questions.
23 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Questions?
24 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I have some
25 questions.
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Page 160
that we had a --
MR. BARKER: It's the 9th.
COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I'm sorry. What?
MR. BARKER: 9th.
COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: December 9th. So
if Heartland Biogas believed they had, in fact, a de
facto approval, why did you submit the letter?
MR. KAUFMAN: Well, because you asked us
9 to.
10 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Only because we
11 asked for it? Is that what you said?
12 MR. KAUFMAN: We want to be responsive.
13 You know, this is a technical issue here. It's in
14 my mind a complete legal technicality. It's not
15 something that was not done aboveboard with
16 everybody's awareness and full consent. But if you
17 want to go through the process, then we're happy to
18 go through the process.
19 It was similar to -- there was discussions
20 today about the APEN. I think it's pretty clear
21 that the APEN for the DPS, in my mind, is not
22 something that's required. In fact, that's what the
23 State said, it's not something required. But it
24 doesn't hurt to submit something. You get the
25 paperwork on. If that makes somebody feel better,
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1 then we're certainly willing to do that. If we want
2 to go -- if the County wants to go through the
3 process, we can do that. We do think that you can't
4 come back after the fact, more than three years
5 later, and say, You -- sure, we've given you all
6 these approvals, we've allowed you to spend
7 $115 million to build this facility, now we're going
8 to yank that out from under your feet because
9 somebody back in 2013 didn't think, hey, maybe
10 there's this case from 25 years ago that might have
11 somehow suggested that there was a different process
12 that ought to be followed.
13 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I want to be sure
14 I have it correct, so -- what you said. You said
15 that -- in fact, that there is a de facto approval
16 by the County of Heartland Biogas, LLC's,
17 Certificate of Designation. That it's only a
18 technical violation is what you believe what the
19 State was saying, but it's a technical violation.
20 You submitted a letter on 12 -- on December 9th of
21 2016 essentially applying for -- talking about the
22 transfer of ownership of a Certificate of
23 Designation because you believe there is a legal
24 technicality. But that was it. And then did I get
25 this correct when you said that there's never been a
Page 163
1 They committed $3 million. I mean, I guess --
2 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: They're committed
3 to spending money. But it's your opinion that it's
4 resolved the odor issues and that they've committed
5 enough financial means to be able to operate the
6 facility in a manner that is consistent and
7 compliant with the USR and State statutes and State
8 regulations.
9 MR. KAUFMAN: Well --
10 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So, thanks.
11 That's all I had.
12 MR. KAUFMAN: I think that -- well,
13 I'll --
14 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Let me follow up
15 with that.
16 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Conway.
17 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Some of your
18 comments were predicated on your interaction and
19 your comments with the State of Colorado, correct --
20 MR. KAUFMAN: That's correct.
21 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: -- in terms of your
22 testimony here?
23 So it wasn't just your opinion, it was as
24 a result of communication with the State and the
25 County, correct?
Page 162
1 concern or question over how the operator operates?
2 Did you say that? I was trying to write down as you
3 were talking. Is that what you said?
4 MR. KAUFMAN: I think there's never been a
5 concern that this company has the financial
6 wherewithal to operate this type of facility.
7 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Even though --
8 the fact that we've been through a probable cause
9 and a couple show cause hearings where we're trying
10 to deal with odor?
11 MR. KAUFMAN: Well, and I think that --
12 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So that's your
13 opinion?
14 MR. KAUFMAN: Well, I think it's more than
15 my opinion. Mr. Kurzenhauser can discuss some of
16 the specifics. But the facility has committed over
17 $3 million to mitigate odors at the facility. I
18 think that that's certainly indicative of having the
19 financial wherewithal to address an issue, which
20 according to Mr. Iwaszek's testimony is something
21 that hasn't resulted in a violation for over eight
22 months.
23 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So, again, that's
24 your opinion. Thank you.
25 MR. KAUFMAN: I mean, that's the facts.
Page 164
1 MR. KAUFMAN: Certainly with the State.
2 And I've had a number of conversations with the
3 State about the odor issues.
4 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Okay. Thank you.
5 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Any other questions?
6 Okay. Thank you.
7 MR. KAUFMAN: Thank you.
8 MR. THOMAS: So this is the end of our
9 presentation. I appreciate your patience as we go
10 through this. This is an awful lot of stuff.
11 At this time I would like to introduce to
12 you Al Kurzenhauser, the vice president of Bioenergy
13 for EDF EN.
14 MR. KURZENHAUSER: Thank you. I'm Al
15 Kurzenhauser, vice president with EDF EN. And I'm
16 at 1000 Southwest Broadway in Portland, Oregon. I'm
17 also on the executive committee of EDF EN, which is
18 a several billion dollar company in North America,
19 specializing in various forms of renewable energy.
20 My background is I started as a plant
21 operator 30 some years ago. Don't want to date my
22 age exactly. But I've been on the operating side of
23 these projects for many, many years; bioenergy
24 projects, wind projects, solar projects, combustion
25 projects, gas turbine projects.
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1 So I really do understand the difficulties
2 of operating these projects as well as the rewards
3 and the successes of getting these complicated
4 machines to run right.
5 I'm also intimately familiar with the
6 difficulty of complying with environmental
7 regulations, oftentimes overlapping and conflicting
8 regulations. The regulatory environment, my
9 experience is -- my life experience is it still is
10 not completely and a hundred percently (sic) sorted
11 out. It's not like traffic violations. There are
12 overlaps. There's inconsistencies. And we're
13 seeing it here today.
14 So let me move on. Yeah. For the last
15 two hearings I've sat right here, so I've been
16 active in helping Jason all along. I'm sorry I
17 missed the July hearing. I wasn't available at that
18 time.
19 So what do we do at Heartland Biogas? We
20 convert organic waste. Let me stress that. We take
21 food waste, we take animal waste, we take manure,
22 natural stuff, and we convert it into natural gas
23 and compost and Liquid Soil Amendment. Everything
24 we do -- or everything that comes into our plant is
25 organic and everything that leaves is organic. I
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
1 them as I go through this presentation.
2 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Here's my
3 question. I'm sorry. Do we have a copy of this
4 presentation? I didn't see it in the file you
5 e -mailed to me.
6 MR. GATHMAN: It was e -mailed, like, this
7 morning.
8 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay.
MR. GATHMAN: It's the first. It's the
EDF.
COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Oh, the very
first one. Okay. Thank you.
MR. KURZENHAUSER: Since I've been
involved we've made some great progress, great
changes with the site, with the project. Jason has
done a remarkable job. The team -- some of the team
members are here -- have done a remarkable job
getting this project to run right, to run much
better. Really proud of them, really proud of
the results, and really sorry -- in my heart,
really sorry for the extra problems and extra
convenience -- extra inconveniences and extra
meetings we've had to have over this project. But
we're working to resolve it.
Page 166
1 want to stress that because there are no nasty
2 chemicals and there are -- this is not a processing
3 plant, like an oil processing plant or a chemical
4 processing plant.
5 Let's go to the next slide. Sorry. Which
6 one do I push, Jason?
7 MR. THOMAS: I'll do it.
8 MR. KURZENHAUSER: Okay. So in this -- in
9 this slide it shows some of the changes that have
10 taken place. I got involved in May.
11 Got to figure a way to kind of do this and
12 look at the Commissioners respectfully and look at
13 the presentation and try to do both. Sorry about
14 that.
15 COMMISSIONER MORENO: You're good.
16 MR. KURZENHAUSER: I got involved in
17 May 2016. Jason took over in May 2016. I started
18 making some changes. Recognized right away we had
19 some oversights and we were making some errors.
20 New contractor, new program management, new project
21 management. And we hired world class engineer
22 Black & Veatch to take over.
23 I am in charge of this facility, Justin
24 works for me, and the buck stops with me. If you
25 have any questions, I want you to feel free to ask
Page 168
1 Next slide, please.
2 Okay. A little bit about this facility.
3 It's $115 million facility. This is a serious
4 project, serious size, serious investment. We have
5 invested 4.2 million -- or will invest 4.2 million
6 for odor -related improvements to the facility. Let
7 me stress this.
8 I reject any argument people make that we
9 do -- are not committed to making this project
10 better. I reject that. And I reject any argument
11 that says or implies that we are in some way not
12 making payments or not paying fees that we're not
13 (sic) supposed to pay. We can afford it, and we are
14 doing the right thing to get this project to run
15 right. At 4.2 million we are committed to fix these
16 odor problems. We've already invested most of that.
17 Next.
18 We pay 310,000 a year to -- for property
19 tax, sales use, and other fees. And we have
20 39 full-time equivalents. Some of our guys are in
21 the back. They came in on their day off. Thank you
22 for coming in. Appreciate it.
23 And we -- we get our supplies from 42 Weld
24 County -based feedstock suppliers. That's important
25 because that stuff -- that garbage, that stuff would
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1 be going in the ground somewhere or it could be
2 going to landfills somewhere. We're taking real
3 products and we're reusing it -- real waste and
4 we're using it.
5 Next slide please.
6 All right. I don't like this slide but
7 I'll put it up here because I think it's important,
8 and it leads to the next slide. And this is really
9 kind of a visual view of how the process works.
10 And in comes dairy manure, in comes food
11 waste, in comes animals products, it gets processed
12 and out comes digestate, which is a compost, and out
13 comes Liquid Soil Amendment, which is the nutrient
14 water.
15 Let's go to the next slide, please.
16 All right. And this was an effort to show
17 visually where the steps in the process are at the
18 plant. Okay. You can see -- you can see the
19 compost piles. You can see the lagoons. You can
20 see the process plant. You can see the DPS facility
21 all underneath the bubbles. Okay.
22 Next slide.
23 Here's a slide of the material we take.
24 We take manure and we take unsold, expired food
25 waste, dog food waste, all kinds of other products
Page 171
1 up so the bacteria can work more aggressively, work
2 faster. Okay. But when you heat up things that
3 smell, they generate more odors. We reduced the
4 temperatures to reduce the amount of odors coming
5 out.
6 But we hired environmental engineering
7 firms in May. We installed our first odor control
8 misting system in June. We started our first of
9 nine public hearings -- meetings with the public
10 and -- in July. We limited gas production in
11 September for a show cause hearing at the time. We
12 changed our misting systems to improve them in
13 October. We've done biological treatment of our
14 lagoons to improve them.
15 COMMISSIONER MORENO: Can I stop you for a
16 second?
17 MR. KURZENHAUSER: Absolutely.
18 COMMISSIONER MORENO: As you're going
19 through this, you just said you're limiting gas
20 production to 60 percent. I thought you guys were
21 operating at 40 percent.
22 MR. KURZENHAUSER: Jason.
23 MR. THOMAS: We'll have to go back and
24 look at the show cause hearing from previous time.
25 But we limited the gas production to 60 percent,
Page 170
1 that are generated in this County and other counties
2 nearby as part of the agricultural industry. It is
3 amazing to me how much food waste is never -- never
4 makes it to the grocery stores or to the end users.
5 What happens to all that stuff? What happens to all
6 that spoiled fruit? What happens to all that
7 spoiled food products and egg products and so on and
8 so forth? It ends up here. It ends up getting
9 ground up, processed, and generated into gas
10 compost.
11 Okay. So what do we output? Nutrient
12 rich water, high quality compost, and renewable
13 natural gas. Pretty simple. Three things go out of
14 the plant, all products we get paid for -- or will
15 be paid for.
16 Okay. So where are we at in the process?
17 Put my glasses on. Excuse me. We started
18 operations December 2015 with our main digesters.
19 Our only odor violation was April while we were
20 still starting up. We lowered the substrate tank
21 temperature in May to help reduce the amount of
22 gassing that came out of the substrate tanks.
23 It's important to understand that this
24 process to digest the food, the material in the
25 digesters, is done by heating it up, by heating it
Page 172
1 total gas production, and then we limited the
2 materials that were coming in to that which we were
3 receiving at the time.
4 COMMISSIONER MORENO: Okay.
5 MR. KURZENHAUSER: So the Commission -- we
6 entered into a Consent Order with the State. I
7 think that's important. We were asked here to do
8 that. So normally these things take three, four,
9 five months to sort out and enter a Consent Order.
10 Consent Order is an agreement that says we will do
11 this and, you know, we have to do these things by
12 these dates. We did it very quickly. We did it
13 very fast. And we entered into it because you guys
14 asked us to do that. We have been responsive.
15 We installed more additional sponges and
16 carbon filters for our substrate and dosing tanks
17 which has worked wonders. We have a design system
18 we're waiting for. We found out we could install
19 something on a temporary basis. We installed it and
20 it works great.
21 I encourage you all to please come to the
22 site, determine for yourself if the site really
23 generates the odors being now claimed to be
24 continued to generate.
25 We completed the DPS Covered Building No.
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Page 175
1 1. We saw a picture of that from the planning
2 department. And we've extended the size of it by
3 twice. And we'll have a picture of that later. And
4 then we have an additional covered building going on
5 in place starting now that we just submitted the
6 building permits for.
7 In case the question gets asked why did it
8 take so long to submit the building permit? Because
9 we're putting a building on top of an existing
10 facility. It's complicated. There's utilities in
11 the ground, there's foundation in the ground,
12 electrical cabling in the ground. We had to design
13 the building around that so we didn't damage what
14 was already there. It's a complicated project, but
15 we just submitted the permit for that, building
16 permit. It's a covered building, too. It's a steel
17 building.
18 Next one.
19 So here's a temporary pollution control --
20 odor control system that's working. We've modified
21 the tanks and we've installed these additional
22 filters right now.
23 Next slide.
24 So we're going to flip back and forth
25 here. I'm going to walk over here for a second.
1 Next slide.
2 Okay. What have we spent? This is what
3 we've spent to date, 1.17 million. We've committed
4 another 3 million. May not have already spent this
5 yet, but we've written purchase orders to buy this
6 equipment which we'll be receiving. We're scheduled
7 to budget around 4.24 million.
8 And how many violations have we had since
9 April? Zero. Zero violations. We would not have
10 had zero violations had we not been very active and
11 aggressive at trying to fix this problem. Can't
12 stress that enough. We are trying our best to fix
13 this problem.
14 Next slide, please.
15 Okay. Additional proposals for 2017.
16 That's not enough. We have to do more. What more
17 can we do? We'll talk about this slide, next slide.
18 What more can we do? Site tours. Board of County
19 Commissioners, please come out to the site. Please
20 come. Door's open.
21 Establishment of a formal third -party
22 moderated advisory group. I've gotten feedback from
23 Jason and other people that the community hearings
24 we've been having have not been very effective
25 recently. We should stop them. I think what we
Page 174
1 That's old -- that's the old DPS building. Let's
2 flip forward one. Now you can see it's twice as
3 big. Okay. Flip back. And this is the parking lot
4 here. There's gravel and dirt. The area here is
5 not quite paved. No concrete up here. Go ahead.
6 Flip forward. It's all concrete in this area now to
7 cut down dust. All concrete and asphalt in these
8 areas to cut down road traffic. And we've done a
9 number of other things. These are our temporary
10 filters. We've done a lot to the project. We've
not been resting on our laurels or not not doing
12 anything. We've been very active.
13 Next slide.
14 Okay. So what do we have going forward?
15 We're not done yet. Helps if I look at my notes
16 once in a while. Hold on just a second. Okay.
17 As I said, we're not done yet. We've got
18 more to go. We've got a permanent dosing tank
19 system, odor control system put in place. That will
20 be in March 2017. We have a DPS building, that's a
21 solid covered building, we are installing over
22 existing equipment. That will be in place by
23 June 2017. And the air handling system for those
24 buildings will also be installed and operating by
25 2017.
11
Page 176
1 should do is get a third -party community advisory
2 group. Perhaps you guys can recommend -- the
3 Commissioners can recommend a company to moderate
4 for us, to mediate for us to help us work with the
5 community to resolve these problems. This plant
6 will never be odor free. No agricultural facility
7 will be odor free. We'll be in compliance with the
8 rules and we'll work to minimize all the sources of
9 odor, the best technology available. We will
10 continue to do that the best we can. That's our
11 commitment.
12 Engage U.S. and European bio groups.
13 There's a lot of people in the world that have
14 experience with this. Not at this level. This is a
15 very sophisticated plant. It's involving some new
16 technology -- some stretches in new technology.
17 That's what makes America great. We're always
18 trying something new. We're trying a few things new
19 here. Been a little bit problematic, but we're
20 working on fixing them. We've been working with
21 folks in Europe. We've already had some folks over
22 to share their expertise.
23 Next slide.
24 Okay. Last slide. I'm asking for this
25 hearing to be dismissed. We need to move on. We
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1 need to move and get our project running right.
2 We've been here three times. We take our odor
3 problem seriously. My people work there. I work
4 there. Jason works there. People you know work
5 there. They don't want to smell that. They don't
6 want to smell that either. We need to have a safe
7 work environment and a healthy work environment.
8 We're fixing it.
9 I suggest we report back in June on the
10 status of the plant. And that's consistent with the
11 compliance for Consent Order. We have an agreement
12 with the State that requires us to have a fair
13 amount of work done by the end of June. I suggest
14 that's a good time for us to come back. Either come
15 back after June when we submit the report to the
16 State or come back in June before we submit the
17 report to the State.
18 We've hired the best people to help us
19 with this project. We used AGPRO from day one with
20 this project to help develop the site, make sure we
21 got all our paperwork in place. If things were
22 missed, then who could have we used to have done it
23 better? Who in the County of Weld could we have
24 used instead of AGPRO? This is a rhetorical
25 question. I don't expect you to answer it. I'm
Page 179
1 valid. The preponderance of odor complaints tells
2 us we haven't yet solved the problem completely. We
3 need to continue to work on it. And we're not going
4 to stop working on it.
5 Okay. I think the last thing I want to
6 say is we've all become unfortunately more experts
7 in odors and regulatory details than we wanted to
8 be. And sometimes that's what happens with these
9 processes. We go down the rabbit trail and we find
10 out every time you peel the onion there's another
11 layer and there's another layer and there's another
12 layer.
13 We need to get on to the -- get back to I
14 think what's the high view, get back to overall view
15 here. We've only had one violation since April.
16 Every other complaint or -- every other discrepancy
17 that has been found by the regulatory agencies, by
18 the County agencies we fixed promptly or we enter in
19 dialogue to figure out exactly what it means. We've
20 been trying hard, and we will continue to try hard.
21 I ask for your consideration. I ask for
22 your consideration Commissioner Moreno, Commissioner
23 Kirkmeyer, Chairman Freeman, Commissioner Conway,
24 and Commissioner Cozad. We need to end this
25 process, we need to terminate the show cause
Page 178
1 sorry for that. But we have tried to use and we
2 have used what we thought were the best people.
3 We continue to invest. We continue to
4 minimize the odors. And our efforts are solving the
5 problem. And we're seeing that with the results
6 from Trinity. We've been fully transparent with the
7 regulators. We've shared documents with them.
8 We've compared documents to make sure we all have
9 the right set of data, the right set of files we're
10 working with. We've not been hesitant to show them
11 anything. They've had full access to our site,
12 whether announced or unannounced.
13 I'm proud of Jason and his team. I'm
14 proud of what they've done. They've done a lot of
15 great work and they've been trying to manage a
16 project that's got hundreds of regulatory
17 requirements. I'm sorry if we missed a sign that
18 was 8 foot by 4 foot that should have been 4 foot by
19 4 foot. And I'm sorry if our trash can didn't have
20 a lid on it. But those aren't the same thing as
21 saying we don't have a CD. They're not the same
22 category. We've already talked about the CD.
23 They're not in the same category.
24 We take our odor concerns seriously.
25 Every odor complaint I consider legitimate and
Page 180
1 hearing, and we need to move on with our business.
2 Bring us back. Have us come back. Have
3 us come back for another report. Have us come back
4 for another hearing or a probable cause if we cause
5 any violations in the future. That's my request.
6 Any questions?
7 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Mr. Conway.
8 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: So first and
9 foremost, I appreciate your presentation. I
10 appreciate your frankness in addressing what I know
11 has been a very difficult situation. I'm going to
12 be a little bit of a devil's advocate here.
13 MR. KURZENHAUSER: Yes, sir.
14 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: So in a little bit
15 we're going to hear from your neighbors. I refer to
16 them as your neighbors, and I'm sure you do, too.
17 MR. KURZENHAUSER: Yes, sir.
18 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: We're here because
19 the concerns that they had weren't getting
20 addressed. That's why we began the show cause
21 process and everything else. The question I have
22 is -- and I appreciate your -- your request to
23 dismiss the show cause hearing. But from a trust
24 but verify perspective, the folks that are here who
25 have been battling this now for almost a year,
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1 actually going back to November -- yeah, 13 months,
2 what assurance -- I mean, the only process we have
3 to keep your feet to the fire is the show cause
4 process through this process.
5 How -- how as a board -- I appreciate your
6 comments. I appreciate that you're here making a
7 commitment to us, and you have an agreement with the
8 Colorado Department of Health. But what -- give me
9 some assurance and the public, your neighbors, how
10 absent dismissing -- if we dismiss this case, what
11 assurances do they have -- and I realize you
12 outlined that very clearly, $4.2 million in
13 investment, all of the things that you're committing
14 to do. But how do we verify all that going forward
15 other than just simple trust? And I realize that's
16 what you're asking. Help me understand.
17 MR. KURZENHAUSER: Okay. First of all, I
18 want to thank the Board for putting the hammer to
19 us. It was your pressure that accelerated these
20 projects. Normally we have a purchasing process,
21 like every organization, just like you guys, just
22 like the Commission did here early at the very
23 beginning of the session where you reviewed the bids
24 and you figure out what's the best price, best
25 value, and you buy it. We have the same process.
Page 183
1 order to test this and to verify with the State that
2 what you're putting in place over the course of the
3 next six months works as was discussed at the last
4 probable cause hearing, or are you -- as you move
5 forward, are you going to do this in steps? Help me
6 understand that. Do you need to get to a hundred
7 percent of production in order to test this stuff to
8 make sure --
9 MR. KURZENHAUSER: We absolutely have to
10 get to a hundred percent of production not just to
11 test the equipment we're installing, to be in
12 compliance with our permit testing requirements,
13 which are due April -- March. March we have air
14 testing requirements that require us to be at
15 hundred percent.
16 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: So as you ratchet up
17 from 60 percent to a hundred percent, odors
18 increase, there potentially are more complaints and
19 concerns. If we've dismissed the show cause, how
20 are we going to deal with that?
21 MR. KURZENHAUSER: Okay. I want to
22 explain something that the larger sources of odors
23 have been what we call our dosing tanks. They are
24 just white spots in a storage pipe. It doesn't
25 really matter how much fluid we move through them,
Page 182
1 We have totally stopped that process or bypassed
2 that process so we can install this equipment as
3 fast as possible. So your pressure has worked for
4 us to move faster than we normally would have.
5 We're a company, too. We typically don't move
6 really fast. So first of all, to give credit where
7 credit's due, you have motivated us to move fast.
8 We are now committed with the State. We
9 have an agreement with the State called Compliance
10 of Consent. It says we must install this equipment
11 by these dates. And once that equipment's
12 installed, we have to test it afterwards with a very
13 specific set of standards that Phil Brewer is
14 familiar with as well as Garrison Kaufman who helped
15 negotiate that agreement. That is the hammer on us.
16 The State will be absolutely unforgiving
17 with us if we fail to meet those deadlines. That's
18 the hammer. And you can always open another
19 probable cause hearing.
20 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Can I follow up,
21 Mr. Chair?
22 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes.
23 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: So there was a lot
24 of discussion, and the Board held at the 60 percent
25 level. Do you need to go to a hundred percent in
Page 184
1 they generate the same amount of odor. We've solved
2 that problem by installing other filters. You can
3 go to the vent of those storage tanks, those dosing
4 being tanks at the site, which is not very far above
5 ground level, and you won't smell any odor coming
6 out of them. We can turn that dosing tank off and
7 you'll smell it immediately.
8 So two things. We've already got filters
9 installed, scrubbers installed that are working
10 perfectly fine.
11 And, two, the amount of volume going
12 through the tank doesn't change the amount of odors
13 generated by the tank, because the tank's just a
14 white spot. It's really the surface area at the top
15 of the tank, sort of like the surface area of a can.
16 You can move all the water underneath it, but the
17 surface doesn't change. So going to a hundred
18 percent won't change the amount of odors generated
19 by the plant from the dosing tank. It may change --
20 it -- it won't generate anything from the DPS system
21 because we're installing buildings over all that,
22 over the handling area for handling more food waste.
23 And we're also being careful not to take material on
24 the DPS system that is particularly odoriferous.
25 Now, the advantage now, it's wintertime, a
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1 lot of things aren't particularly odoriferous.
2 Everything is cold. Things aren't -- food isn't
3 rotting for five days in the hot sun as opposed
4 to -- or sitting in the back of a Safeway or in the
5 back of a grocery store.
6 So we're not going to generate any more
7 odors as we increase the capacity of the plant. And
8 if we did, our filter systems would catch them. And
9 they work.
10 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Thank you.
11 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Other questions? No.
12 Okay. Thank you.
13 MR. KURZENHAUSER: Thank you very much.
14 Appreciate your time.
15 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: So that concludes --
16 MR. THOMAS: Yes, sir. That does conclude
17 our presentation.
18 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Thank you.
19 Okay. So this is a public hearing. We will be
20 limited to three minutes.
21 The other part is, you know, it has been a
22 long day. We have a lot of this already in record
23 from previous show cause. So I would -- it would --
24 it would be really helpful if during the public
25 hearing if we hear new items or things that are
Page 187
1 for several months as well as a violation of the
2 State air quality standards. Both of these are
3 actually regulated by State statutes for solid waste
4 facilities under CRS 30-20, Part 1. And I'd
5 specifically like to read 30-20-112.
6 It says, The governing body having
7 jurisdiction after reasonable notice and public
8 hearing shall temporarily suspend or revoke a
9 Certificate of Designation that has been granted by
10 it for failure of a site and facility to comply with
11 all applicable laws, resolutions and ordinances, or
12 to comply with the provisions of Part 1 or any rule
13 or regulation adopted pursuant thereto.
14 So right there in State regulations the
15 only two options that you have, if they do want to
16 argue that they have a valid CD, is -- because of
17 the violations of Part 1 is a suspension or a
18 complete revocation of the CD. Based on the history
19 of this facility, I think that revocation is
20 appropriate. I've stated it before. I don't know
21 how much more evidence can be presented with
22 violations of State regulations, State statutes.
23 They were mentioning that LSA is a
24 product. The State in all the letters I've seen is
25 still regulating it as a waste. I think if they
Page 186
1 directly related to these compliance issues that are
2 being listed today in this particular show cause
3 hearing. So we could limit it to that, and we can
4 limit it to new information, because we do have all
5 of the other stuff already in our records. We have
6 everything that's been sent in. All of us have
7 that. We've all reviewed all that. So I'll just
8 kind of lead with that. If it could be new
9 information related to these things.
10 And with that, as you come up please state
11 your name and address for the record. I do know
12 that we already have the sign -in sheet, but to help
13 over here, if you could go ahead and re-sign the one
14 that's up there as you're done or when you finish
15 or -- don't slow us down by doing it, but go ahead
16 and do that.
17 So go ahead and please just state your
18 name and address for the record.
19 MR. WELCH: My name's James Welch. I live
20 at 18626 County Road 49 in LaSalle. I will try to
21 keep my comments brief here.
22 So I want to respond to a couple things
23 that were said earlier this morning. So earlier
24 this morning Mr. Garcia stated on record that they
25 didn't have proper registration for grease storage
Page 188
1 were trying to be a good neighbor they would have
2 stopped and tried to negotiate with the State rather
3 than just continue applying it, millions and
4 millions of gallons. So at this point I personally
5 think the only options is a revocation.
6 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay.
7 MR. WELCH: Thank you.
8 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
9 MS. MIRANDA ARENS: My name is Miranda
10 Arens. I live at 19575 County Road 45. And while
11 our government wades through the regulations and the
12 noncompliance issues, let me tell you the human
13 impact of this plant. I am a fifth generation Weld
14 County resident. I live within two miles of where
15 my family has called home since 1894, where they
16 have worked tirelessly to build their lives. And
17 now it's my generation's turn to carry this legacy
18 on.
19 Today we discuss a much bigger issue for
20 our future. I stand here fighting for my home, not
21 fighting for a business. And whom am I up against?
22 We are up against an international multibillion
23 dollar company that is EDF. And that, frankly,
24 feels like a very unfair fight.
25 The odor that has been negatively
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1 affecting our lives and has been the focus of so
2 many conversations has been a diversion from what
3 Heartland and Weld County have been ignoring and
4 granting too much leeway to.
5 The fight is no longer over a plant that
6 stinks. The fight for my home is against a company
7 that has been operating without proper licenses,
8 illegally dumping waste in a county and a state that
9 haven't acted quickly or effectively enough.
10 I want to be very clear. Heartland Biogas
11 is not our county's future. Your residents are. In
12 20 years Heartland Biogas will have likely expanded,
13 and at the rate they're going and the rate you are
14 allowing them to go they will continue to remain
15 noncompliant, rack up more violations and
16 complaints, and benefit from tax breaks granted by
17 our government. But it will make the local
18 residents' lives absolutely miserable.
19 And who knows what devastation Heartland
20 will cause to our local land, water and air. And so
21 in 20 years Heartland Biogas only benefits
22 Sacramento, California. But in 20 years Chris, who
23 will speak here in a bit, and I will have a couple
24 of kids who grow up in this community and attend
25 local schools, who will have to deal with Heartland
Page 191
1 regulations are unclear and often not applicable.
2 So revoke all their permits, even though I'm not
3 even sure what permits I'm referring to right now,
4 but I guess revoke them, close this plant, and
5 penalize at County and State levels. Thank you.
6 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
7 MS. RENA ARENS: Rena Arens, 21730 County
8 Road 44, LaSalle, Colorado. And I'm 2-1/2 miles
9 from the plant. Our family is a five -generation
10 Weld County pioneer family. Most of our family are
11 native Coloradoans. We would like to think we are
12 good stewards of the land and water, caring for the
13 same land for 120 years.
14 This week I have reflected on those
15 generations who came before us, pioneers who left a
16 tremendous legacy for us to protect and pass on to
17 the next generation. I ask myself how can our
18 family accept Heartland Biogas continuing to operate
19 by poisoning the air we breathe, showing total
20 disregard for our land and water by illegally
21 dumping their waste near live water sources, abuse
22 the quality of life for all our neighbors and slowly
23 destroy any joy they feel.
24 How can we as a family accept Heartland's
25 and EDF's literally thumbing their noses at the good
Page 190
1 Biogas on a daily basis. But we will plan to start
2 businesses in Weld County and continue my family's
3 farming legacy. We will help build a strong
4 community, be active members here. And someday we
5 will die in this community in a place we've called
6 home for so many years.
7 So please make your decision carefully
8 today because it's our future. Actions have proven
9 that this County is incapable of holding this plant
10 to proper regulations and ensuring its compliance.
11 Today you said our path, what you'll force us to
12 live with, how much longer Heartland Biogas will
13 trample on this county and its residents, and how
14 facilities like this will treat other communities.
15 Today I urge to you choose us, to support
16 and help this community thrive by defending quality
17 of lives for generations of loyal Weld County
18 residents over a corporation that is in it solely
19 for the revenue.
20 How convenient that they saw this
21 community as an accessible place for their dumping
22 ground. We have been easily duped and now we are
23 paying the price. It is your duty to fix this.
24 You don't know how to handle this plant,
25 as AGPRO delicately explained and pointed out. The
Page 192
1 people of Weld County and the State of Colorado that
2 we love so much by witnessing them continuing to
3 operate noncompliant of the rules and regulations
4 designed to protect us? And how we do we as a
5 family of generations of Weld County residents
6 accept our Commissioners who are entrusted with our
7 quality of life to allow this pattern of abuse in
8 our rules and regulations and the citizens of Weld
9 County to continue any longer.
10 The answer is we cannot. No one should be
11 asked to continue this abusive situation any longer
12 when in recorded comments our commissioners admit
13 they were duped, give personal reflection on the
14 odor issues and disgust with the noncompliancy when
15 they have undeniable proof laid before them with
16 over 600 odor complaints and evidence of multiple
17 noncompliance. No one should be asked to continue
18 when they were denied the right to a new CD hearing
19 when EDF bought Heartland and the plans were
20 drastically changed. No one should be asked to
21 continue when there is so much proof of the lack of
22 ability to operate responsibly in total disregard
23 for County and State regulations, our environment,
24 humanity and authority, except to give corporate lip
25 service and try this, try that, experimental
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solutions at the neighborhood, the Biogas industry,
the county, the state, and sadly, their employees.
Misrepresentation, mismanagement, ill-conceived
plans and designs, noncompliant.
I ask you, the Commissioners, to revoke
all permits, shut -- whatever there is, shut down
the plant immediately, penalize heavily for every
8 regulation they were noncompliant with and every day
9 they operated against the people of Weld County and
10 the State of Colorado's rules and regulations. We
11 must remember this is an international billion
12 dollar company with unlimited resources, and all we
13 get as answers are excuses. Thank you very much.
14 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
15 MR. BENNETT: Hear me well enough? Chris
16 Bennett, 19575 County Road 45 in LaSalle. When I
17 moved to Weld County, I knew there would be the
18 usual smells and sites of an agricultural community.
19 The odors from the cattle and the feedlots and other
20 associated smells are to be expected. Until the
21 smell of the biogas hits your nose, those smells are
22 nothing in comparison. And as further information
23 has been brought to light, the odor and how to
24 address it has just been a shell game for EDF,
25 Heartland and AGPROfessionals. It takes away our
Page 195
1 a new company took ownership, and per the Weld
2 County Department of Public Health and Environment,
3 quote, It appears that the facility is illegally
4 disposing of waste, end quote. This is not a matter
5 of interpretation. This is a matter of following
6 the regulations.
7 EDF, Heartland, and AGPROfessionals also
8 do not want us to call the water leaving the
9 facility wastewater, but that's exactly what it is.
10 It is wastewater that has a potential to run down
11 into our waterways and poison us all.
12 As of our last community meeting, EDF,
13 Heartland and AGPROfessionals could not answer the
14 question of chain of custody, who is responsible if
15 there's an issue at the wastewater that's being
16 dumped on our land? No one could answer that
17 question.
18 On numerous occasions analysis of the
19 water has been asked for, and yet never received.
20 Does this concern anyone on this Board?
21 Heartland is not currently dumping
22 wastewater, but can only hold around 30 days of
23 wastewater on -site, is what we were told at the last
24 meeting. What happens when they hit max capacity?
25 Again there was no answer, and the lack of
Page 194
1 focus from the reals issues; the lack of of a
2 Certificate of Designation and the mystery of what
3 is being dumped onto our land and dispersed into our
4 air.
5 This facility has been allowed to run out
6 of compliance with the laws and regulations of the
7 State and County for a number of months. I believe
8 allowing this type of business to continue will set
9 a scary precedent going forward here in Weld County.
10 As they continue to run without being in compliance,
11 the Commissioners still allow it to happen.
12 I understand business is important to Weld
13 County, and I agree with that sentiment. But should
14 a billion dollar business be allowed numerous
15 occasions to fix their issues and still come up
16 short with zero penalties and repercussions?
17 Quote, No person shall operate a Class 1
18 composting facility without having obtained a
19 Certificate of Designation from local governing
20 authority, end quote. But as we've figured out
21 today, they don't have one. They believe they have
22 a de factto Certify of Designation. What else does
23 this Board need in order to shut this facility down?
24 The facility manager also claimed, quote,
25 This is a matter of interpretation, end quote. Yet
Page 196
1 transparency continued.
2 How is the company allowed to continue
3 doing business under such a shroud of mystery? I
4 urge you today, Commissioners, revoke all permits
5 and penalize all those involved for the wrongdoings
6 that have and are continuing to happen here. If
7 nothing is done, the Board is showing that billion
8 dollars companies are truly too big to fail. This
9 decision will set the standard going forward for not
10 only this county, but for this industry as a whole.
11 Please do not continue to allow the people
12 of this surrounding area to be guinea pigs to a
13 technology and a plant that is ruining their way of
14 life. Thank you.
15 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
16 MR. FLASCHENREIM: My name is Mel
17 Flaschenreim. I own M&3 Dairy. And we're located
18 six miles north of Heartland. We supply some of the
19 manure used by Heartland. If Heartland was to shut
20 down short term or long term, it would be serious
21 consequences for us. We'd have to build larger
22 compost sites. We own 640 acres, but the lay of the
23 land would require massive amounts of dirt to be
24 moved and/or multiple compost sites. Each one of
25 those sites would have to have a certified lined
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pond to catch the runoff water.
All of our milk cows are under cover,
which means all of the manure we generate is wet.
We would have to purchase dry material to mix with
the wet manure to get it to stay in the compost
rules. Because of the wet manure, fly control would
be a major problem for us. To run the compost side
would take an additional labor, five to seven
people. I'm short four people today to run what
we're doing right now.
And then there's the cost. The cost for
equipment and construction would be in excess of a
million dollars. The yearly cost to run the
facility would be a quarter million dollars. Milk
prices today would not support this investment for
me.
CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
MS. FLIPPIN: Hi. I'm Nancy Flippin. I
live at 19108 Weld County Road 47. I live
approximately half a mile west of the plant. And,
yes, I am still getting odors. I'm so glad these
experts have told me that I'm not getting odors
because I am. My house is filled up with them at
times. I have not really seen much improvement at
all in the odors with all the things they have done.
Page 199
1 Their experts here tell us that the wind's
2 going the wrong direction, it only goes one
3 direction. I'm sorry. I've lived out there enough
4 years to know how that wind swirls around. And I
5 have called more than one time in a day. I've had
6 odors two or three times a day. It's usually, you
7 know, in the morning, in the middle of the night or
8 in the evening. I don't think I've called every
9 15 minutes.
10 And then to find out that they -- it's
11 questionable if they have the right certificates to
12 be running this operation, I really question if they
13 really know what they're doing. I guess -- and I'm
14 a little disappointed in you and the Commissioners
15 with 600 plus complaints from the public on this
16 particular odor that you haven't done more or done
17 something sooner.
18 We, the people, are speaking. We're
19 talking to you guys telling you this is a very
20 obnoxious odor. I ask you to please revoke and
21 penalize this company. It has been proven to be a
22 community nuisance with this odor. Thank you.
23 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
24 MR. FLIPPIN: Hi. My name is Steve
25 Flippin. I live at 23295 Weld County Road 40. I'm
Page 198
1 We've been told multiple times they're doing fixes,
2 and I really can't see much change in it at all.
3 This has been my life. I've lived there
4 38 years. I definitely know the difference between
5 dairy and feedlot odors and the odors this plant
6 puts off. It's a very putrid odor and very hard to
7 live with. I have lost confidence in this company
8 being able to fix this because we've been told so
9 many times.
10 They started out by stealing my son's
11 address at his house, who lives just up the hill
12 from me. And they would have stuff delivered to his
13 house. And then we would take it up there and say,
14 Listen, what is your address? Why are you using my
15 son's address? And they'd say, Well, I don't know.
16 Do we live on 40 or do we live on 49? I mean, they
17 didn't know their address.
18 And then to find that they can't take care
19 of this odor problem -- they would tell us they
20 didn't know where the odor came from. And I could
21 walk up to their plant and say, well, right there is
22 your odor. They kind of duped all of us, you guys
23 also, by sending a letter out in 2009 saying there
24 would be no odors. And now they're saying, Oh,
25 well, there will be odors.
Page 200
1 the closest residence to this place, approximately
2 600 feet. I'm still getting odors. I called
3 Thursday and Friday. We're still getting it.
4 It's -- it's -- it's just there. I've been getting
5 the odors. I was one of the ones -- one of the
6 first ones that got the odors in 2014.
7 I did not know who to call. It wasn't
8 until a year ago we finally had enough. That's when
9 we contacted Phil with the County. And I have had
10 problems with this company. I'm the one that
11 they've sent the mail to. I've got all kinds of
12 packages. I've got tractor trailers showing up
13 at my house. I've gotten mail from the Department
14 of -- the Colorado Department of Revenue show up to
15 my house multiple times. It's -- I don't have the
16 confidence in this company to fix anything. They
17 can't get their address correct.
18 I enjoy working in my garage. I have some
19 old tractors I like to tinker with. It's something
20 I enjoy doing. But these odors come in and they
21 fill that building up. Then you could walk outside,
22 and the odor will be there and it'll disappear, but
23 it'll linger inside those buildings for up to an
24 hour or two. It stinks. I can go out there early
25 in the morning, and we won't have any odor, but you
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1 walk inside that building, it stinks.
2 My vehicles, same way. I've -- it's just
3 a nauseating odor. I'm tired of living like this.
4 Let the people from AGPRO and EDF live
5 near this, and their views might change. It stinks.
6 And you heard it today from Heartland and AGPRO that
7 the odors -- they cannot do away with the odors.
8 They'll never be able to do away with all of them.
9 So I don't think that they can fix this.
10 They have cut a lot of corners, as you've
11 seen in all of the presentations James has brought
12 up, just to save money, I believe.
13 When I did a tour this fall, the DPS tank
14 that's buried underground is open to atmosphere.
15 Anything that goes through that whole system, goes
16 into that tank through their augers, it is open,
17 that is releasing a lot of odor. When I stood over
18 the top of that tank, that thing will take your
19 breath away. It is bad.
20 So we ask for your help to revoke their
21 permit, send them back to California. Let
22 California deal with this. I'm sick of it. Thank
23 you.
24
25
CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER COZAD: I have a question.
Page 203
1 odor control for anaerobic digesters like Heartland,
2 landfills, meatpacking facilities, animal food
3 producers, like dog food, cat food. They have --
4 the guy -- Nick is 65. He's got 35 years in the
5 field.
6 Working with them we chose a system that
7 had the broadest range of neutralizing effects to
e encompass the widest range of odors possible. As we
9 know, there's a lot of different feedstock, so the
10 odors have different characteristics.
11 Speaking to Heartland in the work with us,
12 we have worked diligently with them on multiple
13 levels to ensure they were always treating odors in
14 the best way. What that looks like is stocking
15 agreements to ensure there's always product on -site
16 and available, multiple pieces of iterations, as we
17 said, multiple misting systems, using these
is simultaneously at some points, multiple late nights
19 with operations setting up and troubleshooting these
20 when they were installed initially, and also flying
21 my vendor on -site to audit the system and put in his
22 recommendation so we can make the best choice.
23 Speaking of Heartland's commitment to
24 resolve this issue, as has been said multiple times
25 they've made a significant financial investment with
Page 202
1 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Cozad.
2 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Steve, you mentioned
3 the DPS tank that's open to the atmosphere. Do you
4 think that's the main source of odor?
5 MR. FLIPPIN: That's one of the sources
6 right now. The lagoons -- you know, I've only
7 taken -- I've taken two tours of that, but when I
e stood over there with another community member, it
9 stunk.
10 COMMISSIONER COZAD: When did you go over
11 there, how long ago?
12 MR. FLIPPIN: I believe it was September.
13 It was the week before the commissioner hearing last
14 time, September.
15 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay.
16 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
17 MR. PUTT: Hi there, Commissioners. I'm
18 Otis Putt. I work for U.S. Water Services. My
19 address is 22 South Lincoln, Denver, Colorado 80209.
20 We provided Heartland with one of the odor
21 mitigation solutions, the misting systems referenced
22 on some of the PowerPoints. My company has a few
23 accounts nationwide doing odor control, but it's not
24 our core. However, the vendor that I use to get
25 these systems, it is their only business. They do
Page 204
1 us as well as other vendors to the tune of -- going
2 to be $4.2 million.
3 As to the attitude of the plant personnel,
4 in my experience they are unified in resolving this
5 odor issue, and have a great mind -set; get it done,
6 spare no expense, make no excuses.
7 To conclude, in my experience the plant
8 has been great to work with. They are keenly aware
9 of the gravity of the situation and they are fully
10 committed to its resolution. Thank you.
11 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
12 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: I have a quick
13 question.
14 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes, Commissioner
15 Conway.
16 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I do, too.
17 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: So this is your --
18 you said it's not your area of expertise, but you
19 deal with people that do.
20 MR. PUTT: Yeah.
21 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: So you've heard the
22 issue. The issue is odor. In terms of these
23 misting systems, from your experience in terms of
24 their -- I know this -- I don't know if this is the
25 first anaerobic digester that you've dealt with, but
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1 in terms of companies that you deal with that do
2 have odor issues, what kind of decrease in terms of
3 odor -- odors have you witnessed in terms of your --
4 since you're talking about this, in terms of your
5 expertise as -- as to these systems? What is
6 anticipated these misters will reduce in terms of
7 odor?
8 MR. PUTT: So they are designed to
9 neutralize the odor. So I can't speak to the
10 metrics that they have, in terms of, like, it'll be
11 a 10, then a 1, but it's supposed to make it
12 acceptable to be around that system.
13 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: So from your
14 experience, has there been a decrease when you apply
15 these misters in terms of the odor, whether it's
16 significant?
17 MR. PUTT: Um -hum.
18 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Significant.
19 MR. PUTT: Significant decrease, I would
20 say.
21 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Thank you.
22 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Cozad.
23 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I have two questions.
24 One, are these misters used in more traditional
25 wastewater treatment facilities?
1 neutralizing stuff away.
2 COMMISSIONER COZAD: No. The wind was
3 blowing the mist away. Right. So the mist is
4 coming out, but it was -- it was a windy day, so the
5 mist was blowing.
6 MR. PUTT: So in theory, if the mist is --
7 if the wind is carrying the mist, it would carry the
8 odors as well. It would neutralize in the path, I
9 believe. Correct?
10 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay. So that's the
11 technical explanation?
12 MR. PUTT: I would think so. Correct.
13 COMMISSIONER COZAD: That's why I'm asking
14 you, because it seemed like the mist was blowing, so
15 I didn't know if that would still address the odor
16 issues on -site.
17 MR. PUTT: It should work to the
18 advantage, because if the odor is being carried by
19 the wind, as well as the mist being carried by the
20 wind, then they would neutralize in the wind, and
21 then by the time they get to anyone that would have
22 an issue, they should be gone.
23 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay. Thank you.
24 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
25 MS. HERGENREDER: Good afternoon,
Page 206
1 MR. PUTT: They are. My vendor uses them
2 in wastewater -- he has a lot of landfill business,
3 some, like, dog food producing business. He's based
4 out of Ohio and he does work all over the country.
5 COMMISSIONER COZAD: So the one time that
6 I was out at the facility, the misters were going,
7 the wind was blowing pretty hard. So are any of
8 these indoor or are they all outdoor misters?
9 MR. PUTT: So the skid that treats it is
10 indoor, but the misters are outdoor. So they treat
11 it right at the source of the issue.
12 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay. So my question
13 is technical, so I don't know if you can answer it
14 or not. So if not, if somebody else wants to answer
15 it later when the respondents get back up...
16 But when I was out there the one time that
17 the wind was blowing and the misters were on, it
18 looked like the wind was blowing the misters -- the
19 mist that was coming out basically downwind. But
20 the odor is basically inside or in that area where
21 there's unloading occurring, where the grate is. So
22 how would that work to -- can you explain how that
23 works to --
24 MR. PUTT: If I understand correctly,
25 you're saying the system is blowing the odor and
Page 208
1 Commissioners. My name is Jamie Hergenreder. I
2 live at 23295 Weld County Road 40. I live with
3 Steve Flippin. And I thought I would just provide a
4 point of view from the guinea pig perspective.
5 Our home is the closest, being 600 feet
6 away. I'll just give you an example of my first
7 experience being affected by this from the start.
8 So starting -- it started out with noise, and then
9 lights, and then all the odor started rolling in.
10 And it was in 2014. Like Steve pointed out, we did
11 not know who to contact.
12 My first experience with high
13 concentration of the odor was at 2 o'clock in the
14 morning, waking to my breath being taken away.
15 Excuse me. I'm emotional. I was in an immediate
16 panic attack. I ran outside thinking fresh air
17 would be my savior, and I experienced something much
18 worse. When you're in panic mode, smelling
19 something that intense is like a whirlwind of hell.
20 The odor was so thick in the yard that I could feel
21 it penetrating my skin. I could taste it in my
22 mouth. My panic continued to ensue. Do I call 911?
23 Is this a gas leak? Am I going to blow up? My mind
24 was racing a mile a minute, not calming for hours.
25 And as you can see I'm still very affected by it.
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1 I have not slept a night since. I have
2 migraines, nausea, severe fatigue, all of which I
3 did not have before. This has happened to me more
4 times than I can count, as you can refer to, over
5 600 odor complaints.
6 I have called both the plant manager,
7 Jason Thomas, and Phil Brewer in the early hours of
8 the morning, just losing emotional control because I
9 couldn't take it anymore.
10 The plant manager's response to my story
11 was, Hmm, interesting, I can compare that to my
12 charts. Complete lack of empathy. It has also been
13 my experience sitting in every meeting I could,
14 listening, observing and learning that EDF,
15 Heartland Biogas, and AGPRO are unsafe,
16 untrustworthy, unreliable, irresponsible, and I
17 can't stress enough that they have absolutely no
18 respect for the Weld County citizens or the Board of
19 Commissioners. I vote for revocation and severe
20 penalization. Thank you.
21 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
22 MS. GREEK: Good afternoon, and thank you.
23 My name is Marjorie Greek. I am a former Weld
24 County resident, but I currently live at 208
25 Westchester Street in Lafayette, Colorado. I lived
Page 211
1 It also can generate additional
2 businesses. One of the things that we're seeing
3 right now with this company is that there is a
4 national company called Parallel Technologies that
s is moving into Greeley. It will be bringing at
6 least six jobs in the first year. It will be able
7 to supply liquid to this facility and help with the
8 process.
9 It's extremely important to keep this
10 facility operational. Currently they're eliminating
11 food waste from landfilling. If you put food waste
12 into a landfill, according to a British society
13 called WRAP, they've done studies on this and
14 they've discovered that 3.8 tons of greenhouse gas
15 emissions are generated for every ton of food waste
16 that goes into a landfill. That is something we
17 really can't afford in this day and age.
18 In addition, we know that the Rocky
19 Mountain National Park has a nitrogen deposition
20 issue. And a lot of that comes from this part of
21 the state, Weld and Larimer Counties. And that one
22 of the great contributors to that is agricultural.
23 The fact that this facility accepts manure from
24 approximately 10 percent of the cows producing it
25 here in this part of the state reduces and mitigates
Page 210
1 in the county for 20 years and worked for the Weld
2 County Health Department for five years.
3 I at that time was a master composter. I
4 taught the master composting class for Larimer and
5 Weld Counties, and was the master composter
6 technician for the County during part of that time.
7 Then I went on to become the executive director of
8 the Colorado Association for Recycling, which I ran
9 for 15 years.
10 I want to speak in favor of this facility
11 and the benefits that it brings to the county and to
12 areas of the state. It currently employs nearly
13 40 people. And according to the economic impact
14 study of recycling on the State of Colorado, every
15 dollar that is paid to an employee in the rural part
16 of Colorado in the recycling industry generates an
17 additional 35 cents per dollar generated. So that
18 means the money is going into the local retail
19 outlets, it's going into the grocery stores, into
20 the gas stations. This also does not include the
21 additional state income taxes, sales tax, and
22 property taxes that are generated by those
23 individuals who can use that employment pay to
24 purchase housing and purchase goods in the
25 community.
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1 the amount of nitrogen being deposited in Rocky
2 Mountain National Park.
3 They're also creating a renewable natural
4 gas here in the state, which according to the
5 Department of Energy is one of the ways that we can
6 maintain national security, by not having to go out
7 and purchase oil from foreign governments.
8 This plant is also one that can be around
9 for a long time and produce a great product and
10 employ a lot of people, reduce air quality
11 emissions, negative air quality emissions, and play
12 a great role in this county.
13 So I would encourage you to continue to
14 work with them, continue to hammer these things out,
15 get these issues taken care of, and let them run the
16 business. Thank you.
17 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Cozad.
18 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Marjorie, as a former
19 Weld County Department of Public Health employee, I
20 appreciate you, you know, letting us know about
21 those positive economic impacts and the benefits of
22 recycling. And I know that's important to you. I
23 know it was when you were here because I remember
24 when you were here.
25 But as County Commissioners, how --
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1 what -- for me, you know, I've got to weigh that
2 with the protection of the health and safety and
3 welfare of the citizens that are impacted by this
4 facility.
5 And so in your opinion as a former
6 employee in the health department, can you comment
7 on the protection of the health and safety and
8 welfare of the citizens that live there versus those
9 impacts that, you know, positive impacts that you
10 just discussed?
11 MS. GEEK: Well, I would -- I would try by
12 saying, again, continue to work together with this
13 company and with the citizens that are being
14 affected. I think that it's important that lines of
15 communication stay open, that things are very
16 transparent. If there have been issues in the past
17 with that, perhaps that suggestion of a, you know,
18 third party that comes in and facilitates those
19 conversations to help with that, but continuing to
20 work with the Commissioners, with the State, with
21 the community so that it becomes a win -win -win, and
22 that it isn't something that is dividing the
23 community as it seems to be doing right now.
24 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Thank you.
25 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Thank you.
Page 215
1 Illinois, and for towns and counties in Colorado and
2 around the nation.
3 Most importantly, however, I have
4 conducted multiple projects for the State CDPHE,
5 starting with work in 2006, again in 2010, and most
6 importantly this year's 2016 just released
7 Integrated Materials Management Plan. I spent a lot
8 of time investigating the processing infrastructure
9 and organics diversion here in this state.
10 I have three main messages here today.
11 One, most importantly, the State's integrated solid
12 waste management materials plan needs and depends on
13 this plant for progress.
14 The Front Range generates about 85 percent
15 of the state's waste, and the Front Range goal in
16 the plan increases from about 27 percent now, which
17 is below the national, to 32 percent, which is still
18 below the national average, to 51 and -- upwards of
19 51 percent between 2021 and 2036. Food waste is
20 crucial to making that progress.
21 For the Front Range the top three
22 materials that are part of the diversion plan's
23 focus are organics, which is 30 percent of what's
24 being disposed, and food is more than half of that,
25 17 percent. Second is paper at 20 percent, and
Page 214
1 DR. SKUMATZ: Thank you. My name is
2 Dr. Lisa Skumatz. I live at 762 El Dorado Drive in
3 Superior, Colorado. And I thank you for the
4 opportunity to share my comments regarding this
5 plant today. I'm bringing statewide and national
6 perspective to this which I think is relevant to
7 your discussion.
8 First, my qualifications. I'm an
9 economist and principal of Skumatz Economic Research
10 Associates, a research and consulting firm that's
11 based in Superior in Boulder County. I'm not being
12 paid by anybody, and I am just, for full
13 information, also a former trustee in the Town of
14 Superior for 10 years, so I am empathetic.
15 I've been working nationally and
16 internationally in solid waste since 1987. I
17 have published more than a hundred papers and
18 articles on the topic. I've worked in six countries
19 and 35 states and for more than 30 clients here in
20 this state. I've won two national lifetime
21 achievement awards for my work in solid waste,
22 including -- and the one for the State of Colorado
23 CAFR. So I bring a lot of expertise on this topic.
24 I've also conducted a number of food waste
25 and organics projects for EPA, the State of
Page 216
1 plastic at 12 percent. 17 percent of the
2 residential and commercial ton is -- disposed is
3 food. And this one plant can divert 20 to
4 30 percent of that in the Front Range. Organics
5 diversion is expected to be the lion's share of the
6 growth because it's the largest and least mature of
7 the divertible waste streams in the state.
8 This plant is pivotal to the plan's goals,
9 and we couldn't have projected meeting these kinds
10 of goals without this plant.
11 Another part of the statewide materials
12 management plan talks about the fact that the many
13 landfills in this state don't meet environmental
14 regulations, and the CDP is expected to crack down
15 on that statewide. We're looking for every
16 opportunity possible to divert materials going to
17 those landfills unnecessarily.
18 Furthermore, a major landfill in the Front
19 Range is closing because it's full, not because it's
20 out of compliance, because it's full, and it's
21 looking to resite. And they're trying to look at
22 diversion first to minimize what's destined to
23 landfills, and to make it so the landfill has to be
24 sized as small as possible.
25 What this plan offers in terms of
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1 diversion and technology is vastly environmentally
2 preferable from a greenhouse gas point of view and
3 from a sustainability point of view in landfilling.
4 Second, this is a pretty remarkable plant,
5 and really the envy of the rest of the state and
6 surrounds. It's up and running, it recovers
7 hundreds of tons per day of food waste, which is the
8 material stream of interest these days, and one of
9 the biggest remaining in the waste stream.
10 In the past I've been hired to conduct
11 work to try to figure out now to pay for public
12 compost facilities that were paid with public funds
13 that would never work. And we had to add extra
14 dollars to the top solid waste tipping fee in order
15 to pay for it.
16 We've done work for U.S. Department of
17 Energy reviewing Biogas facilities and found
18 difficulties with poor planning, supply issues,
19 storage issues and economic viability concerns.
20 This private plant here seems to be well
21 planned. It's operating and diverting substantial
22 amounts of materials that would otherwise go to
23 landfills. And to do so economically in a state
24 with such low landfill tipping fees is a real
25 testament.
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1 said at the beginning. Three minutes, and try to
2 keep it to exactly what's in our resolution as far
3 as the show cause hearing from the November --
4 whatever day that was. That's really what the topic
5 is today. That's all. Go ahead.
6 MS. WELCH: Okay. I'm Sharon Welch. And
7 I reside at 18626 Weld County Road 49. And I just
8 wanted to address something that was asked actually
9 earlier by Heartland about who they could have
10 asked --
11 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Please address your
12 comments to us.
13 MS. WELCH: -- previously who they could
14 have asked to build their facility correctly. And
15 actually if they would have just stuck with their
16 original design and operations plan that they
17 presented, they had all the answers originally. And
18 that's why we have a lack of confidence in them,
19 because they blatantly chose not to build their
20 facility that way when they had all the answers. A
21 lot of things that they're doing today are things
22 that they had the answers for when they started
23 their original plan. Thank you.
24 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
25 MR. WARNER: Good afternoon,
Page 218
1 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: You need to kind of
2 wrap up.
3 DR. SKUMATZ: This light isn't green, red,
4 et cetera?
5 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: No.
6 DR. SKUMATZ: The last point I want to
7 make is the inability to cite compost facilities is
8 a showstopper in ready to go states in other -- in
9 other states, even California. Some have been
10 trucking materials 150 miles away because they lack
11 nearby processing facilities. They would love to
12 have a plant with a capacity like this one, and with
13 the good neighbor attention and working to address
14 odor issues like this one. I applaud Weld County
15 and I urge you to continue to work positively with
16 this facility. Thank you.
17 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
18 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Mr. Chairman, I
19 would just ask that you remind everybody the purpose
20 of the meeting here today. This is a show cause
21 hearing. It's not to hear about the benefits of
22 composting or the need for landfills throughout the
23 State of Colorado, or anywhere else, for that
24 matter.
25 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: I'll reiterate what I
Page 220
1 Commissioners. MY name is Rich Warner. I am
2 president at Upstate Colorado Economic Development,
3 822 - 7th Street, 550 here in Greeley. I'm here to
4 keep my comments very brief as I know we've all had
5 a long day, and I appreciate your time.
6 In economic development we're usually
7 talking about advocating for businesses to remove
8 unnecessary regulatory burdens. This type of
9 project is regulated on the federal level, on the
10 county level and at the state level. As you know,
11 this project -- and, again, just to be very brief --
12 has received national recognition. When I travel
13 around the country and we talk about the energy
14 economy in Weld County, we're not just talking about
15 oil and gas. We're talking about renewable projects
16 like this. And when this project was originally
17 permitted, it was pretty exciting, and I think
18 everyone was behind it.
19 Well, things have changed and problems
20 have occurred. And how we deal with those is what's
21 important going forward. You have heard from a
22 whole range of experts today and -- in regards to is
23 there a problem, is there not a problem. Well, we
24 hear from the neighbors and we know that they have a
25 problem that needs to be addressed.
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1 But as you know, being here and working
2 here in Weld County, we have dealt with these issues
3 before. I can't think of any other example that is
4 more relevant than what this community has dealt
5 with for decades with JBS. That problem was
6 mitigated with new technologies. And I'll leave it
7 to the experts for the technicalities. But when
8 conflicts like this between neighbors have arisen in
9 the past, the County has responded. When we had
10 issues with the solar industry, the County came up
11 with a solution. When we had issues between
12 landowners and the oil and gas industry, the County
13 found a solution. And that's in the past year.
14 That's -- that's going on right now.
15 And so as we -- as you continually
16 champion economic development and create an
17 environment where businesses can flourish, we have
18 created one of the top counties in the country. Not
19 we. You and the businesses here. And that is
20 known.
21 And there is a direct tie-in to
22 agriculture and this company. When you look at the
23 supply chain and the jobs that are affected by this
24 project, to just unilaterally shut it down is a huge
25 problem. And so with all due respect to friends
Page 223
1 Shelton, slowly grew the herd, and by 1995 we were
2 milking about a thousand cows.
3 Then my brother and I have been involved
4 full-time in the family business for the better part
5 of the last five years. And although we continue to
6 grow as a business, we remember our small beginning
7 and take a lot of pride in nearly 55 years of family
8 ownership and involvement in our local agriculture
9 community here in Weld County.
10 As our business has grown, we face new
11 challenges. One of the most significant challenges
12 with milk production is the responsible
13 environmentally sustainable and economically viable
14 management of manure.
15 Just to give you an idea, our cows produce
16 nearly 12 semi -truck loads of manure per day. So
17 we've been pursuing a partnership with Heartland
18 Biogas for several years because of our desire to
19 have a long-term sustainable manure management
20 program. So currently we send them our manure, they
21 process it, they produce gas, separate out the solid
22 material, and then return to us the water to
23 irrigate our crops. And I think the technology and
24 processes is really rather remarkable, taking manure
25 that in its raw form is expensive and difficult to
Page 222
1 like Bill Garcia and the other attorneys in the
2 room, this company is pledging to spend money on a
3 solution. I would much rather the company spend
4 money on technological solutions and the neighbors
s in working out their problems than to maybe provide
6 it to all the attorneys, with all due respect.
7 So we've seen it, again, with oil and gas,
8 we've seen it with solar. We've even seen the
9 adjustments with Martin Marietta that had to happen
10 with that hearing. You guys have difficult
11 decisions. I really appreciate your support of
12 economic development, and look forward to your
13 decision. Thank you for your time.
14 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
15 MR. SHELTON: Good afternoon. My name
16 is Paul Shelton. And our family owns a dairy farm
17 just north of the Heartland project, 23043 County
18 Road 42. We are a family -owned farm and business.
19 I'm part of the third generation. My grandfather
20 and grandmother moved from Missouri in March of
21 1963. And we actually sold cream, five gallons at a
22 time, on the rail, and milked four to 10 cows for
23 the first 10 years that we were -- that they were
24 doing that.
25 Over the next 30 years my father, Ron
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1 manage, putting it through a process to produce
2 renewable energy, compost like solids and nutrient
3 rich irrigation water.
4 So if Heartland's operations were
5 suspended for a time, it would be very difficult for
6 us as we depend on trucks every day of the year to
7 transport the manure out of our facility. And we
8 currently do not have another sustainable plan to
9 manage our manure.
10 You know, we've gotten to know these folks
11 at Heartland over the last three years. And there's
12 been some difficult times, to be honest, but we've
13 all done our respective part to get through it. And
14 I can give you several examples of how Ralph and
is Jason and Darrell have really demonstrated their
16 understanding of what it takes to make a long-term
17 business relationship work, and they've really done
18 their part.
19 We've found them to be good neighbors. I
20 recall one night where several on Heartland's night
21 crew actually helped push our cows back into our
22 pasture because they had gotten out.
23 Certainly there are some issues to work
24 through, as with any newer technology; however, I do
25 think this is a good project for agriculture. I
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1 think it's a good project for renewable energy. And
2 I have found these gentlemen in leadership in
3 Heartland to be people that we would want to be in
4 business with long term. And I am confident that
5 they will do what they can to overcome the current
6 challenges. Thank you.
7 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Conway.
8 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: If the plant shut
9 down, and you weren't able to transmute (sic)
10 12 loads of manure, where would it go? What would
11 you do with it?
12 MR. SHELTON: Right. So we don't have a
13 sustainable long-term plan. Mel shared just a few
14 minutes ago that typically you have to try to
15 compost it or stockpile it on -site. And it creates
16 fly problems. There's an aggregation problem. You
17 add to it. You apply it to --
18 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: You would have no
19 other alternative basically besides on -site storage?
20 MR. SHELTON: Right. You process it. You
21 spend a million dollars on a separation system. And
22 you want to try to get it onto your fields when you
23 have it dry enough. But it's a problem.
24 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Okay. You say you
25 use the process water, right?
Page 227
1 day of the year.
2 COMMISSIONER MORENO: Okay. Thanks.
3 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
4 MR. MORRIS: Good afternoon,
5 Commissioners. My name is Michael Morris. I live
6 at 24505 Weld County Road 44. I'm a business owner.
7 I'm a very busy business owner that has had this
8 plant kind of take over my life. These folks in
9 this room are also busy trying to run their lives.
10 I take offense -- one of the things, Sean,
11 that you had said earlier is how can we feel like
12 you're going to be a good neighbor. We hear that
13 word all the time, we want to be good neighbors.
14 However, their actions -- they flew someone in from
is California. And call me silly, and maybe I wear my
16 heart on my sleeve, but I thought -- I thought they
17 called me a liar, that those complaints were not
18 somehow accurate. She had that nice little graph.
19 Am I the only one that got that? I felt like, God,
20 they're questioning whether or not we're telling the
21 truth.
22 I got better things to do. It's very
23 difficult -- I'm a small business owner. I've owned
24 my own business since 1987. I have to deal with
25 regulations. I have hazardous waste issues. Call
Page 226
1 MR. SHELTON: We do.
2 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Have you experienced
3 any problems with it or do you have any concerns
4 with the water that you're applying?
5 MR. SHELTON: So the water that we apply
6 on our crops is very highly regulated by the
7 Colorado Department of Public Health. So everything
8 that we apply, you have to do it in accordance with
9 the nutrient balancing. We have found no problems
10 at this point. It's very similar to what we call
11 dairy wastewater in terms of its nutrients and the
12 characteristics of the water.
13 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Thank you.
14 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Moreno.
15 COMMISSIONER MORENO: Mine ties into the
16 first question Commissioner Conway asked, just
17 adding on to that. You made a statement earlier,
18 said -- estimated about 12 semi -trucks is what you
19 save for the manure that your cattle is generating
20 right now. But what -- are you delivering every day
21 so many semi -truck loads right now? Or can you tell
22 me how much? Or is it weekly delivery? What --
23 what --
24 A No. Right -- right now 10 to 12 semi
25 loads leave our dairy and go to the digester, every
Page 228
1 it paint. They call it cow crap. I have to deal
2 with paint. I don't get to harm my neighbors. You
3 wouldn't believe what I have to go through to
4 license my paint booth, my filters and everything
5 that I have to do. But you can't smell anything.
6 This -- the commissioners -- everything
7 that happens in my business comes back to me. One
8 of the things I heard was the buck stops here.
9 Well, the buck stops here with you folks, too,
10 because these folks with all due respect, I do not
11 believe they've done their job very effectively.
12 This has morphed into a mess. The fact that I'm
13 here, that I'm actually standing in front of this
14 room making these comments speaks volumes.
15 This never should have got this far. We
16 shouldn't be at this place. We shouldn't have
17 experts coming from California to tell us that we're
18 lying about the smell. I have -- I smell every day.
19 I got up this morning -- I had friends come over
20 yesterday. They asked, Jeez, what is that crazy
21 odor? But I guess we are just lying about it.
22 That -- I take offense to that, Sean. And I'm going
23 to tell you right now, anybody that calls me a liar
24 and says that, oh, you're just overreacting -- that
25 room full of people, they got things to do, folks.
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1 If this plant ran effectively, they wouldn't be
2 here. They'd be on with their lives.
3 You people have a chance to right this.
4 These folks didn't do their job, and here we are.
5 And you guys are no different than me. I'm
6 responsible for every employee under me. You have a
7 chance to make this right. You have a chance to
8 make this right. I hope you do. Revoke it. Shut
9 it down until they can fix it. And if they can fix
10 it, put it back on. If it still smells, shut it
11 down again.
12 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
13 MS. MORRIS: Well, not sure I want to
14 follow that, but I'm going to. I'm Deb Morris and I
15 live at 24505 County Road 44.
16 So you asked us to just keep our comments
17 to new things. Well, I've had some surprises today,
18 so I'll just talk about those. I'm surprised that
19 Heartland Biogas was surprised that they were going
20 to be inspected. Are you kidding me, surprised?
21 I'm surprised that I have smell memory. Didn't know
22 that. Smell memory being something I've never
23 smelled before.
24 Oh, six generations -- let's just check in
25 here, six generations in Weld County. And I've
Page 231
1 surprised. He stood in front and said he is -- the
2 buck stops here, and then he's -- and then at the
3 end he said, I didn't want to be an expert at this.
4 I'm paraphrasing, but I'm sure that I heard, and I'm
5 surprised, the head of this development said I
6 didn't want to be an expert in the regulations.
7 Well, I'll tell you who didn't want to be
8 an expert is Jim Welch, these people over here that
9 have put hundreds of hours in doing these jobs,
10 we're the ones that didn't want to be an expert
11 because we're not getting paid for it.
12 I don't know what his dollar amount is for
13 his pay, but I'm guaranteeing you it's high enough,
14 he should darn well be an expert before he stands in
15 front of you on every regulation that is dealing
16 with this business.
17 And, finally, I just want to even the
18 playing field. I have $350,000 invested in my
19 property. Everybody else gets to tell you what
zo they've got invested. I've got 350,000, without
21 enclosing (sic) my personal finances, I'm going to
22 tell you that's a pretty damn big chunk of my
23 personal wealth. Pretty damn big chunk. So I want
24 to be on an even playing field. I've got money
25 invested in this game, too, and a lot of it, from my
Page 230
1 smelled BS, and I've smelled some of it today. And
2 I'm telling you I know the difference between a
3 feedlot that I chose to live next to, which is a
4 quarter mile away, and this smell that comes at me
s in two miles. I understand that, oh, my gosh, what
6 is happening.
7 I was ready to call the fire department
8 the first night I had it invade my home because I
9 thought my house was on fire. That was how strong
10 the smell was.
11 The County -- I'm surprised at the County
12 people per their three times saying, well, I'm not
13 an expert. I was surprised that we don't -- we have
14 a panel of people that are here who haven't chose to
15 become experts in this. Like, I'm surprised, three
16 times, I'm not an expert. Lots of beliefs, lots of
17 those kind of words, but no -- you know, not really
18 solid comments.
19 And then this is -- this was a really --
20 surprise to me. The Heartland head -- I apologize,
21 I didn't get his name -- stands up in front of you
22 and says we're all -- none of us wanted to be this
23 informed and this big of experts -- and I'm just
24 paraphrasing -- on the regulations of this -- of
25 what we're doing here. Oh, my gosh. I was
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1 perspective.
2 So thank you. I'm staying under the three
3 minutes, I hope. And thank you for your time.
4 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
5 MR. WALTERS: Afternoon. Name is Richard
6 Walters along with my wife Kathy. We reside at
7 18850 Weld County Road 49. We are the third closest
8 home, neighbor, to Heartland. We had smells on
9 Saturday morning. And I'm not sure of any more
10 things I can say other than this, I'd like you to
11 revoke it. I'd like you to penalize them. And if
12 you're not going to do that, I suggest one thing.
13 In Denver they did a couple things with
14 the nasal ranger where instead of doing 7:1, greater
15 than 7:1, they dropped it down. You know, swine is
16 greater than 2:1. I suggest that you do a 2:1 or a
17 4:1 change.
18 Or the number of complaints, over 600
19 complaints is ridiculous. There's no reason for
20 that. We don't make this up. We walk out the door
21 and there it is. I didn't have it on Sunday, but my
22 neighbors did because the wind was a different
23 direction. Thanks for your time.
24 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
25 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Thank you.
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1 MS. HOYLAND: My name is Kathy Hoyland.
2 My husband and I live at 18612 County Road 49,
3 LaSalle.
4 Good afternoon, Commissioners. Here we
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21 from my house and they're telling you the winds are
22 blowing this way, you can't have a complaint,
23 bologna sauce.
24 Let me tell you, we live this nightmare
25 every single day of our lives. We live this. And
are again. EDF, Heartland Biogas, has been
operating since day one without multiple State and
County grants of permission to operate. They have
blatantly and repeatedly shown disregard for the
State and County rules and regulations. What we
don't want to hear from EDF, Heartland Biogas is we
didn't know because they have a plethora of lawyers
as well as AGPROfessionals reviewing the regulations
to operate a Class 1 solid waste facility.
And from that point I'm going to wing it
because as I sat there in the audience today, I
cannot tell you how angry and insulted I am by
Heartland's two odor expert people. Anybody from
that side that has an odor expert is welcome at my
home for one week to live, and we'll find out which
way the winds blow. And if a complaint is coming
Page 235
1 employees get to go home. The Heartland employees,
2 they get to go home to a home. We are stuck in this
3 stench every day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
4 It doesn't matter. It comes, it gets in your house,
5 it doesn't leave.
6 Commissioners, by not revoking EDF,
7 Heartland Biogas' USR and MUSR, you are setting a
8 precedent in this County that you allow a Class 1
9 waste facility to operate unlawfully, to not follow
10 regulations and guidelines set forth by the State
11 statutes and the County.
12 You have penalized small businesses for
13 much lesser offenses creating a double standard.
14 You're allowing this business to operate without a
15 valid CD, a valid BUD, as well as operating with
16 multiple potential solid waste violations.
17 Today we respectfully request of you,
18 revoke their USR, MUSR, and penalize.
19 Thank you for your time and consideration.
20 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
21 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Thank you.
22 MS. REYNOLDS: Hello, Commissioners. Can
23 you hear me? My name's Julee Reynolds. I live and
24 work at 24125 County Road 42. I am a small business
25 owner. I have read what your responsibilities are
Page 234
1 I'm going to tell you that on November 23rd, we had
2 to cancel Thanksgiving at our home. We had to
3 cancel July 4th because of the stench. This is not
4 a sweet manure. This is not a sour manure. This is
5 not a dairy smell. This is not a feedlot smell.
6 This is a stench that literally gets into your home
7 with your windows closed. And as Steve Flippin
8 said, once it's inside a building, it takes forever
9 to get out.
10 November 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th,
11 28th, 29th and 30th, that smell, that stench was so
12 bad at our house, it was unbelievable. We are
13 thankful -- my husband and I are thankful that we
14 canceled Thanksgiving. Can you imagine sitting
15 around the dining room table and 12 of us trying to
16 eat our dinner with that stench in the house?
17 And I can tell you for a fact I know that
18 stench was still there on November 30th because at
19 1:30 in the morning we got a call that our nephew
20 had passed away. Can you imagine my husband and I
21 trying to console each other with that stench in the
22 house and trying to go forward with our lives?
23 I understand the two dairies that have
24 come forward, and I understand the employees.
25 Those -- the dairies do not have to live there. The
Page 236
1 as commissioners, and as a small business owner,
2 mine are much the same. I am responsible for the
3 health and welfare of my 20 plus employees, whether
4 it be through safety policies, HR policies,
5 company -specific policies, anything that protects
6 them. I am also responsible for vetting perspective
7 employees through background checks, MVR reporting,
8 drug screenings. This is a responsibility that I
9 take very seriously to ensure the safety and the
10 well-being of the community that we all live in.
11 I, too, have been through the process of
12 obtaining a USR; the cost, the time, the permitting,
13 the regulations. I know how intensive it is. I
14 know how costly it can be. I, too, have invested a
15 lot of money into owning a business and running it
16 where we live.
17 I guess I have a question. If I were --
18 if my business were known to be out of compliance,
19 not once, not twice, but multiple times, would I be
20 able to continue operating? That sets a very
21 dangerous precedence for doing business in Weld
22 County.
23 Are we to assume that there are numerous
24 businesses operating outside of the standards and
25 regulations that Weld County has set forth, that
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1 violators need not worry about compliance in doing
2 business in Weld County? Good faith efforts can
3 also be left to interpretation.
4 Then I asked myself what would I do if my
5 business were a nuisance to my neighbors? I simply
6 would not continue the activity that causes the
7 nuisance. I would not treat it. I would not mask
8 it. I would stop it. So I urge you also to revoke
9 and penalize. Thank you.
10 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
11 MR. JUSTICE: Name's Ross Justice. I live
12 at 24125 County Road 42 in LaSalle, Colorado, right
13 off of 49, about a mile north of this plant. This
14 is the third time I've been in here and listened to
15 this dog and pony show from Heartland; they're going
16 to fix it, they're going to make it better. They
17 haven't done anything.
18 When they come up here with their odor
19 experts and tell me, Oh, well, there's only 48 odors
20 out there -- 48 complaints out there. There's 617
21 complaints, and they're all legitimate.
22 And if they'd been at my house at 6:30
23 this morning, they'd have smelled it again and
24 gotten one more complaint from -- that I did call in
25 and tell Phil. So it was probably 618, at least.
Page 239
1 enjoying our life. We're living on our properties
2 around odors that they're creating, that we never
3 had a chance to speak up in public, because they
4 only had to notify everybody within 500 feet
5 according to the USR. But according to solid waste,
6 they should have notified the whole neighborhood and
7 we should have had a comment period.
8 So I'm sorry they spent $115 million. I
9 really am. Great idea, bad place to put it. First
10 hearing I said the same thing. I'm sorry you might
11 have to truck your waste farther, you might have to
12 truck your manure farther to make it work, but
13 there's a million acres out there in eastern
14 Colorado that don't have anything around it. They
15 picked a bad place.
16 We elect you guys to look out for us, to
17 protect our rights. And they're not being
18 protected. You know, I listened to this dog and
19 pony show; oh, in 2013 we did this, in 2013 we did
20 this, in 2015 we did this.
21 Well, guess what, now it's 2016 and all of
22 a sudden when the neighbors have had enough, Oh,
23 we're going to fix it. Really? Are you? Can you?
24 You stand here and tell me, We got more odors and
25 you're going to have to live with them. They're not
Page 238
1 When they say this CD is a technicality,
2 are you kidding me? A technicality? Part of the
3 process of this CD is for it to go to public
4 comment. I don't remember the first CD going to
5 public comment. And that's under the rules and
6 regulations of solid waste. They're a solid waste
7 facility. We should have the opportunity for it to
8 go to public comment.
9 We should -- you know, I'm sorry they
10 spent $115 million. Maybe if they had listened to
11 the public to start with they wouldn't have spent
12 $115 million.
13 Nobody is saying that they don't have a
14 great idea, although I can't really say it's a green
15 gas idea. From what I understand they got a 6- or
16 an 8 -inch gas line coming from fossil fuels to heat
17 their digesters to create green gas to sell to
18 California for four times as much money.
19 These odors are not a technicality. They
20 are interfering with our lives. We also canceled
21 Thanksgiving. Guess where we went? Went to
22 Westlake Grill for Thanksgiving because it stunk too
23 bad at our house.
24 The comfortable enjoyment of life, we're
25 not living it. We're not living on our properties,
Page 240
1 fixing it. We don't trust them. And we're tired of
2 it.
3 Nobody says it's not a great idea. As a
4 member of the community, and all these folks over
5 here, we're tired of it. We're tired of putting up
6 with it. We're tired of meetings. We're tired of
7 thousands of hours invested doing research that
8 isn't our job, only to come in here and listen to
9 these guys tell us, Well, you know, we should have
10 done this and we should have done that, but we
11 didn't, but now we're going to.
12 Mr. Ben Frissell himself told me it's not
13 about looking back at what's happened. We got to
14 look forward. It's about the last two years of my
15 life, that's what it's about. And I don't think you
16 can fix it.
17 Revoke it, fine them, and let's be on with
18 this. They can move somewhere else. I listened to
19 this talk about, Oh, composting and how great they
20 are and what they do and what they take. They done
21 stuff with manure a hundred years before this ever
22 happened here. That's all I have to say.
23 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Thank you.
24 MS. WILLIAMS: My name is Connie Williams.
25 I live at 21734 County Road 70 in Eaton, Colorado.
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1 There is no doubt that Heartland is in the
2 fight of their life, and they've presented some very
3 compelling points today. But how dare they bring in
4 professionals who do not live in Weld County to
5 trivialize what a community has been going
6 through for close to two years. Heartland has put
7 $4.2 million into resolving the problem. What's the
8 net value of the 15 families, their land, their
9 home, and their businesses, all of which have been
10 impacted by Heartland? I would bet it's
11 significantly in excess of $4.2 million.
12 Commissioners, over the past six months
13 we've become good friends, and we've all realized
14 you've got a big problem in front of you. It's not
15 black and white. Heartland is not universally
16 creating bad products. As we said six months ago,
17 the concept is fabulous if it's executed properly.
18 It's been made clear over the past six
19 months they are not executing properly. They've
20 demonstrated a method of behavior that goes back
21 almost five years. And that behavior includes
22 misrepresentation, misinformation and mismanagement.
23 Since inception they've taken shortcuts
24 around your regulations, they've sidestepped State
25 statutes, and they've shown total disregard for
Page 243
1 for the community impact. Heartland has shown you
2 who they are. And I suggest you believe them.
3 At one point suspension may have been a
4 violation -- or a suspension may have been an
5 option. It's not anymore. The only way to resolve
6 this is to revoke the permits, let them fix the
7 operations, and let the community have its life
8 back. Thank you for your time.
9 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
10 MR. WELCH: Good afternoon, Commissioners.
11 My name's Jim Welch. I live at 24458 County
12 Road 40. My wife and I live there, and we've been
13 there for -- at that particular place for the last
14 20 years. I probably -- what I want to do is a
15 couple little random thoughts here as we proceeded
16 through the day.
17 The first thing I would really ask of you
18 as commissioners is to disallow any of Mr. Garcia's
19 comments regarding Mr. Kreutzer. Mr. Kreutzer isn't
20 here, couldn't speak for himself. That's hearsay.
21 He knows that. So we can't really take into
22 consideration what Mr. Kreutzer said.
23 Do I want to trust his word? Under the
24 circumstances, no. So I ask that you disregard any
25 of Mr. Garcia's comments in regards to Mr. Kreutzer.
Page 242
1 ordinances that are intended to keep the public
2 safe. Using smoke and mirrors they've operated
3 their plant unlawfully for over a year.
4 In July I remember saying that you were
5 duped by the Planning Commission. Well, I was
6 wrong. The Planning Commission may have been
7 negligent, but they weren't being duplicitous. You
8 were duped by Heartland, EDF and AGPRO. By
9 continuing to give them time as you have over the
10 past six months the situation has worsened, because
11 not only now are they polluting the air, we have a
12 whole question about the land and the water.
13 And yet their experts who spoke today have
14 skillfully tried to put all of this on other ag
15 producers in our County.
16 At the last meeting, Commissioner Conway,
17 you were concerned about unintended consequences.
18 And you were right to have that concern, and there
19 were unintended consequences, but they were borne by
20 the community, not by Heartland.
21 Heartland continues to operate, they
22 continue to pollute, and they continue to thumb
23 their nose at each and every one of you and all that
24 Weld County stands for. They decide if and what
25 regulations they will follow with total disregard
Page 244
1 Going forward, I want to talk a little bit
2 about credibility. I think as a young child one of
3 the things I was always told was that my credibility
4 was one thing that I had to make sure that I kept.
5 You know, we had two experts up here
6 today, supposedly experts, because I doubt their
7 credibility quite honestly. One of them's got a lot
8 of degrees. Maybe he should have been doing more
9 physical work instead of book learning, as we would
10 say.
11 The -- the lady, Ph.D, man, that's
12 awesome. But, you know, at my age, there's not a
13 lot of things that impress me, and especially
14 degrees that aren't being used very well. So let's
15 start out with George.
16 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: So you need to keep
17 that to this, not about certain people. Keep it to
18 what the things are that we're looking at as far as
19 the show cause.
20 MR. WELCH: Well, I think because of what
21 they've said, it is part of the show cause. He gets
22 up here and states --
23 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: No. No. I know,
24 but --
25 MR. WELCH: Mike, I'm telling you, what he
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1 said has to do with the show cause.
2 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: You can disagree with
3 what he said.
4 MR. WELCH: I'm not disagreeing. I'm
5 going to try and show you a conflict between him and
6 Heartland. He says that the odor is not coming from
7 Heartland. Heartland is standing up here and saying
8 we hate the smell as much as you do. Now --
9 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay.
10 MR. WELCH: Who's -- he's the expert. Do
11 they or don't they have an odor problem? I think
12 that side of the room says yes.
13 Mike, I'm here to just clarify and bring
14 to your attention that some of the miscommunication
15 these people have brought up.
16 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: You can do that, but
17 don't be personal about how you do it. Don't
18 personally attack anybody that's there. Okay. Go
19 ahead.
20 MR. WELCH: I'm attacking what they've
21 said.
22 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Thank you.
23 MR. WELCH: Okay. So anyway, we hear from
24 Trinity -- is that better?
25 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Sure.
1 a job electrically, here's this first set of plans,
2 here's the next set of plans, and you go, jeez, they
3 took a lot of stuff out of here. You can tell that
4 because of the electrical work that's going into it.
5 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: You kind of need to
6 wrap up. Your time's pretty much up.
7 MR. WELCH: I think just because of their
e credibility, Mike, this thing needs to be shut down
9 and gone. That's just all there is to it.
10 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: All right. Thank you.
11 Okay. Any other public input?
12 MR. KISKER: My name is Dave Kisker. I
13 live at 6681 Apache Road in Johnstown. I guess on
14 some level I don't have a dog in this hunt. I'm not
15 in the neighborhood. I don't have to wake up with
16 this particular odor. It's a matter of Weld County
17 residents overall, though, to determine whether or
18 not we let a business like that is obviously causing
19 some sort of a problem off the hook.
20 Today we heard the senior fellow from
21 Heartland say that if it wasn't for the show cause
22 hearing, they wouldn't have moved this quickly.
23 This is your stick. Don't give this stick away.
24 Okay. The other things may or may not be
25 enforceable. I understand there's been a lot of
Page 246
1 MR. WELCH: Okay. We hear from Trinity
2 that the plant is not a significant source of strong
3 odor. Are you kidding me? And like I said just a
4 few minutes ago, Heartland has been up here and
5 stated that they hate the smell as much as anybody.
6 Well, credibility. We have a credibility gap there.
7 You know, I'm old enough that I just -- I
8 don't have a lot of use for certain things. But
9 anyway, she gets up here and talks about the fact
10 that the monitoring and the phone calls don't match
11 up. I never once saw after I made a phone call to
12 complain about the smell that somebody was out there
13 monitoring. So how can they compare the monitoring
14 and the calls? Like Mike said, we're not dummies,
15 you know. We know what a smell is. So I think that
16 we just really want to talk about the credibility of
17 this company.
18 And, yeah, they're going to spend
19 4.2 million, people. Yay. They should have done
20 that up front. They shouldn't have taken that stuff
21 out so that now they have to come back and start
22 adding it back in.
23 I was in the electrical business when this
24 project started. I've seen all the plans from the
25 very get -go. And as I'm sitting there trying to bid
Page 248
1 issues raised with respect to the CD and the other
2 rules. But right now we don't know if those things
3 are going to apply or not without probably
4 litigation.
5 Right now the only stick you have is this
6 violation. And I urge you, whether you decide to
7 suspend it or not, don't give away your stick.
8 Because if you do, there's been no statement about
9 what standard will be used to determine whether
10 their mitigations are successful. They haven't said
here's what we promise to do and here's how we're
12 going to measure it. And without the ability to
13 measure something, it doesn't mean anything.
14 And 7:1 odor is awfully high in terms of
15 the intensity, particularly for this type of an
16 odor. If they were willing to, as somebody
17 suggested, agree to a tighter restriction, that
18 might be one way to have a guarantee, but it would
19 have to be added to the resolution that's out there
20 right now.
21 So basically right now you have one stick,
22 and if you give it away, the possibility exists that
23 these residents are going to have to live with this
24 forever. Thanks.
25 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Thank you.
11
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1 MR. YOST: Hello, Commissioners. I'm Bob
2 Yost, Al Organics. 16350 Weld County 76 Eaton,
3 Colorado, vice president, CTO for the company. And
4 I've been there with Al 27 years. Al is starting
5 our 44th year in composting and organic recycling.
6 And we're the primary contract supplier to the
7 Heartland Biogas project for the food -based
8 substrates.
9 We take very seriously the Weld County
10 Code goal that states, quote, All facilities in the
11 County which handle, collect or process waste should
12 maintain an active role in solid waste management
13 resource recovery of such waste, close quote.
14 We also take seriously all the -- as well
is the other goals and vision statements contained in
16 the Weld County Comprehensive Plan and other mission
17 and vision documents that -- state -- statements for
18 the County that are related to environmental impact,
19 storage, processing practices, sustainability,
20 resource recovery, recycling, impacts from
21 agriculture waste, composting and best management
22 practices.
23 Bottom line for us is that the Heartland
24 facility provides an enormous technologically
25 advanced best management solution to responsibly
Page 251
1 time, energy, money, risk that they have invested to
2 make it a reality here. And if allowed to, they can
3 ensure its success here.
4 This project was approved on merit. And
5 the County should be proud and energized for having
6 the foresight and vision to do so. It's the first
7 facility like this in America.
8 It's a complex project, and not dissimilar
9 to any complex project of this size and scope, it
10 needs to have some real life time to fully define
11 its operation.
12 This -- the Heartland Biogas project is an
13 unprecedented asset and benefit to Weld County, the
14 State, and for that matter the Rocky Mountain
15 region. Its positive impact on local economy, job
16 creation, environmental stewardship it has logically
17 and independently applied cannot be understated.
18 Weld County has an enormous opportunity
19 through this project and this process to establish a
20 leadership position in energy, both renewable and in
21 oil and gas. And not only in the state of Colorado,
22 but regionally and nationally as well.
23 Odors have a source. We know that in my
24 business. If it's a compost facility, a restaurant,
25 a landfill, a waste treatment plant digester, they
Page 250
1 recycling and beneficially reusing the complex food
2 and agriculture based waste that is our collective
3 mission to address.
4 Its benefits to the County, its residents
5 and its businesses extend beyond sustainable
6 creation of renewable natural gas, recycled peat
7 moss, and liquid soil amendments.
8 Food based waste as well as manure are by
9 far best recycled through a digester. Composting --
10 and I know composting -- is an option, but it is not
11 without many challenges when related to a digester
12 for these types of materials.
13 Al and I personally care about Weld County
14 as much as anyone in this room. With collective
15 roots in Weld County going back to the late 1800s,
16 like many, national accreditation as pioneers and
17 innovators in our industry, we deeply care for Weld
18 County, too.
19 Al and I personally have invested
20 countless hours in the energy over the past 15 years
21 working to get a co -digestion facility in this
22 county because we generate the waste.
23 Without Heartland this valuable and
24 nationally acclaimed facility would not be here. I
25 can personally attest to the enormous investment of
Page 252
1 have a source. When you have an odor you identify
2 the source, and then you come up with ways to treat
3 and mitigate the source and you eliminate it. And
4 that's how you go forward. And that's what they've
5 been trying to do. And they will continue to do it,
6 because I've had personal experiences far beyond
7 anyone else in this room, I believe, with this
8 company, AGPRO, and the process leading up to this.
9 So I do take it seriously. And we -- this
10 is meant in no disrespect to the residents and the
11 complainants because I would not want that odor in
12 my house either. That's not the issue. The issue
13 is identify the source, fix it. There is no
14 disrespect to them.
15 Al Organics and I personally stand in
16 support of this facility and its mission. The
17 permitting items that have been raised in this
18 hearing are items that can and are being corrected.
19 And through a normal course of business in our
20 inspections when we have those type of issues, then
21 the County notifies us of what needs to be corrected
22 and we correct them. So they have been -- are being
23 corrected, and have little or no bearing on public
24 health and safety.
25 The plant upgrades are also being
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completed as we speak, and will address the original
concerns expressed. I personally have been on the
site many, many times. I do not live off site. I
can tell you that the odor created on that site is
significantly better. The day they put those
biogas -- or those biofilters in place was an
enormous difference. And we're there every day.
I ask that the Board of County
Commissioners allow that to be completed, these
improvements, without moving this community back
15 years in the process. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Maybe you should
have built that at your place.
COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Stop.
CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Hey, that's not called
for.
COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: It's
inappropriate.
CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: It's not appropriate.
MR. MCDONALD: Hello. My name is Scott
McDonald. I'm with McDonald Farms Enterprise. I've
been a resident -- I live at 1640 Diamond Well Drive
in Berthoud, Colorado. I've -- I'm a native
Coloradoan. My folks were native. We have several
Page 255
1 this is not the only project -- I don't know if
2 anybody -- this is going on across the nation. The
3 reason why it's happening is because it's really
4 important that this happens because there's --
5 there's not getting to be too many people -- there's
6 more and more people impacting the environment of
7 this -- of this -- the world that we live in. And
8 there's more and more of us. And if we don't handle
9 it properly, it's going to really come up and get us
10 in the end.
11 I mean, our landfills -- we're lucky
12 because out here we have big landfills and -- but
13 they're not unlimited. I mean, they can go away.
14 There's limited space. And to have something like
15 this go to a landfill, this food waste and this
16 manure and different things going to the landfill or
17 be -- you know, especially the food waste is just
18 such a waste. And if something happens to this
19 project here -- we employ about a hundred people.
20 There would be about an impact on about probably 25,
21 30 families directly. We will start transferring
22 hundreds and hundreds of thousands of tons a year
23 into -- back into the landfill. And it's just
24 discouraging.
25 Now, I feel comfortable -- I've been
Page 254
1 farms in Weld County. I've worked my whole life
2 around dairy farms, pig farms, chicken farms, turkey
3 farms, all the fun stuff. Right?
4 So anyway, we do a lot of waste resource
5 recovery. We haul cow manure for the dairies to
6 this operation.
7 Prior to this we were working on several
8 other recycling processes with the restaurant groups
9 from -- like, in the Denver area, from Weld County,
10 and all these different place, these resources that
11 we recover to make this gas.
12 This is an amazing project. We were so
13 excited to be a part of this. And it's just really
14 discouraging to have this kind of -- never would
is have expected this. But, still, I was out there
16 last night -- well, not last night, Sunday morning,
17 about 4 o'clock in the morning, trying to get one of
18 the trucks ungelled and get it running because it
19 was bitter cold. And I've been out there several
20 different times.
21 I believe there's been -- in my opinion,
22 as much as I've been out there -- and I usually get
23 out there late at night when people aren't there.
24 But it's been a huge improvement.
25 To take and to stop this project --
Page 256
1 working with these guys for a long time. I know
2 it's hard to see for the residents in the area, but
3 they are working on it. They've put that in out
4 there. And it is going to happen, they are going to
5 fix it. And I've been around them for all -- since
6 they started on it, in fact, probably about a year
7 before it even started going to construction. And
8 I've been pretty impressed with them. And I would
9 not have a problem -- of course I'm --
10 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: You need to kind of
11 wrap up.
12 MR. MCDONALD: I would not have a problem
13 living out there. I've lived in this kind of stuff.
14 I've lived out in agriculture. Weld County is known
15 for that. It's agriculture. And, anyway, well,
16 thanks.
17 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
18 MR. RATZLAFF: My name is Kalvin Ratzlaff.
19 And I live on 20526 County Road 50. Probably one of
20 the furthest away of anybody we've heard, mile east
21 of Lasalle. And within the last six months, how
22 they say they're improving it, is the time in which
23 I have started experiencing this smell.
24 And other than that, I work in the oil and
25 gas industry. And when we're not compliant and
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people can hear equipment, we shut it. We're shut
in until it's fixed, turned back on. If the
community is not happy, we shut it again until it's
fixed. So I think if you're going to give them an
opportunity to fix it, I don't -- I think it should
be revoked, but it needs to be shut in until it's
fixed.
CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER COZAD: Can you give your
name again for the record? I actually didn't get
it.
MR. RATZLAFF: Kalvin Ratzlaff.
CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you. Okay. Is
there any other public input?
Okay. Seeing no more public input, we
will close public input and we are going to take a
10 -minute recess.
(Break taken.)
CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: So the first thing,
there is a sign-up sheet. If you came up and spoke
but didn't actually sign this clipboard here,
sometime could you -- if you get a chance, could you
come up and fill this out. I think we've got a few
speakers that maybe missed signing this one. So
just clean that up when you can. Thank you.
Page 259
1 Certificate of Designation, if a new one is required
2 this -- you know, this standard is referring to the
3 original Certificate of Designation in 2010. So if
4 that has to be changed, that development standard no
5 longer applies to that Certificate of Designation.
6 It would be a new certificate. Typically when there
7 are modifications to development standards, there's
8 a requirement that there would be an amendment of
9 the USR in that instance.
10 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Okay.
11 Commissioner Cozad.
12 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I just want to make
13 sure I'm understanding what Chris is saying. So if
14 we determine that a CD -- or if we make a finding
15 that a CD -- a new CD is required, are you stating
16 that we would need to amend -- re -amend -- or amend
17 again this USR?
18 MR. GATHMAN: Yes.
19 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay. Thank you.
20 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Now the respondent.
21 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I don't believe
22 that's correct.
23 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Which?
24 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: That we would
25 have to require an amendment to the USR, because you
Page 258
1 With that -- so now we'll go back to the
2 respondents for -- oh, Chris.
3 MR. GATHMAN: Can I make one point? And
4 it's in regards to one of the development standards,
5 Development Standard No. 6.
6 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: He wants one
7 clarification.
8 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay.
9 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Go ahead and make your
to clarification, and then we'll have the respondent
11 come back up.
12 MR. GATHMAN: So Development Standard
13 No. 6 under the MUSR states, The property owner or
14 operator shall comply with the applicable sections
15 of the regulations pertaining to the Solid Waste
16 Disposal Sites and Facilities Act, and be
17 constructed, operated and monitored as detailed in
18 the application materials and conditions detailed in
19 the Engineering Design and Operations Plan approval
20 letter dated April 7th, 2010.
21 That letter is actually -- it talks
22 about -- its partly titled Certificate of
23 Designation Recommendation of Approval with
24 Conditions.
25 So based on what happens with the
Page 260
1 have to look at Development Standard No. 10 which
2 talks about in the event that there are changes.
3 So the first part of that sentence states
4 that they have to comply with the Solid Waste
5 Disposal Sites and Facility Act and be constructed,
6 operated and monitored as in the Engineering Design
7 and Operations Plan, the EDOP, dated in --
8 April 7th, because that was at that point in time.
9 But No. 10 speaks to if there's revisions
10 to the EDOP in the future. So I'm not sure they
11 would have to have an amendment to their USR.
12 Because No. 10 allows for in the event there should
13 be a change in their EDOP, they have to get approval
14 from everybody, as was stated earlier. It's just my
15 opinion.
16 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. We'll sort that
17 out when we get there.
18 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And we're not
19 talking about that here today anyways.
20 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. So with that, if
21 the respondent would please come forward, and
22 whatever statements, comments. Hopefully we can
23 limit this to fairly short amount of time.
24 MR. KURZENHAUSER: Three minutes.
25 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Not three minutes. You
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1 can have longer than that.
2 MR. KURZENHAUSER: Thank you very much.
3 Al Kurzenhauser. And I will keep it short. Again,
4 I appreciate the dedication and focus of the
5 Commissioners. It's been a long day. Lot of new
6 things have been learned today. And it's very, very
7 trying. I do want to stress again, we take this
8 seriously. And in no way do I want to impugn the
9 reputations of any of the citizens in this room or
10 in our community.
11 Odor is a complicated issue. It is not
12 black and white. And it has many subtle -- many
13 subtle pieces to it. I was going to say flavors to
14 it, but I didn't think that would sound right. But
15 it's very subtle. And -- and it is very, very
16 difficult to quantify when people personally
17 experience it. We recognize that.
18 We are dedicated to fixing this site. We
19 have shown we're putting money into the site. And
20 we are incredibly focused. You heard from some of
21 the citizens -- some of the folks who came up and
22 talked who have worked with us. We're a reputable
23 company, and we're trying to do all the right
24 things.
25 Shutting this plant down is not easy.
1 this community. We're integrated into the
2 agricultural flow of this community. We want to be
3 a success. We absolutely want to be a success.
4 Thank you very much for your time. Appreciate it.
5 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Thank you. Does the
6 Board have any questions?
7 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I actually do
8 have some questions of Heartland.
9 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Commissioner
10 Kirkmeyer has some questions. If they're not
11 directed to you, you can bring up whoever.
12 MR. KURZENHAUSER: Thank you.
13 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: In looking
14 through the 2 inches or so of materials that
15 Mr. Garcia gave to us earlier, I'm looking at what
16 is Exhibit 28 and Exhibit 29. So in Exhibit 28 it's
17 an e-mail from Roger Doak, who's with the Colorado
18 Department of Public Health & Environment, who talks
19 about -- he sent this to Marci. Solid waste remains
20 a waste unless the material achieves established
21 standards for unrestricted release. Talks about the
22 finished product as labeled or advertised in the
23 soil amendment or compost --
24 (Interruption by the court reporter.)
25 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: You can just
Page 262
1 It's not like shutting an oil well. It's a living,
2 breathing animal. It's really important to
3 understand. It's no different than a cow or a
4 person. Its a digestive process. You have
5 microbiological processes, and you have to let them
6 run their course. And when they run their course,
7 then you can shut the plant down. It would take
8 several months to shut this plant down, another
9 several months to clean it out. So shutting down
10 this project would take a long time and wouldn't
11 necessarily eliminate the odors immediately.
12 So, finally, I ask that you terminate the
13 show cause hearing, and we'll come back in six
14 months. If you're not willing to do that, then
15 please extend our next show cause hearing until
16 June. We have a plan in place. We have a Consent
17 Order with the State that provides very specific
18 requirements for us, equipment to implement, dates
19 we have to meet, with fixed penalties of $15,000 a
20 day. That's the hammer.
21 Have us meet with the public -- with the
22 planning department on a monthly basis, give them an
23 update on what we're doing. Have them come to the
24 sites and inspect. Our doors are open.
25 We are a responsible, dedicated member of
Page 264
1 refer to Exhibit 28. I'm just reading directly from
2 it.
3 And so if the finished product is labeled
4 or advertised as a soil amendment or compost, you'll
5 be subject to CDA rules and requirements. So that
6 was May 20th of 2013.
7 And then right after that, Exhibit 29 is
8 an application for a Solid Waste Beneficial Use
9 Determination. And that was submitted 12-7, 2016.
10 And it appears that it's related to the either
11 product or waste that is being used for the soil
12 amendment.
13 So could you please explain to us why
14 you applied for a Solid Waste Beneficial Use
15 Determination with the Colorado Department of Public
16 Health & Environment on December 7th, 2016, in
17 relationship to the land application product or
18 waste.
19 MR. KURZENHAUSER: Tom Haren will answer
20 that question, Commissioner Kirkmeyer.
21 MR. HAREN: Tom Haren here again. AGPRO,
22 3050 - 67th Avenue.
23 Yes, Roger Doak's outlining what I
24 outlined in my presentation that Table 1 in
25 Regulation 14, when you meet specifications on
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1 Table 1, it is no longer a solid waste, it is a
2 product. And the State through many meetings passed
3 that off, said with a -- with the Liquid Soil
4 Amendment we could get a label through the
5 Department of Ag.
6 I also stated earlier that in this lengthy
7 process, three of the four State regulators we've
8 worked through throughout this whole period are no
9 longer there or have retired, as well as some
10 turnover in County staff and some of our staff.
11 Mr. David Snapp, who has been involved
12 more recently, has suggested since there is no --
13 the -- the Colorado Department of Ag labeling for
14 compost, fertilizer and soil amendments is
15 relatively new. There is not a defined process for
16 how it would get handed off from solid waste to the
17 Department of Ag.
18 The discussion started, the suggestion was
19 made that a beneficial use determination could be an
20 official way that the solid waste department could
21 hand that off to the Department of Ag.
22 So it was -- I don't believe that it's --
23 has been necessary, is necessary, but as has come up
24 a couple times today, somebody suggested it. And in
25 an abundance of caution, prudence, with -- with EDF,
Page 267
1 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: All right. Thank
2 you.
3 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Can I ask a
4 follow-up?
5 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Go ahead. Yeah.
6 Sure.
7 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Mr. Haren, is there a
8 response that will come back from CDPHE on this
9 determination, beneficial use determination?
10 MR. HAREN: Since it was an application,
11 yes, we did expect a response.
12 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Do you know when?
13 MR. HAREN: I do not.
14 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay.
15 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Thank you.
16 Commissioner Kirkmeyer.
17 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Yeah. I have a
18 couple questions for Mr. Garcia and Mr. Kaufman.
19 So, again, in reading through all the documents that
20 you gave us, Exhibit 20 is a letter dated
21 October 8th, 2014. And as I was looking through
22 here, this one talks about Certificate of
23 Designation. And it speaks to the -- amending your
24 Engineering Design Operations Plan, therefore, the
25 Division considered changes to the Heartland CD --
Page 266
1 we've tried to follow our regulatory directives, and
2 we followed David Snapp's recommendation.
3 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And the
4 recommendation was to do an application for a Solid
5 Waste Beneficial Use Determination?
6 MR. HAREN: Correct.
7 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So since there
8 wasn't any other material, really, other than your
9 letter from December 6th attached to the application
10 that I was reading through, does that mean then that
11 the State is maybe reconsidering?
12 MR. HAREN: No.
13 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Then why file an
14 application?
15 MR. HAREN: There has not been -- in my
16 experience with five other regulated facilities that
17 are under Reg 14 that are both solid waste and
18 Class 1 or CD facilities, there's no certificate
19 or -- or document that the State gives you that
20 says, okay, this is now a product. It's inherent in
21 the regulation. We're required to do testing.
22 We're required to keep records, make them available
23 for inspection. But when our material meets the
24 requirements of Table 1, it is no longer a solid
25 waste.
Page 268
1 does not consider changes to the Heartland CD as
2 being necessary.
3 There wasn't anything in this letter with
4 regard to the transfer of ownership. So I'm
s wondering if anywhere in all of your documents if
6 there was anything that you received other than the
7 letter from -- that we forwarded to you, Weld County
8 forwarded to you from November 9th, if there was
9 anything from the State Department of Health
10 speaking to the transfer of ownership -- so anything
11 prior to November 9th, anything that spoke to the
12 transfer of ownership and not requiring a change to
13 the Heartland CD.
14 MR. KAUFMAN: There was the -- there was
15 the initial notification change order to the
16 Department of Public Health that identified
17 Heartland Biogas as the owner and operator of the
18 facility. And then there's a signature on that that
19 says approved back from 2013.
20 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: But was there
21 something in that letter that said the Division does
22 not consider these changes or this transfer of
23 ownership, meaning that the Heartland CD -- changes
24 to the Heartland CD would be necessary?
25 MR. KAUFMAN: Not that we've seen along
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1 the lines of this letter.
2 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay. Thank you.
3 And then along those board -- or along that line,
4 so, Mr. Kaufman, the way you were talking, you kind
5 of indicated you've had the letter that the Attorney
6 General's Office sent to the Board of County
7 Commissioners in Weld County -- or to Weld County
8 from -- it was November 9th of 2016.
9 And within that letter it does basically
10 say that the Certificate of Designation is not valid
11 and that your facility is due to submit a revision
12 to the EDOP following the completion of its pilot
13 project. And in the meantime, the Division's EDOP
14 application -- I don't know -- it goes on to say
15 essentially that they're encouraging you to -- this
16 is from the Attorney General's Office, encouraging
17 Heartland Biogas to get a new Certificate -- or
18 apply for a Certificate of Designation.
19 And then further, on November 30th, the
20 Department of Health -- and this is -- let me see if
21 there was an exhibit. This was in that stack that
22 Mr. Garcia gave us. Sorry. I don't see an -- oh,
23 there is, Exhibit 30.
24 Furthermore, there was an exhibit here
25 that states -- and it is from the Department of
Page 271
1 their letter, then why didn't you seek a court order
2 stating that you have a valid CD?
3 MR. KAUFMAN: Well, you know, we're not
4 particularly interested in fighting over this legal
5 technicality of whether there was some rubber stamp
6 process on this particular piece of paper or
7 nonpiece of paper. We'd rather follow the direction
8 of the regulators.
9 The direction back in 2013 was that there
10 was no indication that a new CD would be needed.
11 There was plenty of process through the State and
12 through the County that identified Heartland Biogas
13 as the owner, that identified its financial bona
14 fides, that was specifically approved by the County,
15 and allowed the process to go forward.
16 3-1/2 years later we have a letter kind of
17 out of the blue from the Attorney General's office.
18 It appears to be something of a cleanup. Our
19 understanding is there may be other facilities in
20 this particular boat. That -- you know, we've
21 looked at this issue a little more closely, and what
22 was said in 2016 -- or in 2013 doesn't reflect our
23 understanding now, so why don't we go clean this
24 process up. You apply to the County. Put
25 everything aboveboard. We can wrap it up and move
Page 270
1 Health, Douglas M. Ikenberry, dated November 30th.
2 It talks about the purpose of the Division's
3 inspection was to evaluate the facility's compliance
4 status with respect to the applicable minimal
5 standards put forth at the Solid Waste Disposal
6 Sites and Facilities Act and regulations. And it
7 lists what those all are.
8 And then it says, the Division is
9 currently encouraging the Heartland Biogas, LLC,
10 facility to apply to Weld County for a Certificate
11 of Designation soon, which I'm assuming you took to
12 heart because on -- this is Exhibit 25,
13 December 9th, Mr. Kaufman, you sent a letter to
14 Bruce Barker and Tom Parko, both with Weld County,
15 that you were wishing to formally modify your
16 Certificate of Designation.
17 So I find that odd because it's not
18 talking about transferring or anything, but modify
19 your designation.
20 So if -- with all of this information --
21 and you actually even sent a letter to us to
22 modify -- what -- if you believed that you have a --
23 or if you believed that the Attorney General's
24 Office was incorrect that the Certificate of
25 Designation is not valid, which is what they put in
Page 272
1 on. And so that's what we've done.
2 I don't think that that's inconsistent
3 with our position that we did everything that was
4 asked of us and that was required at the time in
s 2013, that a process was followed, that the County
6 and the State all assumed that there was a valid CD,
7 there's a lot of exhibits in there that indicate
8 that that was the case, and that now they've changed
9 their mind and they think a little differently about
10 this.
11 It's not unusual in a case like this where
12 there really is no statutory or regulatory
13 provisions that address the issue. We've got
14 somebody who is trying to make an interpretation.
15 Again, with all due respect to Mr. Kreutzer, we
16 never had an opportunity to present our case to him.
17 There was a number of facts that weren't considered
18 in his letter.
19 But we want to move forward. There's no
zo question about who is the owner of this facility.
21 There never has been. There never has been for the
22 last three years. So let's move forward with the
23 process. If that requires a hearing in front of
24 this Board, we're certainly willing to do that and
25 talk about the ownership of this facility and why
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1 it's an appropriate owner.
2 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: That's fine. I
3 don't have a question, but I do have a comment.
4 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay.
5 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: There actually is
6 a regulation that speaks to the transfership to a
7 new owner or operator, and it's in the Solid Waste
8 Disposal Sites and Facilities Act, and it's in their
9 state's regulations, which requires that the
10 governing body having jurisdiction reviews and
11 approves, just so we know. Thank you. I didn't
12 have any any further question or comment.
13 MR. KAUFMAN: May I respond.
14 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: It's up to the
15 Chair.
16 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Sure.
17 MR. KAUFMAN: I am aware of that. It's a
18 very narrow provision that provides in the instance
19 where there's financial assurances that have been
20 provided and then are transferred as part of the
21 transfer of ownership, that that process has -- that
22 there has to be some sort of approval. In this
23 case -- and I can't tell you -- speak as to why it
24 happened -- the original owners never provided the
25 financial assurances. There was nothing to transfer
Page 275
1 require a new CD was because Denver was listed on
2 the CD. So it specifically talks about that case,
3 which I think is different than this case. So can
4 you address both those two things?
5 MR. KAUFMAN: Yes. Certainly. We're not
6 saying that there doesn't need to be some
7 acknowledgment and examination by the County of the
8 ability of the facility to run the -- run the plant.
9 We're saying that that was all handled through
10 the -- the ongoing land use process where Heartland
11 Biogas was identified as the owner of the facility.
12 In at least a couple of instances there was actually
13 financial guarantees that were approved by the
14 County as to the company's ability to, you know,
15 handle the myriad of responsibilities that they were
16 going to have.
17 So, you know, it's our position that that
18 process was followed, that the County did have an
19 opportunity -- if you look at Mr. Kreutzer's letter
20 and also at the case, the idea is that, yes, the
21 County has to have an opportunity to examine whether
22 the owner is an appropriate owner.
23 What's not explained by the statute, the
24 regulations, guidance documents, anywhere, from what
25 I can find, is what that process has to look like.
Page 274
1 at that time when they transferred ownership of the
2 facility, so there was nothing to approve in the
3 transferring of the financial guarantees.
4 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. All right.
5 Other questions for Heartland?
6 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I guess I'll have a
7 follow-up on where Commissioner's Kirkmeyer is
8 going.
9 In reading the letter from the Attorney
10 General's Office, it also says that Certificates of
11 Designation do not transfer to new owner operators
12 because the CD is more than a simple zoning
13 document.
14 And it also talks about how it's our
15 responsibility to make sure that that owner/operator
16 can meet all the requirements and can run the
17 facility and has the financial bond or whatever it
18 is that has to be submitted as part of the CD to
19 make sure that it's operated correctly. So can you
20 address that provision?
21 And then I think Mr. Garcia also mentioned
22 the City and County of Denver versus Eggert case.
23 And when I was reading through that and looking at
24 that section, it also talks about the only reason
25 why that case -- that they did not ultimately
Page 276
1 And I think our position is there was plenty of
2 process in this case. There was a myriad of
3 planning documents that went forward with Heartland
4 Biogas as the owner with the opportunity for the
5 County to question Heartland Biogas, whether they
6 can really build this facility, whether they can
7 really run this facility. And they allowed that
8 stuff to go forward.
9 Now, can we come back and have a specific
10 hearing that says, okay, now we're going to talk
11 about just the CD, sure. And we're willing to do
12 that, and that's why we submitted that application.
13 I don't think it's any different in substance than
14 what's occurred over the past three years with
15 respect to this facility. The same issues have
16 always been discussed. The same questions about the
17 ability to build this facility are part of all of
18 these land use determinations. And so we believe
19 that that meets the what I would say is very vague
20 and -- and not very well explained intent of the
21 Court in the City of Denver case.
22 I mean, if you look at the case, it's a
23 throw -off line they put in there. It doesn't
24 directly address the issues, as we mentioned in our
25 brief. And it really had the opportunity to
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1 struggle with what does this mean in the context of
2 the statute. What does this process look like when
3 you've already gone through a full Certificate of
4 Designation hearing and looked at all the factors
5 that are required under the statute, and you have
6 this one narrow issue with respect to is this an
7 appropriate owner.
8 So we're suggesting under the
9 circumstances that's been followed. If we need more
10 process, then we're certainly willing to do that.
11 COMMISSIONER COZAD: So I guess, you know,
12 personally I would kind of disagree with you because
13 I think in the letter that's dated November 8th, the
14 Attorney General's Office actually says, Therefore
15 the facility no longer has a CD.
16 I understand you're saying that there were
17 other things that happened, the plat recording, the
18 Improvements Agreement, and those things. But that
19 was prior to us receiving this letter from the
20 Attorney General's Office.
21 I think, you know, probably Heartland as
22 well as the County relied on the previous
23 documentation that came from the State that said
24 that didn't -- that said that you didn't need to do
25 anything. But when this happened on November 8th,
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Page 279
their new interpretation, let's move forward with
that. We'll button it up. You know, this isn't
like there wasn't ever a CD, that none of these
things were ever considered that are required under
the statute. This was, you know, a technical
process that wasn't required back then or wasn't
seemingly required back then, and they think maybe
it is.
Now, yeah, could we have a legal fight and
take this all the way to the Supreme Court and have
an argument about, well, you know, did we really
have a CD or not? The fact of the matter is, as a
practical matter, we all know who the owner of the
facility is. They operated in good faith. They
presented all the information. They satisfied the
County at every turn through the planning process.
And that shouldn't be the kind of thing that results
in the revocation of the USR.
Now, should we go through more process?
That's fine. But to 3, 3-1/2 years after the fact,
after we relied on all of these processes, after
we've spent money in reliance on those processes and
say, well, you know what, the State changed its mind
on this, or I should specifically say there's an
Attorney General -- Assistant Attorney General at
Page 278
1 that actually was the date that it did come to our
2 attention and that we -- we are notified that you do
3 not have a valid CD. So would you agree with that
4 or comment?
5 MR. KAUFMAN: Well, I agree that's
6 Mr. Kreutzer's opinion. And as I mentioned before,
7 Mr. Kreutzer is not a trier of fact. And certainly
8 he is entitled to his legal opinion. He's read the
9 case and he's expressed that in the letter.
10 You know, to be fair, there were a number
11 of facts that I don't think Mr. Kreutzer considered.
12 He didn't consider a number of the proceedings that
13 went before the County, and not just the County
14 staff, but the County commission on some of the
15 approvals.
16 And I think those are key given the
17 rationale that's expressed both in his letter and in
18 the case. You know, that being said, you know, as
19 Mr. Garcia pointed out at the very beginning, this
20 is a gray area. You know, there's nothing in the
21 statute that really provides what you do on this.
22 The State took a position back in 2013. It wasn't
23 appropriate. Now they rethought that position.
24 They think that maybe it is.
25 So let's move forward. And if that's
Page 280
1 the State who now thinks that the process wasn't
2 completely aboveboard, that it wasn't followed the
3 way they would like it now, I don't think that
4 that's proper or right.
5 And I don't think you have to look at what
6 Mr. Kreutzer is recommending. He's not recommending
7 shutting down the facility. He's not recommending
8 revoking the USR. His language is very mild with
9 respect to what needs to be done. It's, hey, you
10 know, this is a technicality. You guys have to deal
11 with it, both the County and the facility. And
12 we're certainly prepared to do that.
13 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay.
14 MR. GARCIA: If I may, more so not only
15 we're prepared to do that, we have made the
16 application which was asked of us. And the --
17 really the -- the next step is in the hands of the
18 County. The next step is, as Mr. Haug mentioned
19 very early on in our day today, that the County will
20 review. The County will then submit to the State
21 for their review. And so the steps really are not
22 in our hands at this time. We've -- we have tried
23 to comply.
24 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay. So I think I
25 asked this question at the very beginning. So isn't
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1 it a formal application or is it just a letter
2 requesting modification to the CD?
3 MR. KAUFMAN: Our understanding --
4 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: It's not a
5 modification. If I may.
6 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Go ahead.
7 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I just want to
8 know if any time before November 9th when we
9 forwarded the letter to you from the Attorney
10 General's Office, which is different than any
11 notification or any comments from the Department of
12 Public Health, if you had an understanding of the
13 rules with regard to the transfer of ownership, that
14 it required the governing body to review and
15 approve. Not only the department, but the governing
16 body. Did you have knowledge of that, that rule?
17 MR. KAUFMAN: Our understanding from what
18 we were told is that we submitted the appropriate
19 paperwork, and that the transfer of ownership was
20 approved.
21 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So you did have
22 knowledge of the rule? Because that's why I also
23 asked if there was anything in your documentation
24 that showed, from the Department, that when they
25 kept saying that you didn't need to modify your CD,
Page 283
1 Heartland Biogas, LLC, To whom it may concern. So I
2 don't know who this letter was sent to. And it just
3 says, To whom it may concern, we've transferred
4 ownership. There's -- I didn't see anything from
5 the Department of Health or from the Attorney
6 General's Office stating that you didn't need to get
7 the Department's review and approval. So I don't
8 see anything where the Department actually approved
9 the transfer. And that's what I asked for, and I
10 didn't see it. I asked you if you had anything like
11 that, and you told me no.
12 MR. KAUFMAN: No. I -- there -- attached
13 to that, the -- the document was the approval. And
14 I think it's in our packet in a couple different
15 places.
16 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Could you point
17 to those exhibits, please?
18 MR. KAUFMAN: Yes. Sorry. In the course
19 of the hearing my exhibits have gotten out of order.
20 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: That's fine. If
21 they want to take a few minutes to look through
22 things I have questions for the staff.
23 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. So go ahead
24 and -- go ahead and look for those. And go ahead --
25 Commissioner Kirkmeyer will go ahead with the
Page 282
1 that it was related to the transfer of ownership.
2 Because everything that I read through and
3 everything that you submitted to us just talked
4 about the EDOP. It didn't really talk about
5 transfer of ownership. So I don't even know if the
6 department -- and I assume they're not here today
7 because they didn't get up to speak. So I don't
8 even know if the Department understood about the
9 transfer of ownership or understood that the two
10 LLCs were different because their names are so
11 similar.
12 MR. KAUFMAN: Well, there certainly is in
13 the doc -- there's documentation in our packet that
14 is the exhibit of the change request, the --
15 changing the ownership of the facility from
16 Heartland Renewable Energy to Heartland Biogas, and
17 then the indication from the Department that that
18 was approved. And then there's also documentation
19 that that fact was made aware -- that Weld County
20 was made aware of that fact that -- specifically
21 that we identified. And it was all in the same time
22 frame right there.
23 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: But this letter
24 that's -- Commissioner Freeman just gave me a letter
25 that's Exhibit 15, dated October 28th, 2013, is from
Page 284
1 questions she has for staff, and then we'll come
2 back.
3 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Sure. So this
4 is -- so this is for the health department. With
5 regard to the application for a Solid Waste
6 Beneficial Use Determination, could you tell me your
7 interpretation of this and why they -- why you think
8 they're applying now for it?
9 MR. FRISSELL: Sure. I have to go back a
10 little bit to kind of describe on -- and go forward
11 with this and kind of what my interpretation and
12 what I have seen with this. It goes back to the --
13 to the digester, the DSSOP. They made a Change
14 Request 10. Based on that Change Request 10 they
15 gained approval for that, for that Digester Solids
16 Operation Plan. And it was an approval with
17 conditions.
18 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I'm sorry.
19 Change Request 10, what is that?
20 MR. FRISSELL: They submitted on July 1st,
21 2015. It was called a Response on Low Permeability
22 Pad Change Request 10. This was submitted by AGPRO.
23 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Submitted that to
24 who? You?
25 MR. FRISSELL: This is all through the
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1 State at this time.
2 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay.
3 MR. FRISSELL: So this was submitted to
4 the State July 1st, 2015. Based on conversations
5 between the State and the facility and/or AGPRO, an
6 Approval with Conditions letter was sent out on
7 November 20th, 2015.
8 In this letter it is approving the -- the
9 DSSO plan. And it specifically states that the
10 Division has reviewed the DSSO and hereby approves
11 it and the full scale pilot project with the
12 conditions described herein.
13 As part of one of the conditions, it says
14 that an updated Beneficial Use Determination is
15 required. That's on November 20th, 2015.
16 Additionally, on September 8th, 2016, a
17 letter between the State and it looks like Heartland
18 and -- at least with Heartland -- we were not
19 included on this letter. I got this third party.
20 It states in this letter that the CDPHE
21 considers the waste generated from the digestion
22 process a solid waste, and water generated from the
23 anaerobic digester, a digest or wastewater. So
24 based on those items, it still appears that the
25 CDPHE is requiring a beneficial use determination.
1 USR?
2 MR. BARKER: I think the health department
3 is going to have to address that with respect to --
4 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Health department
5 or the planning department?
6 MR. BARKER: Either one. -- with respect
7 to the requirements for land application.
8 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I'm talking about
9 the requirements of the USR. Typically when
10 people -- when applicants apply for a USR, they list
11 all of the uses that are covered under that USR.
12 Land application is not a use that's in here.
13 Typically we've had this in other cases where a land
14 application is included with composting facilities,
15 and they talk about land application. So if it's
16 not included in the original application and all of
17 this --
18 MR. BARKER: But the answer would be is it
19 required to get a USR to do that. In other words,
20 did it have to be in the USR? Did you have to get
21 USR approval to be able to do that?
22 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So if they are
23 producing waste on their property and they're moving
24 it to another acreage, not their own, that typically
25 requires a USR.
Page 286
1 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Because they're
2 calling it wastewater?
3 MR. FRISSELL: They're calling the digest
4 material, which is the Liquid Soil Amendment that
5 they're describing, a -- still a waste. So
6 regardless of the Department of Agriculture's
7 determination, they still consider that and still
8 need this information.
9 Based on that, that is where this BUD
10 letter came from. Their application on November --
11 I'm sorry. I don't have the date.
12 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: The application
13 was just the 7th of December.
14 MR. FRISSELL: Yeah. There you go.
15 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay. Thank you.
16 So my question now is for the county
17 attorney's office or the planning department. So in
18 looking at the resolution where it was passed for
19 this USR, I didn't see anything in there with regard
20 to land application. So regardless of the
21 Certificate of Designation and regardless of whether
22 it's a waste or a product, wouldn't it have had had
23 to have been covered in their USR? So now if
24 they're adding yet another use to their USR,
25 wouldn't they have to have amended that into their
Page 288
1 MR. BARKER: There's land application
2 permits that are allowed without a Use by Special
3 Review. I don't know if this would fit within that.
4 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So -- so that's
5 the first question. Who wants to answer that?
6 MR. FRISSELL: I can answer to some parts
7 of it. There are land applications of manure and
8 manure slurries through pivots and all those things
9 that do not require any type of USR things. And
10 that is generally okay to apply to farm fields.
As far as a beneficial use part of a USR,
12 I have not gone through that process or have seen
13 that as a USR so far; however, that doesn't mean
14 that it might not have to be part of that.
15 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Can I ask a
16 follow-up?
17 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Chris, did you
18 want to add anything to that?
19 MR. GATHMAN: I think he's covered it. I
20 don't think I've specifically dealt with that
21 situation either. I mean, I've dealt with dairies
22 and, you know, the land application associated with
23 that, but...
24 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay. So
25 basically what I think I hear you saying from the
11
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1 health department is that they wouldn't need a land
2 application permit for biosolids through our health
3 department.
4 MR. FRISSELL: For biosolids they would
s have to go through a permitting process through
6 the -- I'm sorry here -- Board of Health.
7 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Yeah.
8 MR. FRISSELL: And they get their permit
9 through that. However, I don't think that is a part
10 of a USR process.
11 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: No. Let's not
12 confuse the two. I just want -- my question to you
13 is this. If this is considered to be a biosolid, do
14 they need a permit through the health department?
15 MR. FRISSELL: If it would be considered a
16 biosolid, then they would need to go through the
17 Department of -- sorry, the Board of Health.
18 However, I'm not sure what the beneficial use
19 determination -- it would actually be called --
20 called a biosolid versus what they are calling as a
21 Liquid Soil Amendment. So I don't want to get the
22 two biosolids in whatever this product is confused
23 either.
24 Not having to have gone through an
25 approval for a beneficial use, we are still working
Page 291
1 goes back to the uses permitted under the USR. And
2 this was a use. It's not permitted under the USR.
3 And I want to know if it needed to be permitted as a
4 use under the USR. That's my question.
5 MR. BARKER: For the answer to that you
6 would have to go back to Section 23-3-40 which deals
7 with Use by Special Review in the ag zone. So is it
8 listed as one of those things, meaning that part of
9 this operation, or is it something in which it's use
10 by right, and then you only permit if it's a
11 biosolid. They would need -- would be under
12 Chapter 14 getting that permit.
13 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So is that a use
14 by right?
15 MR. BARKER: I'm looking through and
16 seeing under Use by Special Review, and I don't see
17 it being listed, so --
18 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: You're assuming,
19 then, it's a use by right?
20 MR. BARKER: Have to back up and take a
21 look at the use by right.
22 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay. All right.
23 I'm sorry. Commissioner.
24 COMMISSIONER COZAD: No. Actually, I have
25 some additional follow-up that's following along the
Page 290
1 on what the actual -- how this will look going
2 forward.
3 One requirement from the CDPHE is
4 basically saying that if we make this beneficial use
5 determination, and we approve it, it's still up to
6 the local governing body to make the final approval.
7 We have not gone to that -- that far yet.
8 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay. And then
9 my question for Chris is within the USR process,
10 whether it's called a product, a product of
11 what's -- you know, produced from the waste that's
12 there or whatever, or whether it's called waste,
13 wouldn't it have to have been included under what
14 was being permitted under the USR?
15 MR. GATHMAN: Well, if they planned to do
16 that, it would have been good to have it in the
17 application.
18 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Would they have
19 needed it in the application? Would it have had to
20 have been in the application is the question.
21 MR. GATHMAN: I think it goes back to --
22 and I'm not an expert. I don't mean to say that
23 again. But is it defined as a waste or is it
24 defined as a soil amendment?
25 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: No. I think it
Page 292
1 lines of what you guys are both talking about.
2 In the USR, it lists that the USR is for a
3 solid waste disposal site and facility, and includes
4 Class 1 composting and animal waste recycling or
5 processing facility.
6 So I guess my question to Chris and/or Ben
7 would be would the LSA -- would that be -- would you
8 interpret that as being a part of those uses that
9 are listed in the title of what the USR is for? And
10 would that be included as a part of their composting
11 or animal waste recycling and processing facility?
12 MR. FRISSELL: I believe the LSA was
13 actually described in the 2013 EDOP as being a
14 product during that time. However, 2013 to 2016,
15 there are differences. And there's -- like has been
16 stated, staff have changed and things have changed
17 at the State. And requirements have been made
18 because of documentation submitted, i.e., the DSSOP
19 in 2015. So just because the item was described in
20 2013, it has morphed into a possible requirement of
21 a BUD with the County approval.
22 And then under the USR that would be --
23 since they are approved -- they do have an approved
24 EDOP, that we have looked at -- or at least the
25 State have looked at and approved, then that item
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1 was described as being a product or at least a
2 byproduct in that -- in their Engineering Design
3 Operations Plan.
4 COMMISSIONER COZAD: From 2013?
5 MR. FRISSELL: Correct.
6 COMMISSIONER COZAD: But from 2013 to 2016
7 when those modifications were made, is it still in
8 there?
9 MR. FRISSELL: Yeah. That product has
10 always been a part of this plan and -- which was
11 described in their DSSO plan, which got the State to
12 basically say this is why you need the beneficial
13 use determination.
14 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Okay. So even if
15 it's -- even if it was included in the EDOP, and it
16 was interpreted to be a part of the USR plan, it
17 doesn't mean that they didn't need to get a permit,
18 potentially, from CDPHE, this beneficial use
19 determination -- I don't know if that's considered a
zo permit, but at least a determination from the State.
21 It didn't -- didn't waive that other requirement to
22 meet the State regulations.
23 MR. FRISSELL: My understanding would be
24 no.
25 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Thank you.
Page 295
1 it's got the approval from Larry Bruskin with the
2 solid waste approving the -- the Change Request 5,
3 which is the one that has the transfer of ownership.
4 And then subsequently to that, shortly
5 thereafter, the County took up the plat, and
6 approved the plat. And this is the significant
7 part, they approved it in the name of Heartland
8 Biogas, LLC. And that was signed by the then chair,
9 Commissioner Rademacher. So that's part of the
10 overall process that indicates the intent to adopt
11 Heartland Biogas as the owner of the facility.
12 And it's all part of -- you know, it's all
13 part of the same planning process, which
14 unfortunately, this probably would have all been
15 clearer if the process had been separated out from
16 the CD process and the approval -- the land use
17 process, but it was all done together. There is --
18 as I mentioned, there is no independent Certificate
19 of Designation. There's the resolution from the
zo County that includes the phrase Certificate of
21 Designation, and then there's the subsequent plat
22 that executes that.
23 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay. So just
24 for the record, I'm looking at Exhibit 14, which is
25 a resolution to approve or request and modify the
Page 294
1 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. So did you
2 find what --
3 MR. KAUFMAN: We have.
4 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Thank you.
5 MR. KAUFMAN: So it's a series of exhibits
6 starting with Exhibit 14, which is the resolution of
7 this Board on the MUSR, which does list Heartland
8 Renewable Energy as the -- as the owner, and
9 discusses the Certificate of Designation.
10 Then -- Exhibit 15 is the document that
11 was provided to Weld County. I know it doesn't say
12 that. The people who have done that indicate that
13 that was provided to Weld County on the, To whom it
14 may concern.
15 And then Exhibit 16 is actually the change
16 request to the State which was submitted in December
17 of that year -- or was submitted in November of that
18 year.
19 And then if you look at the next copy on
20 17, you can see the approval on that. I apologize.
21 Looking at this document, Exhibit 16, there is --
22 there is an approval that's on the back of this, but
23 for some reason that didn't get copied.
24 If you look at the -- the subsequent
25 submission on December 4th, 2013, to the County,
Page 296
1 site layout. I don't see anything in it with regard
2 to the transfer of ownership.
3 MR. KAUFMAN: That's correct. That was
4 before the transfer of ownership. Then the transfer
5 of ownership was accomplished shortly thereafter.
6 The notification was given to the County of the
7 transfer of ownership. The notification was given
8 to the State of the transfer of ownership. The
9 State approved the transfer of ownership. That
10 approval was then sent to the County. Then the
11 County took up the proceeding as part of the land
12 use process approving the plat in the name of -- and
13 this is Exhibit --
14 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Sure. I
1s understand all that. I just don't -- I was asking
16 for any kind of document that said we actually
17 reviewed and approved the transfer of ownership.
18 And then in the -- Exhibit 16, this is a
19 description of change to update the Engineering
20 Design and Operations Plan, which the State in
21 Exhibit 17 apparently said that they approved that
22 change. But, again, I don't see anything that
23 formally says that the State reviewed and approved
24 the change of ownership, I guess, other than it was
25 buried here in the EDOP, updating the EDOP. Is that
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it?
MR. KAUFMAN: Well, it's Item 3 of the
description of change.
COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Yeah. I
understand. It was buried in updating the EDOP. Is
there anything elsewhere the State specifically said
they approved -- reviewed and approved the change of
8 ownership other than this?
9 MR. KAUFMAN: That's -- that's the
10 approval right there.
11 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Thank you.
12 MR. KAUFMAN: Now, subsequently there's --
13 there is additional material that we presented
14 that indicates that the State took the position that
15 the -- the CD was in the name of Heartland Biogas.
16 If you look at Exhibit 20, it specifically talks
17 about -- and this is a little less than a year
18 later, the Certificate of Designation for Heartland
19 Biogas, LLC, where they refer to the fact that you
20 don't need to again change the Certificate of
21 Designation.
22 So, you know, again, that's evidence that
23 all of the parties involved intended that the
24 Certificate of Designation was transferred, and was
25 certainly done aboveboard. Whether there should
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Page 299
Okay. Thank you. With that, I will bring
it to the Board for discussion. Who would like to
start?
COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Given the hour,
I'll start. I'm trying to get all my little notes
put together here real quick. So, you know, when
we -- when the Board approved this USR and
8 Certificate of Designation, I was on the Board then.
9 And even subsequent to that I know that there are
10 quotes by me in -- I think in an NPR radio or in a
11 news clipping about the benefits of the facility.
12 And at that time I was proud.
13 But I can tell you right now, I'm not.
14 I'm not proud of what's going on here. I mean, I
15 think one of our citizens got up and said that this
16 has morphed into a mess. He could not have defined
17 it better. It has morphed into a mess.
18 So -- and we aren't just unilaterally
19 looking to try and shut something down. We have all
20 spent a lot of time, all of us, including the people
21 who are in the area and in the neighborhood. And I
22 would agree with their comments, it's not their job.
23 It is not their job to become an expert, but they've
24 had to become an expert.
25 We have had e-mail after e-mail from
Page 298
1 have been any different type of process, if
2 Mr. Kreutzer takes that opinion, I take a more
3 practical viewpoint of it; was there a practical
4 opportunity for the County to review all this
5 material, rule on this. And it certainly was as
6 part of the plat and as part of the other documents
7 where there were County resolutions that acknowledge
8 Heartland Biogas as the owner of the facility.
9 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Any other
10 questions for Heartland?
11 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Thank you.
12 MR. GARCIA: Thank you. To be brief, I
13 wanted to address two of the items that were
14 discussed by the Commissioners while we were looking
15 at these documents. One is please recall the
16 comments of Mr. Haren regarding LSA. LSA is compost
17 material.
18 And the second one, there was some
19 question, discussion regarding biosolids. Biosolids
20 have a specific definition both within State statute
21 and in regulations. And that definition includes
22 human waste. And that is not something that is
23 utilized here at this facility, so it does not.
24 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Any other
25 questions?
Page 300
1 people who are now -- I mean, I understand what it's
2 like to have to read Subtitle D and to read the
3 Solid Waste Disposal Act. It takes a lot. You've
4 got to go back and forth and try and read it. And
5 if you're not an engineer or if you haven't put in
6 an application, there's a lot there to do.
7 So, you know, Mr. Welch sent us -- I don't
8 know. I was trying to count them, but I didn't get.
9 But sent us numerous e -mails where obviously he has
10 done a lot of research with regard to the Solid
11 Waste Act. And it's not his job. It's our job.
12 It was our job, as Commissioner Cozad
13 said, to protect the health and welfare of our
14 residents. That's our job.
15 You know, we've all spent a lot of time,
16 none of us live there, we've all gone by there,
17 we've all smelt the smell. This is a solid waste
18 disposal facility.
19 This is a show cause hearing. This is not
20 a USR hearing. We're essentially in a compliance
21 hearing. It's not about do they meet our co -- do
22 they meet our comprehensive plan. That's not what
23 this is about. All of that testimony really, quite
24 frankly, wasn't relevant.
25 I think we all understand the -- the
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importance and the financial benefits to Weld County
of this facility. But I also understand the
benefits of our residents and the financial impact
that they have been dealing with, but the financial
impact that they have to the County as well and to
our whole neighborhood.
And, you know, I agree with you,
Commissioner Conway, we want everybody to be a good
neighbor. And we tell people -- on pretty much
every hearing we tell everybody, just be a good
neighbor and that would solve a lot of these issues.
You know what, I'm just to the point where we don't
have a good neighbor. And, again, it's morphed into
a mess.
And I would agree with the comments
that -- you know, essentially what I heard from the
experts on odor was that, you know what, it's not
really -- people call in complaints, really, when
there wasn't one because the wind wasn't going the
right way or whatever. I just think that's kind of
disrespectful as well. And I didn't appreciate it
either. And I can only imagine that they didn't
appreciate it. Of course, they all told us they
didn't.
So I don't think we can dismiss the
Page 303
1 that's what we were going to be doing.
2 And for the last month, 60 days, whatever
3 it's been, that's what I've been doing. And I think
4 that's what all the rest of you have been doing.
5 And certainly there have been several other people
6 who have been doing it as well.
7 So I don't think it's a matter of
8 interpretation, and I think it is pretty black and
9 white. So I am -- I'm prepared to make a motion to
10 revoke the permit, and base it on the findings that
11 our staff have given us and that are in our
12 resolution that is before us. I don't think I need
13 to repeat all of those given the late hour, but I
14 would include those in any findings when we get to
15 that point.
16 And I'm going to go on further, because
17 I've been reading the law quite a bit as well. And
18 there's a clear violation of State Rule and
19 Regulation -- and it's 6 CCR 1007-1.8.4D -- I
20 believe I have the correct citation -- says that, a
21 CD may not be transferred unless the financial
22 assurance has been reviewed and approved by the
23 Department -- and that's the State Health
24 Department -- and the governing body, which is. And
25 that has never occurred.
Page 302
1 investments our residents have made into their
2 properties and into this area. I don't think that
3 we can dismiss all of the testimony that we have
4 heard.
5 And, you know, granted when we started
6 this probable cause hearing, we were not aware of
7 the rule with regard to the transfer of ownership.
8 I wasn't aware of it. And I don't read through all
9 those rules anymore. Well, I do now, but I didn't
10 read through them back then. I didn't know about it
11 at the time. We weren't aware. So if we weren't
12 here for this odor complaint and for the compliance
13 order from the State health department and the
14 violation that occurred -- and there is a violation.
15 And let's not minimize it. We have one violation.
16 Most of our sites, we don't even get one violation.
17 We have a violation. You want to know what that
18 tells me? We just haven't been out there at the
19 right time to get any more violations.
20 So this is in front of us now. It is all
21 in front of us now. We went through the correct
22 process to ensure -- and, in fact, I put on the
23 record that we were going to discuss the validity of
24 the Certificate of Designation at the previous show
25 cause hearing, putting everyone on notice that
Page 304
1 And quite frankly, burying it in an update
2 to the EDOP is not an approval to me. I read
3 through all that documentation and went through all
4 of Mr. Garcia's comments and the letters there, and
5 followed along with what Mr. Kaufman was saying it.
6 They buried it in an EDOP revision. That's not an
7 approval for a transfer. That was an approval on
8 updating their EDOP. And so it was kind of buried
9 there. And I guess I just don't like that and I
10 don't agree with it.
11 The -- there's also -- the State
12 requires -- and this was in the Attorney General's
13 letter. And it's in Section 30-20-102, No. 1.
14 That -- essentially the State Attorney General's
15 Office told us that there is not a valid CD. That's
16 their opinion, their attorneys'. That's what
17 they're supposed to be doing as well. And it states
18 very clearly in there that a person who owns and
19 operates a solid waste disposal facility, which this
20 is, must obtain a CD.
21 And in the Attorney General's letter, he
22 states it very clearly. The two Heartland LLCs are
23 not related to each other. I don't know if the
24 State Health Department understood that. I don't
25 know that we understood that. I mean, it's very
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1 clever, Heartland Renewable, Heartland Biogas. Kind
2 of seems like the same company. But they're not
3 related to each other.
4 The land ownership changed, and no longer
5 does Shelton Land and Cattle Company own the land.
6 And it is not operated by Heartland Renewable
7 Energy. They were very clear in stating that. So
8 it's not a technicality. It's a violation of the
9 State statute. The people who own it have not had
10 the CD transferred to them properly. It hasn't
11 happened. We have never -- as a board we've never
12 done it. And I asked everybody, and nobody has
13 anything that shows that we have.
14 And furthermore, when we go on to consider
15 whether we are granting a CD the first time or
16 whether we are transferring a CD, under the statutes
17 it's very clear, under 30-20-104, 1C, that we have
18 the ability -- that we have to decide when we are
19 considering granting a CD -- so that would be in
20 transferring a CD as well -- the ability of the
21 applicant to comply with the health standards and
22 operating procedures in the Act and the State
23 Department's rules and regulations.
24 We're in a show cause hearing from a
25 complaint. And from -- as you go through this, what
Page 307
1 I don't know that we had enough proof for
2 No. 18, Development Standard No. 18, which was to
3 exhaust the removal system, so I would probably not
4 include that one in the findings.
5 But in No. 21, it doesn't say that you get
6 one and then you get into compliance or you don't
7 get into compliance or you get a Consent Agreement
8 or whatever. It just says you're supposed to be in
9 compliance. Well, they're not. We have one on
10 April 27th -- a violation on April 27th. So they
11 are in violation of that development standard.
12 And then I would agree that they probably
13 are not in compliance with 30. Do I think those
14 are -- 30 is as substantial as not having a valid
15 Certificate of Designation? No. But it's still
16 there and I'm going to list it.
17 And the other ones, 34, 42 and 45, I would
18 agree with the comments that were put in on the
19 record and that are written here by our staff that,
20 again, clearly they're not in compliance with those
21 development standards.
22 You know, it is not easy to revoke a
23 permit. I know that Commissioner Conway and I have
24 been here before. And I've been here a few times
25 before. And it's not easy.
Page 306
1 our staff has done, there is evidence here to show
2 that they're in violation of Development Standard
3 No. 6, which is they have to comply with all
4 applicable sections of the Solid Waste Disposal
5 Sites and Facilities Act, CCR 107 -- or 6 CCR 107.
6 So the rules and the -- the statutes, they have to
7 comply with that.
8 It talks about that they have to have an
9 EDOP, and that those EDOPs -- those Engineering
10 Design and Operations Plans when they're modified,
11 they have to be consistent with the original grant
12 to the CD, and that's not happening.
13 It goes on. I would probably agree that
14 in No. 16 there probably was not enough evidence to
15 show that fugitive dust and fugitive particulate
16 emissions are not controlled on the site. I don't
17 think we had anything there, so I would probably
18 delete that one.
19 But No. 17 where it says it has to come --
20 operate in compliance with the Colorado Air Quality
21 Control, okay, they had to enter into a Certificate
22 of Compliance, so obviously -- a Consent Agreement
23 is what it is. I'm sorry. And so apparently they
24 aren't in -- they aren't in compliance with our
25 development standard.
Page 308
1 We understand the amount of money that you
2 put into the facility. We understand the impacts to
3 those people who are using your facility, those
4 entities that are using your facility. For God's
5 sake, I grew up on a dairy farm and owned a dairy
6 farm, so I get it. But it is our job as County
7 Commissioners to protect the health, welfare and
8 safety of our residents. And I would feel like we
9 are not doing our job if we don't revoke this permit
10 today. So that's where I'm at.
11 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Why are you -all
12 looking at me? All right. I'll go next. I've
13 listed a few things, too.
14 While I don't disagree with the findings
15 that Commissioner Kirkmeyer listed -- I also have
16 those in my notes as well. Development Standard
17 No. 6, they are not in compliance, do not have a
18 valid CD. And they're not in compliance with the
19 EDOP currently.
20 Also, on No. 10 I think the deviations of
21 the EDOP, including the drainage, which I think
22 actually go back to Development Standards No. 10 and
23 No. 42. And, you know, I think as Commissioner
24 Kirkmeyer stated, while some of those development
25 standards are maybe not as big of a deal as not
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having a CD and those types of things, you know,
still says that they need to be in compliance with
their design and operation standards. And that
includes their approved drainage report which they
are not -- it was not constructed in compliance with
that.
As far as the APEN on Development Standard
No. 17, you know, I think on that one it's a little
bit -- it's somewhat questionable, although I think
the Consent Agreement that they have with the State
also does indicate that they are not in compliance
on that either. But as far as the DPS facility, I
don't think we're sure until that -- they make a
determination.
But I think with the fact that we do have
a Consent Agreement with the State indicates that
they are not in compliance with that one.
I think the only other thing that I wanted
to have some discussion about, though, is -- I
understand where Commissioner Kirkmeyer is going on
a revocation. I would like to hear from the rest of
the Board before we go down that path. I do think
that potentially there could be an alternative to
that.
I would like to at least have discussion
1 fellow County Commissioners.
2 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Did you want to address
3 that, Bruce?
4 MR. BARKER: Sure. Two things. One thing
5 is I think you need to make a findings of fact on
6 each of these items. Once you've done that, then,
7 if you're at a point where you've made a findings of
8 fact that there have been violations, you can then
9 consider the remedy.
10 Remedy would be -- could be a number of
11 things. Really there are only two things that are
12 called for in the code. And that would be
13 suspension and revocation. You could, as you do
14 with, for example, food service licenses where you
15 have a suspension, but it's held in abeyance pending
16 an agreement that -- a Consent Agreement and, in
17 fact, they'll do certain things.
18 So that's where the -- the agreement could
19 come into play really is it would be something where
20 you made a findings of fact, and then you're looking
21 at the remedy, the proper remedy to meet your
22 expectations.
23 COMMISSIONER COZAD: So if we are
24 looking at the findings of fact, as I think both
25 Commissioner Kirkmeyer and I have already stated in
Page 310
1 about -- I know the -- the people that are here
2 today -- I really appreciate all of you being here
3 for so long -- are probably not going to like this
4 idea per se. But I think if we could look at a
5 potential continuance with a similar type of an
6 agreement that they have with the State, a
7 compliance agreement.
8 I think the only way that I would be
9 willing to look at something like that is if the
10 applicant would also be willing to look at a reduced
11 odor threshold as was brought up by a couple of the
12 other people that testified today.
13 But I would like to go down that path
14 because I think a couple people also mentioned the
15 teeth that the County has if this facility moves
16 forward is really in the fact that we have this
17 application -- this permit that's in place, and we
18 can come back to do another probable cause or show
19 cause if they are not in compliance.
20 And I think the only way to do that,
21 though, is to have a written stipulation or
22 agreement, and also reduce the odor threshold that's
23 in the current permit.
24 But I'd like to hear from the county
25 attorneys if that's possible, and also hear from my
Page 312
1 the specific development standards, would it be
2 appropriate -- well, I don't know how you would
3 either revoke it or suspend it. I was asking could
4 we do a continuance if we had an agreement in place,
5 of the show cause hearing.
6 MR. BARKER: Well, you could do that, too.
7 I mean, you can continue it, if you have a Consent
8 Agreement, that they agree to do certain things.
9 Again, my recommendation is to go ahead
10 and make the findings of fact today, but then have a
11 determination as to how you would like to look at
12 the remedy. And remedy, again, would be one of
13 those two things, but having the agreement that
14 would be used for the purpose of gaining compliance,
15 but holding those other things in abeyance.
16 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So if we were to
17 continue, we can't just continue and try and
18 negotiate, essentially, a Consent Agreement?
19 MR. BARKER: You could. I mean, I guess
20 the thing is that you could continue it and then
21 have an agreement with them. You don't have the
22 stick, so to speak, that you have with making the
23 findings of fact, and then saying, yeah, we're going
24 to suspend it, but we're going to hold it in
25 abeyance. I mean, again, that's -- that's the
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1 process you use in a variety of different scenarios
2 for different things.
3 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Mr. Chair.
4 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Go ahead.
5 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: So this would be
6 similar to what we do on restaurants when we find --
7 MR. BARKER: Procedurally.
8 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Procedurally. In
9 terms of that, we give them a chance to -- whatever
10 period. We make a finding that they're in
11 violation, and then come back and deal with
12 mitigating the circumstance, correct?
13 MR. BARKER: Correct. You've made a
14 finding, No. 1. And No. 2 you've gone ahead and
15 said, yeah, we're going to have a penalty, a
16 suspension. For a period of time we're going to
17 hold that in abeyance. As long as you comply with
18 these things, that will go away.
19 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Would we be looking
20 at -- I'll just throw this out for discussion. I
21 want to get clarification. Would we be looking at
22 the agreement they have with the State of Colorado
23 Department of Health or can we add additional things
24 to that?
25 MR. BARKER: Well, I would think that -- I
Page 315
1 if that may be what you're thinking of. But that's
2 in the determination that there is violation of the
3 CD, and they're actually acting without a CD, or
4 having one being revoked and they're still acting.
5 COMMISSIONER COZAD: So did you want me to
6 go back and put in my findings? I think I already
7 did, but I think I did leave one out.
8 COMMISSIONER MORENO: Before you go there,
9 kind of where we're going here with some of this
10 here, but I guess with the county attorney here, as
11 we heard earlier, to suspend them, it takes a
12 two -month process for them to actually shut it
13 completely down there. Does that suspension just --
14 would it, then, include such things as no material
15 delivered there anymore? Is that basically what we
16 would do for the suspension right now? It's not
17 like a restaurant.
18 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: It's a suspension, and
19 you hold that in abeyance while they're complying,
20 if that's direction you go. So you would make the
21 determination of suspension, but you would put that
22 on hold while they're complying with what
23 Commissioner Cozad is discussing.
24 MR. BARKER: You need to have a stick, and
25 that's a stick that you use.
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Page 314
mean, I'm not certain you'd even go with what
they've got. I mean, basically you could put it in
a similar format, but you would also, then, have it
include those things that are important to you.
COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Based on the
findings of fact.
MR. BARKER: Based on the findings of
fact.
COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Okay. Thank you.
10 COMMISSIONER COZAD: May I follow up on
11 one more thing?
12 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yeah.
13 COMMISSIONER COZAD: If we did go down
14 that route, could we do a suspension and fine and
15 hold in abeyance?
16 MR. BARKER: There's no fine procedure set
17 forth in your ordinance. And that -- you know, when
18 you have violations that are zoning violations, we
19 do have a penalty process for that. For a deal
20 where they're not complying with development
21 standards in the USR chapter, there is no process
22 for doing a fine.
23 There is for the CD part of it is. There
24 is a cease and desist and a fine process. The fine
25 is actually set by the District Court. I don't know
Page 316
1 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Does that make sense,
2 Commissioner Moreno?
3 COMMISSIONER MORENO: Okay.
4 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes. Commissioner
5 Kirkmeyer.
6 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Well, I'd like to
7 know how we can change the development standards in
8 a show cause hearing. Essentially, if we were to do
9 a suspension, hold it into abeyance because we're
10 going to get a Consent Agreement pending an
11 agreement in place, and that agreement is that it's
12 a reduced threshold for odor, that's essentially an
13 amendment to the USR, and that's not what we're here
14 for today. So I don't know how we do that.
15 MR. BARKER: It is. I suppose you could
16 have a situation in which they consent to a lower
17 standard that they are going to meet. But it's not
18 in the development standards. It basically would be
19 pursuant to that. And to get it into the
20 development standards, eventually you'd have to have
21 a hearing to amend those. So Commissioner Kirkmeyer
22 is correct.
23 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I have another
24 question.
25 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Please.
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1 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I'm sorry. Did
2 you have comments? You can go ahead.
3 COMMISSIONER MORENO: No, I don't.
4 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: With the validity
5 of the Certificate of Designation, it appears, at
6 least, they don't have a valid CD. So I'm not sure
7 how they can continue to operate without one. So I
8 don't think we have any other choice.
9 MR. BARKER: I think what the -- what the
10 State was doing was saying you don't have a valid
11 CD, but we are going to ask that you apply for one.
12 The process for dealing with a lack of having a CD,
13 meaning they are operating without one, in statute
14 there are two things that you can do. One would be
15 issue a cease and desist order and ask for a
16 penalty. You'd be asking the District Court for
17 that. Second thing you can do is seek an
18 injunction. Either way you do need to follow up in
19 the District Court to get that accomplished.
20 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So just following
21 through on that, again, I really truly don't believe
22 we have a choice. From the Attorney General's
23 Office they said there is no valid CD. I've gone
24 through and shown that we have never approved the
25 transfer. So they don't have a valid CD.
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Page 319
statute -- and it's in Section -- let me find my
notes. It is in Section 30-20-113 and in 112. It
says if they don't have a valid CD, that we have to
revoke or -- well, if they're not complying with all
laws, that we have to revoke or we can suspend. And
in 113 it says if they don't have it they can't
operate. And it's a shall. It's not a maybe. It's
not a you could decide to do a consent.
MR. BARKER: And I don't disagree with
you.
COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: It's not a
Certificate of Designation.
MR. BARKER: It's the method by which you
enforce that.
COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Okay. But it
says shall not operate.
MR. BARKER: The method you enforce that
is to go into court to get that accomplished, either
through an injunction or through a cease and desist,
seeking a fine for continued violations.
CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Commissioner
Conway.
COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Well, I guess, yeah,
I'm -- I'm -- I'll -- first of all, I think
Mr. Kisker stood up and said don't take away the
Page 318
1 So Development Standard No. 6, again,
2 speaks to the Solid Waste Disposal Sites Facilities
3 Act, which in there -- and it also speaks to the
4 statutes that they have to comply with.
5 And in the Solid Waste Disposal Act and in
6 the statutes it is a requirement that they have a
7 Certificate of Designation. And if they don't have
8 one, it's a shall. They shall have to stop. You
9 cannot operate a solid waste disposal facility
10 without a valid CD. They do not have a valid CD. I
11 don't know how we can change -- we can't change
12 that.
13 MR. BARKER: I think it was the approach
14 as to how you deal with that. Mr. Kaufman was
15 saying that the State -- and I would agree with him,
16 the State has taken the position that they're saying
17 you need to get this done, meaning apply for it.
18 They have the same remedies, to go ahead and either
19 get a cease and desist order, have that be enforced
20 through the District Court, or an injunction. They
21 do have that capability. They've chosen not to do
22 that. But it's up to to you. You have the
23 capability, also, to do the same thing as the
24 governing board that issues that type of permit.
25 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So within the
Page 320
1 stick. I think we need a stick. And the question I
2 asked during the hearing was that trust was
3 verified. I mean, we're hearing that we're doing
4 these things, where there has been, I think,
5 demonstrated an effort by Heartland to try to remedy
6 this.
7 But the fact is we have no trust. And how
8 do we -- how do we ensure that those things that --
9 and this is -- this -- you know, I concur with
10 Commissioner Kirkmeyer, this is a mess. And quite
11 frankly, you know, Weld County has let the citizens
12 down. We've let you down. This isn't all on
13 Heartland. This isn't all on the State. We allowed
14 some things to proceed in 2013, 2014. I believe if
15 you point a finger at somebody, you've got three
16 pointing back at you. And we do. So how do we move
17 forward in terms of maintaining a stick that allows
18 this?
19 I am concerned by the testimony that
20 Commissioner Moreno brought up that it's going to
21 take two months to shut this down, and then more
22 months after that, and the smell's not going to go
23 away. So if the real issue here -- I know this is a
24 show cause hearing. But the real issue that started
25 this was the odor complaint. And how do we move
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1 forward in remedying that?
2 There is an agreement with the State of
3 Colorado and Heartland that they have to perform
4 certain things over the next six months.
5 And, you know, we heard testimony in the
6 hearing today that the misters have had considerable
7 impact in terms of that. We've got technical
8 testimony on that. The facility that at the second
9 hearing -- second show cause we had is now
10 constructed and is probably ready to be operational.
11 I think that -- having that completely covered in
12 terms of the intake will have an impact, a positive
13 impact in terms of odor.
14 So -- but I'm also cognizant of Mr. Yost's
15 comments from Al Organics and the dairy farmers,
16 where is this waste stream now going to go after
17 having -- you know, where is this going to go and
18 what's that going to mean in terms of impacts? So
19 I'm very cognizant of the impact that the area
20 residents are having and how we solve this odor
21 issue, but I'm also cognizant of the ripple effect
22 that this could cause in terms of our agricultural
23 community.
24 And so I think as part of this
25 deliberation we need to have a discussion in terms
Page 323
1 But I am not at a point where I fully
2 would be in full support yet, unless I'm convinced,
3 for a full revocation. I'm more inclined to looking
4 at the suspension which shuts it down, but doesn't
5 solve it all. I think -- you know, is the
6 suspension a two -month suspension? Is it all the
7 way to June till they get everything completed, that
8 they believe they'll be in compliance in June? I
9 mean, that's clearly what Heartland said to us, that
10 they would have everything ready to go by June. I
11 don't know where we're at with that. So I still
12 have a lot of questions.
13 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. All right.
14 Well, so I think there's some --
15 MR. BARKER: One thing I might add.
16 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Oh, go ahead.
17 MR. BARKER: Section 23-2-270 on
18 development standards does provide civil penalties
19 can be charged in lieu of a suspension.
20 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Can I ask a
21 question?
22 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes.
23 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So Statute
24 30-20-112 talks about revocation of a certificate.
25 And it says essentially if they aren't meeting any
Page 322
1 of how we deal with some of those issues also as
2 part of that in terms of public testimony. But I'll
3 wait to weigh in further in terms of my findings
4 after I hear from my other Commissioners.
5 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Moreno.
6 COMMISSIONER MORENO: Mr. Chair, I don't
7 know what else to add. It is a mess. I mean, it's
8 a lose -lose for everyone. And the citizens who have
9 been living out there have been on the losing end
10 for a long time here.
11 I know Heartland has been working as hard
12 as they can trying to make the improvements to get
13 there, to correct everything. And I fully
14 understand that.
15 But I keep circling back to the beginning
16 of this morning's meeting about the CD. I really
17 believe without that CD in place -- I think that's
18 really where I'm at personally is just that we don't
19 have a CD in place. And without that CD, I don't
20 believe that they should be operating without that,
21 from what I read here from the State and everything.
22 I know our county attorney is telling us a
23 little bit different. There's some gray area with
24 this. And we've heard that from the other
25 attorneys.
Page 324
1 applicable laws, shall temporarily suspend or revoke
2 a Certificate of Designation. I guess I don't see
3 anywhere in law where we have the authority to
4 create a Consent Agreement. And I understand that
5 in our other violation situations we do. But in a
6 USR process, I don't know where we have that in our
7 code that we can do that. And I'd like to know
8 where it's at.
9 MR. BARKER: I think the thing is the --
10 you do what you want to do with respect to the civil
11 penalties, suspension or revocation. And it's an
12 enforcement. I mean, one is a findings of fact.
13 Second part is enforcement. You can choose how you
14 wish to enforce it. And it doesn't say you have to
15 do the suspension without doing an agreement to say
16 you need to come into compliance with certain things
17 before you clean up the violations of the
18 development standards.
19 One thing I might add is the -- I
20 understand why they don't want to do the new CD,
21 because that also means that you have to go back and
22 make a findings of fact in granting the CD. And one
23 of them is the effect that the solid waste disposal
24 site facility will have on the surrounding property.
25 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Right.
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1 MR. BARKER: You know, and if you're
2 making that determination, which I think you have to
3 do under --
4 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Even if it's a
5 transfer.
6 MR. BARKER: -- the State Attorney
7 General's letter. And they're basically saying --
8 they're saying that they have no CD.
9 The process is one in which you'd ask that
10 they -- I mean, I understand why the letter came in,
11 that they wanted to formally modify it. They don't
12 want to go through that process. But the State's
13 saying they have to.
14 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay.
15 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Let me ask another
16 question to the county attorney. So I'm looking for
17 this section that Commissioner Kirkmeyer just -- I
18 think it was Commissioner Kirkmeyer just brought
19 up -- or maybe it was you -- on what at this point
20 we can do.
21 So you said that the CD section -- and I
22 don't know who it was. Was it you, Commissioner
23 Kirkmeyer?
24 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Go for it.
25 MR. BARKER: I've got it right here. I'll
Page 327
1 process. And in the meantime, while they're doing
2 that, we're going to let them continue to operate?
3 MR. BARKER: It's a matter of enforcement,
4 how you choose to enforce. And under the CD, the
s two things you can do, again, are cease and desist
6 order seeking penalties in court, second thing you
7 can do is you can get an injunction in court. Those
8 are the two remedies.
9 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And under the USR
10 and also under the CD we can suspend or do a
11 revocation.
12 MR. BARKER: And you can also do civil
13 penalties in lieu of suspension.
14 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Sure.
15 COMMISSIONER COZAD: So the reason why I
16 wanted to look at this full section is in the very
17 last sentence it talks about suspension or fee -- or
18 not fees, but penalties and revocation, but it also
19 says, Availability of these remedies in no way
20 limits the Board of County Commissioners from
21 seeking or applying any other remedies which are
22 available for noncompliance with the development
23 standards. So that's why I brought up the idea of
24 sort of like a Consent Agreement, Compliance
25 Agreement like they have with the State. So would
Page 326
1 read it. Noncompliance with any of the approved
2 development standards may be reason for revocation
3 or suspension of a special review permit by the
4 Board of County Commissioners. Civil penalties in
5 lieu of suspension may also be imposed with the
6 express prior agreement of the applicant.
7 COMMISSIONER COZAD: What section is that?
8 MR. BARKER: That is 23-2-270. It's on
9 the screen also.
10 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Thank you.
11 MR. GATHMAN: It's on the screen also.
12 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Thank you.
13 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Maybe our
14 attorney could explain to me how if they don't have
15 a valid CD, how they can continue to operate,
16 because that talks to a USR -- speaks to a USR. If
17 they do not have a valid Certificate of Designation,
18 you just explained that the State Attorney General's
19 Office has stated that they need to go through a
20 Certificate of Designation process with the County.
21 The State Department of Health in their
22 letter and in this Exhibit 30 has stated they're
23 encouraging them to apply to Weld County for a
24 Certificate of Designation soon. So they're going
25 to have to go through a Certificate of Designation
Page 328
1 that not fit under that last sentence in that
2 section?
3 MR. BARKER: It would fit.
4 COMMISSIONER COZAD: But the other
5 remedies are also to do a cease and desist or an
6 injunction with the courts.
7 MR. BARKER: That's for the CD.
8 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Just for the CD.
9 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Well, they don't
10 have a CD.
11 MR. BARKER: If they don't have a CD --
12 the idea is that they're not in compliance with the
13 statutes and regs because they don't have one. And
14 to get compliance with those, the enforcement
15 mechanism is one of those two things.
16 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay.
17 COMMISSIONER COZAD: So I have another
18 question.
19 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Go ahead.
20 COMMISSIONER COZAD: They have a letter in
21 to the planning department apparently requesting a
22 modification of the CD. Is that considered their
23 application to do a new CD? And what process are
24 you going through?
25 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So the letter
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1 that you're talking about is Exhibit 25. And it was
2 dated December 9th. And they want to formally
3 modify the Certificate of Designation associated
4 with the facility, which they can't do because there
5 is no CD. So their letter is asking to modify it,
6 but they actually need to do a brand new CD.
7 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Yes. And that's
8 what the State told them in the letter on
9 November 30th. And that's what the Attorney General
10 office told us in their letter in November. So they
11 can't modify something that doesn't exist. They
12 can't even transfer it now either.
13 I know this is tough, but I'm just going
14 to point out to you the other answers to some of the
15 questions that Commissioner Conway asked. They need
16 to get to full production to see if it works.
17 Really? So we all want to allow them to get to full
18 production after what we've been hearing and the
19 e -mails we've been getting and what we have
20 ourselves witnessed and smelled? Really, we want to
21 let them get to full production to see if it works?
22 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Well, I'm not willing
23 to do that. And, you know, as I stated, I think,
24 again, we're here today because this is a show cause
25 hearing. And I think we've actually -- there has
Page 331
1 are also supposed to be preventing off -site nuisance
2 conditions. And I found this within Mr. Garcia's
3 PowerPoint where he discussed odor as a nuisance.
4 And his bullet point was this, Odors that result in
5 an unreasonable and substantial interference with
6 the use and enjoyment of property and the gravity of
7 that impact. I think we've had enough testimony and
8 enough e -mails to state that there is a nuisance
9 condition that exists at the site.
10 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Yeah. I actually
11 wrote that down as well.
12 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Yeah, and I
13 forgot to mention it. So, you know, I don't
14 disagree you with that Heartland Biogas is working
15 to try to rectify the problem. But the reality is
16 they were supposed to have a whole bunch of this
17 stuff done before they even opened up for their
18 operations, and they didn't. I don't understand
19 that.
20 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Well, I think we also
21 heard testimony from some of the people that live
22 out in that area that initially their EDOP did
23 include some of the things that they're doing now,
24 that they probably should have done right from the
25 beginning.
Page 330
1 been evidence, I think we've stated, both you and I,
2 that -- the findings that they are not in compliance
3 with their USR.
4 So we have a couple options. I was
5 throwing out an additional option of potentially
6 either a suspension or a continuance of the show
7 cause hearing today with the potential of doing some
8 type of an agreement with them. To get up to a
9 hundred percent, I'm not willing to go there. But I
10 would be willing to look at either a suspension with
11 an agreement or potentially a continuance. But
12 there would -- it would have to be very defined, as
13 I stated earlier, which would include the respondent
14 agreeing to a lower -- meeting a lower threshold
15 during this period, whatever the period is.
16 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So you understand
17 all that may result in is that they are further out
18 of compliance.
19 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I know that. And
20 then we can bring them right back in here.
21 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: If I may --
22 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Go ahead.
23 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: -- the other
24 thing that I wanted to add to the findings was
25 actually within -- within the Solid Waste Act they
Page 332
1 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Before they
2 opened up.
3 COMMISSIONER COZAD: That's what I'm
4 saying.
5 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. So --
6 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Can I ask one more
7 question?
8 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Go ahead.
9 COMMISSIONER COZAD: If we revoke the
10 permit today, it's going to take -- we heard them
11 say it's going to take them 60 days, basically, to
12 shut everything down totally.
13 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: And then another few
14 months.
15 COMMISSIONER COZAD: So in that period of
16 time, would they come back -- I guess I'm just
17 having this discussion with all of you. They could
18 come back and reapply for the USR and a new CD. If
19 we suspend them, they could do the same thing. We
20 could ask them to -- as part of the suspension that
21 they're not in compliance with certain development
22 standards, suspend them for a period of time, give
23 them the opportunity to get into compliance. At
24 that same time they could apply for the CD and go
25 through a public process with the CD, if that's what
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1 we put into our findings and as a part of the
2 conditions.
3 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Kirkmeyer.
4 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Whether we revoke
5 or suspend today, they have to come apply for a
6 Certificate of Designation. And whether that's a
7 transfer of ownership or an actual application for a
8 Certificate of Designation we still have to go
9 through -- we still have to go through and make
10 certain determinations with regard to -- as was
11 listed in the Attorney General's letter, with regard
12 to health and safety -- I'll just read it off.
13 We still have to make determinations on
14 the ability of the applicant to comply with the
15 health standards and operating procedures in both
16 the Solid Waste Act and the Department's rules and
17 regulations. And part of that -- so this is all in
18 30-20-104, No. 1A.
19 Also we have to make a determination of
20 the effect of -- if they were to be granted the CD,
21 the effect on the surrounding property owners. So,
22 regardless, if it's -- if you want to dismiss,
23 continue, suspend, revoke, come up with agreements,
24 they got to come in front of us and be getting that
25 CD transferred or a new CD, essentially. And we're
Page 335
1 know exactly where we're going. I think I've heard
2 from you, you want to revoke. I'm probably leaning
3 more towards suspension. So I just would like to
4 hear from everybody else, and we need to make a
5 decision.
6 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yeah, we do. So what
7 I started to say is I think that -- I think that
8 that's -- I think that that's kind of where I'm at
9 as well. Where I struggle is the fact of the matter
10 is if you revoke it, we're still in the process of
11 at least three or four months of actually the odor
12 going away. And it would make -- it would seem to
13 make more sense to me that rather than just stop and
14 try to clean -- we'd be better off trying to
15 continue doing what they're doing, putting these
16 next things in place. They've got the building.
17 They've got the filters. We've heard a number of
18 testimony that have been on the site recently that
19 the odor has gotten better. I think that as they
20 continue to do those things, it'll continue to get
21 better. And at some point -- at the end of the day,
22 from the very beginning what we've always wanted in
23 this was for it to work for everybody.
24 Now, you're right, we may not ever get
25 there. We may not. But at this point I would be
Page 334
1 still going to have to look at all of that.
2 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Right.
3 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And so it may be
4 at that time -- I mean, I don't know if they think
5 they have a whole year to do that or what they think
6 they have. But it may be even at that time that
7 they don't even get their CD. And in the meantime
8 we would have let them continue operating without a
9 CD -- without a valid CD. I understand it's tough.
10 It's kind of a catch 22. But, quite honestly, they
11 should have had a lot of these things done before
12 they even started their operations. And that was
13 what was in their EDOP.
14 And they have stated on the record several
15 times that to be able to test what they're doing
16 with their DSS and their -- everything else they're
17 doing, their DPS, I guess it is, their digester
18 processing system, that they need to get to full
19 production. They're only at 60 percent and they're
20 only accepting approximately 40 percent of the waste
21 that they need to get there.
22 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I think we've heard a
23 lot from you and I.
24 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I agree.
25 COMMISSIONER COZAD: But I really don't
Page 336
1 more along the lines of as trying to figure out a
2 way to put something into place that things have to
3 be accomplished, but in a certain and a very fine
4 timeline to get there with the opportunity to make
5 the entire process work. Because it is not just a
6 small deal.
7 It's a big deal on a lot of levels. Not
8 just for the amount of money or -- that Heartland's
9 going to make or not make, but it does have a
10 tremendous impact on agriculture, on a number of
11 agriculture -- other things going on in Weld County.
12 And the other part of that is it didn't
13 make a whole lot of sense to me to take stuff that's
14 got to go somewhere and now go dump it in a landfill
is when you could actually use it for something that's
16 beneficial at the end of the day, which is what
17 we're all trying to do. That's why we're not the
18 energy -- that's why we're the energy capital of
19 Colorado. And it's not just oil and gas. It's
20 solar. It's renewable. It's wind. It's all these
21 things. And this process is a very important part
22 of that.
23 And so I guess I'm not at the spot where
24 I'm just willing to just give up on this thing and
25 say let's quit, because I think there's some real
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1 benefits that can come out of this in the long run.
2 That's where I'm at.
3 COMMISSIONER MORENO: Mr. Chair, with
4 that, if I may keep the conversation going here,
5 again, I'm back to a suspension, are we looking at a
6 timeline to complete everything that we put out
7 there? Because, I mean, it's going to take them two
8 months, as we said, again, to shut this down, clean
9 it all out. And they're saying it's going to take
10 them till June before they really believe they'd
11 have everything corrected. So would that be our
12 timeline? Is that what we'd be talking about?
13 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Well, I mean, I think
14 it's a progression. I think they're saying June
15 before everything is done. But the first building
16 is up, the next thing happens, and I think it's a
17 progression to getting to June. I think it
18 continues -- I think it's a very likely that the
19 odor continues to get better over that period of
20 time, but we're not going to know that, so I don't
21 know.
22 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: We're not going
23 to know unless they get to full production. They've
24 stated that several times.
25 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: I understand that. But
Page 339
1 getting the CD at the State, which they've applied
2 for, they're going to have to come back to us and
3 have a hearing with us to approve the CD that's
4 approved by the State. Am I missing something
5 there, Bruce?
6 MR. BARKER: No. They have to have a
7 hearing. You issue the CD.
8 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Oh, we have to have
9 a hearing?
10 MR. BARKER: You do.
11 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: So there would be an
12 opportunity for people to comment on that process.
13 MR. BARKER: Correct.
14 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Kirkmeyer.
15 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: So when you say
16 suspend until the facility gets a valid CD, you're
17 saying suspend all operations till that occurs?
18 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I think we have to.
19 I mean, how can they operate without a valid CD.
20 That's what I'm struggling with, they do not have a
21 valid CD.
22 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I agree.
23 COMMISSIONER COZAD: They've been told
24 that. If that's the only finding that we have
25 today, we know that, we have a letter from the
Page 338
1 they also said that it didn't matter -- and so I
2 don't know this because I'm not an engineer, but
3 whether it was 60 percent gas or a hundred percent
4 gas, that didn't change the amount of odor. The
5 odor was the same with the gas production because of
6 the way that process works. I have no idea if
7 that's correct. I don't have any idea whether
8 that's correct or not. I'm just taking it off of
9 what we were told in testimony today.
10 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I keep going back to
11 the CD. They do not have a valid CD.
12 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: I understand. That's a
13 problem.
14 COMMISSIONER COZAD: That, for me, is the
15 biggest problem right now is they do not have a
16 valid CD.
17 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: They need to apply for
18 one.
19 COMMISSIONER COZAD: And we have a letter
20 from the Attorney General that states that. So I
21 don't know how we can do anything but at least
22 suspend the operation until they get a valid CD.
23 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: But my understanding
24 is that as they go through -- this is for the county
25 attorney. When they go through the process of
Page 340
1 Attorney General's Office, they've admitted that
2 they don't have a valid -- that they don't have a CD
3 for this facility, and I think that they shouldn't
4 be operating without a valid CD. It's -- it's in
5 the regulations.
6 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: So don't disagree.
7 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I mean, it is a hard
8 decision. It's a very tough thing. And I don't
9 disagree with your remarks that you made, Mr. Chair.
10 I think it would be great to have this facility be
11 up and operating and functioning and not, you know,
12 be in violation. But the fact of the matter is --
13 the facts are that they are in violation. They have
14 had an odor violation. And there are other
15 development standards that they are in violation of.
16 But the CD is the biggest thing to me. They have no
17 valid CD.
18 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: And I don't disagree.
19 Where I struggle a little bit is -- and I struggle a
20 little bit with the suspension versus revocation
21 because the thing about it is it's not like
22 something you can flip a switch. And so when you're
23 suspending operations, what's going on is you're
24 still going to have the odor, you're going to be
25 trying to bring that thing back down to zero so that
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1 you can get to that spot so that you can essentially
2 start over, back to where you were starting over.
3 So to me -- to me that -- if you're going to try to
4 figure out a way to operate it, I don't see that it
5 makes sense to kind of stop in the middle and then
6 try to restart. I don't know.
7 COMMISSIONER COZAD: So how do we allow
8 them to do that without a CD?
9 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: I don't know that. I
10 don't know the answer. That's a tough question.
11 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: We can't.
12 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Well --
13 COMMISSIONER COZAD: I mean, I hear what
14 you're saying. And I don't know if there's some way
15 that they can work -- if it's suspended and not
16 revoked, if we -- if they could work with our staff
17 in that process until they can get a -- until they
18 can get a valid CD again.
19 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: I don't disagree. I
20 think here's where I also struggle just a little bit
21 with this. And that is we're talking about nothing
22 has changed with that CD or the way it was in place
23 in 3-1/2 years. The only thing that changed was we
24 had a different opinion from the State Attorney
25 General's office that was a different opinion than
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Page 343
clarification. Commissioner Cozad, you had a
question about if we had a CD application. We don't
have a separate application for a CD. It's -- in
the past it's always been processed in conjunction
with the Use by Special Review permit, so it was a
USR for a solid waste facility. The CD was
basically processed in conjunction with this. I
think this was on one motion. Nowadays you have --
you know, at the same hearing you have approval of
the USR and then approval of the CD at the same
time.
COMMISSIONER COZAD: Yeah, I understand
that, but --
COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: But there are
findings that have to be made before a CD can be
issued.
CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: I agree. Completely
agree.
COMMISSIONER COZAD: And it could actually
affect the USR because they may need an amendment to
their USR. So they actually may need to come in and
do an amendment to the USR, which would also be a
part of a new CD. I'm just -- you know, I don't
know for sure. They'd have to sit down with
planning staff. But it sounds to me like
Page 342
1 it was prior. That's an issue. I mean, that's not
2 an issue -- I don't know who that's an issue on.
3 That's an issue on the State or somebody.
4 I mean, essentially what we're saying is
5 is they've been operating for the last 3-1/2 years
6 without a valid CD. We just didn't know it because
7 the State didn't --
8 COMMISSIONER COZAD: And it also ties into
9 the EDOP. And I think that's the other piece of it,
10 that Engineering Design and Operation Plan is a part
11 of that CD. And I think that we've heard today that
12 they do not -- they are not operating in accordance
13 to their EDOP, because even with just the minor
14 thing of a drainage -- the drainage and how that's
15 constructed, it is not in compliance with their
16 EDOP.
17 So just even if we just looked at
18 Development Standard No. 6 alone, we know -- and we
19 heard it in testimony from our staff, but also from
20 the applicants, that that was not constructed in
21 accordance with their approved stormwater plan or
22 drainage plan that we have with the County, which is
23 a part of the EDOP, grading and all that.
24 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Chris.
25 MR. GATHMAN: Just a point of
Page 344
1 potentially they're not in compliance with their
2 USR -- well, they're not in compliance with their
3 USR. We've already stated that. But they're not in
4 compliance with a lot of the design elements of
5 their USR, so that may need to be amended.
6 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Commissioner Kirkmeyer.
7 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I'm prepared to
8 make a motion.
9 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay.
10 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: And we can argue
11 the motion.
12 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Good idea.
13 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Mr. Chairman, I
14 would move that after hearing all testimony
15 presented today, that the Board find it advisable to
16 suspend the Certificate of Designation and Use by
17 Special Review permit based on findings of facts and
18 evidence listed and as stated by both -- by all of
19 the Board of County Commissioners of the show cause
20 hearing, and that the suspension would stay in
21 effect until the facility gets a valid Certificate
22 of Designation and comes into compliance with the
23 development standards in the USR.
24 And with regard to the findings, I want to
25 just make sure that -- for the record that the
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1 findings that were presented by our staff and that
2 are written out here in this draft resolution, with
3 regard to Development Standard No. 6, that evidence
4 was presented that Heartland Biogas was in violation
5 of their EDOP, which is their Engineering Design
6 Operations Plan and the solid waste regulations and
7 laws due to various aspects of the operation. They
8 all are listed here.
9 I also want to list in there with regard
10 to Development Standard No. 6 all the comments that
11 I made with regard to the law and the statute and
12 the lack of a valid Certificate of Designation, and
13 include in the record and in the findings the letter
14 that we received from the State Attorney General's
15 office stating that the facility did not have a
16 valid Certificate of Designation.
17 I also want to add into these findings
18 that the site has a responsibility to prevent
19 off -site -- or that the facility has a
20 responsibility to prevent off -site nuisance
21 conditions. And that would be with respect to odor,
22 in addition to what is here. And that any odor
23 resulting in an unreasonable and substantial
24 interference with the use and enjoyment of property
25 has been evidenced by all of the public that we have
Page 347
1 of 2017. And so I would, again, include that in
2 there and include any other statements that were
3 made by our staff with regard to Development
4 Standard 17.
5 Also, I would include Development Standard
6 No. 21. They are supposed to be in accordance with
7 the Regulation No. 2, The odor detected off site
8 shall not exceed the level of 7:1. There was
9 actually a violation on April 27th, 2016, that
10 certified that the odor exceeded greater than 7:1
11 threshold.
12 Development Standard No. 30, again, there
13 is evidence that shows that there was potential
14 nuisance conditions that existed not only with
15 regard to the odor, but there was testimony and
16 photographs of trash outside of the facility. And
17 it was amended that everybody said they had an --
18 open trash containers and they were going to try and
19 take care of that.
20 Than also Development Standards No. 34,
21 42, and 45, which all require essentially they
22 comply with all applicable rules and regulations of
23 state and federal agencies and the Weld County Code.
24 There was evidence, again, that was presented. I
25 think I went through it all very -- went through all
Page 346
1 received, and, in addition, from all of the
2 complaints. I believe there are 617 complaints with
3 regard to that. I would deem that huge gravity of
4 impact to the neighborhood, and would consider that
s this site -- this facility has become a public
6 nuisance.
7 Development Standard No. 10, that the
8 property owner or facility owner -- or facility
9 operator was to notify the Department of Public
10 Health & Environment, Department of Planning
11 Services, and the State Department of Health in the
12 event of any deviations from or proposed changes to
13 the facilities. Again, the findings here are that
14 they are not in compliance with the Engineering
15 Design and Operations Plan. Evidence has been
16 presented that indicated they've modified those
17 plans and they're inconsistent with the originally
18 granted CD.
19 Development Standard No. 17 would find
20 that they are not in compliance with that. Again,
21 they -- previously what has been entered into the
22 record is that they have a Consent Agreement with
23 the Colorado Air Quality Control Division, that
24 quite honestly within their Consent Agreement they
25 can't even get to compliance until, apparently, June
Page 348
1 of it, but just to make sure that it's included in
2 here, all that evidence that I presented, that the
3 facility is operating without a valid CD.
4 And 42 talks about that they have to
s comply with all the design and operations standards
6 in Chapter 23. Without a valid CD, they're in
7 violation of that.
8 And they're also in violation of air
9 quality standards. And that they have to comply
10 with all the foregoing development standards, which
11 is in 44, and I think as listed it demonstrates that
12 they are not.
13 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay.
14 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Second.
15 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: It's been moved by
16 Commissioner Kirkmeyer, seconded by Commissioner
17 Cozad to suspend with all of the findings that
18 Commissioner Kirkmeyer put into the record.
19 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: So is that motion an
20 immediate suspension, Commissioner?
21 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Yes. It's
22 suspended until the facility gets a valid
23 Certificate of Designation and comes into compliance
24 with development standards within the USR.
25 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Okay.
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COMMISSIONER COZAD: The
comments, during the hearing I did s
of other findings of facts. So as long
all included as part of the record into
findings, I do agree.
And, again, I think, you know,
difficult decision, but they don't have
so...
Page 349
only additional
tate also a lot
as those are
those
it's a
a valid CD,
CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Commissioner
Kirkmeyer.
COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: I would just
state again that it is not easy to make this kind of
decision. And, you know, it's not like we're all
making it appear very lightly. I think it's very
grave, and I think we're all very disappointed in
the decision that is before us. I mean, I think by
our comments, we all are. I know certainly I am.
It's not something that I ever look forward to
having to do. But I do think that it's my
responsibility as a County Commissioner, and I think
we have to follow through. And as Commissioner
Cozad said and as stated by the Attorney General
they do not have a valid Certificate of Designation.
There's a reason for all of this. There's a reason
that we're supposed to be looking at all this and
Page 351
1 MR. BARKER: All of the ones that were
2 found in violation?
3 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Yes. That's why
4 I went through and listed them off. And I did not
5 list off Development Standards No. 16 or 18 because,
6 as I stated previously, I didn't feel that there was
7 enough evidence to show that they're out of
8 compliance with those two development standards.
9 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. Any other
10 comments? Okay.
11 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Go ahead.
12 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Are you sure?
13 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Yeah.
14 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Okay. So do we need a
15 roll call vote?
16 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: I'm fine. Do you
17 need one?
18 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yeah. Well, why don't
19 we have a roll call vote.
20 CLERK GESICK: Commissioner Kirkmeyer.
21 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: Yes.
22 CLERK GESICK: Commissioner Cozad.
23 COMMISSIONER COZAD: Yes.
24 CLERK GESICK: Commissioner Moreno.
25 COMMISSIONER MORENO: Yes.
Page 350
1 ensuring these things. There's a reason for the
2 development standards. There's a reason for the
3 economic -- not economic development, the
4 Engineering Design and Operations Plan. And when
5 they're not in compliance with it, that's when we
6 end up with people not being good neighbors, and
7 with neighbors coming in on three different
8 occasions to meet with the Board of County
9 Commissioners to complain.
10 And, again, it's our job to ensure and
11 protect the health and welfare of our residents.
12 And I feel by this suspension that's what we're
13 doing. And, again, it's not an easy decision, but I
14 feel that it is the decision that we need to make.
15 MR. BARKER: May I ask one thing, which is
16 your suspension is based upon -- you talked a lot
17 about the CD, but there are other factors, other
18 development standards that you're finding them in
19 violation of. And your suspension is based upon all
20 of that; is that correct?
21 COMMISSIONER KIRKMEYER: That's correct.
22 That's why my motion was that we would suspend until
23 the facility gets a valid Certificate of Designation
24 and comes in compliance with the development
25 standards and the Use by Special Review Permit.
Page 352
1 CLERK GESICK: Commissioner Conway.
2 COMMISSIONER CONWAY: Yes.
3 CLERK GESICK: Commissioner Freeman.
4 CHAIRMAN FREEMAN: Yes.
s Okay. With that, seeing no further
6 business, we are adjourned.
7 (The proceedings adjourned at 6:13 p.m. on
8 December 19, 2016.)
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1 STATE OF COLORADO
SS. REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE
2 COUNTY OF DENVER )O
3 I, Sharon R. Dobson, do hereby certify
4 that I am a Registered Professional Reporter and
5 Notary Public within the State of Colorado.
6 I further certify that these proceedings
7 were taken in shorthand by me at the time and place
8 herein set forth, that it was thereafter reduced to
9 typewritten form, and that the foregoing constitutes
10 a true and correct transcript.
11 I further certify that I am not related
12 to, employed by, nor of counsel for any of the
13 parties or attorneys herein, nor otherwise
14 interested in the result of the within action.
1s In witness whereof, I have affixed my
16 signature on December 22, 2016.
17 My commission expires January 8, 2019.
18
19
20
21
22
Sharon R. Dobson, RPR
23 216 - 16th Street, Suite 600
Denver, Colorado 80202
24
25
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
89 (353 - 353)
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
WORD INDEX
< $>
$115 153:18
157:7 161:7 168:3
238:10, 12 239:8
$15,000 97:17
262:19
$3 162:17 163:1
$350,000 231:18
$4.2 181:12 204:2
241:7, 11
$735,630 30:16
< 0>
0017 72:22
< 1 >
1 3:15 4:5 20:4
24:2 37:21 41:22
47:9, 19 49:1, 2, 4,
6 55:16 69:16, 19,
20, 23 70:3, 6, 22,
23, 24 71:2, 3, 3, 5,
11, 11 84:20 103:6,
14 108:11 114:25
124:18 127:17
134:4, 13 135:10
137:13, 14, 17
138:9 142:16
147:3, 24 173:1
187:4, 12, 17
194:17 205:11
233:13 235:8
264:24 265:1
266:18, 24 292:4
304:13 313:14
1.17 175:3
1.3.5 45:24
1:30 234:19
10 5:6 10:11
12:3 33:18 35:6
56:15 63:6 205:11
211:24 214:14
222:22,23 226:24
260:1, 9, 12 284:14,
14, 19, 22 308:20,
22 346:7
1000 164:16
1007-1.8.4D 303:19
1007-2 4:5, 20
107 306:5, 5
10 -minute 257:17
10th 19:18 48:22
67:21
11 34:21 35:25
48:24
112 319:2
113 319:6
1150 1:1
11th 24:7, 8 62:14
12 74:9, 10 124:12
128:1 161:20
216:1 223:16
225:10 226:18, 24
234:15
120 191:13
1200 122:22
12-7 264:9
12-7-16 159:21
12th 56:20 66:20
13 34:14 98:2
125:24 181:1
13,000 28:20
13,240 25:9 72:11
13.3 34:14
13th 25:7, 16
33:12 92:10, 12
14 34:15, 17 35:19,
22 56:6 133:14,22
134:12, 14 135:1
137:13, 16 138:9, 9
264:25 266:17
291:12 294:6
295:24
140-0030 41:22
14-0030 3:13
4:16 23:7 25:1
50:3
14th 19:5 23:14
24:21 30:21 39:15
48:17 77:16 84:15
15 25:18 41:14
67:23 69:1 95:8
124:23 199:9
210:9 241:8
250:20 253:11
282:25 294:10
150 218:10
15-0016 72:22
15445 3:8
15th 25:12 41:23
73:21
16 5:14 10:11
30:10 34:17 35:21
61:10 73:11, 19
84:12, 16 145:15
294:15, 21 296:18
306:14 351:5
16:1 41:13
16-00338 24:14
16-00391 25:8
16-004 3:5
16350 249:2
1640 253:23
16th 86:8 87:2
105:25 109:13, 21
353:23
17 5:18 10:11
39:13, 15 42:12, 23
61:19 215:25
216:1 294:20
296:21 306:19
309:8 346:19
347:4
17th 2:6 41:1, 8
18 5:4, 23 10:11
39:13, 21 72:23
133:22 307:2, 2
351:5
1800s 250:15
18612 233:2
18626 186:20
219:7
18850 232:7
1894 188:15
18th 22:25 49:17,
20 56:2
19 1:1 2:8 352:8
19108 197:19
19575 188:10
193:16
1963 222:21
1982 150:22
1987 214:16
227:24
1995 223:1
19th 2:3 24:11, 22
25:3 30:15 76:23
1A 333:18
1C 305:17
1 -foot 34:19
1st 38:10 42:16
284:20 285:4
<2>
2 6:10 7:9 40:21
41:20 49:2, 4, 7
59:10, 23 66:4
69:18, 20 70:6
71:3, 3, 5 73:9
77:23 95:7, 25
112:24 114:24
115:17 191:8
208:13 263:14
271:16 279:20
313:14 341:23
342:5 347:7
2:1 232:16, 16
20 6:3 141:16
189:12, 21, 22
210:1 215:25
216:3 236:3
243:14 267:20
297:16
2000 2:3
2006 215:5
2009 70:4 133:8
198:23
201 122:21
2010 4:24 20:4,
21, 24 21:1, 4
46:15, 20 47:4, 12
54:3 70:4 133:8
215:5 258:20
259:3
2012 47:15, 21
105:17
2013 19:11 21:3,
18 22:6, 7, 13
30:15 47:19, 24, 25
48:7, 15, 17 50:6
53:7 54:5 56:1
58:2, 14 60:19
63:8 66:12 78:13
81:2 82:15, 25
83:15 98:1 136:8
161:9 239:19, 19
264:6 268:19
271:9, 22 272:5
278:22 282:25
292:13, 14, 20
293:4, 6 294:25
320:14
2014 5:4 19:15
22:14, 25 23:11, 14
48:19, 22, 24 49:17,
20, 25 56:2 58:7
63:8, 14 67:4, 12,
13, 24 68:6 69:1
81:5 82:3 200:6
208:10 267:21
320:14
2015 22:16 50:14
53:9 54:14 67:22,
24 68:7 86:13
170:18 239:20
284:21 285:4, 7, 15
292:19
2016 1:1 2:8 7:9,
10 19:5, 7, 18 24:7,
11, 14, 22, 23 25:4,
7,12,18 30:21
31:10 33:12 39:25
40:2, 23 41:1
55:12, 19 56:6, 10,
14, 16, 20 66:22
72:25 73:21 77:9,
16, 24 78:23 79:14
82:5 86:16 87:2,
13 92:5, 10 94:4,
17 100:23 109:23
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
1
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
113:15 136:20
137:5 138:12
161:21 166:17, 17
215:6 239:21
264:9, 16 269:8
271:22 285:16
292:14 293:6
347:9 352:8
353:16
2016-74 3:5
2016-74A 3:6
2017 71:7 145:17
174:20, 23, 25
175:15 347:1
2019 353:17
2021 215:19
2036 215:19
20526 256:19
208 209:24
20th 50:14 264:6
285:7, 15
21 6:8 10:11
20:4 39:13 40:9,
20 59:8 66:3
307:5 347:6
2-1 191:8
216 353:23
21730 191:7
21734 240:25
21st 20:25
22 6:7 40:5, 9
84:6 87:13 202:19
334:10 353:16
22nd 40:2 88:10,
17, 23 90:11 94:16
23 6:25 74:6, 12
348:6
23043 222:17
23-2-240 74:8
23-2-270 323:17
326:8
23295 199:25
208:2
23-3-40 291:6
23rd 234:1, 10
24 21:12 39:25
235:3
24125 235:24
237:12
24458 243:11
24505 227:6
229:15
24th 63:14 234:10
25 123:3 124:19
126:25 161:10
255:20 270:12
329:1
25-4-65 3:23
25th 21:3, 18
22:16 55:18 86:7
234:10
26th 234:10
27 215:16 249:4
27th 40:23 41:10
77:9, 24 234:10
307:10, 10 347:9
28 263:16, 16
264:1
28th 66:22 234:11
282:25
29 263:16 264:7
29th 56:14 234:11
2 -foot 34:17
<3>
3 20:24 49:2, 5
69:20 71:3, 5
72:17 175:4
279:20 297:2
3.8 211:14
30 6:12 10:11
23:1 32:13 60:25
61:10 71:25
164:21 195:22
214:19 215:23
216:4 222:25
255:21 269:23
307:13, 14 326:22
347:12
30-20 187:4
30-20-101 4:4
30-20-102 304:13
30-20-104 305:17
333:18
30-20-112 187:5
323:24
30-20-113 319:2
3050 132:24
264:22
30 -day 32:10
30th 22:7 24:8
48:10 105:25
109:13, 20, 23
234:11, 18 269:19
270:1 329:9
3-1 271:16 279:20
341:23 342:5
310,000 168:18
31st 94:4
32 215:17
3200 2:6
32 -by -72 -inch
25:13
34 6:18 10:11
56:15 64:16 65:21,
24 72:14 73:9
307:17 347:20
35 22:1 105:13
203:4 210:17
214:19
350,000 231:20
36 113:2, 9
38 198:4
39 168:20
3rd 24:13 55:12
92:5
<4>
4 71:5 127:21
178:18, 18, 19
254:17
4.2 168:5, 5, 15
246:19
4.24 175:7
4:1 232:17
40 30:18 31:1
171:21 198:16
199:25 208:2
210:13 243:12
334:20
42 6:22 74:3
120:21 168:23
222:18 235:24
237:12 307:17
308:23 347:21
348:4
44 191:8 227:6
229:15 348:11
44th 249:5
45 7:1 12:4, 5
188:10 193:16
307:17 347:21
47 120:21 197:19
48 126:16, 25
129:4 237:19, 20
49 30:18 101:25
102:1 186:20
198:16 219:7
232:7 233:2
237:13
4 -foot 58:25
4th 48:19 62:13
234:3 294:25
<5>
5 34:22 71:5
106:10 107:23, 24,
25 295:2
5,040 24:15
5:15 123:24
5:30 123:24
50 21:14, 22 22:1
27:6 106:24
256:19
500 21:16 22:21
239:4
51 215:18, 19
52 127:1
55 223:7
550 220:3
5555 2:6
5586 2:3 76:23
57 25:19 26:6
41:25
5 -mile 107:22
5th 22:14
<6>
6 4:17, 20 8:4
10:10, 11, 11 12:16,
22 13:20, 24 14:10,
11, 16 15:12 16:15
22:23 47:2 56:15,
24 61:17 238:15
258:5, 13 303:19
306:3, 5 308:17
318:1 342:18
345:3, 10
6:13 352:7
6:30 237:22
6:45 123:24
60 41:15 62:10
171:20, 25 182:24
183:17 303:2
332:11 334:19
338:3
600 108:23, 23
109:8 192:16
199:15 200:2
208:5 209:5
232:18 353:23
612 109:12
617 25:19 26:6
41:24 237:20
346:2
618 237:25
640 196:22
65 203:4
6-6 98:2
6681 247:13
67th 132:24
264:22
6 -foot 58:19, 23
6th 38:10 42:16
83:15, 16 136:8
266:9
<7>
7 4:24 7:10
46:15 48:7 56:15
62:8, 20
7:1 6:11 41:10, 11,
12, 18 59:9 61:12
94:13 95:24 96:17,
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
2
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
19 131:14, 19
132:3 232:14, 15
248:14 347:8, 10
70 240:25
70 -foot 3:20
22:19 26:19 30:2
735,630 30:22
76 249:2
762 214:2
789 109:14 112:1
7th 20:21 22:6, 13
23:11 29:13 30:8
47:4, 12, 14, 21, 25
48:2, 15 54:2
56:1, 16 72:6
159:5 220:3
258:20 260:8
264:16 286:13
< 8>
8 44:24 56:10
106:10 178:18
353:17
8:1 41:13
8:15 123:25
80 124:13
800 106:2 107:8
111:25
80202 2:7 353:23
80209 202:19
80634 1:1 2:3
822 220:3
85 215:14
8 -inch 238:16
8th 19:7 49:25
78:23 79:14
100:23 267:21
277:13, 25 285:16
< 9>
9 6:4 34:21
35:25 36:1 40:5, 8
83:22
9:47 44:20
90 115:5
911 208:22
921258 3:9
95 128:9
9th 24:23 25:4
31:9, 10 53:11
55:10 56:3 113:15
160:2, 4, 5 161:20
268:8, 11 269:8
270:13 281:8
329:2
< A>
Al 249:2, 4, 4
250:13, 19 252:15
321:15
abatement 84:19
abeyance 140:6
311:15 312:15, 25
313:17 314:15
315:19 316:9
ability 18:19
45:16 49:4 151:24
153:23 192:22
248:12 275:8, 14
276:17 305:18, 20
333:14
able 9:8, 9 14:2
42:25 49:2 64:10,
11, 12, 14 70:3, 25
79:12 84:2 89:15,
16 95:16 117:19,
22 119:10 129:8
130:18, 19 163:5
198:8 201:8 211:6
225:9 236:20
287:21 334:15
aboveboard 154:25
160:15 271:25
280:2 297:25
aboveground 21:13,
21 47:18
absent 181:10
absolutely 10:18
171:17 182:16
183:9 189:18
209:17 263:3
abundance 265:25
abuse 191:21
192:7
abusive 192:11
accelerated 181:19
acceleration 30:20
accept 48:20
154:23 191:18, 24
192:6
acceptability 125:24
acceptable 22:4
82:16 94:10, 11
134:18 205:12
acceptance 55:9
62:11 86:8, 9
accepted 30:15, 15,
22 35:2 55:15
86:11 157:18
accepting 67:4
154:14 334:20
accepts 211:23
access 29:8 30:25
31:1, 2 59:4
178:11
accessible 190:21
acclaimed 250:24
accomplished
296:5 317:19
319:18 336:3
account 124:13
accounted 140:10
accounts 202:23
accreditation
250:16
accurate 79:3
130:25 227:18
accustomed 121:13
achievement 214:21
achieves 263:20
acknowledge 298:7
acknowledged
153:12
acknowledgment
275:7
acreage 149:3
287:24
acres 196:22
239:13
Act 4:20 8:5, 8
12:19, 20 13:25
45:23 57:2 59:18
60:8, 11 98:12, 22
258:16 260:5
270:6 273:8 300:3,
11 305:22 306:5
318:3, 5 330:25
333:16
acted 80:25
101:10 189:9
acting 48:8 51:13
56:4 315:3, 4
action 45:1, 2
79:17, 25 97:4
102:5 353:14
actions 96:11
153:10 190:8
227:14
active 165:16
174:12 175:10
190:4 249:12
activities 78:19
85:12 158:12
activity 138:1
237:6
actual 33:14 53:10
60:5 112:20 145:1
159:7 290:1 333:7
add 27:5 217:13
225:17 288:18
313:23 322:7
323:15 324:19
330:24 345:17
added 26:16, 20
27:17 248:19
addendum 5:4
49:18, 18 56:3
63:9
addendums 37:14
66:13
adding 46:7
226:17 246:22
286:24
addition 3:19
22:18 27:17, 19
49:22 58:10
116:20 124:2
125:11, 22 211:18
345:22 346:1
additional 20:24
21:8 24:12 27:6
28:5 40:16 41:4
51:9 73:2 93:23
140:19 172:15
173:4, 21 175:15
197:8 210:17, 21
211:1 291:25
297:13 313:23
330:5 349:1
Additionally 21:1
23:22 25:1, 15, 18
26:18 39:11 45:24
285:16
address 9:8, 9
10:9 12:24 60:21
81:20 96:14
122:11, 19 132:21
144:10 150:24
151:4, 5 162:19
186:11, 18 193:24
198:11, 14, 15, 17
200:17 202:19
207:15 218:13
219:8, 11 250:3
253:1 272:13
274:20 275:4
276:24 287:3
298:13 311:2
addressed 6:13
47:13 72:1 83:19
132:18 150:18
180:20 220:25
addresses 122:8
addressing 180:10
adequate 11:8
adequately 114:20
adjacent 31:1
adjourned 352:6, 7
adjudication 152:7
adjustments 222:9
administrative
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
3
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
156:18
admit 192:12
admitted 340:1
admitting 10:19
adopt 295:10
adopted 187:13
advanced 105:10
249 :25
advantage 184:25
207:18
adverse 106:13, 18
advertised 263:22
264:4
advice 18:18
advisable 344:15
advisory 175:22
176:1
advocate 180:12
advocating 220:7
aerated 134:24
affect 53:3 343:20
affixed 353:15
afford 168:13
211:17
afternoon 66:7
104:6, 7 122:2, 3
132:23 207:25
209:22 219:25
222:15 227:4
232:5 233:4
243:10
ag 70:8 118:6
134:2 136:7
146:11 147:20
242:14 265:5, 13,
17, 21 291:7
age 164:22 211:17
244:12
agencies 20:16, 17
23:3 64:19 72:17
78:18 92:18, 19, 23
138:23 140:5
142:2 143:17, 18
146:4, 5 179:17, 18
347:23
agency 6:20 96:15
142:18, 22
aggravated 130:8
aggregation 225:16
aggressive 77:13
175:11
aggressively 171:1
ago 106:24 161:10
164:21 200:8
202:11 225:14
241:16 246:4
AGPRO 177:19, 24
190:25 201:4, 6
209:15 242:8
252:8 264:21
284:22 285:5
AGPROfessionals
63:15 132:22, 24
193:25 195:7, 13
233:12
agree 18:24 52:10
194:13 248:17
278:3, 5 299:22
301:7, 15 304:10
306:13 307:12, 18
312:8 318:15
334:24 339:22
343:17, 18 349:5
agreeing 330:14
Agreement 30:14
81:8, 9 95:20
172:10 177:11
181:7 182:9, 15
277:18 306:22
307:7 309:10, 16
310:6, 7, 22 311:16,
16, 18 312:4, 8, 13,
18, 21 313:22
316:10, 11, 11
321:2 324:4, 15
326:6 327:24, 25
330:8, 11 346:22,
24
agreements 101:20,
21 203:15 333:23
agricultural 3:21
49:6 69:17 73:12
108:8 115:18
120:22 136:3, 15
170:2 176:6
193:18 211:22
263:2 321:22
Agriculture 82:15,
19, 25 83:1, 4, 15
97:25 148:1
221:22 223:8
224:25 249:21
250:2 256:14, 15
336:10, 11
Agriculture's 286:6
agronomic 136:13
AG's 102:16
aha 154:22
ahead 3:2 18:11
19:20 42:10 45:8
59:15 62:18 69:6
70:20 74:20 79:24
92:8 93:1 102:22
103:5, 16 109:7
113:12 118:25
120:8 122:10
140:23 146:8
159:1 174:5
186:13, 15, 17
219:5 245:19
258:9 267:5 281:6
283:23, 24, 24, 25
312:9 313:4, 14
317:2 318:18
323:16 328:19
330:22 332:8
351:11
air 5:20, 21 6:9
19:17 37:4,8, 17
38:13, 19, 24 39:18
40:2 41:21 42:11,
18 43:18 44:8, 23
45:1 59:9, 22
60:5, 6 62:3 66:1,
3, 8 77:19, 22 83:7,
17 84:12, 16, 20, 20
95:13 97:15 98:12
105:14 123:2
141:17 156:11
174:23 183:13
187:2 189:20
191:19 194:4
208:16 212:10, 11
242:11 306:20
346:23 348:8
Al 1:1 75:14, 14
164:12, 14 261:3
alfalfa 136:22
allegation 18:20
allegations 84:14
all -encompassing
145:11
alleviates 140:14
allow 11:10 53:19
119:14 130:2
192:7 194:11
196:11 235:8
253:9 329:17
341:7
allowance 126:7
allowed 39:20
41:18 73:12 83:2
96:16 125:21
126:6, 18 153:15
161:6 194:5, 14
196:2 251:2
271:15 276:7
288:2 320:13
allowing 189:14
194:8 235:14
allows 46:6
115:24 260:12
320:17
alterations 139:9
alternative 225:19
309:23
amazing 170:3
254:12
amend 259:16, 16
316:21
amended 23:19
46:11 51:16 141:7
286:25 344:5
347:17
amending 267:23
amendment 3:12
19:21 22:17, 18, 20
24:1 26:13, 17
30:3 50:2 53:5
58:21, 23 82:12, 13,
22 132:20 133:3
135:20 136:9
137:11, 12 146:10
148:14 154:12
165:23 169:13
259:8, 25 260:11
263:23 264:4, 12
265:4 286:4
289:21 290:24
316:13 343:20, 22
amendments 46:3,
4 139:2, 18 140:4,
11 145:15 250:7
265:14
America 164:18
176:17 251:7
amount 30:22
86:9 118:17
170:21 171:4
177:13 184:1, 11,
12, 18 212:1
231:12 260:23
308:1 336:8 338:4
amounts 88:13
141:13, 14 142:5
196:23 217:22
ample 18:19 153:6
anaerobic 3:16
20:6 49:11 133:6
134:24 138:19
143:7 203:1
204:25 285:23
analysis 51:16
76:1 122:8 126:14,
21 130:25 137:2
147:23 195:18
analyzing 132:12
ancillary 133:10
anecdotally 68:10
anew 151:16
angry 130:8
233:16
animal 3:15 20:5
165:21 203:2
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
4
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
262:2 292:4, 11
animals 169:11
announced 178:12
anolytes 134:14
135:10
answer 31:3, 24
40:17 43:1 66:23
68:16 74:17 86:25
93:7, 15, 18, 19
95:2 99:20 111:16,
20 118:8, 23
129:16 131:9
133:1 137:9
138:15 140:8, 18
141:8 177:25
192:10 195:13, 16,
25 206:13, 14
264:19 287:18
288:5, 6 291:5
341:10
answered 31:22
68:14 89:15
119:16 128:21
answering 121:16
answers 193:13
219:17, 20, 22
329:14
anticipated 205:6
anybody 125:18
154:22 214:12
228:23 233:17
245:18 246:5
255:2 256:20
anybody's 108:2
anymore 209:9
243:5 302:9
315:15
anyway 8:14
245:23 246:9
254:4 256:15
anyways 260:19
Apache 247:13
APCD 39:16
APEN 37:19, 21
38:5, 16 39:4
41:17 43:10 44:7,
19 66:5 86:18, 19,
21, 23, 25 160:20,
21 309:7
apologize 26:11
50:5 114:23 122:6
230:20 294:20
apparently 13:1
296:21 306:23
328:21 346:25
appear 73:24
87:15 349:14
APPEARANCES 2:1
Appearing 2:7
appears 33:12
117:5 195:3
264:10 271:18
285:24 317:5
Appendix 58:14
60:19
applaud 218:14
applicability 87:13
applicable 4:18
5:19 6:19 56:25
62:16, 20 64:18
72:16 156:9
187:11 191:1
258:14 270:4
306:4 324:1
347:22
applicant 21:5
35:5 36:9, 11
53:23 72:10 73:18
93:6 305:21
310:10 326:6
333:14
applicants 22:16
30:9 287:10
342:20
application 4:21
5:1 17:5 20:10, 11
23:20, 23 30:3
31:18 32:3,12,13
43:11 44:19 45:18,
20 46:3, 4 57:9
70:5, 12 72:15
73:7 82:11, 14
83:3 87:9 97:25
98:4 102:17
114:13 137:2, 3
146:10, 14, 17, 19,
20, 25 147:1, 7, 13,
18 158:5 159:7, 10,
14 258:18 264:8,
17 266:4, 9, 14
267:10 269:14
276:12 280:16
281:1 284:5
286:10, 12, 20
287:7, 12, 14, 15, 16
288:1, 22 289:2
290:17, 19, 20
300:6 310:17
328:23 333:7
343:2, 3
applications 143:16
288:7
applied 9:14
22:17 23:11 28:18
29:21 74:14 84:25
96:12 135:18
138:4 251:17
264:14 339:1
applies 98:22
259:5
apply 13:8, 9 18:6
31:12 57:11 88:3
98:21, 25 146:19
147:7 148:16, 20
151:18 159:3
205:14 225:17
226:5, 8 248:3
269:18 270:10
271:24 287:10
288:10 317:11
318:17 326:23
332:24 333:5
338:17
applying 10:18
50:24 56:17 74:7
149:1, 2, 4 161:21
188:3 226:4 284:8
327:21
appreciate 63:2
78:7 99:1 140:18
164:9 168:22
180:9, 10, 22 181:5,
6 185:14 212:20
220:5 222:11
261:4 263:4
301:21,23 310:2
approach 32:8
318:13
appropriate 9:2
32:5, 13 68:11
88:22 90:3 153:7,
22 155:14 156:21
158:7, 15 187:20
253:20 273:1
275:22 277:7
278:23 281:18
312:2
approval 4:23
20:19 22:24 24:3
42:21 45:19 46:6,
12,18,20,22 47:6
48:18 49:5 50:11
52:5 53:20 54:23,
25 55:17 57:10, 10,
13 62:14 63:16
66:15 82:19 99:10
100:6, 7, 10, 18
155:18 160:7
161:15 258:19, 23
260:13 273:22
283:7, 13 284:15,
16 285:6 287:21
289:25 290:6
292:21 294:20, 22
295:1, 16 296:10
297:10 304:2, 7, 7
343:9, 10
approvals 55:21
153:17 161:6
278:15
approve 4:23
39:16 42:19 45:3,
16 48:20 52:2
101:14 102:6
143:19 274:2
281:15 290:5
295:25 339:3
approved 5:4, 17
19:14 20:3 21:4
22:12 23:6 24:2
33:12 34:5 36:12
37:13 38:24 39:18
47:9, 15, 19 48:1, 3,
7, 14, 25 49:8, 20
50:3 51:13, 20
53:11, 13 54:5
55:3, 25 57:23
58:2 63:8 66:12,
13, 14, 16, 17 69:18,
20 73:15 81:9
99:16 101:6, 20
137:19 139:11
142:8 153:14
155:6 251:4
268:19 271:14
275:13 281:20
282:18 283:8
292:23, 23, 25
295:6, 7 296:9, 17,
21, 23 297:7, 7
299:7 303:22
309:4 317:24
326:1 339:4
342:21
approves 52:4
273:11 285:10
approving 285:8
295:2 296:12
approximately
21:14, 22 22:1
106:1 107:8
153:18 159:5
197:20 200:1
211:24 334:20
April 4:24 20:21
40:23 41:10 46:15
47:4, 12 48:19
54:2 77:9, 24
130:6 170:19
175:9 179:15
183:13 258:20
260:8 307:10, 10
347:9
area 25:10 26:14
27:6 28:11, 16
29:18 37:22, 23
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
5
Agren Blanch" Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
58:16, 21, 23 72:12
80:20 106:3 108:5,
12, 24 109:15
112:1 113:7
115:13, 16, 19, 23
116:10, 11, 18
117:21 121:15
126:9, 11 127:12
136:25 139:25
144:13 149:2, 4
174:4, 6 184:14, 15,
22 196:12 204:18
206:20 254:9
256:2 278:20
299:21 302:2
321:19 322:23
331:22
areas 5:25 57:23
108:25 174:8
210:12
ARENS 188:9, 10
191:7, 7
argue 187:16
344:10
argument 87:6
168:8, 10 279:11
arisen 221:8
aromas 121:15
arrived 88:7
articles 214:18
as -built 140:11
aside 89:11
asked 53:7 81:21
85:19 129:24
160:8, 11 172:7, 14
173:7 192:11, 17,
20 195:19 219:8,
10, 14 226:16
228:20 229:16
237:4 272:4
280:16, 25 281:23
283:9, 10 305:12
320:2 329:15
asking 52:23
122:9 132:9
176:24 181:16
207:13 296:15
312:3 317:16
329:5
aspects 345:7
aspersion 89:24
asphalt 174:7
assess 153:21
assessment 152:18
asset 251:13
assist 130:22
assistant 32:1
279:25
associated 27:7
37:6, 7, 15 38:6
60:18 72:19 76:2,
7, 8 116:4 119:3
120:12 125:4
193:20 288:22
329:3
associates 117:16
214:10
Association 210:8
assume 236:23
282:6
assumed 272:6
assuming 148:16
270:11 291:18
assumptions 151:14
assurance 4:9
48:16 181:2, 9
303:22
assurances 181:11
273:19, 25
assure 9:2
atmosphere 201:14
202:3
attached 266:9
283:12
attachments 32:5
attack 208:16
245:18
attacking 245:20
attempting 81:19
attend 189:24
attention 102:10
218:13 245:14
278:2
attest 250:25
attitude 204:3
ATTORNEY 1:1
7:16 18:1, 10
31:24 32:2 56:9,
11 71:14 78:25
97:7 100:14
150:21 269:5, 16
270:23 271:17
274:9 277:14, 20
279:25, 25 281:9
283:5 304:12, 14,
21 315:10 317:22
322:22 325:6, 16
326:14, 18 329:9
333:11 338:20, 25
340:1 341:24
345:14 349:22
attorneys 222:1, 6
310:25 322:25
353:13
attorneys' 304:16
attorney's 286:17
attributable 115:14
116:8 117:21
attributed 113:4
audience 233:15
audit 203:21
augers 201:16
August 23:11
30:15 105:25
109:13, 20, 23
authority 192:24
194:20 324:3
authorized 82:12
AutoCAD 141:24
automatically
156:22
auxiliary 30:19
Availability 327:19
available 165:17
176:9 203:16
266:22 327:22
Avenue 132:24
264:22
average 215:18
avoid 106:21
awards 214:21
aware 40:24 98:5,
13 99:8 102:4
144:7 204:8
273:17 282:19, 20
302:6, 8, 11
awareness 160:16
awesome 244:12
awful 164:10
awfully 248:14
<B>
bachelor's 105:9
back 3:3 13:8
15:14 18:3, 4 21:5
26:4 27:4, 11 28:1
31:8 33:4 34:4
37:1 45:9 46:15
48:1 50:14 59:14,
16 63:3 65:25
67:7 75:18 82:15
103:19 109:15
113:20, 21 114:25
116:9 118:8
125:11,22 129:2
133:7 136:2 141:7,
18 142:13 143:10
144:5 155:7 161:4,
9 168:21 171:23
173:24 174:3
177:9, 14, 15, 16
179:13, 14 180:2, 2,
3, 3 181:1 185:4, 5
201:21 206:15
224:21 228:7
229:10 240:13
241:20 243:8
246:21, 22 250:15
253:10 255:23
257:2 258:1, 11
262:13 267:8
268:19 271:9
276:9 278:22
279:6, 7 284:2, 9,
12 290:21 291:1, 6,
20 294:22 300:4
302:10 308:22
310:18 313:11
315:6 320:16
322:15 324:21
330:20 332:16, 18
337:5 338:10
339:2 340:25
341:2
background 116:9,
11 164:20 236:7
bacteria 171:1
bad 154:20 201:19
234:12 238:23
239:9, 15 241:16
bag 147:5, 6
balancing 96:10
226:9
Balzano 1:1 33:10,
10 34:3 35:8, 13,
20 36:2, 11, 15, 20
Barbara 1:1
Barbare 146:1
barbed 58:22, 25
Barker 1:1 3:6
7:21 8:2, 6, 10, 16,
21 9:6, 13, 17, 20,
23 10:2, 8 11:2
12:12 13:5, 16, 21
14:5, 18, 23 15:2, 4,
19, 23 16:18 17:1,
7,10 18:2, 6, 17
78:1 160:2, 4
270:14 287:2, 6, 18
288:1 291:5, 15, 20
311:4 312:6, 19
313:7, 13, 25 314:7,
16 315:24 316:15
317:9 318:13
319:9, 13, 17
323:15, 17 324:9
325:1, 6, 25 326:8
327:3, 12 328:3, 7,
11 339:6, 10, 13
350:15 351:1
base 303:10
based 23:18 33:11
45:17 47:8 49:1
52:5 56:6 57:4
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
6
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
62:11 64:4, 20
65:10 77:7 96:10
105:4 107:4 116:5
119:25 120:13, 16
150:20 152:13
187:18 206:3
214:11 250:2, 8
258:25 284:14
285:4, 24 286:9
314:5, 7 344:17
350:16, 19
basically 14:12
15:10 30:4, 6 32:7
36:24 39:23 41:2
45:15, 21, 25 46:6,
10, 13 47:1 48:5
49:2, 7, 15 50:7, 15,
19 52:3 55:18, 20,
22 56:24 57:6
62:9 63:10 64:1,
16 65:22 76:12
104:18 116:9
120:9 127:18
134:13 141:23
148:12 206:19, 20
225:19 248:21
269:9 288:25
290:4 293:12
314:2 315:15
316:18 325:7
332:11 343:7
basin 21:10
basing 117:6
basis 85:14 87:17
89:21 114:9 139:3
154:17 172:19
190:1 262:22
batch 3:18 20:7
batteries 67:17
battery 104:8
battling 180:25
bearing 252:23
bears 107:6
began 180:20
beginning 105:24
145:25 149:25
150:3 181:23
219:1 223:6
278:19 280:25
322:15 331:25
335:22
behalf 2:7 97:13
150:8
behavior 241:20, 21
belabor 25:24 77:6
beliefs 230:16
believe 9:20 27:20
32:5, 17, 21 39:5,
13 43:12 52:14
53:11 58:24 61:21,
21 64:20 70:13, 25
88:8 89:4, 7, 24
91:6, 21, 22 108:22
112:4 117:8 132:3,
5 158:9 159:22,25
161:18, 23 194:7,
21 201:12 202:12
207:9 228:3, 11
243:2 252:7
254:21 259:21
265:22 276:18
292:12 303:20
317:21 320:14
322:17, 20 323:8
337:10 346:2
believed 160:6
270:22, 23
belongs 81:23
Ben 1:1 36:23
45:8 61:15 83:20
240:12 292:6
beneficial 57:9, 12
134:6 136:18
137:19, 23, 24, 25
138:2, 5, 7 264:8,
14 265:19 266:5
267:9 284:6
285:14, 25 288:11
289:18, 25 290:4
293:12, 18 336:16
beneficially 250:1
benefit 189:16
251:13
benefits 189:21
210:11 212:21
218:21 250:4
299:11 301:1, 3
337:1
BENNETT 193:15, 16
Ben's 145:23
berm 34:22 35:21
36:1
Berthoud 253:24
best 175:12 176:9,
10 177:18 178:2
181:24, 24 203:14,
22 249:21,25
250:9
bet 241:10
Beth 1:1
better 107:16
121:14 160:25
167:20 168:10
177:23 223:4
227:22 237:16
245:24 253:5
299:17 335:14, 19,
21 337:19
beyond 128:14
250:5 252:6
bid 246:25
bids 181:23
big 174:3 196:8
230:23 231:22, 23
241:14 255:12
308:25 336:7
bigger 188:19
biggest 217:9
338:15 340:16
Bill 76:19, 23 88:7
103:23 222:1
billion 164:18
193:11 194:14
196:7
bio 122:25 176:12
Bioenergy 75:15
164:12, 23
biofilter 60:17
94:22, 24 95:1
biofilters 59:12
253:6
BIOGAS 1:1 2:8
3:7 4:2,11,13
19:11 75:10 78:9,
13,16 79:5, 6, 17,
18 81:5, 10, 23
92:20 95:12, 19, 20
97:13 99:23 100:1,
25 101:21 102:2
107:21 134:19
149:13 150:8
152:17, 19 153:7,
12, 15, 16, 22 154:5,
19 155:8, 18, 25
157:16 159:3
160:6 161:16
165:19 189:10, 12,
21 190:1, 12
191:18 193:1, 21
209:15 217:17
223:18 229:19
233:5, 10 235:7
249:7 251:12
253:6 268:17
269:17 270:9
271:12 275:11
276:4, 5 282:16
283:1 295:8, 11
297:15, 19 298:8
305:1 331:14
345:4
biological 171:13
biologicals 135:11
biology 105:9
biosolid 289:13, 16,
20 291:11
biosolids 289:2, 4,
22 298:19, 19
bit 21:23 28:6
50:4, 17 53:24
85:18 119:11
122:25 123:21
125:1, 13 126:13
168:2 176:19
180:12, 14 189:23
244:1 284:10
303:17 309:9
322:23 340:19, 20
341:20
bitter 254:19
Black 166:22
241:15 261:12
303:8
blanketed 71:2
blatantly 219:19
233:8
blow 208:23
233:20
blowing 6:16 61:6
72:3, 9 106:16, 24
113:18 118:12, 15
125:17 206:7, 17,
18, 25 207:3, 5, 14
233:22
blue 42:2 271:17
BOARD 1:1, 1 7:8,
23, 24 11:14, 15
12:10 17:16 18:5
21:18 73:15 81:9,
17 86:21 97:10
99:14, 14, 16, 18, 19,
22, 24 100:6, 10, 18
101:5, 14 102:5
103:17 142:25
156:17, 20, 20
158:16 175:18
181:5, 18 182:24
194:23 195:20
196:7 209:18
253:8 263:6 269:3,
6 272:24 289:6, 17
294:7 299:2, 7, 8
305:11 309:22
318:24 326:4
327:20 344:15, 19
350:8
boat 271:20
Bob 249:1
bodies 77:18 82:4
body 45:16, 19
99:10 146:4 187:6
273:10 281:14, 16
290:6 303:24
bologna 233:23
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
7
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
bona 271:13
bond 274:17
book 244:9
booth 228:4
Borgel 2:6
borne 242:19
bottom 55:20
249:23
bought 192:19
Boulder 214:11
boundaries 23:21,
22
boundary 115:3
box 139:20
brand 329:6
break 102:22, 24
103:1, 5, 15 257:18
breaks 189:16
breath 201:19
208:14
breathe 191:19
breathing 262:2
Brewer 1:1 38:8
39:3, 12, 19 40:16
41:6 44:17, 17, 23
45:7 67:14, 14, 19,
19 68:1, 10, 18, 24
69:3 77:24 117:14
182:13 209:7
Brewer's 42:15
62:1
brief 101:9 103:8,
10 150:2 157:1
186:21 220:4, 11
276:25 298:12
briefings 132:19
bring 65:25 104:3
180:2 214:23
241:3 245:13
263:11 299:1
330:20 340:25
bringing 67:16
211:5 214:5
brings 210:11
British 211:12
broad 106:6, 8
broadest 203:7
Broadway 164:16
brother 223:3
brought 19:24
20:10 45:12 60:22
83:18 87:15 93:24
95:3, 4 102:9
111:2 146:17
193:23 201:11
245:15 310:11
320:20 325:18
327:23
Bruce 1:1 25:23
270:14 311:3
339:5
Bruskin 295:1
BS 230:1
bubbles 169:21
buck 166:24 228:8,
9 231:2
BUD 235:15 286:9
292:21
budget 175:7
build 36:12 93:11
161:7 188:16
190:3 196:21
219:14, 19 276:6,
17
building 6:5 24:12,
14,16,17,19 25:7,
10, 13 27:5 28:10
30:9 58:7, 9, 11
72:12 73:18, 25, 25
74:14 84:5, 9
93:9, 14 154:15
172:25 173:4, 6, 8,
9, 13, 15, 16, 17
174:1, 20, 21
200:21 201:1
234:8 335:16
337:15
buildings 73:4
95:18 174:24
184:21 200:23
builds 92:17
built 154:21
253:14
bulk 147:4
bullet 55:20 331:4
bunch 157:14
331:16
burdens 220:8
buried 201:14
296:25 297:5
304:6, 8
burying 304:1
bus 142:11
business 46:14
180:1 188:21
194:8, 12, 14 196:3
202:25 206:2, 3
212:16 222:18
223:4, 6, 10 224:17
225:4 227:6, 7, 23,
24 228:7 231:16
235:14, 24 236:1,
15, 18, 21 237:2, 5
246:23 247:18
251:24 252:19
352:6
businesses 190:2
211:2 220:7
221:17, 19 235:12
236:24 241:9
250:5
busy 89:20, 22
227:7, 9
button 279:2
buy 147:5 175:5
181:25
bypassed 182:1
byproduct 293:2
byproducts 134:5
<C>
C2 128:16
C3 128:16
C4 128:17
cabling 173:12
CAFR 214:23
California 3:8
122:21,22 189:22
201:21, 22 218:9
227:15 228:17
238:18
Call 3:4 51:24
68:20 106:13
111:23 112:2
124:3 131:21
132:1, 7 141:21
183:23 195:8
200:7 208:22
226:10 227:15, 25
228:1 230:7
234:19 237:24
246:11 301:18
351:15, 19
called 29:25 68:19
108:15 110:3
130:12 154:8
182:9 188:15
190:5 199:5, 8
200:2 209:6 211:4,
13 227:17 253:16
284:21 289:19, 20
290:10, 12 311:12
calling 286:2, 3
289:20
calls 228:23
246:10, 14
calming 208:24
cancel 234:2, 3
canceled 234:14
238:20
capabilities 154:3
capability 318:21,
23
capacity 6:3 185:7
195:24 218:12
capital 336:18
captured 112:5
carbon 172:16
card 59:4
care 198:18
212:15 250:13, 17
347:19
career 105:12
careful 184:23
carefully 125:6
190:7
cargo 73:23 74:1,
2
caring 191:12
carried 207:18, 19
carry 188:17 207:7
carrying 207:7
case 3:7 20:15
25:8 72:22 80:8,
9, 11, 14, 14, 17
81:13 85:10 89:13,
14 96:7, 13, 17
99:3 129:15 131:3
143:22 150:25
151:1, 2, 9, 18
152:6, 13 154:18
156:7, 21 157:15
161:10 173:7
181:10 272:8, 11,
16 273:23 274:22,
25 275:2, 3, 20
276:2, 21, 22 278:9,
18
cases 156:19
287:13
cast 89:23
cat 203:3
catch 109:3 185:8
197:1 334:10
categorize 114:8, 9
115:4
category 178:22, 23
cattle 193:19
226:19 305:5
CAUSE 1:1 3:5, 10,
11 8:24 14:3, 3
15:5, 24 16:5
17:21 18:15 24:7,
9, 10, 10, 21 39:14
56:6 60:22 62:21
75:19 76:4, 11, 25
77:10 95:1 162:8,
9 171:11, 24
179:25 180:4, 4, 20,
23 181:3 182:19
183:4, 19 185:23
186:2 189:20
218:20 219:3
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
8
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
244:19, 21 245:1
247:21 262:13, 15
300:19 302:6, 25
305:24 310:18, 19
312:5 316:8
320:24 321:9, 22
329:24 330:7
344:19
causes 237:6
causing 94:25
96:11 247:18
caution 265:25
CCR 4:20 303:19
306:5, 5
CD 9:4, 14, 16, 24
10:6, 23, 24 11:5
12:8, 9, 10 13:3, 9
14:7 15:7, 16
16:1, 5, 15, 17
17:20 19:14, 19
23:16, 19 31:12
33:1 37:2, 10 42:5
45:11, 15, 18 46:2,
4, 18, 24 47:1 48:4
49:24 56:12 57:8
66:14 70:5 78:10,
10, 10 79:2, 3, 20
80:5, 8, 15, 17, 21,
22, 25 81:1, 23
82:3, 10 100:2, 3
101:11 141:8
150:4, 11, 17 151:6,
12, 15 152:5 153:2
154:5, 7, 8, 9, 19
155:7, 12, 19, 24
159:3, 10, 15
178:21, 22 187:16,
18 192:18 235:15
238:1, 3, 4 248:1
259:14, 15, 15
266:18 267:25
268:1, 13, 23, 24
271:2, 10 272:6
274:12, 18 275:1, 2
276:11 277:15
278:3 279:3, 12
281:2, 25 295:16
297:15 303:21
304:15, 20 305:10,
15, 16, 19, 20
306:12 308:18
309:1 314:23
315:3, 3 317:6, 11,
12, 23, 25 318:10,
10 319:3 322:16,
17, 19, 19 324:20,
22 325:8, 21
326:15 327:4, 10
328:7, 8, 10, 11, 22,
23 329:5, 6 332:18,
24, 25 333:20, 25,
25 334:7, 9, 9
338:11, 11, 16, 22
339:1, 3, 7, 16, 19,
21 340:2, 4, 16, 17
341:8, 18, 22 342:6,
11 343:2, 3, 6, 10,
15, 23 346:18
348:3, 6 349:7
350:17
CDA 135:21 136:9
137:19 264:5
CDP 216:14
CDPHE 5:5 23:19
42:14 46:5, 15, 23
48:1, 18, 20 49:6,
20, 23 50:10, 14
51:21 52:5, 9
54:22 55:17 57:14
62:15 63:15, 25
64:1, 9 66:15
77:18 78:17 97:7
100:7 133:9 135:7,
22 136:2, 5 215:4
267:8 285:20, 25
290:3 293:18
cease 56:16 80:1
314:24 317:15
318:19 319:19
327:5 328:5
center 107:21
cents 210:17
certain 40:13, 14
44:13 97:17
106:17,17,21
108:15 115:17
118:17 145:4
151:1 156:13
244:17 246:8
311:17 312:8
314:1 321:4
324:16 332:21
333:10 336:3
certainly 11:24
155:22 161:1
162:18 164:1
224:23 272:24
275:5 277:10
278:7 280:12
282:12 297:25
298:5 303:5
349:17
Certificate 4:3, 10
7:19, 24, 25 8:9, 14,
18 9:4, 10, 12
10:13, 19, 20 11:16,
17,21 12:17,20,25
13:13 14:1,16,20
17:5 19:8, 9 25:5
31:11, 15, 20 32:4
78:8 83:1, 12, 13
86:10 99:8, 16
100:9,19 101:7,15
161:17, 22 187:9
194:2, 19 258:22
259:1, 3, 5, 6
266:18 267:22
269:10, 17, 18
270:10, 16, 24
277:3 286:21
294:9 295:18, 20
297:18, 20, 24
299:8 302:24
306:21 307:15
317:5 318:7
319:12 323:24
324:2 326:17, 20,
24, 25 329:3 333:6,
8 344:16,21
345:12, 16 348:23
349:23 350:23
353:1
certificates 199:11
274:10
certification 62:9,
12
certified 27:21
196:25 347:10
Certify 194:22
353:3, 6, 11
cetera 218:4
chain 58:20, 24
195:14 221:23
Chair 25:25 122:4
140:17 146:7
182:21 273:15
295:8 313:3 322:6
337:3 340:9
Chairman 1:1 3:2
7:12 12:4 16:8
17:8, 13, 25 18:11,
22, 25 26:1 27:9,
25 31:4, 25 33:3, 9,
20, 23 35:15 36:22
42:10 44:22 45:8
52:20 53:25 59:15
61:14 62:18 65:4,
9 66:25 68:16
69:4, 11, 14 70:20
71:18 74:19 75:4
83:9 88:14 90:8, 9
91:16 92:8 93:1
96:24 97:11,22
102:19,21,25
103:13, 16 104:6, 9
109:7 110:20
117:11 120:5, 8
121:19 122:2, 10,
14, 20, 23 123:5
128:18, 22 130:14
131:10 132:15
140:16 146:8
148:7 149:20
158:23 159:1
163:16 164:5
167:9 179:23
180:7 182:22
185:11, 15, 18
188:6, 8 191:6
193:14 196:15
197:17 199:23
201:24 202:1, 16
204:11, 14 205:22
207:24 209:21
212:17 213:25
218:1,5,17,18,25
219:11,24 222:14
225:7 226:14
227:3 229:12
232:4, 24 235:20
237:10 240:23
243:9 244:16, 23
245:2, 9, 16, 22, 25
247:5, 10 248:25
253:12, 16, 20
256:10, 17 257:8,
13, 19 258:6, 9
259:10, 20, 23
260:16, 20, 25
263:5, 9 267:15
273:4, 16 274:4
281:6 283:23
294:1, 4 298:9, 24
311:2 313:4
314:12 315:18
316:1, 4, 25 319:21
322:5 323:13, 16,
22 325:14 328:16,
19 330:22 332:5, 8
333:3 335:6
337:13, 25 338:12,
17 339:14 340:6,
18 341:9, 12, 19
342:24 343:17
344:6, 9, 12, 13
348:13, 15 349:9
351:9, 12, 14, 18
352:4
challenges 223:11,
11 225:6 250:11
champion 221:16
chance 52:6
122:16 152:8, 24
229:3, 7, 7 239:3
257:22 313:9
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
9
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
change 19:10, 14,
14 21:11 22:4, 5, 8
23:15 47:17 48:11,
14 63:12, 16, 18
66:16 82:6 85:15
139:2 155:4
184:12, 17, 18, 19
198:2 201:5
232:17 260:13
268:12, 15 282:14
284:13, 14, 19, 22
294:15 295:2
296:19, 22, 24
297:3, 7, 20 316:7
318:11, 11 338:4
changed 34:24
70:7 157:20
171:12 192:20
220:19 259:4
272:8 279:23
292:16, 16 305:4
341:22, 23
changes 5:12 21:6,
17, 17, 20 22:9, 10,
13 23:16, 24 48:12
52:11 63:8, 10
85:12, 13, 16, 19
139:9, 12 140:7, 21
141:1, 4, 23 146:2
166:9, 18 167:16
260:2 267:25
268:1, 22, 23
346:12
changing 21:7
23:22 71:6 80:22
282:15
Chapter 6:25
72:17 74:6, 12
291:12 314:21
348:6
characteristic
118:3, 22
characteristics
110:17 137:5
203:10 226:12
characterization
123:7
charge 88:8
166:23
charged 323:19
chart 110:2 135:8
charts 209:12
chasing 110:3, 14
116:3, 5
check 67:7 119:21,
23 144:21 157:6
229:24
checked 27:15
checking 53:16
checkout 145:13
checks 144:24
236:7
chemical 105:8, 9
123:1 137:1 166:3
chemicals 166:2
cherrypicking
112:18
chicken 254:2
child 244:2
choice 203:22
317:8, 22
choose 11:9
190:15 324:13
327:4
choosing 87:8
chose 95:20
107:22 203:6
219:19 230:3, 14
chosen 318:21
Chris 1:1 19:1, 2
27:10 31:6 34:3
71:19, 20 189:22
193:15 258:2
259:13 288:17
290:9 292:6
342:24
Chris's 58:11
chunk 231:22, 23
circling 322:15
circumference
109:17, 18
circumstance
313:12
circumstances
97:17 151:1
153:19 155:16
156:2 157:22
158:10 243:24
277:9
citation 96:9
303:20
cite 80:12 218:7
cited 16:13 80:11
94:19
citing 96:7
citizens 192:8
209:18 213:3,8,13
261:9, 21 299:15
320:11 322:8
City 80:10 274:22
276:21
civil 323:18
324:10 326:4
327:12
claimed 172:23
194:24
clarification 57:17
111:22 258:7, 10
313:21 343:1
clarified 86:3
clarify 17:13
28:22 31:6 37:3,
11 45:11 66:24
89:1 111:7 150:5
245:13
Class 3:15 20:4
24:2 47:9 49:1
55:16 69:19 70:3,
6, 6, 22, 24 71:2, 3,
11 108:11 134:4
137:14 142:16
147:3 166:21
194:17 210:4
233:13 235:8
266:18 292:4
classification 71:5
classifications 71:8
classified 134:21
clean 36:4 257:25
262:9 271:23
324:17 335:14
337:8
cleanup 271:18
clear 43:22 61:25
80:6 81:22 137:10
138:10, 10 150:9
157:15 160:20
189:10 241:18
303:18 305:7, 17
clearer 28:6
295:15
clearly 67:11
126:11 181:12
304:18, 22 307:20
323:9
clearspan 24:15
25:9
CLERK 351:20, 22,
24 352:1, 3
clever 305:1
clients 214:19
clipboard 257:21
clipping 299:11
close 191:4 241:6
249:13 257:16
closed 29:9 58:15
234:7
closely 157:24
271:21
closest 200:1
208:5 232:7
closing 216:19
clutter 65:23
COAN 2:2 76:19,
23
Code 4:4, 6 6:21,
25 64:19, 23 72:17,
18 74:6, 9, 12
87:14 156:14, 24
249:10 311:12
324:7 347:23
co -digestion 250:21
cognizant 321:14,
19, 21
cold 29:5 185:2
254:19
coliform 135:12
collateral 81:8
101:21
colleague 119:10
colleagues 108:10
collect 110:6
249:11
collected 107:1
129:9
collections 139:6
collective 250:2, 14
Colorado 1:1 2:3,
7, 11 4:4, 24 5:10,
19 20:20 23:4, 13
59:9, 22 82:14
94:17 95:13 96:8
132:25 135:4
136:7 147:25
150:16, 23 151:11
163:19 181:8
191:8 192:1
200:14 202:19
209:25 210:8, 14,
16 214:3, 22 215:1
218:23 220:2
226:7 237:12
239:14 240:25
249:3 251:21
253:24 263:17
264:15 265:13
306:20 313:22
321:3 336:19
346:23 353:1, 5, 23
Coloradoan 253:25
Coloradoans 191:11
Colorado's 193:10
combined 46:25
combustion 6:2
164:24
come 13:8, 21
14:11 15:13 37:13
65:17 74:22 89:21
110:13 112:3
116:25 144:14
150:20 156:19
157:20 158:5
161:4 172:21
175:19, 20 177:14,
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
10
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
14, 16 180:2, 3, 3
186:10 194:15
200:20 228:19
234:24 237:18
240:8 246:21
252:2 255:9
257:23 258:11
260:21 262:13, 23
265:23 267:8
276:9 278:1 284:1
306:19 310:18
311:19 313:11
324:16 332:16, 18
333:5, 23, 24 337:1
339:2 343:21
comes 15:14 18:8
77:17 87:3, 23
111:12 156:16
165:24 169:10, 10,
11,12,13 211:20
213:18 228:7
230:4 235:4
344:22 348:23
350:24
comfortable 238:24
255:25
coming 28:2 51:4,
14 86:21 88:2, 9
113:19 118:10
168:22 171:4
172:2 184:5
206:19 207:4
228:17 233:20
238:16 245:6
350:7
comment 213:6
238:4, 5, 8 239:7
273:3, 12 278:4
339:12
commented 68:19
comments 11:25
74:23 96:21 103:8
143:4 163:18, 19
181:6 186:21
192:12 214:4
219:12 220:4
228:14 229:16
230:18 243:19, 25
260:22 281:11
298:16 299:22
301:15 304:4
307:18 317:2
321:15 345:10
349:2, 17 351:10
commercial 25:10
72:12 135:4 216:2
Commission 18:4,
7 41:21 59:10, 23
66:4 77:23 84:20
172:5 181:22
242:5, 6 278:14
353:17
Commissioner 1:1,
1,1,1 7:12,14,22
8:3, 7, 11, 17, 22
9:7, 15, 18, 21 10:1,
5, 9 11:13 12:5, 15
13:10, 19, 23 14:15,
19 15:1, 3, 16, 20
16:8, 10, 11, 19
17:2, 3, 11, 15, 23,
24, 25 18:1, 9, 12,
21, 24 25:25 26:1,
3, 9 27:9, 10, 18, 21,
24, 25 28:1, 22
29:6, 11 31:4, 5, 16,
21, 23 32:15, 19, 23
33:2, 4, 8, 20, 21, 24,
25 35:3, 11, 14, 15,
16, 24 36:6, 14, 17,
21 40:8, 18 42:8,
11,22 43:3, 5, 7, 8,
20, 21 44:2, 9, 12,
15 45:6 51:19, 22
52:1,12,15,19,20,
21, 22 53:12, 17, 18
54:1, 5, 10, 13, 16,
24 55:2, 6 59:13,
16, 20, 22 60:1, 7,
10, 15 61:14, 15
62:6, 17, 19 63:1, 5
65:3, 5, 9, 10 66:25
67:1, 8, 16, 23 68:2,
13, 21, 25 69:12, 15,
21 70:10,17,18,21
71:10, 16, 17 75:2
78:3 83:8, 10, 16
88:14, 15 89:3
90:1, 7, 8, 10, 13, 16
91:15, 17 92:2, 6,
24 93:2, 17, 20, 22
96:14, 23, 24, 25
97:9, 19, 20, 23
98:2, 8, 17, 20 99:2,
5, 13, 21 100:4, 16
101:1, 4, 13 102:4,
8 109:5, 8, 17, 19,
24 110:19, 20, 21
111:15, 19 117:12
118:4 119:1, 12, 16,
24 120:3, 4, 6, 9, 15
121:1, 17 122:4
128:18, 20, 23
129:1,3,7,18
131:11,12,22
132:2, 8, 14 138:17
140:8, 16, 17 142:7
143:14 145:1
146:6, 9, 13, 16
147:9, 15, 20 148:2,
5, 8, 9, 15, 25 149:6,
12, 15, 18 158:24
159:2, 6, 20, 25
160:3, 5, 10 161:13
162:7, 12, 23 163:2,
10, 14, 16, 17, 21
164:4 166:15
167:2, 8, 12 171:15,
18 172:4 179:22,
22, 23, 24 180:8, 14,
18 182:20, 23
183:16 185:10
201:25 202:1, 2, 10,
13, 15 204:12, 14,
16, 17, 21 205:13,
18, 21, 22, 23 206:5,
12 207:2, 10, 13, 23
212:17, 18 213:24
218:18 225:7, 8, 18,
24 226:2, 13, 14, 15,
16 227:2 232:25
235:21 242:16
253:15, 18 257:9
258:8 259:11, 12,
19, 21, 24 260:18
263:7, 9, 13, 25
264:20 266:3, 7, 13
267:1, 3, 5, 7, 12, 14,
16, 17 268:20
269:2 273:2, 5, 14
274:6 277:11
280:13, 24 281:4, 7,
21 282:23, 24
283:16, 20, 25
284:3, 18, 23 285:2
286:1, 12, 15 287:4,
8, 22 288:4, 15, 17,
24 289:7, 11 290:8,
18, 25 291:13, 18,
22, 23, 24 293:4, 6,
14, 25 295:9, 23
296:14 297:4, 11
298:11 299:4
300:12 301:8
307:23 308:11, 15,
23 309:20 311:23,
25 312:16 313:3, 5,
8, 19 314:5, 9, 10,
13 315:5, 8, 23
316:2,3,4,6,21,23
317:1,3,4,20
318:25 319:11, 15,
21, 23 320:10, 20
322:5, 6 323:20, 23
324:25 325:4, 15,
17, 18, 22, 24 326:7,
10, 12, 13 327:9, 14,
15 328:4, 8, 9, 17,
20, 25 329:7, 15, 22
330:16, 19, 21, 23
331:10, 12, 20
332:1, 3, 6, 9, 13, 15
333:3, 4 334:2, 3,
22, 24, 25 337:3, 22
338:10, 14, 19, 23
339:8, 11, 14, 15, 18,
22, 23 340:7 341:7,
11, 13 342:8 343:1,
12, 14, 19 344:6, 7,
10, 13 348:14, 16,
16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25
349:1, 9, 11, 20, 21
350:21 351:3, 11,
13, 16, 20, 21, 22, 23,
24, 25 352:1, 2, 3
COMMISSIONERS
1:1, 1 3:4 7:8
12:11 75:9 76:22
77:7 81:10, 17
85:4 87:4 89:21
95:5 99:23, 24
100:11, 19 101:6,
10, 14, 19, 24
103:17,19,21
104:8 132:23
166:12 175:19
176:3 192:6, 12
193:5 194:11
196:4 199:14
202:17 208:1
209:19 212:25
213:20 220:1
227:5 228:6 233:4
235:6, 22 236:1
241:12 243:10, 18
249:1 253:9 261:5
269:7 298:14
308:7 311:1 322:4
326:4 327:20
344:19 350:9
Commissioner's
274:7
Commission's 6:9
98:13
commitment
176:11 181:7
203:23
committed 92:21
162:16 163:1, 2, 4
168:9, 15 175:3
182:8 204:10
committee 164:17
committing 181:13
common 136:16
commonly 135:18
159:14
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
11
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
communicated
144:5
Communication
90:18 92:16, 17
138:23 163:24
213:15
communications
92:21
communities
190:14
community 40:1
175:23 176:1, 5
189:24 190:4, 5, 16,
21 193:18 195:12
199:22 202:8
210:25 213:21, 23
221:4 223:9
236:10 240:4
241:5 242:20
243:1, 7 253:10
257:3 261:10
263:1, 2 321:23
compacted 144:15
companies 196:8
205:1
COMPANY 1:1
85:1 96:8 154:1,
20, 25 157:9
158:15 162:5
164:18 176:3
182:5 188:23
189:6 193:12
195:1 196:2 198:7
199:21 200:10, 16
202:22 211:3, 4
213:13 221:22
222:2, 3 246:17
249:3 252:8
261:23 305:2, 5
company's 275:14
company -specific
236:5
comparable 133:18
compare 209:11
246:13
compared 136:14
178:8
comparison 193:22
compelling 241:3
complain 68:22
246:12 350:9
complainant 68:18
124:14, 18, 25
128:3, 6, 8
complainants
124:12, 13 128:2
252:11
complains 128:25
complaint 67:21
122:7 123:10, 11,
15 124:15 125:3,
12, 13 126:8, 10, 16,
18, 20, 22, 24 127:6,
10, 12, 22, 25 130:1
178:25 179:16
233:20, 22 237:24
302:12 305:25
320:25
complaints 25:19
26:6 41:24 42:2
67:9, 13, 24 68:22
69:2 76:2 122:1
123:8, 9, 15, 19, 24
124:1,3,7,8,11,14,
19, 20 125:25
128:3, 5, 9 129:5,
20 130:24,25
131:2, 4, 5 179:1
183:18 189:16
192:16 199:15
209:5 227:17
232:18, 19 237:20,
21 301:18 346:2, 2
complete 32:12
140:1, 6, 13 160:14
187:18 209:12
337:6
completed 27:12
48:5 172:25 253:1,
9 323:7
completely 165:10
179:2 280:2
315:13 321:11
343:17
completeness 32:11
completion 85:17,
20 269:12
complex 139:4
250:1 251:8, 9
complexity 119:9
compli 45:22
compliance 4:1
5:19 7:4 8:4
9:19 10:3, 6 11:20
13:18, 22 14:11, 12,
13, 15 15:6, 13, 17
16 :1, 3, 6, 23 19:16
20:1 23:3 24:5, 25
35:6 37:6, 7, 15
38:12, 13, 14 39:3,
23 40:25 41:2
42:6, 23, 24 45:13
56:14 57:4 61:1,
17 66:8, 19 68:8
69:10 74:16 95:11,
22, 23 96:25 97:3
107:10, 11 176:7
177:11 182:9
183:12 186:1
190:10 194:6, 10
216:20 236:18
237:1 270:3
300:20 302:12
306:20, 22, 24
307:6, 7, 9, 13, 20
308:17, 18 309:2, 5,
11, 17 310:7, 19
312:14 323:8
324:16 327:24
328:12, 14 330:2,
18 332:21, 23
342:15 344:1, 2, 4,
22 346:14, 20, 25
348:23 350:5, 24
351:8
compliant 15:22
163:7 256:25
complicated 89:14,
20 119:8, 19 165:3
173:10, 14 261:11
complied 4:8
84:25
comply 4:17 5:16,
20 6:19 45:23
46:1 56:25 64:17
72:15 74:11
187:10, 12 258:14
260:4 280:23
305:21 306:3, 7
313:17 318:4
333:14 347:22
348:5, 9
complying 6:24
7:3 74:5 82:6
84:16 85:5 165:6
314:20 315:19, 22
319:4
component 134:19
compost 50:25
51:3 71:4 133:14
134:7, 21 135:2, 4,
21 147:3, 4, 6
165:23 169:12, 19
170:10, 12 196:22,
24 197:5, 7 217:12
218:7 224:2
225:15 251:24
263:23 264:4
265:14 298:16
composted 51:5
composter 69:20
210:3, 5
composters 70:2
composting 3:15
20:4 24:2 47:9
49:1 55:16 108:11
133:23 134:4, 8, 22,
23, 23, 24, 25 135:1
137:14 194:18
210:4 218:22
240:19 249:5, 21
250:9, 10 287:14
292:4, 10
comprehensive
71:22 249:16
300:22
concentrated
108:25
concentration
41:19 208:13
concept 114:14, 17
241:17
concern 158:14
162:1, 5 195:20
242:18 283:1, 3
294:14
concerned 242:17
320:19
concerning 64:8
concerns 93:23
155:13 178:24
180:19 183:19
217:19 226:3
253:2
conclude 185:16
204:7
concludes 96:21
185:15
conclusion 104:24
114:20 115:1
116:16
conclusions 105:3
114:19
concrete 3:18
20:7 144:16, 19, 25
145:6 174:5, 6, 7
concur 320:9
concurrence 136:5
condition 33:14
50:12 64:1 84:12,
16 106:18 114:10,
15 118:11 331:9
conditional 20:18
conditions 4:8, 22
5:2 6:17 25:22
46:19, 22 47:5, 6,
11, 21 48:4 59:7,
24 60:13 72:4
106:13, 22 112:5,
11, 22 120:13, 16,
17 258:18, 24
284:17 285:6, 12,
13 331:2 333:2
345:21 347:14
conduct 217:10
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
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Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
conducted 24:24
56:13 106:6 107:7
214:24 215:4
confidence 198:7
200:16 219:18
confident 225:4
conflict 245:5
conflicting 165:7
conflicts 221:8
conformity 80:25
confuse 289:12
confused 137:22
289:22
confusing 50:5
57:21
confusion 137:10
140:15
conjunction 5:1
343:4, 7
Connie 240:24
Consent 19:16
40:25 95:11, 20
160:16 172:6, 9, 10
177:11 182:10
262:16 306:22
307:7 309:10, 16
311:16 312:7, 18
316:10, 16 319:8
324:4 327:24
346:22, 24
consequences 97:2,
14 196:21 242:17,
19
conservative 114:9,
12
consider 17:19
31:17 64:13 65:16
127:14 152:17, 25
153:1, 6 157:3, 12
178:25 268:1,22
278:12 286:7
305:14 311:9
346:4
considerable 321:6
consideration 52:9
78:7 179:21,22
235:19 243:22
considered 48:8
78:5 87:24 106:18
125:9, 20 126:23
134:15 152:10
155:17 156:25
158:11 267:25
272:17 278:11
279:4 289:13, 15
293:19 328:22
considering 51:5
87:25 305:19
considers 285:21
consistency 125:2
126:13 127:24
147:23
consistent 24:3
58:2 116:18
118:18 124:7, 8
126:4, 11, 20 127:1,
5, 6, 7, 11, 23
128:11, 16 130:20
131:19 136:17
151:25 153:8
163:6 177:10
306:11
console 234:21
constant 117:6
138:22
constitute 96:2
constitutes 353:9
constructed 4:20
36:10 64:2 258:17
260:5 309:5
321:10 342:15, 20
construction 3:19
20:8 41:4 46:14
48:16 62:9 72:20
73:3 85:17, 20
197:12 256:7
consultant 22:7
48:10 104:12
149:10, 13
consultants 77:20
104:5, 14
consulting 104:13
105:15 214:10
contact 79:11
208:11
contacted 200:9
contained 249:15
containers 72:7, 10
73:23 74:1, 2
347:18
contaminating
50:22
contemporaneously
126:17
context 75:21
277:1
continually 221:15
continuance 46:7
310:5 312:4 330:6,
11
continuation 19:5
76:25
continue 16:4
46:11 77:1 88:11
89:25 105:6
147:23 176:10
178:3, 3 179:3, 20
188:3 189:14
190:2 192:9, 11, 17,
21 194:8, 10 196:2,
11 212:13, 14
213:12 218:15
223:5 236:20
237:6 242:22, 22
252:5 312:7, 17, 17,
20 317:7 326:15
327:2 333:23
334:8 335:15, 20,
20
continued 24:22
58:18 61:18
172:24 196:1
208:22 319:20
continues 242:21
337:18, 19
continuing 15:23
87:25 191:18
192:2 196:6
213:19 242:9
contract 249:6
contractor 166:20
contracts 149:16
contributors 211:22
control 5:17, 20, 21
6:9 24:17 25:11
38:19, 25 39:19
40:2 41:4, 21
42:18 43:18 44:8,
23 45:1 59:3, 10,
23 60:5 61:3 66:3,
9 77:22 84:20, 24
85:2, 6 95:14
98:13 171:7
173:19, 20 174:19
197:6 202:23
203:1 209:8
306:21 346:23
controlled 5:16
306:16
controls 6:15
50:19 72:3
convened 133:8
convenience 167:23
convenient 190:20
conversation 75:23
102:14, 15 150:4
337:4
conversations
88:11 112:7
117:14 140:25
164:2 189:2
213:19 285:4
convert 165:20, 22
convinced 323:2
Conway 1:1 27:9,
10, 18, 21, 24 33:3,
4, 8 35:15, 16, 24
36:6, 14, 17, 21
40:8, 18 65:9, 10
66:25 67:1, 8, 16,
23 68:2, 13, 21, 25
88:14, 15 89:3
90:1, 7 96:23, 24,
25 97:10, 19 109:5,
8, 17, 19, 24 117:11,
12 118:4 119:1, 12,
16, 24 120:3
128:18, 20, 23
129:1, 3, 7, 18
163:14, 16, 17, 21
164:4 179:23
180:7, 8, 14, 18
182:20, 23 183:16
185:10 204:12, 15,
17, 21 205:13, 18,
21 225:7, 8, 18, 24
226:2, 13, 16
242:16 301:8
307:23 313:3, 5, 8,
19 314:5, 9 319:22,
23 329:15 331:10
332:13 334:2
338:23 339:8, 11
348:19, 25 351:11,
13, 16 352:1, 2
copied 141:19, 22
142:20 143:7
146:5 294:23
copy 35:8 90:11,
14 92:5 136:11
167:3 294:19
core 202:24
corn 136:22
corners 201:10
corporate 30:16, 17
192:24
corporation 190:18
correct 7:20, 21
8:2, 6, 16 9:6, 13,
17, 20 14:18 15:19
16:18, 18 17:9, 10
27:23 31:13 33:6,
7 35:13, 19 42:15
49:12 54:4, 12, 15
62:23 66:21 67:5,
25 68:1, 24 69:3
99:17 109:23
125:14 146:11
147:19 148:4
149:3, 11, 14
158:18 161:14, 25
163:19, 20, 25
200:17 207:9, 12
252:22 259:22
266:6 293:5 296:3
302:21 303:20
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
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Agren Biando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
313:12, 13 316:22
322:13 338:7, 8
339:13 350:20, 21
353:10
corrected 86:4
252:18, 21, 23
337:11
correctly 50:23
53:7 78:3 206:24
219:14 274:19
correlate 129:13
correlated 129:4
corresponded
128:5, 9
correspondence
39:6 137:21
141:18, 21
cost 197:11, 11, 13
236:12
costly 236:14
counsel 353:12
count 209:4 300:8
counties 170:1
210:5 211:21
215:1 221:18
countless 250:20
countries 214:18
country 206:4
220:13 221:18
COUNTY 1:1, 1, 1, 1,
1, 1 3:4 4:6, 10
5:8 6:21, 25 7:8,
15 12:10 17:12
18:1, 9 19:18, 19
20:11, 16, 17, 19
25:6 31:1, 23 32:1
33:17 38:8 43:17,
23, 23 44:17 47:19
48:8 49:5 50:10
52:2, 4, 24 53:20
54:23, 24 56:9
57:11 63:13, 20, 24
64:10, 19, 23 67:20
71:10, 14 72:17, 18
74:6, 9, 12 77:18
78:17, 22, 24 79:22
80:10, 24 81:10, 17,
18 87:14 88:1, 24
89:12 90:19, 22, 23,
25 91:19 92:15, 22,
23 98:3 99:22, 24,
25 100:10, 14, 18
101:5,9,10,14,19,
25, 25 102:2, 11
103:17, 18 108:3
120:21 123:11, 13,
14, 19 124:3 133:6,
10 134:4 136:2
140:25 141:2, 4, 10,
16 142:9, 16, 20
143:3,3,8,17,21
144:5 145:22
146:17, 25 147:13,
18 150:18 152:14,
16 153:5, 11, 21, 25
154:7, 14 155:7,9,
11, 13, 17 156:14
157:17 158:6, 6, 11
159:9 161:2, 16
163:25 170:1
175:18 177:23
179:18 186:20
188:10, 14 189:3, 8
190:2, 9, 13, 17
191:5, 7, 10 192:1,
5, 9, 23 193:2, 9, 16,
17 194:7, 9, 13
195:2 196:10
197:19 199:25
200:9 208:2
209:18, 24 210:1, 2,
6, 11 212:12, 19, 25
214:11 218:14
219:7 220:10, 14
221:2,9,10,12
222:17 223:9
227:6 229:15, 25
230:11, 11 232:7
233:2, 7, 9 235:8,
11, 24 236:22, 25
237:2, 12 240:25
241:4 242:15, 24
243:11 247:16
249:2, 9, 11, 16, 18
250:4, 13, 15, 18, 22
251:5, 13, 18
252:21 253:8
254:1, 9 256:14, 19
265:10 268:7
269:6, 7, 7 270:10,
14 271:12, 14, 24
272:5 274:22
275:7, 14, 18, 21
276:5 277:22
278:13, 13, 14
279:16 280:11, 18,
19, 20 282:19
286:16 292:21
294:11, 13, 25
295:5, 20 296:6, 10,
11 298:4, 7 301:1,
5 308:6 310:15, 24
311:1 315:10
320:11 322:22
325:16 326:4, 20,
23 327:20 336:11
338:24 342:22
344:19 347:23
349:20 350:8
353:2
County -based
168:24
County's 66:20
142:17, 19 189:11
couple 69:9 75:11,
19 81:2 105:18, 21
106:23 125:5
138:14 162:9
186:22 189:23
232:13 243:15
265:24 267:18
275:12 283:14
310:11, 14 330:4
course 107:23
112:3 158:3 183:2
252:19 256:9
262:6, 6 283:18
301:23
Court 80:15 96:7,
13 150:23 151:4, 9
263:24 271:1
276:21 279:10
314:25 317:16, 19
318:20 319:18
327:6, 7
courts 328:6
cover 25:10 27:6
50:9 54:9,22
55:22 57:19 73:4
104:20 105:18
197:2
coverall 58:7, 9, 11
covered 21:10, 12
36:3 57:5 58:16
62:1 72:7, 8 89:7
94:3 112:10
172:25 173:4, 16
174:21 286:23
287:11 288:19
321:11
covering 112:1
cow 228:1 254:5
262:3
cows 197:2
211:24 222:22
223:2, 15 224:21
Cozad 1:1 16:8,
10, 19 17:2, 23
18:24 25:25 26:2,
3, 9 31:4, 5, 16, 21
32:15, 19, 23 33:2,
20, 21 35:3, 11, 14
42:8, 11, 22 43:3, 7,
20 52:20, 21 53:12,
17 61:14, 15 62:6
70:18, 21 71:10, 16
83:8, 10, 16 91:15,
17 92:2, 6, 24 93:2,
17,21,22 120:4
138:17 140:8, 16,
17 142:7 143:14
145:1 146:6, 9, 13
147:9, 15, 20 148:2,
5 179:24 201:25
202:1, 2, 10, 15
204:16 205:22,23
206:5, 12 207:2, 10,
13, 23 212:17, 18
213:24 257:9
259:11, 12, 19
267:3, 7, 12, 14
274:6 277:11
280:13, 24 288:15
291:24 293:4, 6, 14,
25 300:12 308:11
311:23 314:10, 13
315:5, 23 325:15
326:7, 10, 12
327:15 328:4, 8, 17,
20 329:22 330:19
331:20 332:3, 6, 9,
15 334:22, 25
338:10, 14, 19
339:18, 23 340:7
341:7, 13 342:8
343:1, 12, 19
348:14, 17 349:1,
22 351:22, 23
crack 216:14
crap 228:1
crazy 228:20
cream 222:21
create 221:16
238:17 324:4
created 221:18
253:4
creates 225:15
creating 212:3
235:13 239:2
241:16
creation 250:6
251:16
credentials 105:7
credibility 244:2, 3,
7 246:6, 6, 16
247:8
credit 182:6
credit's 182:7
crew 224:21
criteria 135:2
crop 136:20 137:6
138:12
crops 136:22
137:18 223:23
226:6
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
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Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
cross-reference
70:15
CRS 4:3 187:4
crucial 215:20
CTO 249:3
curious 10:15
current 48:6 70:8
155:25 225:5
310:23
currently 23:8
25:15 28:18 39:6
43:6 58:4, 16 71:6
86:6 195:21
209:24 210:12
211:10 223:20
224:8 270:9
308:19
custody 195:14
cut 174:7, 8 201:10
<D>
daily 190:1
dairies 119:7
134:2 234:23, 25
254:5 288:21
dairy 118:2, 23
135:16, 22 136:15
169:10 196:17
198:5 222:16
226:11, 25 234:5
254:2 308:5, 5
321:15
damage 173:13
damn 231:22, 23
dangerous 236:21
dare 241:3
darn 231:14
Darrell 224:15
data 105:1, 4
107:4 108:22
110:6 113:8
116:17 124:9, 22
126:16, 18, 19, 20
129:9, 10 130:1
144:24 145:12, 14
178:9
date 32:10 40:23
41:23 57:16 83:12,
14 92:1 95:21
99:13 101:4, 13
102:5, 7 159:23, 24
164:21 175:3
278:1 286:11
dated 4:24 5:4
7:9 19:7 22:25
23:14 48:17 87:2
100:23 113:15
258:20 260:7
267:20 270:1
277:13 282:25
329:2
dates 20:25
135:25 172:12
182:11 262:18
date's 145:17
Dave 247:12
David 78:25 79:11,
12, 15 80:2 81:12
157:24 265:11
266:2
day 12:2 29:5
39:7 56:19 76:16
97:17 106:6, 25
124:15, 21 131:2
132:1 168:21
177:19 185:22
193:8 199:5, 6
207:4 211:17
217:7 219:4 220:5
223:16 224:6
226:20 227:1
228:18 233:6, 25
235:3, 3 243:16
253:5, 7 261:5
262:20 280:19
335:21 336:16
days 32:13 61:2
62:10 106:8 124:4
185:3 195:22
217:8 235:3 303:2
332:11
day-to-day 154:17
de 155:17, 18
160:6 161:15
194:22
deadlines 95:16
182:17
deal 35:18 119:13
154:17 159:13
162:10 183:20
189:25 201:22
204:19 205:1
220:20 227:24
228:1 280:10
308:25 313:11
314:19 318:14
322:1 336:6, 7
dealing 80:19
146:22 231:15
301:4 317:12
deals 291:6
dealt 204:25
221:2, 4 288:20, 21
Deb 229:14
debris 6:16 72:3
94:14
decades 221:5
deceleration 30:20
December 1:1 2:8
5:4 7:9, 10 22:25
24:22, 23 25:3, 4, 7,
12, 16, 18 29:13
30:8 31:9, 10
33:12 38:10 41:23
42:16 48:17 49:20
56:2, 16, 20 62:13
66:20, 22 72:5
73:21 86:13 87:2
92:10, 12 94:4
106:1 109:13, 21
159:5 160:5
161:20 170:18
264:16 266:9
270:13 286:13
294:16, 25 329:2
352:8 353:16
decibels 117:16
decide 32:7, 14
156:20 157:13
242:24 248:6
305:18 319:8
decided 152:4
decision 16:21
81:14 82:23 87:3
190:7 196:9
222:13 335:5
340:8 349:7, 13, 16
350:13, 14
decision -making
78:6 83:5
decisions 222:11
decrease 205:2, 14,
19
decreasing 23:24
dedicated 261:18
262:25
dedication 261:4
deed 102:1
deem 346:3
deeply 250:17
defending 190:16
defense 145:23
defer 30:11 93:12
define 37:10
45:11 251:10
defined 265:15
290:23,24 299:16
330:12
definitely 52:17
145:25 198:4
definition 45:14
298:20, 21
definitions 37:2
degree 105:7
degrees 105:9, 10
244:8, 14
delete 306:18
deliberation 321:25
delicately 190:25
delineate 117:19,
23 119:2 129:8
delivered 48:23
62:13 198:12
315:15
deliveries 48:22
67:4 68:5
delivering 226:20
delivery 226:22
demonstrate 107:10
demonstrated
107:9 224:15
241:20 320:5
demonstrates
77:13 348:11
denied 192:18
Denver 2:7 80:10
104:14 105:16
202:19 232:13
254:9 274:22
275:1 276:21
353:2, 23
depackaging 58:6, 8
Department 4:25
5:8, 9, 10 19:3, 23
20:12, 20, 20 23:4,
13 24:23 30:13
33:11, 13, 17 34:24
38:9 44:18 56:8
67:20 69:8 73:6
76:13 82:14, 19, 24
83:1, 4, 14 91:20
97:24 98:4 100:7
136:3, 7 141:19
145:20 146:11
147:20, 22 148:1
173:2 181:8 195:2
200:13, 14 210:2
212:5, 19 213:6
217:16 226:7
230:7 262:22
263:18 264:15
265:5,13,17,20,21
268:9, 16 269:20,
25 281:11, 15, 24
282:6, 8, 17 283:5,
8 284:4 286:6, 17
287:2, 4, 5 289:1, 3,
14, 17 302:13
303:23,24 304:24
313:23 326:21
328:21 346:9, 10,
11
departments 142:2
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
15
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
Department's
283:7 305:23
333:16
depend 224:6
depends 215:12
deposited 212:1
deposition 211:19
Depot 147:5
describe 70:5
121:2 284:10
described 49:16
58:19 59:3 70:7, 8
77:8 83:25 95:6
285:12 292:13, 19
293:1, 11
describes 49:19
describing 286:5
description 3:21
22:12 48:14 89:2
296:19 297:3
Design 4:23 5:3,
12 6:24 20:14
21:6, 20 22:24
34:12 37:14 46:2
47:13 49:17 51:17
74:5, 8 85:7
141:1, 10 142:8
172:17 173:12
219:16 258:19
260:6 267:24
293:2 296:20
306:10 309:3
342:10 344:4
345:5 346:15
348:5 350:4
Designation 4:3, 11
7:19, 24, 25 8:9, 15,
18 9:5, 10, 12
10:14, 19, 21 11:16,
17,21 12:17,21,25
13:13 14:2, 17, 20
17:5 19:9 25:5
31:11, 15 32:4
78:8 99:8, 17
100:9, 20 101:7, 15
138:6, 7 161:17, 23
187:9 194:2, 19, 22
258:23 259:1, 3, 5
267:23 269:10, 18
270:11, 16, 19, 25
274:11 277:4
286:21 294:9
295:19, 21 297:18,
21, 24 299:8
302:24 307:15
317:5 318:7
319:12 324:2
326:17, 20, 24, 25
329:3 333:6, 8
344:16, 22 345:12,
16 348:23 349:23
350:23
Designations 31:20
design -build
138:21,22 139:8
140:21
designed 21:12
34:10 139:7 192:4
205:8
designs 193:4
desire 12:25
223:18
desist 80:1 314:24
317:15 318:19
319:19 327:5
328:5
despite 82:4 86:20
destined 216:22
destroy 135:24
191:23
detail 61:9 106:3
152:21 153:2
detailed 4:21, 22
5:2 65:14 258:17,
18
details 179:7
detect 117:3
118:21
detected 6:10
40:21 94:9, 12
110:8 113:2 116:6
347:7
determination 12:2,
7 16:22 18:15
32:11 43:25 44:10
57:10 60:4 87:5
89:5 95:24 100:24
116:21 118:10
131:18 137:24
138:2, 3, 5 152:11
156:1 264:9, 15
265:19 266:5
267:9, 9 284:6
285:14, 25 286:7
289:19 290:5
293:13, 19, 20
309:14 312:11
315:2, 21 325:2
333:19
determinations
276:18 333:10, 13
determine 15:21
24:25 43:11, 17, 19,
23, 24 45:3, 22
53:16 65:15 83:24
84:2 88:1, 4 90:2
113:24 120:10
131:13 138:4
141:5 172:22
247:17 248:9
259:14
determined 7:18
17:20 23:25 24:9
40:3 94:11
determines 131:25
devastation 189:19
develop 115:23
177:20
developed 138:24
developer 22:11
48:13
developers 133:9
Development 3:12
4:14, 16 5:6, 14, 18,
23 6:8, 12, 14, 18,
22 7:1,4,5,6 8:3
9:10 10:10 11:18
12:3, 16, 22 13:14,
24 14:8, 13, 21, 25
16:13, 14, 21 19:24
20:2 22:11, 22
23:1, 6, 7 25:1
33:18 35:6 37:12
38:15 39:11, 13, 15,
21 40:19, 20 41:22
42:12, 22 47:2, 3
56:15, 23 59:8
61:10, 17, 19, 20, 24
62:2, 8, 16, 19 63:6
64:16 65:21 66:3
69:9 71:24 72:1,
14 73:9 74:3
98:14, 23 148:21
220:2, 6 221:16
222:12 231:5
258:4, 5, 12 259:4,
7 260:1 306:2, 25
307:2, 11, 21
308:16, 22, 24
309:7 312:1
314:20 316:7, 18,
20 318:1 323:18
324:18 326:2
327:22 332:21
340:15 342:18
344:23 345:3, 10
346:7, 19 347:3, 5,
12, 20 348:10, 24
350:2, 3, 18, 24
351:5, 8
deviation 156:14, 22
deviations 5:11
63:7 308:20
346:12
devil's 180:12
dewatered 57:25
dialogue 90:4
179:19
Diamond 253:23
die 104:11 190:5
Diego 3:8
difference 135:18
198:4 230:2 253:7
differences 85:22
292:15
different 12:24
16:23 38:22 47:22
52:25 62:2 65:7
71:5 77:17 85:15
98:18, 23 105:2
112:5 129:21,21,
23 131:16 134:22
137:17 143:18, 19
149:16 161:11
203:9, 10 229:5
232:22 254:10, 20
255:16 262:3
275:3 276:13
281:10 282:10
283:14 298:1
313:1, 2 322:23
341:24, 25 350:7
differently 272:9
difficult 89:13
128:25 129:20, 23
180:11 222:10
223:25 224:5, 12
227:23 261:16
349:7
difficulties 165:1
217:18
difficulty 165:6
diffuse 131:21
dig 35:18
digest 170:24
285:23 286:3
digestate 82:17
169:12
digested 50:18, 24
51:3, 25 56:3
digester 3:20 5:2
21:10,11,13,13,21
22:18 26:15, 23
27:2, 7 28:7 29:15
39:5 49:13, 19, 23
50:13 51:4 56:2
58:21,24 63:9
135:5 140:1 143:7
144:14 204:25
226:25 250:9, 11
251:25 284:13, 15
285:23 334:17
digester -based
3:17 20:6
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
16
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
digesters 47:18
66:16 138:20
170:18, 25 203:1
238:17
digestion 133:6
135:23 285:21
digestive 262:4
diligently 78:17
203:12
dilution 6:11
41:11, 19 59:8
61:12 115:5
130:19
dining 234:15
dinner 234:16
dir 127:5
direct 221:21
directed 263:11
direction 40:14
106:16 118:16
124:8 125:2, 9, 14,
18 126:3, 5, 7, 23
127:6, 11, 15, 20
130:19 131:4
158:16 199:2, 3
232:23 271:7, 9
315:20
directions 125:16
126:12
directives 266:1
directly 117:24
119:3 186:1
255:21 264:1
276:24
director 73:6
210:7
dirt 174:4 196:23
disagree 245:2
277:12 308:14
319:9 331:14
340:6, 9, 18 341:19
disagreeing 245:4
disallow 243:18
disappear 200:22
disappointed
199:14 349:15
disapprove 45:3
discouraging
254:14 255:24
discovered 211:14
discrepancy 34:22
179:16
discuss 83:21
121:25 122:7
133:1 151:22
152:8 156:24
158:18 162:15
188:19 302:23
discussed 69:22
80:8 81:16 86:23
93:4 95:10 101:22
121:23 153:3
157:1 183:3
213:10 276:16
298:14 331:3
discusses 84:13
294:9
discussing 78:20
79:2 132:19
315:23
discussion 11:15
80:2 81:12 83:20
87:21 88:17 90:6
104:3 150:12
152:3 156:4
182:24 214:7
265:18 298:19
299:2 309:19, 25
313:20 321:25
332:17
discussions 79:7
88:1 90:2 136:1
159:9 160:19
disgust 192:14
dismiss 76:4
180:23 181:10
301:25 302:3
333:22
dismissed 176:25
183:19
dismissing 181:10
dispersed 194:3
disposal 3:14 4:19
8:5 12:18, 19
13:25 57:1 86:5
98:11 258:16
260:5 270:5 273:8
292:3 300:3, 18
304:19 306:4
318:2, 5, 9 324:23
disposal -type
146:24
dispose 82:17
disposed 6:15
72:2 215:24 216:2
disposing 57:8
195:4
disregard 191:20
192:22 233:8
241:25 242:25
243:24
disrespect 252:10,
14
disrespectful
301:21
dissimilar 251:8
dissipate 116:4, 12,
15
distance 106:20
116:4 126:22
distinctions 104:22
121:11
distinguish 116:10
129:24
distribute 82:13
147:8
distributed 134:11
135:14 136:10
distribution 124:11
135:3
district 3:21 73:12
314:25 317:16, 19
318:20
diversion 189:2
215:9, 22 216:5, 22
217:1
divert 216:3, 16
divertible 216:7
diverting 217:21
dividing 213:22
division 5:22
27:17 38:19, 25
39:19 40:2 42:18
43:18 44:8, 24
50:10 54:22 66:9
82:16 95:14
267:25 268:21
270:8 285:10
346:23
Division's 45:2
269:13 270:2
Doak 263:17
Doak's 264:23
Dobson 2:10
353:3, 22
doc 282:13
Docket 3:5, 6
document 34:18
46:10 48:8 79:1, 4
85:11 137:7
138:25 139:1
140:2, 14 142:3
145:16 154:8, 9
266:19 274:13
283:13 294:10, 21
296:16
documentation
35:1, 17, 21 62:12
64:5 140:4 141:14
277:23 281:23
282:13, 18 292:18
304:3
documented 40:22,
24 140:10
documents 46:7
55:25 56:5 141:22
143:2 145:18
151:10, 18 154:16
155:10 178:7, 8
249:17 267:19
268:5 275:24
276:3 298:6, 15
dog 169:25 203:3
206:3 237:15
239:18 247:14
doing 16:20 50:16
74:13 89:23 107:4
110:24 112:14
116:20 119:5
122:13 123:2
125:6 129:25
143:6 148:22, 23
168:14 174:11
186:15 196:3
197:10 198:1
199:13 200:20
202:23 213:23
219:21 222:24
230:25 231:9
232:14 236:21
237:1 240:7 244:8
262:23 303:1, 3, 4,
6 304:17 308:9
314:22 317:10
320:3 324:15
327:1 330:7
331:23 334:15, 17
335:15, 15 350:13
dollar 164:18
188:23 193:12
194:14 210:15, 17
231:12
dollars 196:8
197:13, 14 217:14
225:21
door 232:20
doors 262:24
Door's 175:20
Dorado 214:2
dosing 172:16
174:18 183:23
184:3, 6, 19
double 139:5
235:13
double-check
52:18 55:4 70:14
doubt 241:1 244:6
Douglas 270:1
downwind 113:11,
23 114:3, 4, 11, 13
115:6 125:8, 10, 18,
21, 25 126:9
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
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Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
129:15 206:19
dozen 138:11
DPS 23:15, 20
29:14, 19 42:14
43:7, 8, 9 49:17
50:1 55:9, 10, 19
58:7 60:18 63:8
66:5 86:18, 19
160:21 169:20
172:25 174:1,20
184:20, 24 201:13
202:3 309:12
334:17
Dr 121:25 122:3,
12,17,21,24 123:6
128:24 129:2, 6, 11,
19 130:16 131:15,
24 132:5, 11, 17
214:1,2 218:3,6
draft 140:5 345:2
drainage 30:1
33:13 34:5 35:7, 9
36:13 93:4, 10
138:18 140:9
141:9 142:8
308:21 309:4
342:14, 14, 22
drained 144:15
dramatic 137:18
drastic 157:13
drastically 192:20
draw 116:16
drawing 126:2
dried 144:18 145:6
Drive 3:8 214:2
253:23
driving 110:6
Dropbox 141:23
dropped 232:15
drug 236:8
dry 197:4 225:23
DSS 334:16
DSSO 285:9, 10
293:11
DSSOP 51:24 54:3,
6 139:24 140:12
143:23 144:13
145:12 284:13
292:18
due 9:1 11:8
18:19 19:10 94:24
125:17 145:10
158:3 182:7
183:13 221:25
222:6 228:10
269:11 272:15
345:7
dug 36:8
dummies 246:14
dump 336:14
dumped 194:3
195:16
dumping 189:8
190:21 191:21
195:21
duped 190:22
192:13 198:22
242:5, 8
duplicates 124:20
duplicitous 242:7
duration 106:17
109:9
dust 5:14, 25 6:15
60:23, 23 61:3, 4,
16 62:4 72:3
84:19, 21, 23, 23, 24
85:2 107:1 174:7
306:15
duty 190:23
<E>
earlier 27:15
58:11 68:19 70:2
88:18 109:16
116:2 186:23, 23
219:9 226:17
227:11 260:14
263:15 265:6
315:11 330:13
early 71:7 78:13
106:7 181:22
200:24 209:7
280:19
earth 107:20
113:14
easily 51:7 190:22
east 26:24 28:14
29:19 113:19, 19,
20 125:17 256:20
eastern 239:13
easy 108:6 261:25
307:22, 25 349:12
350:13
eat 234:16
Eaton 240:25
249:2
economic 210:13
212:21 214:9
217:19 220:2, 6
221:16 222:12
350:3, 3
economically
217:23 223:13
economist 214:9
economy 220:14
251:15
EDF 75:8, 15
164:13, 15, 17
167:11 188:23
192:19 193:24
195:7, 12 201:4
209:14 233:5, 10
235:6 242:8
265:25
EDF's 191:25
edge 127:13
EDOP 22:23 37:2
42:6 43:10 45:12,
21 46:4, 5, 7, 10, 21
47:15, 17, 20, 22, 23,
25 48:3, 7 50:6
53:7 54:6 56:1, 2
57:19, 23 58:2, 2,
14, 19 59:3 60:20
63:3, 8 64:3
66:12, 13 70:4, 11
85:8, 11, 25 86:2
94:22,23 133:24
138:25 139:3, 9, 12,
18 140:5 145:11
147:25 260:7, 10,
13 269:12, 13
282:4 292:13, 24
293:15 296:25, 25
297:5 304:2, 6, 8
306:9 308:19, 21
331:22 334:13
342:9, 13, 16, 23
345:5
EDOPs 52:3 306:9
educate 117:18
effect 15:15
321:21 324:23
333:20, 21 344:21
effective 41:1
157:22 175:24
effectively 189:9
228:11 229:1
effects 203:7
efficacy 135:19
136:14 137:7
effort 169:16 320:5
efforts 81:25
154:13 157:8
178:4 237:2
egg 170:7
Eggert 80:10, 14
274:22
eight 46:19 47:5,
11, 20 48:4 128:8
162:21
either 8:12 13:6
16:3 34:23 37:19
38:3, 5 44:6 62:4
63:19 73:4, 16
98:24 107:16
115:7, 11 130:2
143:4 177:6, 14
252:12 264:10
287:6 288:21
289:23 301:22
309:12 312:3
317:18 318:18
319:18 329:12
330:6, 10
El 214:2
elect 239:16
electrical 173:12
246:23 247:4
electrically 247:1
elements 136:17
344:4
eliminate 252:3
262:11
eliminating 211:10
e-mail 44:20
56:18 63:14, 24
64:12 91:10, 25
92:4 141:20
263:17 299:25, 25
e -mailed 56:21
167:5, 6
e -mails 11:24
43:14 44:5 65:1,
6, 8 300:9 329:19
331:8
emerging 138:13
emission 83:20
emissions 5:15, 17
6:1, 5 39:24 84:4,
9 211:15 212:11,
11 306:16
emit 41:18
emotional 208:15
209:8
empathetic 214:14
empathy 209:12
employ 212:10
255:19
employed 353:12
employee 210:15
212:19 213:6
229:6
employees 193:2
234:24 235:1, 1
236:3, 7
employment 210:23
employs 210:12
EN 75:15 164:13,
15, 17
enclose 29:20
enclosed 5:25
28:25
enclosing 231:21
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
18
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
enclosure 27:3, 4,
11 28:20, 23 29:3,
15 95:17, 17
enclosures 41:5
encompass 203:8
encountered 61:12
encourage 172:21
212:13
encouraging
269:15, 16 270:9
326:23
ended 21:25
ends 170:8, 8
energized 251:5
energy 3:17 4:12
19:11 20:7 78:12
133:11, 16, 16, 22
149:9 164:19
212:5 217:17
220:13 224:2
225:1 250:20
251:1, 20 282:16
294:8 305:7
336:18, 18
enforce 319:14, 17
324:14 327:4
enforceable 247:25
enforced 318:19
enforcement
324:12, 13 327:3
328:14
enforces 62:2
engage 158:6
176:12
engaged 97:7
154:8
engineer 33:11
47:13 49:17 51:16
166:21 300:5
338:2
Engineered 37:14
93:10
Engineering 4:22
5:3, 12 20:14
22:24 85:7 105:8,
10, 14 123:1 171:6
258:19 260:6
267:24 293:2
296:19 306:9
342:10 345:5
346:14 350:4
enjoy 200:18, 20
enjoying 239:1
enjoyment 96:5
238:24 331:6
345:24
enormous 249:24
250:25 251:18
253:7
ensue 208:22
ensure 203:13, 15
236:9 251:3
302:22 320:8
350:10
ensuring 86:2
190:10 350:1
enter 95:20 172:9
179:18 306:21
entered 41:7
95:12 97:1 103:10,
11 172:6, 13
346:21
Enterprise 253:22
entire 336:5
entities 308:4
entitled 278:8
entrance 29:1
59:4 73:10
entrusted 192:6
Environ 122:24
Environment 4:25
5:8, 10 20:13, 21
23:5, 13 38:9
44:18 165:8 177:7,
7 192:23 195:2
221:17 255:6
263:18 264:16
346:10
Environmental
36:23, 25 71:23
105:14 165:6
171:6 216:13
249:18 251:16
environmentally
217:1 223:13
envy 217:5
EPA 6:4, 6 40:4
83:21, 22 84:6
214:25
equipment 6:1
110:24 174:22
175:6 182:2, 10
183:11 197:12
257:1 262:18
equipment's 182:11
equivalents 168:20
errors 166:19
especially 244:13
255:17
Esq 1:1 2:2, 5, 6
essentially 8:1, 20
51:12 110:12
148:11 161:21
269:15 300:20
301:16 304:14
312:18 316:8, 12
323:25 333:25
341:1 342:4
347:21
establish 112:17
133:12 251:19
established 263:20
establishes 96:15
Establishment
175:21
estimated 226:18
et 4:4, 5 218:4
Europe 176:21
European 176:12
evaluate 88:4
270:3
evaluation 37:5
123:7
Evaluations 26:8,
10 41:9, 25 61:7
Evan 1:1 30:13
evening 123:24
199:8
event 5:11 108:17
130:5 260:2, 12
346:12
eventually 47:25
316:20
everybody 111:3
218:19 231:19
239:4 260:14
301:8, 10 305:12
335:4, 23 347:17
everybody's 160:16
evidence 4:6 40:4
44:6 56:7 84:1, 9,
17 85:1 187:21
192:16 297:22
306:1, 14 330:1
344:18 345:3
346:15 347:13, 24
348:2 351:7
evidenced 345:25
evolve 37:13
exact 112:1
exactly 53:16
65:15 114:16
133:14 150:13
164:22 179:19
195:9 219:2 335:1
examination 275:7
examine 275:21
example 91:6
95:17 118:2 119:6
120:18 126:1
127:3, 4, 22 129:12
130:6 131:18
143:23 208:6
221:3 311:14
examples 81:2, 3, 4
224:14
exceed 6:3, 10
347:8
exceeded 41:10
73:11 347:10
exceedence 77:7,
22
excess 37:21
197:12 241:11
exchange 63:14
excited 254:13
exciting 220:17
Excuse 83:8
170:17 208:15
excuses 193:13
204:6
executed 241:17
executes 295:22
executing 241:19
executive 164:17
210:7
exempt 64:23
65:16 87:19 88:21
89:8
exempts 115:17
Exhaust 5:23 6:1
87:6 307:3
Exhibit 263:16, 16,
16 264:1, 7 267:20
269:21, 23, 24
270:12 282:14, 25
294:6, 10, 15, 21
295:24 296:13, 18,
21 297:16 326:22
329:1
exhibits 32:6
103:9, 11 272:7
283:17, 19 294:5
exist 118:7 329:11
existed 347:14
existence 8:1
existent 120:11
existing 30:24
32:3 73:20 93:10
134:3 173:9
174:22
exists 3:11 18:15
105:1 248:22
331:9
expand 33:19
expanded 189:12
expect 44:10
177:25 267:11
expectations 311:22
expected 193:20
216:5, 14 254:15
expense 204:6
expensive 223:25
experience 105:5
130:13 131:13
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
19
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc,
165:9, 9 176:14
204:4, 7, 23 205:14
208:7, 12 209:13
261:17 266:16
experienced
208:17 226:2
experiences 105:13
112:12 252:6
experiencing
256:23
experimental
192:25
EXPERT 1:1 31:19
40:11 132:10, 11,
12 230:13, 16
231:3, 6, 8, 10, 14
233:17, 18 245:10
290:22 299:23, 24
expertise 142:19
143:6 176:22
204:18 205:5
214:23
experts 179:6
197:22 199:1
220:22 221:7
228:17 230:15, 23
237:19 242:13
244:5, 6 301:17
expired 72:24
169:24
expires 353:17
explain 183:22
206:22 264:13
326:14
explained 190:25
275:23 276:20
326:18
explanation 89:6
207:11
express 326:6
expressed 253:2
278:9, 17
extend 250:5
262:15
extended 105:13
173:2
extension 73:4
101:25
extensively 136:25
extinction 110:12
extra 167:22, 22,
23, 23 217:13
extreme 97:17
extremely 211:9
<F>
fabric 24:15 25:9
28:20, 20 72:12
fabulous 241:17
face 75:12 223:10
facilitates 213:18
Facilities 4:20 8:5
12:19, 20 13:25
57:2 70:22 93:9
134:4 137:15
142:16, 17 147:3, 6
187:4 190:14
203:2 205:25
217:12, 17 218:7,
11 249:10 258:16
266:16, 18 270:6
271:19 273:8
287:14 306:5
318:2 346:13
facility 3:14, 16, 19
5:7,16,18 7:20
16:16 20:5, 6 22:8
23:23 24:2, 25
25:14 31:2 37:18,
18 38:2, 5, 13 39:1,
22 45:22 46:1, 9,
12 47:10 48:11, 20,
25 49:1 50:1, 12
51:3 55:10, 11, 19
56:5, 8, 12, 18, 21
57:3, 7, 14, 15
58:21 59:6 60:12,
16 64:2 65:15
66:1, 2, 4, 13 67:3
73:10, 24 75:11, 23
76:6, 9, 14 77:15
78:11 79:4 85:9
86:7 87:16 88:3, 9
98:12 107:24, 25
108:11 114:6
116:4, 13 120:12
125:4, 25 126:3, 10,
12 127:19 130:7
151:7, 23, 24 152:4,
18, 20 153:8, 8, 24
154:21 155:1, 3, 5,
12, 15, 19, 25 156:5,
9,15 157:7,14,25
158:4 161:7 162:6,
16, 17 163:6
166:23 168:2, 3, 6
169:20 173:10
176:6 187:10, 19
194:5, 18, 23, 24
195:3, 9 197:14
206:6 210:10
211:7, 10, 23 213:4
218:16 219:14, 20
224:7 233:13
235:9 238:7
249:24 250:21,24
251:7, 24 252:16
260:5 268:18
269:11 270:10
272:20, 25 274:2,
17 275:8, 11 276:6,
7, 15, 17 277:15
279:14 280:7, 11
282:15 285:5
292:3, 5, 11 295:11
298:8, 23 299:11
300:18 301:2
304:19 308:2, 3, 4
309:12 310:15
318:9 321:8
324:24 329:4
339:16 340:3, 10
343:6 344:21
345:15, 19 346:5, 8,
8 347:16 348:3, 22
350:23
facility's 5:12
66:8, 11 270:3
facing 113:20
fact 8:25 10:20
11:18 14:3 23:18
78:23 86:20 89:1
94:4 100:8 108:10
142:13 151:19
152:10, 19 153:6
154:9 157:19
160:6, 22 161:4, 15
162:8 211:23
216:12 228:12
234:17 246:9
256:6 278:7
279:12, 20 282:19,
20 297:19 302:22
309:15 310:16
311:5, 8, 17, 20, 24
312:10, 23 314:6, 8
320:7 324:12, 22
335:9 340:12
facto 155:17
160:7 161:15
factors 4:12 9:24
156:25 157:3, 4
277:4 350:17
facts 152:10
155:23 162:25
272:17 278:11
340:13 344:17
349:3
factto 194:22
fail 182:17 196:8
failed 63:10 64:21
85:1
fail -safes 139:6, 16
failure 4:10 187:10
faint 127:18
fair 177:12 278:10
fairly 103:4
113:16 125:15
126:4, 6 128:16
260:23
faith 157:8 237:2
279:14
fall 51:2, 6 64:25
65:21 71:4 201:13
falls 37:25 116:9
familiar 75:12
134:23 135:17
165:5 182:14
familiarized 121:14
families 241:8
255:21
family 188:15
191:9, 10, 10, 18, 24
192:5 222:16
223:4, 7
family -owned
222:18
family's 190:2
far 19:25 37:4
69:10 93:2 108:1
145:18 158:1
184:4 219:2
228:15 244:18
250:9 252:6
288:11, 13 290:7
309:7, 12
farm 222:16, 18
288:10 308:5, 6
farmers 149:2, 4
321:15
farmer's 148:17
farming 190:3
Farms 253:22
254:1,2,2,2,3
farther 239:11, 12
fast 172:13 182:3,
6, 7
faster 171:2 182:4
father 222:25
fatigue 209:2
favor 210:10
February 21:3, 18
22:14, 16 47:24
55:12, 18 63:14
86:8, 16
fecal 135:12
federal 6:20 23:3
64:19 72:16 220:9
347:23
fee 32:19, 22
217:14 327:17
feedback 175:22
feedlot 118:22
198:5 230:3 234:5
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
20
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
feedlots 108:7
119:7 193:19
feedstock 24:16
48:20, 21, 22 62:11
168:24 203:9
feedstocks 49:3
71:3 133:25
feedyard 135:16
feel 113:21 160:25
166:25 191:23
208:20 227:11
255:25 308:8
350:12, 14 351:6
feels 188:24
fees 64:22 65:12
168:12, 19 217:24
327:18
feet 21:14, 17, 22
22:1, 1, 21 34:14,
14,15,17 35:19,21
36:1 161:8 181:3
200:2 208:5 239:4
fellow 247:20
311:1
felt 22:2 227:19
fence 58:20, 22
59:1
fenced 58:22
fencing 58:18
94:15
fertilizer 146:20
148:11 265:14
fides 271:14
field 33:15 35:12
140:22 148:22
203:5 231:18, 24
fields 225:22
288:10
fifth 188:13
fight 188:24 189:5,
6 241:2 279:9
fighting 188:20, 21
271:4
figure 65:18 68:14
166:11 179:19
181:24 217:11
336:1 341:4
figured 194:20
file 33:14 144:3
167:4 266:13
files 141:24, 25
178:9
filing 86:12
fill 200:21 257:23
filled 197:23
filter 185:8
filters 172:16
173:22 174:10
184:2, 8 228:4
335:17
final 38:25 45:19
46:20, 23 47:6
48:18 50:25 51:15
64:3 69:7 73:22
86:24 101:17
140:2, 13 142:21,
22 143:2, 3 145:11,
13, 16 146:7 290:6
finaled 24:20
27:14
finalized 21:5
Finally 25:12
47:25 200:8
231:17 262:12
finances 231:21
financial 4:9
153:13, 14 157:9
159:17 162:5, 19
163:5 203:25
271:13 273:19, 25
274:3, 17 275:13
301:1, 3, 4 303:21
find 12:19 14:3
15:5 16:2, 6
64:10, 14 91:9
109:3 112:19, 24
133:5 179:9
198:18 199:10
233:19 270:17
275:25 294:2
313:6 319:1
344:15 346:19
finding 259:14
313:10, 14 339:24
350:18
findings 39:20
42:17, 19 75:21
303:10, 14 307:4
308:14 311:5, 7, 20,
24 312:10, 23
314:6, 7 315:6
322:3 324:12, 22
330:2, 24 333:1
343:15 344:17, 24
345:1, 13, 17
346:13 348:17
349:3, 5
fine 64:13 78:1
93:18 99:5 118:4
122:5 139:10
184:10 240:17
273:2 279:20
283:20 314:14, 16,
22, 24, 24 319:20
336:3 351:16
finger 320:15
finish 139:23
186:14
finished 134:7, 7,
16, 17 135:2
136:21 140:2
144:18 145:6
147:1, 4 148:3
263:22 264:3
fire 181:3 230:7, 9
firm 214:10
firms 171:7
first 48:22 55:9
67:20 68:18 71:24
75:7, 8 77:3 83:19
99:20 114:22,24
116:14 124:10
128:7 129:21
143:24 144:8
145:10, 17 150:14
152:7 154:10
167:10, 13 171:7, 8
180:8 181:17
182:6 200:6
204:25 208:6, 12
211:6 214:8
216:22 222:23
226:16 230:8
238:4 239:9
243:17 247:1
251:6 257:19
260:3 288:5
305:15 319:24
337:15
fit 133:13, 15
288:3 328:1, 3
fits 134:25
five 3:4 21:8, 13,
21 103:18 128:10
172:9 185:3 197:8
210:2 222:21
223:5 241:21
266:16
five -generation
191:9
five-minute 102:22,
23
fix 168:15 175:11,
12 190:23 194:15
198:8 200:16
201:9 229:9, 9
237:16 239:23
240:16 243:6
252:13 256:5
257:5
fixed 179:18
257:2, 4, 7 262:19
fixes 198:1
fixing 176:20
177:8 240:1
261:18
flap 29:2
flare 3:20 22:19
23:20 26:19 30:2
FLASCHENREIM
196:16, 17
flavors 261:13
flew 227:14
flip 173:24 174:2,
3, 6 340:22
FLIPPIN 197:18, 18
199:24, 25 202:5,
12 208:3 234:7
flourish 221:17
flow 263:2
fluid 183:25
fly 197:6 225:16
flying 43:14
203:20
focus 105:3 189:1
194:1 215:23
261:4
focused 108:24
261:20
folks 176:21,21
180:24 224:10
227:8 228:9, 10, 25
229:4 240:4
253:25 261:21
follow 80:21 85:1
95:9, 16 110:11
118:14 148:9
152:14 156:13
163:14 182:20
229:14 235:9
242:25 266:1
271:7 314:10
317:18 349:21
followed 82:9
116:7 136:6 151:8,
22 157:2 161:12
266:2 272:5
275:18 277:9
280:2 304:5
following 3:25 4:1
18:2 57:4 148:22,
23 195:5 269:12
291:25 317:20
follows 4:16
follow-up 16:10
35:4 43:6 70:19
88:24 267:4 274:7
288:16 291:25
food 49:7, 10 70:9
134:2 165:21
169:10, 24, 25
170:3, 7, 24 184:22
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
21
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
185:2 203:2, 3, 3
206:3 211:11, 11,
15 214:24 215:19,
24 216:3 217:7
250:1, 8 255:15, 17
311:14
food -based 249:7
foot 24:15 25:9
28:20 30:10 34:21,
21, 22 72:11 73:11,
19 178:18, 18, 18,
19
force 15:14 190:11
forefront 95:5
foregoing 7:3, 4, 5,
6 348:10 353:9
foreign 212:7
foremost 180:9
foresight 251:6
forever 234:8
248:24
forgot 157:5
331:13
form 22:8 48:11
157:6 223:25
353:9
formal 31:17, 17
100:5 102:5, 8
175:21 281:1
formalized 133:24
formally 102:12
270:15 296:23
325:11 329:2
format 136:12
314:3
former 209:23
212:18 213:5
214:13
forms 164:19
forth 136:2 141:18
170:8 173:24
235:10 236:25
270:5 300:4
314:17 353:8
forward 16:12
55:8 74:22 81:19
102:17 153:16
154:15 174:2, 6, 14
181:14 183:5
194:9 196:9
220:21 222:12
234:22,24 240:14
244:1 252:4
260:21 271:15
272:19, 22 276:3, 8
278:25 279:1
284:10 290:2
310:16 320:17
321:1 349:18
forwarded 20:12
268:7, 8 281:9
fossil 238:16
found 13:17 14:12
35:25 39:22 56:14
57:3, 6 62:24
76:17 77:24 80:15
86:1 91:4, 5
104:19 105:11
116:24 125:15, 24
126:16 172:18
179:17 217:17
221:13 224:19
225:2 226:9 331:2
351:2
foundation 173:11
four 47:22 70:16
107:3 123:23, 23,
25 128:15 141:15
145:19 172:8
197:9 222:22
238:18 265:7
335:11
four -strand 58:25
frame 53:14 67:11
144:1 282:22
framework 133:13
Francisco 122:22
Frank 1:1 31:25
32:1 79:1, 8, 9
frankly 12:6 112:8
150:12,23 153:24
188:23 300:24
304:1 320:11
frankness 180:10
free 41:20 166:25
176:6, 7
freeboard 34:17, 19
freely 134:10
Freeman 1:1 3:2
7:12 12:4 16:8
17:8, 13, 25 18:11,
22, 25 26:1 27:9,
25 31:4, 25 33:3, 9,
20, 23 35:15 36:22
42:10 44:22 45:8
52:20 53:25 59:15
61:14 62:18 65:4,
9 66:25 68:16
69:4, 11, 14 70:20
71:18 74:19 75:4
83:9 88:14 90:9
91:16 92:8 93:1
96:24 97:11, 22
102:19, 21, 25
103:13, 16 104:6, 9
109:7 110:20
117:11 120:5, 8
121:19 122:2, 4, 10,
14, 20, 23 123:5
128:18, 22 130:14
131:10 132:15
140:16 146:8
148:7 149:20
158:23 159:1
163:16 164:5
167:9 179:23
180:7 182:22
185:11, 15, 18
188:6, 8 191:6
193:14 196:15
197:17 199:23
201:24 202:1, 16
204:11, 14 205:22
207:24 209:21
212:17 213:25
218:1, 5, 17, 25
219:11,24 222:14
225:7 226:14
227:3 229:12
232:4,24 235:20
237:10 240:23
243:9 244:16, 23
245:2, 9, 16, 22, 25
247:5, 10 248:25
253:12, 16, 20
256:10, 17 257:8,
13, 19 258:6, 9
259:10, 20, 23
260:16, 20, 25
263:5, 9 267:15
273:4, 16 274:4
281:6 282:24
283:23 294:1, 4
298:9, 24 311:2
313:4 314:12
315:18 316:1, 4, 25
319:21 322:5
323:13, 16, 22
325:14 328:16, 19
330:22 332:5, 8
333:3 335:6
337:13, 25 338:12,
17 339:14 340:6,
18 341:9, 12, 19
342:24 343:17
344:6, 9, 12 348:13,
15 349:9 351:9, 12,
14, 18 352:3, 4
freestanding 25:13
frequently 124:23
fresh 208:16
Friday 66:7 200:3
friends 221:25
228:19 241:13
Frissell 1:1 36:23,
23 40:10, 19 42:15,
25 43:9 44:1, 4, 11,
14 45:9 51:21,24
52:3, 14, 17 53:10,
15, 23 54:4, 7, 12,
15,19 55:1, 4, 8
59:19 60:3, 9, 12,
16 61:21 62:7, 23
63:4, 6 65:7, 13
67:6 69:19, 25
70:13, 25 71:13, 20
83:21 84:1 85:23
87:21 89:17 90:12,
15 91:25 240:12
284:9, 20, 25 285:3
286:3, 14 288:6
289:4, 8, 15 292:12
293:5, 9, 23
front 109:11
159:23 215:14, 15,
21 216:4, 18
228:13 230:21
231:1, 15 241:14
246:20 272:23
302:20, 21 333:24
fruit 170:6
fuels 238:16
Fugitive 5:14, 15
6:15 72:3 84:23,
24 85:2 306:15, 15
full 15:14 104:21
160:16 178:11
214:12 216:19, 20
228:25 277:3
285:11 323:2, 3
327:16 329:16, 17,
21 334:18 337:23
full-blown 151:15
full-time 168:20
223:4
fully 28:24 95:21
178:6 204:9
251:10 322:13
323:1
fun 254:3
functioning 340:11
Fundamentally 24:1
funds 30:16 217:12
funny 129:11
further 10:16 61:9
80:7 96:22 118:21
132:16 149:20
193:22 269:19
273:12 303:16
322:3 330:17
352:5 353:6, 11
Furthermore 80:24
101:23 216:18
269:24 305:14
furthest 256:20
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
22
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
future 180:5
188:20 189:11
190:8 260:10
fuzzy 29:4
<G>
gained 284:15
gaining 312:14
gallons 188:4
222:21
game 193:24
231:25
gamut 112:11
gap 246:6
gaps 146:3
garage 200:18
garbage 61:5, 5, 5
168:25
Garcia 2:2 76:19,
20, 22, 23 83:13, 17
88:16 89:1, 4
90:5, 18 91:17, 21
92:4, 7, 9 93:2, 12,
20, 23 97:6 98:1, 5,
15, 19 99:1, 12, 18
100:12, 21 101:3, 8,
16 102:7, 19, 20
103:7, 23 151:2
186:24 222:1
263:15 267:18
269:22 274:21
278:19 280:14
298:12
Garcia's 243:18, 25
304:4 331:2
Garrison 2:5
182:14
Garry 91:23 97:12
150:6, 7
gas 3:17 53:1
164:25 165:22
170:9, 13 171:10,
19, 25 172:1
208:23 210:20
211:14 212:4
217:2 220:15
221:12 222:7
223:21 238:15, 16,
17 250:6 251:21
254:11 256:25
336:19 338:3, 4, 5
gassing 170:22
Gathman 1:1 19:2,
3 26:8, 11 27:13,
20, 23 28:4, 25
29:8, 12 31:14, 19
69:7 71:21 75:6
167:6, 10 258:3, 12
259:18 288:19
290:15, 21 326:11
342:25
gauge 34:8, 12
35:9 36:4 130:20
GEEK 213:11
general 23:2
40:12 41:6 62:25
106:3 107:20
108:12 109:15
146:4 279:25, 25
329:9 338:20
349:22
Generally 52:23
288:10
General's 56:11
78:25 100:14
150:21 269:6, 16
270:23 271:17
274:10 277:14, 20
281:10 283:6
304:12, 14, 21
317:22 325:7
326:18 333:11
340:1 341:25
345:14
generate 113:6
171:3 172:24
184:1, 20 185:6
197:3 211:1
250:22
generated 33:5
113:8 114:15
170:1, 9 184:13, 18
210:17, 22 211:15
285:21, 22
generates 172:23
210:16 215:14
generating 109:2
226:19
generation 131:1
188:13 191:17
222:19
generations 190:17
191:15 192:5
229:24, 25
generation's 188:17
generic 137:24
gentlemen 225:2
George 1:1 104:3,
4, 12 110:19
121:22 244:15
GESICK 351:20, 22,
24 352:1, 3
get -go 246:25
getting 67:9 91:3
142:12 148:16, 20
165:3 167:19
170:8 180:19
197:21, 22 200:2, 3,
4 231:11 255:5
291:12 329:19
333:24 337:17
339:1
give 18:18 35:8
44:16 64:12 67:10
71:20 74:22 104:1,
18 105:3 116:1
126:1 127:3 181:8
182:6 192:13, 24
208:6 223:15
224:14 242:9
247:23 248:7, 22
257:4, 9 262:22
313:9 332:22
336:24
given 34:19 61:22
155:17 161:5
278:16 296:6, 7
299:4 303:11, 13
gives 45:15
113:10 266:19
giving 67:2
glad 197:21
glasses 170:17
go 3:2, 2 9:1
11:3 18:3, 11, 25
19:20, 22, 25 25:21
26:4 27:10 28:1
31:8 34:4, 7, 13
36:4, 7, 24 37:1
42:5, 10, 20 45:8
59:14, 15, 16 62:18
65:14 67:6 69:6, 8
70:20 74:20 75:2,
4 79:24 80:16
91:13 92:8 93:1
102:16, 22 103:5,
16 106:21 107:25
109:7 111:13
112:16 113:12
114:25 116:25
117:3 118:8, 25
119:22 120:8
121:6, 10 122:10
123:17 129:2
140:23 141:7
143:16 146:8
147:5 153:16
155:7 158:17, 18
159:1 160:17, 18
161:2, 2 164:9
166:5 167:1
169:15 170:13
171:23 174:5, 18
179:9 182:25
184:3 186:13, 15,
17 189:14 200:24
202:10 212:6
217:22 218:8
219:5 225:10
226:25 228:3
234:22 235:1, 2
238:3, 8 245:18
247:2 252:4
255:13, 15 258:1, 9
267:5 271:15, 23
276:8 279:19
281:6 283:23, 24,
24, 25 284:9, 10
286:14 289:5, 16
291:6 300:4
303:16 305:14, 25
308:12, 22 309:22
310:13 312:9
313:4, 18 314:1, 13
315:6, 8, 20 317:2
318:18 319:18
320:22 321:16, 17
323:10, 16 324:21
325:12, 24 326:19,
25 328:19 330:9,
22 332:8, 24 333:8,
9 336:14, 14
338:24, 25 351:11
goal 215:15 249:10
goals 216:8, 10
249:15
God 227:19
God's 308:4
goes 13:22 15:8
18:3, 7 28:12
50:14 109:19
128:4 141:3 143:3
199:2 201:15, 15
211:16 241:20
269:14 284:12
290:21 291:1
306:13
going 8:13 12:23
19:20, 22, 23 30:25
32:23 35:4 36:24,
25 37:5, 6, 9, 10, 23
42:5 45:9, 10, 14
46:15 50:2 52:24
57:5 61:9 69:23
74:24, 25 75:13
78:1 89:25 90:21,
22, 24 91:1 93:12
94:5 102:22 103:5
104:2 105:18
107:15, 18 108:1
109:9, 15 110:4, 21
111:10 112:2, 6, 15,
16, 18 113:12
114:24,25 117:8
119:5, 9, 10, 12
121:6, 7, 25 125:22
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
23
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
127:20 137:22
138:16 139:19, 20,
21, 21, 22 140:22
141:18 147:10
149:25 154:2
156:17 157:12
161:7 169:1, 2
171:18 173:4, 24,
25 174:14 179:3
180:11, 15 181:1,
14 183:5, 20
184:11, 17 185:6
189:13 194:9
196:9 199:2 204:1
206:6 208:23
210:18, 19 216:16
220:21 221:14
227:12 228:22
229:14, 19 231:21
232:12 233:14
234:1 237:15, 16
238:4 239:23,25
240:11 241:5
244:1 245:5
246:18 247:4
248:3, 12, 23
250:15 255:2, 9, 16
256:4, 4, 7 257:4,
16 261:13 274:8
275:16 276:10
287:3 290:1
299:14 301:19
302:23 303:1, 16
307:16 309:20
310:3 312:23,24
313:15, 16 315:9
316:10, 17 317:11
320:20, 22 321:16,
17, 18 326:24
327:2 328:24
329:13 332:10, 11
334:1 335:1, 12
336:9, 11 337:4, 7,
9, 20, 22 338:10
339:2 340:23, 24,
24 341:3 347:18
Gold 146:23
good 3:11 8:20
14:21, 24 17:21
19:2 36:22 55:7
75:9 76:22 79:9
104:6, 7 111:21
121:17 122:2, 3
132:23 157:8
166:15 177:14
188:1 191:12, 25
207:25 209:22
218:13 219:25
222:15 224:19, 25
225:1 227:4, 12, 13
233:4 237:2
241:13 243:10
279:14 290:16
301:8, 10, 13
344:12 350:6
goods 210:24
Google 107:20
113:14
gosh 230:5, 25
gotten 175:22
200:13 224:10, 22
237:24 283:19
335:19
governing 45:15,
19 99:10 187:6
194:19 273:10
281:14, 15 290:6
303:24 318:24
government 99:11
188:11 189:17
governments 212:7
governs 76:13
grading 92:11
93:3 342:23
grandfather 222:19
grandmother
222:20
grant 306:11
granted 73:5
187:9 189:16
302:5 333:20
346:18
granting 189:4
305:15, 19 324:22
grants 233:7
graph 227:18
graphic 113:10
graphs 104:25
grate 29:23 206:21
grated 28:13
144:15
grating 28:17
grave 349:15
gravel 142:25
174:4
gravity 96:11
204:9 331:6 346:3
gray 80:20 278:20
322:23
grease 55:10, 11,
15, 15, 23 57:14
66:15 86:5,6,9,10
186:25
great 10:21 89:12
136:24 149:7, 18
167:15, 15 172:20
176:17 178:15
204:5, 8 211:22
212:9, 12 238:14
239:9 240:3, 19
340:10
greater 41:12, 13
232:14, 16 347:10
GREEK 209:22, 23
Greeley 1:1 2:3
7:11 76:24 132:25
211:5 220:3
green 218:3
238:14, 17
greenhouse 211:14
217:2
grew 223:1 308:5
Grill 238:22
grocery 170:4
185:5 210:19
ground 169:1
170:9 173:11, 11,
12 184:5 190:22
groundwater 50:23
64:9 91:7, 18
Group 75:15
175:22 176:2
groups 133:11
176:12 254:8
grow 189:24 223:6
growers 136:25
138:11
growing 137:18
grown 223:10
grows 46:14
growth 216:6
guarantee 30:16,
17 248:18
guaranteeing
231:13
guarantees 153:14,
14 154:15 159:18
274:3 275:13
guess 11:13 12:12
19:17 25:22 26:23
30:11 53:21 74:20
93:5 163:1 191:4
199:13 228:21
236:17 238:21
239:21 247:13
274:6 277:11
292:6 296:24
304:9 312:19
315:10 319:23
324:2 332:16
334:17 336:23
guesstimate 65:11
guidance 151:10
275:24
guidelines 235:10
guiding 138:25
139:1
guinea 196:12
208:4
guy 203:4
guys 103:3 154:17,
23 168:20 171:20
172:13 176:2
181:21 198:22
199:19 222:10
229:5 239:16
240:9 256:1
280:10 292:1
< H >
half 27:3 197:20
215:24
hammer 181:18
182:15, 18 212:14
262:20
hand 265:21
handed 265:16
handle 190:24
249:11 255:8
275:15
handled 6:14 72:2
85:24, 25 135:13
146:24 158:3
275:9
handles 49:15
handling 174:23
184:22, 22
hands 280:17, 22
happen 53:1
145:4 194:11
196:6 222:9 256:4
happened 68:4
130:6 153:25
154:24 156:5
209:3 240:13, 22
273:24 277:17, 25
305:11
happening 140:21
230:6 255:3
306:12
happens 67:18
97:3 142:24
159:13 170:5, 5, 6
179:8 195:24
228:7 255:4, 18
258:25 337:16
happy 31:2 33:18
40:16 66:23 74:17
105:1 114:19
131:9 158:21
160:17 257:3
hard 26:13, 18
129:17 136:12
179:20, 20 198:6
206:7 256:2
322:11 340:7
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
24
Agren Bland() Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
Haren 1:1 132:21,
23, 24 140:19
141:12 142:10
144:12 145:5
146:12, 16 147:12,
19, 22 148:4, 13, 19
149:4, 11, 14, 17
264:19, 21, 21
266:6, 12, 15 267:7,
10, 13 298:16
harm 96:11 228:2
HART 2:4 32:3
81:16 91:23 97:13
150:8
hatch 58:5
hate 245:8 246:5
Haug 1:1 32:1, 1,
17,21,25 79:2,8
81:16 102:10
280:18
haul 254:5
Hayley 1:1 33:10
93:4
hazardous 227:25
head 230:20 231:5
Health 4:25 5:8,
10 20:12, 20 23:4,
13 36:24 38:9
44:18 67:20 71:23
98:4 99:15 100:7
141:19 142:2
145:20 147:22
181:8 195:2 210:2
212:19 213:2, 6, 7
226:7 236:3
252:24 263:18
264:16 268:9, 16
269:20 270:1
281:12 283:5
284:4 287:2, 4
289:1, 2, 6, 14, 17
300:13 302:13
303:23 304:24
305:21 308:7
313:23 326:21
333:12, 15 346:10,
11 350:11
Health's 36:25
healthy 177:7
hear 11:6, 9 94:5
104:10 180:15
185:25 193:15
218:21 220:24
227:12 233:10
235:23 245:23
246:1 257:1
288:25 309:21
310:24,25 322:4
335:4 341:13
heard 9:16 75:11
76:6 77:4 85:14,
22 90:19 107:5
143:25 144:8
149:24 150:4
201:6 204:21
220:21 228:8
231:4 247:20
256:20 261:20
301:16 302:4
315:11 321:5
322:24 331:21
332:10 334:22
335:1, 17 342:11,
19
HEARING 1:1 3:5,
10 8:24 9:1 10:16
11:3 15:5, 24
16:4, 5 18:13
19:5, 25 20:25
21:1 24:7, 8, 10, 21
25:3 39:14 56:7
60:22 62:22 68:12
75:16, 19 76:4, 11
77:11 99:22
103:10 117:15
149:25 150:3
151:15 165:17
171:11, 24 176:25
180:1, 4, 23 182:19
183:4 185:19, 25
186:3 187:8
192:18 202:13
218:21 219:3
222:10 239:10
247:22 252:18
262:13, 15 272:23
276:10 277:4
283:19 300:19, 20,
21 301:10 302:6,
25 305:24 312:5
316:8, 21 320:2, 3,
24 321:6, 9 329:18,
25 330:7 339:3, 7,
9 343:9 344:14, 20
349:2
hearings 20:17
76:25 77:2 162:9
165:15 171:9
175:23
hearsay 243:20
heart 167:21
227:16 270:12
HEARTLAND 1:1
2:7 3:7 4:2, 11,
12, 13 19:10, 11
23:8, 10 38:4
40:25 41:3 63:22
64:7, 10, 21, 24
75:10 77:20 78:9,
12, 13, 16 79:5, 6,
17, 18, 24 81:5, 10,
23 82:12 84:15
86:6 87:10 92:20
95:12, 19, 19, 21
97:13 99:23 100:1,
25 101:21 102:2
103:20 107:21
113:14 126:2
148:16, 25 149:9,
13 150:8 152:8, 17,
19 153:7, 12, 15, 16,
22 154:5, 19 155:8,
18, 24 157:16
159:3 160:6
161:16 165:19
189:3, 10, 12, 19, 21,
25 190:12 191:18
192:19 193:25
195:7, 13, 21
196:18, 19, 19
201:6 202:20
203:1, 11 209:15
219:9 222:17
223:17 224:11
225:3 229:19
230:20 232:8
233:5, 10 235:1, 7
237:15 241:1, 6, 10,
15 242:8, 20, 21
243:1 245:6, 7, 7
246:4 247:21
249:7, 23 250:23
251:12 263:8
267:25 268:1, 13,
17, 23, 24 269:17
270:9 271:12
274:5 275:10
276:3, 5 277:21
282:16, 16 283:1
285:17, 18 294:7
295:7, 11 297:15,
18 298:8, 10
304:22 305:1, 1, 6
320:5, 13 321:3
322:11 323:9
331:14 345:4
Heartland's 87:18
191:24 203:23
224:4, 20 233:17
336:8
heat 171:2 238:16
Heather 146:1
heating 170:25, 25
heavily 193:7
heavy 134:14
135:10
height 21:14, 22
22:1, 2 34:9
held 24:8 30:17
85:19 182:24
311:15
hell 208:19
Hello 67:15, 15
103:21 235:22
249:1 253:21
help 117:18, 18, 22
170:21 176:4
177:18, 20 181:16
183:5 186:12
190:3, 16 201:20
211:7 213:19
helped 182:14
224:21
helpful 185:24
helping 51:12
165:16
Helps 174:15
herbicides 146:21
herd 223:1
HERGENREDER
207:25 208:1
hesitant 178:10
hey 161:9 253:16
280:9
Hi 197:18 199:24
202:17
high 58:19, 23, 25
61:2 106:14
170:12 179:14
208:12 231:13
248:14
highly 226:6
hill 198:11
hired 166:21
171:6 177:18
217:10
historically 142:17
143:5, 8, 12 146:24
history 77:4, 5
157:10 187:18
hit 195:24
hits 193:21
Hmm 209:11
hold 34:10, 12
91:16 174:16
195:22 312:24
313:17 314:15
315:19, 22 316:9
holder 3:25
holding 190:9
312:15
HOLLAND 2:4
32:2 81:16 91:23
97:13 150:8
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
25
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
home 65:25 72:18
73:7 147:5 188:15,
20 189:6 190:6
208:5 230:8 232:8
233:19 234:2, 6
235:1, 2, 2 241:9
honest 224:12
honestly 10:21
244:7 334:10
346:24
hook 247:19
hope 44:11 140:14
229:8 232:3
hopefully 46:14
57:19 260:22
hose 58:3
hot 185:3
hour 61:1 106:25
200:24 299:4
303:13
hours 45:5 106:6
125:11, 23 126:4
208:24 209:7
231:9 235:3 240:7
250:20
house 197:23
198:11, 13 200:13,
15 230:9 233:21
234:12, 16, 22
235:4 237:22
238:23 252:12
housing 210:24
Hoyland 233:1, 1
HR 236:4
huge 221:24
254:24 346:3
human 188:12
298:22
humanity 192:24
hundred 165:10
182:25 183:6, 10,
15, 17 184:17
214:17 240:21
255:19 330:9
338:3
hundreds 178:16
217:7 231:9
255:22, 22
hunt 247:14
hurt 160:24
husband 233:2
234:13, 20
hybrid 133:24
138:20
hybridization
133:21
<I>
I.D 37:19 38:2
59:4
i.e 292:18
idea 65:13 67:11
110:4 113:10
223:15 238:14, 15
239:9 240:3
275:20 310:4
327:23 328:12
338:6, 7 344:12
identification
130:22
identified 82:16
88:12 268:16
271:12, 13 275:11
282:21
identify 89:17
117:17, 25 119:4
129:24 252:1, 13
ignoring 189:3
II 4:13
Ikenberry 270:1
ill-conceived 193:3
illegally 57:8
189:8 191:20
195:3
Illinois 215:1
illustrate 107:18
illustration 113:18
illustrative 80:18
image 107:20
108:6 113:15, 15,
16
imaginary 113:22
imagine 106:19
234:14, 20 301:22
immediate 79:16
80:1 208:15
348:20
immediately 56:16
158:4 184:7 193:7
262:11
immensely 145:21
impact 96:12, 16
157:9 188:13
210:13 243:1
249:18 251:15
255:20 301:3, 5
321:7, 12, 13, 19
331:7 336:10
346:4
impacted 213:3
241:10
impacting 255:6
impacts 212:21
213:9, 9 249:20
308:2 321:18
impermeable
144:17, 19, 25
implement 262:18
implementation
59:12
implemented 54:17
60:17
implies 168:11
importance 301:1
important 37:20
81:24 91:2 92:17
112:13 119:20
123:9, 12 124:16
130:4, 22 135:11
139:15 150:14
151:3 154:4
157:12 168:24
169:7 170:23
172:7 194:12
211:9 212:22
213:14 220:21
255:4 262:2 314:4
336:21
importantly 131:6
215:3, 6, 11
imposed 326:5
impress 244:13
impressed 256:8
impression 79:21
improve 171:12, 14
improvement
197:24 254:24
Improvements
30:14 33:5 81:7, 8
101:20 168:6
253:10 277:18
322:12
improving 92:21
256:22
impugn 261:8
inability 218:7
inadequate 94:14
inappropriate
253:19
incapable 190:9
inception 241:23
inches 263:14
incineration 133:17
inclined 323:3
include 3:24 32:4
41:5 210:20
303:14 307:4
314:4 315:14
330:13 331:23
345:13 347:1, 2, 5
included 20:13
21:7, 9 22:10 34:8
45:20 47:2 48:12
79:13 106:13
285:19 287:14, 16
290:13 292:10
293:15 348:1
349:4
includes 60:13
241:21 292:3
295:20 298:21
309:4
including 3:15 4:7
16:14 20:6 35:22
59:7 76:11 77:18
147:17 214:22
299:20 308:21
income 210:21
incoming 58:15
inconceivable
158:10
inconsistencies
57:18 85:22 93:3
131:7 165:12
inconsistency 62:8
86:3
inconsistent 128:10
131:4, 5 272:2
346:17
inconveniences
167:23
incorporated 46:23
incorrect 114:22
270:24
incorrectly 26:5
increase 68:7
183:18 185:7
increases 215:16
incredibly 261:20
independent 75:25
295:18
independently
251:17
Indiana 131:20
indicate 34:8 59:6
63:22 88:20
159:16 272:7
294:12 309:11
indicated 34:7
36:2 38:23 40:3
49:21, 24 56:11
57:23 64:7 72:10
73:1 269:5 346:16
indicates 34:13, 18,
23 58:8 59:8
71:25 72:14 74:3
91:24 100:22
151:21 295:10
297:14 309:16
indicating 23:14
35:10 155:4
indication 271:10
282:17
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
26
Agren Bland() Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
indicative 131:1
162:18
individual 107:5
128:1, 13
individuals 131:3
210:23
indoor 206:8, 10
industry 170:2
193:1 196:10
210:16 221:10, 12
250:17 256:25
information 17:17
33:19 34:25 36:9
39:17 43:4 44:16
48:12 77:25 79:10,
11 86:20 87:8, 9
89:17 90:20, 21, 23,
24 91:4, 9, 12, 13
92:1, 12, 14 130:2,
17 141:18 149:24
152:23 186:4, 9
193:22 214:13
270:20 279:15
286:8
informed 146:5
155:8, 11 157:17
230:23
infrastructure 215:8
inground 21:12
47:18 66:16
inherent 266:20
initial 24:6 268:15
initially 79:5
100:15 203:20
331:22
injunction 317:18
318:20 319:19
327:7 328:6
Innovative 3:8
innovators 250:17
input 100:24
247:11 257:14, 15,
16
inside 200:23
201:1 206:20
234:8
insofar 151:24
inspect 36:7 73:24
262:24
inspected 229:20
inspection 24:24
26:22 35:24 36:18
38:7, 10, 11 39:2, 9,
22 42:16, 17 43:2,
12 56:13, 20 57:7
60:23 61:7, 11, 25
62:1, 7, 24 64:15,
20 65:11 66:20, 21
76:15, 16 86:15
92:10, 13 94:17
266:23 270:3
inspections 75:22
76:7, 10, 12, 12
85:9 89:23 94:19
252:20
inspects 76:13
install 172:18
182:2, 10
installation 30:19
installed 5:24
171:7 172:15, 19
173:21 174:24
182:12 184:9, 9
203:20
installing 174:21
183:11 184:2, 21
instance 123:22
124:18 259:9
273:18
instances 116:6
126:16, 25 128:8
129:4, 17 275:12
insult 108:2
insulted 233:16
intake 321:12
Integrated 215:7,
11 263:1
intended 242:1
297:23
intense 76:7
208:19
intensely 136:19
intensity 248:15
intensive 236:13
intent 276:20
295:10
interaction 163:18
interest 136:24
217:8
interested 271:4
353:14
interesting 112:15
159:11 209:11
interestingly 127:24
interference 96:5
331:5 345:24
interfering 238:20
interject 52:6
intermingled 137:23
international
188:22 193:11
internationally
214:16
interpret 292:8
interpretation
63:25 194:25
195:5 237:3
272:14 279:1
284:7, 11 303:8
interpreted 293:16
interrupt 88:16
Interruption 263:24
intersection 30:18
33:5 120:21
intimately 165:5
introduce 75:13, 14
103:22 121:24
164:11
invade 230:8
in -vessel 134:21,
25 135:1
invest 168:5 178:3
invested 168:5, 16
231:18, 20, 25
236:14 240:7
250:19 251:1
investigating 215:8
investment 81:25
168:4 181:13
197:15 203:25
250:25
investments 302:1
invited 89:5
involved 79:7
90:2, 6 92:18, 19,
19 93:13 94:24
133:11 142:1
145:21, 22, 24
166:10, 16 167:15
196:5 223:3
265:11 297:23
involvement 223:8
involving 176:15
irresponsible
209:16
irrigate 223:23
irrigation 132:20
224:3
issuance 8:18
9:11 10:6, 13
11:16 13:12 14:16,
19
issue 8:14 9:24
11:9, 12 12:13, 14
14:24 18:18 23:15
39:3 81:20 83:1
86:5, 21 91:2
94:21 96:1 150:20
151:4 152:8 153:2
154:5, 8 158:12
160:13 162:19
188:19 195:15
203:24 204:5, 22,
22 206:11 207:22
211:20 252:12, 12
261:11 271:21
272:13 277:6
317:15 320:23, 24
321:21 339:7
342:1,2,2,3
issued 5:21 7:23
13:1, 3 24:18
40:25 48:18 74:15
78:10 81:5 136:7
151:7 343:16
Issues 3:24 11:4,
6, 6 15:11, 24 16:7
36:25 37:3, 7, 9, 15
42:6, 6 45:10, 11,
13 56:14 57:16
61:17 66:19 78:1
150:25 153:3
163:4 164:3 186:1
188:12 192:14
194:1, 15 205:2
207:16 212:15
213:16 217:18, 19
218:14 221:2, 10,
11 224:23 227:25
248:1 252:20
276:15, 24 301:11
318:24 322:1
issuing 154:14
item 38:21 45:16
71:24 73:9, 22
74:9 86:15 87:23
88:2 89:18 91:4
292:19, 25 297:2
items 37:18 38:1,
4, 6 46:17 57:4
58:18 60:21 61:23
62:21 63:19, 21
64:23, 24 65:16, 17,
20 66:10, 21 69:10
71:21 74:9 83:18
87:15, 22 90:19
91:9 94:15, 20
102:3 185:25
252:17, 18 285:24
298:13 311:6
iterations 203:16
it'll 200:22, 23
205:10 335:20
its 46:23 83:2
84:16 110:11, 12
112:19, 19 152:9
155:1, 17 190:10,
13 204:10 223:25
226:11 243:7
250:4, 4, 5 251:3,
11, 15 252:16
258:22 262:4
269:12 271:13
279:23
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
27
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
Iwaszek 1:1
104:4, 7, 10, 12
109:10, 18, 22, 25
111:1, 16, 20 118:1,
5 119:8,14,18,25
120:13, 17 121:3,
21 125:2 126:15
Iwaszek's 162:20
<J>
James 2:6 186:19
201:11
Jamie 208:1
January 48:22, 24
62:14 67:4 68:6
353:17
Jason 1:1 75:9
76:20 103:21
165:16 166:6, 17
167:16 171:22
175:23 177:4
178:13 209:7
224:15
JBS 146:23 221:5
Jeez 228:20 247:2
Jim 231:8 243:11
job 78:1 143:2
167:17, 18 228:11
229:4 240:8 247:1
251:15 299:22, 23
300:11, 11, 12, 14
308:6, 9 350:10
jobs 211:6 221:23
231:9
Johnstown 247:13
joy 191:23
Julee 235:23
Julie 1:1
July 20:4 21:4
24:7, 8 39:25 40:2
165:17 171:10
234:3 242:4
284:20 285:4
June 20:25 24:8
47:24, 25 48:7
56:1 82:15, 25
83:15, 16 136:8
171:8 174:23
177:9, 13, 15, 16
262:16 323:7, 8, 10
337:10, 14, 17
346:25
jurisdiction 83:5
187:7 273:10
Justice 237:11, 11
justifies 156:23
Justin 166:23
<K>
Kalvin 256:18
257:12
Kathy 232:6 233:1
Kaufman 2:5
91:23 97:7, 9, 12,
12 150:6, 7, 7
159:4, 8, 22 160:8,
12 162:4, 11, 14, 25
163:9, 12, 20 164:1,
7 182:14 267:18
268:14,25 269:4
270:13 271:3
273:13, 17 275:5
278:5 281:3, 17
282:12 283:12, 18
294:3, 5 296:3
297:2, 9, 12 304:5
318:14
keenly 204:8
keep 73:2 181:3
186:21 211:9
219:2 220:4
229:16 242:1
244:16, 17 261:3
266:22 322:15
337:4 338:10
keeping 88:16
kept 139:8 244:4
281:25
key 145:19 278:16
kidding 229:20
238:2 246:3
kids 189:24
kind 26:18 27:16
29:4, 4, 22 30:5
37:1, 10, 12 38:23
42:5 45:10 49:9
55:23 62:1 65:12
102:25 103:3
104:20 105:3
106:10 107:13, 14,
17 108:7 109:1
114:16 119:23
121:5, 8, 12, 15, 24
131:15 140:22
152:20 166:11
169:9 186:8
198:22 205:2
218:1 227:8
230:17 247:5
254:14 256:10, 13
269:4 271:16
277:12 279:17
284:10, 11 296:16
301:20 304:8
305:1 315:9
334:10 335:8
341:5 349:12
kinds 52:25 53:2
108:8 112:10
134:22 139:6
143:16 144:4
169:25 200:11
216:9
Kirkmeyer 1:1
7:13, 14, 22 8:3, 7,
11, 17, 22 9:7, 15,
18,21 10:1,5,9
11:13 12:5, 15
13:10, 19, 23 14:15,
19 15:1,3,16,20
17:3, 11, 15, 24
18:9, 12, 21 31:23
33:24, 25 43:5, 8,
21 44:2, 9, 12, 15
45:6 51:19, 22
52:1,12,15,19,23
54:1,5,10,13,16,
24 55:2, 6 59:13,
16, 20, 22 60:1, 7,
10,15 62:17, 19
63:1, 5 65:3, 5
69:12, 15, 21 70:10,
17 71:17 75:2
78:4 90:8, 10, 13,
16 97:20, 23 98:2,
8, 17, 20 99:2, 5, 13,
21 100:4, 16 101:1,
4, 13 102:4, 8
120:6, 9, 15 121:1,
17 131:11,12,22
132:2, 8, 14 146:16
148:8, 9, 15, 25
149:6, 12, 15, 18
158:24 159:2, 6, 20,
25 160:3, 5, 10
161:13 162:7, 12,
23 163:2, 10 167:2,
8, 12 179:23
218:18 232:25
235:21 253:15, 18
258:8 259:21,24
260:18 263:7, 10,
13, 25 264:20
266:3, 7, 13 267:1,
5, 16, 17 268:20
269:2 273:2, 5, 14
274:7 281:4, 7, 21
282:23 283:16, 20,
25 284:3, 18, 23
285:2 286:1, 12, 15
287:4, 8, 22 288:4,
17, 24 289:7, 11
290:8, 18, 25
291:13, 18, 22
295:23 296:14
297:4, 11 298:11
299:4 308:15, 24
309:20 311:25
312:16 316:5,6,21,
23 317:1, 4, 20
318:25 319:11, 15
320:10 323:20, 23
324:25 325:4, 17,
18, 23, 24 326:13
327:9, 14 328:9, 25
329:7 330:16, 21,
23 331:12 332:1
333:3, 4 334:3, 24
337:22 339:14, 15,
22 341:11 343:14
344:6, 7, 10, 13
348:16, 18, 21
349:10, 11 350:21
351:3, 20, 21
Kirkmeyer's 16:11
53:18 96:14
KISKER 247:12, 12
319:25
knew 79:17 193:17
know 9:15 12:1
36:18 52:24 57:20
63:10, 19 65:20
68:11, 13, 22 75:22
79:17, 18 81:23
91:19 93:8 103:4
104:11 107:15
108:3, 3, 6, 7, 9, 12
110:15 114:21, 21
115:8, 17 116:19
118:18 121:10
128:24 129:11, 19
130:5, 20 141:2, 12
143:15, 20 149:22
152:1,12,23
155:22 157:20
159:11, 12 160:13
172:11 177:4
180:10 185:21
186:11 187:20
190:24 198:4, 15,
17, 20 199:4, 7, 13
200:7 202:6 203:9
204:24, 24 206:13
207:15 208:11
211:18 212:20, 20,
22, 23 213:1, 9, 17
220:4, 10, 24 221:1
224:10, 10 229:21
230:2, 17 231:12
232:15 233:11
234:17 236:13, 14
238:9 239:18
240:9 244:5, 12, 23
246:7, 15, 15 248:2
250:10 251:23
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
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Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
255:1, 17 256:1
259:2 267:12
269:14 271:3, 20
273:11 275:14, 17
277:11, 21 278:10,
18, 18, 20 279:2, 5,
11, 13, 23 280:10
281:8 282:5, 8
283:2 288:3, 22
290:11 291:3
293:19 294:11
295:12 297:22
299:6, 9 300:7, 8,
15 301:7, 12, 16, 17
302:5, 10, 17
304:23, 25 307:1,
22, 23 308:23
309:1, 8 310:1
312:2 314:17, 25
316:7, 14 318:11
320:9, 11, 23 321:5,
17 322:7, 11, 22
323:5, 11 324:6, 7
325:1, 22 329:13,
23 330:19 331:13
334:4 335:1
337:20, 21, 23
338:2, 21 339:25
340:11 341:6, 9, 10,
14 342:2, 6, 18
343:9, 23, 24 349:6,
13, 17
knowledge 53:24
82:4 281:16, 22
known 61:2 68:20
221:20 236:18
256:14
knows 98:6
189:19 243:21
Kreutzer 78:25
79:11, 12, 15 80:3
81:12, 21 102:15,
16 150:21 151:19
152:11 157:24
158:1, 7 243:19, 19,
22, 25 272:15
278:7, 11 280:6
298:2
Kreutzer's 80:9
151:20 275:19
278:6
Kurzenhauser 1:1
75:14 162:15
164:12, 14, 15
166:8, 16 167:14
171:17, 22 172:5
180:13, 17 181:17
183:9, 21 185:13
260:24 261:2, 3
263:12 264:19
<L>
label 136:8 137:19
265:4
labeled 263:22
264:3
labeling 265:13
labor 197:8
lack 192:21 194:1
195:25 209:12
218:10 219:18
317:12 345:12
lady 244:11
Lafayette 209:25
lagoon 21:11
139:21
lagoons 93:14
138:18 169:19
171:14 202:6
laid 192:15
land 20:17 46:25
50:2 53:3 57:9
70:12 71:1 82:11,
13 97:25 98:4
135:18 138:4
141:5 142:24
143:16 144:6
146:9, 14, 17, 19, 20,
25 147:1, 7, 13, 18
148:17 154:10
189:20 191:12, 13,
20 194:3 195:16
196:23 241:8
242:12 264:17
275:10 276:18
286:20 287:7, 12,
13, 15 288:1, 7, 22
289:1 295:16
296:11 305:4, 5, 5
landfill 206:2
211:12, 16 216:18,
23 217:24 251:25
255:15, 16, 23
336:14
landfilling 211:11
217:3
landfills 169:2
203:2 216:13, 17,
23 217:23 218:22
255:11, 12
landowners 221:12
lanes 30:19
language 47:3
54:7 150:22,24
152:13 280:8
large 133:3
141:22,25 149:2
larger 50:1 73:14
183:22 196:21
largest 216:6
Larimer 210:4
211:21
Larry 295:1
LaSalle 186:20
191:8 193:16
233:3 237:12
256:21
Lastly 96:1
late 106:7 203:18
250:15 254:23
303:13
laughing 121:10
laurels 174:11
law 152:10 155:23
303:17 324:3
345:11
laws 23:5 187:11
194:6 319:5 324:1
345:7
lawyers 233:11
lay 196:22
layer 179:11, 11, 12
layout 296:1
leachate 139:5
lead 186:8
leadership 225:2
251:20
leading 142:18
252:8
leads 169:8
leak 208:23
leaning 335:2
learned 87:22
261:6
learning 117:13
209:14 244:9
leave 221:6
226:25 235:5
315:7
leaves 165:25
leaving 60:24
61:4 195:8
leeway 189:4
left 87:20 191:15
237:3
legacy 188:17
190:3 191:16
legal 3:21 22:11
48:13 75:20 132:1
151:18 157:5
160:14 161:23
271:4 278:8 279:9
legitimate 178:25
237:21
length 157:1
lengthy 103:4
265:6
lesser 235:13
letter 4:7, 24 5:4
12:9 19:6 20:19
22:25 23:12 24:6
25:4 31:10, 13, 14
32:2 42:20 43:2
46:16, 16 47:5
48:4, 18 49:21, 25
54:3 56:10, 19, 20
57:10 64:1 66:20,
21 78:23 79:13
80:9, 11 87:1, 2, 12,
18 88:23 89:4
91:11 100:8, 13, 22,
23 102:11 150:20
151:20 157:25
159:4, 7, 23 160:7
161:20 198:23
258:20, 21 266:9
267:20 268:3, 7, 21
269:1, 5, 9 270:13,
21 271:1, 16
272:18 274:9
275:19 277:13, 19
278:9, 17 281:1, 9
282:23, 24 283:2
285:6, 8, 17, 19, 20
286:10 304:13, 21
325:7, 10 326:22
328:20, 25 329:5, 8,
10 333:11 338:19
339:25 345:13
letterhead 87:12
letters 37:11
187:24 304:4
letting 212:20
level 6:11 96:16,
17 156:18 176:14
182:25 184:5
220:9,10,10
247:14 347:8
levels 61:11 94:10,
11 131:7 137:6
191:5 203:13
336:7
liar 227:17 228:23
Libicki 1:1 121:25
122:3, 12, 17, 18, 21,
24 123:6 128:24
129:2, 6, 11, 19
130:16 131:15, 24
132:5, 11, 17
license 82:14
97:24 228:4
licenses 189:7
311:14
lid 178:20
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
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Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
lieu 144:19 323:19
326:5 327:13
life 46:12 105:11
165:9 191:22
192:7 196:14
198:3 227:8
238:24 239:1
240:15 241:2
243:7 251:10
254:1
lifetime 214:20
light 115:11
193:23 218:3
lightly 349:14
lights 208:9
limb 121:7
limit 11:15 12:14,
16, 16 15:11 70:22
71:1, 11 186:3,4
260:23
limitation 94:7
limited 71:8
151:21 171:10, 25
172:1 185:20
255:14
limiting 171:19
limits 37:22, 24
327:20
Lincoln 202:19
line 27:17 88:17
113:22, 22, 24
114:1, 3 238:16
249:23 269:3
276:23
lined 21:7, 9
196:25
liners 139:5, 15
lines 52:22 213:14
269:1 292:1 336:1
linger 200:23
link 58:20, 24
lion's 216:5
lip 192:24
liquid 57:11 82:12,
13, 17 132:20
133:2 136:9
137:11 148:11, 14
165:23 169:13
211:7 250:7 265:3
286:4 289:21
liquids 50:23
134:5, 20 135:5, 8
Lisa 214:2
list 34:1 65:15
287:10 294:7
307:16 345:9
351:5
listed 55:18 62:21
66:21 110:1 186:2
275:1 291:8, 17
292:9 308:13, 15
333:11 344:18
345:8 348:11
351:4
Listen 198:14
240:8
listened 237:14
238:10 239:18
240:18
listening 209:14
lists 270:7 292:2
literally 111:9
191:25 234:6
litigation 248:4
little 21:23 26:13
28:6 29:4 50:4, 17
53:24 57:21 93:8
105:2 112:25
119:11
123:20
131:20
139:22
157:21
176:19
199:14
243:15
252:23
122:25
125:1, 13
136:12
151:3
168:2
180:12, 14
227:18
244:1
271:21
272:9 284:10
297:17 299:5
309:8 322:23
340:19, 20 341:20
live 97:2, 4 186:19
188:10, 14 190:12
191:21 197:19, 19
198:7,16,16
199:25 201:4
208:2,2 209:24
213:8 214:2 227:5
229:15 230:3
233:2, 19, 24, 25
234:25 235:23
236:10, 16 237:11
239:25 240:25
241:4 243:11, 12
247:13 248:23
253:3, 23 255:7
256:19 300:16
331:21
lived 198:3 199:3
209:25 256:13, 14
lives 188:16 189:1,
18 190:17 198:11
227:9 229:2
233:25 234:22
238:20
living 46:10 85:11
201:3 238:25, 25
239:1 256:13
262:1 322:9
LLC 1:1 2:2, 8
3:7 4:2, 14 78:9,
12,16 79:5, 6, 18,
18 81:5, 10, 23
92:20 95:12, 19, 20
97:14 99:24 100:1
149:9, 13 270:9
283:1 295:8
297:19
LLCs 282:10
304:22
LLC's 161:16
LLP 2:4
loaded 114:24
loads 223:16
225:10 226:21, 25
local 10:3 23:5
45:15, 19 99:11
134:2 189:17, 20,
25 194:19 210:18
223:8 251:15
290:6
located 26:16
60:2, 4 196:17
location 26:15
30:5, 23 40:13
42:2 111:8 120:20,
23
locations 25:2
42:2 108:16, 16, 19
109:4, 14 110:5
113:17
log 123:19, 21, 23
logged 44:25
123:25 124:5
logical 133:17
logically 109:1
118:14 251:16
long 67:18 75:22
103:25 141:3
149:22 173:8
185:22 196:20
202:11 212:9
220:5 225:4 256:1
261:5 262:10
310:3 313:17
322:10 337:1
349:3
longer 134:16
137:13 139:22
156:6 189:5
190:12 192:9, 11
259:5 261:1 265:1,
9 266:24 277:15
305:4
long-term 223:19
224:16 225:13
look 9:19 14:7
16:12, 14 19:23
38:14 62:3 80:4
105:20 106:9, 10
112:19 113:25
115:3 124:17
141:8 151:20
153:4 157:8, 24
166:12, 12 171:24
174:15 216:21
221:22 222:12
239:16 240:14
260:1 275:19, 25
276:22 277:2
280:5 283:21,24
290:1 291:21
294:19, 24 297:16
310:4, 9, 10 312:11
327:16 330:10
334:1 349:18
looked 39:12
112:21 125:11
126:22 127:9
153:13 206:18
271:21 277:4
292:24, 25 342:17
looking 10:13
16:20 26:23, 25
92:1 105:4 107:17
142:13 143:10
216:15, 21 240:13
244:18 263:13, 15
267:21 274:23
286:18 291:15
294:21 295:24
298:14 299:19
308:12 311:20, 24
313:19, 21 323:3
325:16 337:5
349:25
looks 33:15 62:3
107:17 126:2
203:14 285:17
loose 150:24
lose 157:6
lose -lose 322:8
losing 209:8 322:9
lost 128:15 198:7
lot 29:15 50:19
52:25 61:22 65:20
75:11 76:8 77:4
92:19 94:18
104:25 107:1
108:3, 5 119:9
123:3 135:25
136:17 138:16
140:3 142:12
149:23 150:11
151:13 152:21,23
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
30
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
164:10 174:3, 10
176:13 178:14
182:23 185:1,22
201:10, 17 203:9
206:2 211:20
212:10 214:23
215:7 219:21
223:7 231:25
236:15 244:7, 13
246:8 247:3, 25
254:4 261:5 272:7
299:20 300:3, 6, 10,
15 301:11 323:12
334:11, 23 336:7,
13 344:4 349:2
350:16
lots 131:16, 16
136:22 143:18
230:16, 16
love 192:2 218:11
low 50:8 54:8, 20
217:24 284:21
lower 22:3 316:16
330:14, 14
lowered 170:20
loyal 190:17
LSA 82:11 132:19
135:19 136:10
187:23 292:7, 12
298:16, 16
lucky 255:11
ludicrous 141:13
lunch 103:1, 6, 15
lying 228:18, 21
< M >
machines 165:4
mail 200:11, 13
mailed 20:23, 24
22:20
main 170:18 202:4
215:10
maintain 212:6
249:12
maintaining 320:17
maintenance 38:12,
17 84:13, 18
major 197:7
216:18
majority 116:14
145:24
making 16:21
92:14 104:20
141:4 166:18, 19
168:9, 12 181:6
215:20 228:14
312:22 325:2
349:14
man 244:11
manage 105:15
178:15 224:1, 9
management 94:2,
8 166:20, 21 215:7,
12 216:12 223:14,
19 249:12, 21, 25
manager 75:10
104:13 194:24
209:6
manager's 209:10
managing 104:12
105:16
manner 6:15 72:2
163:6
manpower 143:5
manure 48:21, 23
49:16 58:1, 3, 4, 16
62:13 120:24
121:9, 9 135:16
146:19 165:21
169:10, 24 196:19
197:3, 5, 6 211:23
223:14, 16, 19, 20,
24 224:7, 9 225:10
226:19 234:4, 4
239:12 240:21
250:8 254:5
255:16 288:7, 8
manure -like 121:5
manures 134:1
map 34:5 42:1
March 47:24
174:20 183:13, 13
222:20
Marci 263:19
Marietta 222:9
Marjorie 209:23
212:18
market 138:13
148:21
marketed 134:10
Martin 222:9
mask 237:7
massive 141:13, 14
196:23
master 210:3, 4, 5
master's 105:8
match 33:14
246:10
matching 35:9
material 6:2 7:17
24:16 28:16 29:23
51:5 58:6 83:2, 6
136:20 147:7, 8
169:23 170:24
184:23 197:4
217:8 223:22
263:20 266:8, 23
286:4 297:13
298:5, 17 315:14
materials 4:22 5:1
6:13 28:7,9,12
29:14 58:8 71:25
94:7, 10 145:2, 4
153:4 172:2 215:7,
12,22 216:11, 16
217:22 218:10
250:12 258:18
263:14
material's 28:2
matter 11:20
77:10 78:21 79:16
80:1 82:1, 7
86:14, 16, 22 89:20,
25 92:20 95:4, 18,
21 102:9 103:7
158:20 183:25
194:25 195:4, 5
218:24 235:4
247:16 251:14
279:12, 13 303:7
327:3 335:9 338:1
340:12
matters 78:4
mature 216:6
max 195:24
maximum 34:21
73:11
MCDONALD 253:21,
22, 22 256:12
Meadow 146:22
mean 11:3, 23, 23
15:10, 25 62:15
69:25 75:18 77:22
83:10 88:16 99:14
106:14 108:2
114:12 115:3
120:18 122:14
141:14 151:5
156:8, 15 157:4, 7,
11 162:25 163:1
181:2 198:16
248:13 255:11, 13
266:10 276:22
277:1 288:13, 21
290:22 293:17
299:14 300:1
304:25 312:7, 19,
25 314:1, 2 320:3
321:18 322:7
323:9 324:12
325:10 334:4
337:7, 13 339:19
340:7 341:13
342:1, 4 349:16
meaning 268:23
291:8 317:13
318:17
means 127:17
156:16, 17 163:5
179:19 197:3
210:18 324:21
meant 26:9 252:10
measure 248:12, 13
measured 6:3, 6
110:9
measurement
104:16, 23 108:20
110:10 111:14, 17
114:11 117:5
118:13 127:21
128:6, 10, 11
measurements
104:19 106:2, 5
107:2, 7, 8, 10
108:1, 23 109:12,
15 111:5, 25
112:23 113:1
116:19 118:19
121:23
measures 59:2
measuring 105:24
115:6 121:2
meatpacking 203:2
mechanism 328:15
mediate 176:4
meet 14:4 38:1
44:13 50:12, 25
51:10 87:16 134:9,
13 135:19, 21
137:12, 16 182:17
216:13 262:19, 21
264:25 274:16
293:22 300:21,22
311:21 316:17
350:8
meeting 23:10
104:17 135:13
147:24 195:12, 24
209:13 216:9
218:20 242:16
322:16 323:25
330:14
meetings 89:11
133:8 167:24
171:9 240:6 265:2
meets 138:8
266:23 276:19
Mel 196:16 225:13
melts 135:10
member 40:1
202:8 240:4
262:25
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
31
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
members 97:10
167:18 190:4
memory 130:12
229:21, 22
mention 92:11
106:12 331:13
mentioned 10:12
12:6 86:7 87:23
91:7 103:8 105:15
108:10 112:21
115:12 116:2
118:6 121:4 127:8
143:23 202:2
274:21 276:24
278:6 280:18
295:18 310:14
mentioning 187:23
merit 251:4
mess 228:12
299:16, 17 301:14
320:10 322:7
messages 215:10
met 136:25
metals 134:14
Method 6:4, 7
40:5, 5, 8 83:22
84:6 146:25
241:20 319:13, 17
methodologies
129:25
methods 40:11
metrics 205:10
mic 67:17
Michael 1:1 227:5
microbiological
262:5
middle 199:7
341:5
migraines 209:2
Mike 244:25
245:13 246:14
247:8
mild 131:8 280:8
mile 116:7 197:20
208:24 230:4
237:13 256:20
miles 60:25
106:24 107:23, 24,
25 188:14 191:8
196:18 218:10
230:5
milk 197:2, 14
223:12
milked 222:22
milking 223:2
million 153:18
157:7 161:7
162:17 163:1
168:3, 5, 5, 15
175:3, 4, 7 181:12
197:13, 14 204:2
225:21 238:10, 12
239:8, 13 241:7, 11
246:19
millions 188:3, 4
mind 113:12
160:14, 21 208:23
272:9 279:23
mind -set 204:5
mine 62:1 142:24
226:15 236:2
minimal 270:4
minimize 176:8
178:4 216:22
302:15
mining 53:2
142:25
minor 3:11 19:21
22:17, 18, 20 24:1
26:13, 17 30:3
86:9 342:13
minute 139:12
144:17 208:24
minutes 41:14, 15
95:8 124:23
185:20 199:9
219:1 225:14
232:3 246:4
260:24, 25 283:21
Miranda 188:9, 9
mirrors 242:2
miscommunication
143:21 245:14
misconceptions
150:10
miserable 189:18
misinformation
241:22
mismanagement
193:3 241:22
Misrepresentation
193:3 241:22
missed 165:17
177:22 178:17
257:24
missing 339:4
mission 249:16
250:3 252:16
Missouri 222:20
mist 206:19 207:3,
3, 5, 6, 7, 14, 19
mistaken 78:14
misters 205:6, 15,
24 206:6, 8, 10, 17,
18 321:6
misting 171:8, 12
202:21 203:17
204:23
misunderstanding
155:21
mitigate 162:17
252:3
mitigated 221:6
mitigates 211:25
mitigating 313:12
mitigation 130:23
202:21
mitigations 248:10
mix 197:4
MLRB 143:1
mobile 72:18 73:7
mode 208:18
moderate 176:3
moderated 175:22
modification 32:9
281:2, 5 328:22
modifications
33:16 63:23 140:7
259:7 293:7
modified 22:23
23:2 173:20
306:10 346:16
modify 25:5 31:11
32:3 73:17 270:15,
18, 22 281:25
295:25 325:11
329:3, 5, 11
Monday 2:8
money 163:3
201:12 210:18
222:2, 4 231:24
236:15 238:18
251:1 261:19
279:22 308:1
336:8
monitor 110:24
129:4 137:5, 6
144:21
monitored 4:21
108:18 258:17
260:6
monitoring 64:9
104:16 106:5
107:23 108:14, 17
110:5 111:14, 24
112:4 117:1 124:9
126:14, 15, 17, 19,
24 127:2, 4, 7, 16,
16, 23, 25 128:12
129:5 130:16, 21
131:6 139:5, 15
145:3 246:10, 13,
13
month 77:15
85:10 303:2
monthly 262:22
months 55:13
57:15 72:23 75:12
78:20 162:22
172:9 181:1 183:3
187:1 194:7
241:12, 16, 19
242:10 256:21
262:8, 9, 14 320:21,
22 321:4 332:14
335:11 337:8
Moreno 1:1 17:25
18:1 27:25 28:1,
22 29:6, 11 110:19,
20, 21 111:15, 19
166:15 171:15, 18
172:4 179:22
226:14, 15 227:2
315:8 316:2, 3
317:3 320:20
322:5, 6 337:3
351:24, 25
morning 19:2
44:24 66:6 75:9
76:22 106:7
150:12 152:3
156:4 167:7
186:23, 24 199:7
200:25 208:14
209:8 228:19
232:9 234:19
237:23 254:16, 17
morning's 322:16
morphed 228:12
292:20 299:16, 17
301:13
MORRIS 227:4, 5
229:13, 14
moss 250:7
motion 10:25
303:9 343:8 344:8,
11 348:19 350:22
motivated 182:7
Mountain 211:19
212:2 251:14
mouth 208:22
move 16:12 158:8,
19 165:14 176:25
177:1 180:1 182:4,
5, 7 183:4, 25
184:16 240:18
271:25 272:19, 22
278:25 279:1
320:16, 25 344:14
moved 72:11
193:17 196:24
222:20 247:22
348:15
moves 310:15
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
32
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
Moving 40:19 42:4
55:8 81:19 94:18
154:15 211:5
253:10 287:23
multibillion 188:22
multiple 107:2
119:20 131:2
192:16 196:24
198:1 200:15
203:12, 16, 17, 18,
24 215:4 233:6
235:16 236:19
MUSR 3:12 4:16
23:7 25:1 41:22
50:3 235:7, 18
258:13 294:7
MVR 236:7
MyDoc 141:23
myriad 78:18
154:16 156:10
275:15 276:2
mystery 194:2
196:3
< N >
name 19:10 22:12
48:14 51:22 97:11
104:11 118:1
122:11, 17 186:11,
18 188:9 196:16
199:24 208:1
209:23 214:1
220:1 222:15
227:5 230:21
232:5 233:1
240:24 247:12
253:21 256:18
257:10 295:7
296:12 297:15
names 118:1
282:10
name's 186:19
235:23 237:11
243:11
Nancy 197:18
narrow 273:18
277:6
nasal 110:23
111:2, 5, 6, 11, 12,
13, 17 113:3 115:4,
20, 24 116:21
117:2 130:17
232:14
nasty 166:1
nation 215:2 255:2
national 211:4, 19
212:2, 6 214:5, 20
215:17, 18 220:12
250:16
nationally 214:15
250:24 251:22
nationwide 202:23
native 191:11
253:24, 25
natural 138:13
165:22,22 170:13
212:3 250:6
nature 133:12
134:15 135:16
148:24 157:10
nausea 209:2
nauseating 201:3
near 71:22 108:16,
25 109:3 191:21
201:5
nearby 170:2
218:11
nearly 210:12
223:7, 16
necessarily 111:11
262:11
necessary 5:24
18:15 19:15 80:18
86:24 104:22
265:23, 23 268:2,
24
need 10:15 11:10
13:8 15:1 16:1, 12
31:21 35:7 39:8
40:5, 12, 13, 13
42:19 44:6, 7
46:19 49:13 51:15
52:15 55:4 63:23
73:5, 17 75:2
79:25 89:15 95:16
98:9 130:14 138:7
145:6 146:18, 18,
20, 25 151:11, 21
157:2, 2 159:18
176:25 177:1, 6
179:3, 13, 24, 25
180:1 182:25
183:6 194:23
218:1, 22 237:1
244:16 247:5
256:10 259:16
275:6 277:9, 24
281:25 283:6
286:8 289:1, 14, 16
291:11 293:12, 17
297:20 303:12
309:2 311:5
315:24 317:18
318:17 320:1
321:25 324:16
326:19 329:6, 15
334:18, 21 335:4
338:17 343:20, 21
344:5 350:14
351:14, 17
needed 32:6 39:4
41:7 45:4, 4 46:8,
20 47:6 49:9
50:20 64:5 66:10
80:8 92:12 271:10
290:19 291:3
needing 155:6
needs 34:2 37:18
41:12 46:1 65:23
79:24 152:16
157:25 158:3, 4
215:12 220:25
247:8 251:10
252:21 257:6
280:9
negative 212:11
negatively 188:25
negligent 242:7
negotiate 182:15
188:2 312:18
neighbor 188:1
218:13 227:12
232:8 301:9, 11, 13
neighborhood
193:1 239:6
247:15 299:21
301:6 346:4
neighbors 77:21
180:15, 16 181:9
191:22 220:24
221:8 222:4
224:19 227:13
228:2 232:22
237:5 239:22
350:6, 7
neither 100:6
143:5 151:9
nephew 234:19
net 241:8
neutralize 205:9
207:8, 20
neutralizing 203:7
207:1
never 47:15 52:4
55:2, 11 63:17
152:6 153:20
154:6, 7, 19, 21
155:6, 13 158:11,
14 161:25 162:4
170:3, 3 176:6
195:19 201:8
217:13 228:15
229:22 239:2
246:11 254:14
272:16, 21, 21
273:24 303:25
305:11, 11 317:24
new 9:14, 16 13:8,
15 17:4 18:6 19:9
23:19 27:19 31:12,
15 32:19, 22, 25
35:7 46:13, 13
73:7 80:21 117:12
150:17, 17 151:15,
22, 23 166:20, 20,
20 176:15, 16, 18,
18 185:25 186:4, 8
192:18 195:1
221:6 223:10
229:17 259:1, 6, 15
261:5 265:15
269:17 271:10
273:7 274:11
275:1 279:1
324:20 328:23
329:6 332:18
333:25 343:23
newer 224:24
news 299:11
nice 227:18
Nick 203:4
night 44:19 106:7
199:7 209:1
224:20, 20 230:8
254:16, 16, 23
nightmare 233:24
nights 203:18
nine 171:9
nitrogen 211:19
212:1
noise 117:15, 17
208:8
nonattainment
37:22, 23
noncompliance 7:6
188:12 192:17
326:1 327:22
noncompliancy
192:14
noncompliant
189:15 192:3
193:4, 8
nonexempt 65:18
88:19
nonexistent 115:11
nonpiece 271:7
normal 51:3
252:19
normally 36:15
172:8 181:20
182:4
north 26:25 30:25
34:14 164:18
196:18 222:17
237:13
northeast 125:19
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
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Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
north-northeast
125:19
nose 193:21
242:23
noses 191:25
Notary 2:10 353:5
note 72:9 81:24
88:6 123:12 151:3
154:4
noted 21:19 22:22
23:9 38:16 39:3
42:7 60:24 66:19
77:9 78:3 94:15,
16
notes 174:15
299:5 308:16
319:2
notice 7:3, 9
20:23, 24 21:16
22:19 61:22 72:6
78:21 86:21 99:18
187:7 302:25
noticed 11:5
18:17 19:13 77:25
78:6, 15 84:5
noticing 21:1
notification 64:12
67:3 90:11 268:15
281:11 296:6, 7
notified 19:12, 13
52:13 53:2 63:7
88:18 239:6 278:2
notifies 252:21
notify 5:7 56:18
239:4 346:9
November 19:5, 7,
18 22:6, 13 24:13,
21 39:15 41:1, 8
47:14, 21 48:2, 15
49:17 50:14 53:9,
11 54:14 56:3, 6,
10, 14 67:21 68:6
69:1 72:25 77:16
78:13, 23 79:14
84:15 87:13 88:10,
17, 23 90:11 94:16,
16 100:23 181:1
219:3 234:1, 10, 18
268:8, 11 269:8, 19
270:1 277:13, 25
281:8 285:7, 15
286:10 294:17
329:9, 10
Nowadays 343:8
NPR 299:10
nuisance 6:16
59:7, 17, 24 60:11,
13 72:4 94:14
96:1,3,18 98:21
131:14, 18, 20, 25
132:4 199:22
237:5, 7 331:1, 3, 8
345:20 346:6
347:14
number 77:17
85:15 90:19 93:23
95:15, 15 99:4
102:3 110:15
117:16 124:3
128:2, 2, 5 139:13,
14 145:19 164:2
174:9 194:7
214:24 232:18
272:17 278:10, 12
311:10 335:17
336:10
numbers 111:24
115:9 117:7 123:8,
20 124:17 135:9
numeral 4:1, 13
numerics 119:25
numerous 47:16
61:23 63:12 68:2
110:14 194:14
195:18 236:23
300:9
nutrient 132:20
137:6 169:13
170:11 224:2
226:9
nutrients 49:12
226:11
<0>
oats 136:24
objections 77:1
obnoxious 199:20
observation 108:20
116:20
observations
112:23
observed 60:24
61:6, 8 62:5
observers 107:3
119:20
observing 209:14
obtain 4:10
156:11, 12 304:20
obtained 194:18
obtaining 86:10
236:12
Obviously 103:1
149:23 247:18
300:9 306:22
occasions 110:14
194:15 195:18
350:8
occurred 40:23
76:10 108:18
155:3 157:16
220:20 276:14
302:14 303:25
occurring 73:3
124:21 206:21
occurs 339:17
o'clock 44:24
208:13 254:17
October 22:7
23:14 48:10 49:25
55:10 86:7 92:5
171:13 267:21
282:25
odd 270:17
odor 6:10 24:17
25:11, 19, 19 26:6,
6 37:5 40:21 41:4,
9, 12, 19, 25 42:3
59:7, 17 60:14
61:7, 11 67:21
68:7 77:8 94:1, 8,
12, 25 95:5, 8 96:1
98:11,21 103:24
104:16, 23 106:2,
19 107:11 110:8, 9,
11 111:12, 23, 24
113:1,2,4 115:7,
15, 23 116:7, 8, 20,
22, 25 117:3, 4, 4, 4
118:3, 10, 21 119:2,
3, 6 121:23 122:7
123:4, 7, 9, 10
124:9 126:14, 15,
17,19 127:1, 4, 5,
12, 18, 18, 21, 22, 23,
25 128:5, 9, 11, 12,
24 129:4, 8, 10, 19,
22, 25 130:5, 9, 10,
12, 16, 19, 21, 22, 24,
25 131:1,5,16
132:4 162:10
163:4 164:3
168:16 170:19
171:7 173:20
174:19 176:6, 7, 9
177:2 178:24, 25
179:1 184:1, 5
188:25 192:14, 16
193:23 198:6, 19,
20, 22 199:16, 20,
22 200:22,25
201:3, 17 202:4, 20,
23 203:1 204:5, 22
205:2, 3, 7, 9, 15
206:20, 25 207:15,
18 208:9, 13, 20
209:5 218:14
228:21 233:17, 18
237:18 245:6, 11
246:3 247:16
248:14, 16 252:1,
11 253:4 261:11
301:17 302:12
310:11, 22 316:12
320:25 321:13, 20
331:3 335:11, 19
337:19 338:4, 5
340:14, 24 345:21,
22 347:7, 10, 15
odoriferous 184:24
185:1
odorous 96:18
odor -related 168:6
odors 41:18 75:23
76:1, 2 94:9 96:2,
3 103:25 104:2
108:5 109:2
110:17 113:6, 7
114:15 115:2, 6, 8,
10, 12 116:3, 12, 15,
17, 18 117:19, 20,
24 119:8 120:11
121:2, 15 122:1
129:23 130:7, 11,
20 131:7 132:18
162:17 171:3, 4
172:23 178:4
179:7 183:17, 22
184:12, 18 185:7
193:19 197:21,22,
25 198:5, 5, 24, 25
199:6 200:2, 5, 6,
20 201:7, 7 203:8,
10, 13 205:3 207:8
237:19 238:19
239:2, 24 251:23
262:11 331:4
offense 227:10
228:22
offenses 235:13
offer 152:9
offered 152:12
offers 216:25
offhand 110:15
office 45:5 56:11
72:19, 21, 22 79:1
100:14 102:16
104:14 105:16
133:11 150:22
269:6, 16 270:24
271:17 274:10
277:14, 20 281:10
283:6 286:17
304:15 317:23
326:19 329:10
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
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Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
340:1 341:25
345:15
official 265:20
offload 28:11
29:18 72:12
offloading 28:17
off -site 59:6 60:13
94:9 331:1 345:19,
20
Oftentimes 156:17
165:7
oh 15:8 69:6
70:16 109:25
123:17 125:15
129:1 167:12
198:24 228:24
229:24 230:5, 25
237:19 239:19, 22
240:19 258:2
269:22 323:16
339:8
Ohio 131:20 206:4
oil 53:1 166:3
212:7 220:15
221:12 222:7
251:21 256:24
262:1 336:19
Okay 7:12 10:21
13:16 15:23 17:2,
14, 14 18:21, 22, 25
29:11 33:2, 9, 23,
23 35:3, 14 36:14,
21, 22 43:3, 20
45:8 52:19 55:6
62:6 69:4, 5, 11, 17
70:17 71:16, 18
74:20 83:16 90:1,
7 92:2, 2 97:19
98:8 101:1 103:13,
16 104:8 107:12
109:19 111:15, 23
114:22 115:11, 12
116:2 117:4
119:24 120:3, 5
121:20, 22 122:12,
17 123:5 128:22
129:18 130:14
131:10, 22 132:14,
15, 16 139:23
142:22,23 144:19
146:7 148:5, 15
149:6, 21 164:4, 6
166:8 167:8, 9, 13
168:2 169:18, 21
170:11, 16 171:2
172:4 174:3, 14, 16
175:2, 15 176:24
179:5 181:17
183:21 185:12, 18,
19 188:6 202:15
206:12 207:10, 23
213:25 219:6
225:24 227:2
240:23 245:9, 18,
22,23 246:1
247:11,24 248:25
257:13, 15 258:8
259:10,10,19
260:16, 20 263:9
266:20 267:14, 15
269:2 273:4 274:4
276:10 280:13, 24
283:23 285:2
286:15 288:10, 24
290:8 291:22
293:14 294:1,4
295:23 298:9, 24
299:1 306:21
314:9 316:3
319:15, 21 323:13
325:14 328:16
332:5 344:9
348:13, 25 349:9
351:9, 10, 14 352:5
okayed 21:18
old 174:1, 1
200:19 246:7
OLG 24:14 25:8
Once 13:21 20:25
36:9 64:2 74:15
111:8 124:21
128:14 134:9, 17
135:2 174:16
182:11 234:8
236:19 246:11
311:6
ones 10:12 12:23
40:17 65:18
135:11 200:5, 6
231:10 307:17
351:1
one-year 144:1
ongoing 90:4
107:11 147:25
275:10
onion 179:10
on -site 66:17 73:2,
2 195:23 203:15,
21 207:16 225:15,
19
opacity 39:24
40:10 83:20 84:10
open 11:2 58:5,
17 72:7 90:5
117:9 175:20
182:18 201:14, 16
202:3 213:15
262:24 347:18
opened 142:4, 6
331:17 332:2
opening 29:2
openings 6:6 84:5,
10
operate 4:2 5:19
16:16 156:6 162:6
163:5 191:18
192:3, 22 194:17
233:7, 13 235:9, 14
242:21 306:20
317:7 318:9 319:7,
16 326:15 327:2
339:19 341:4
operated 4:21
67:12 193:9 242:2
258:17 260:6
274:19 279:14
305:6
operates 162:1
304:19
operating 66:12, 14
78:9 112:5 156:16
158:1 164:22
165:2 171:21
174:24 189:7
217:21 233:6
235:15 236:20, 24
305:22 317:13
322:20 333:15
334:8 340:4, 11
342:5, 12 348:3
Operation 5:3
6:24 10:23 16:16
37:14 38:12 49:18
50:13 51:18, 25
56:4 64:17 72:15
74:5 112:20
120:22 199:12
251:11 254:6
284:16 291:9
309:3 338:22
342:10 345:7
operational 22:5
23:15 211:10
321:10
Operations 4:23
5:13 6:18 20:14
22:24 26:14 38:17
41:20 46:13 47:14
50:25 51:17 63:9
71:4 84:13, 18
85:7, 12 108:8
170:18 203:19
219:16 224:4
243:7 258:19
260:7 267:24
293:3 296:20
306:10 331:18
334:12 339:17
340:23 345:6
346:15 348:5
350:4
operator 4:17 5:7
6:23 7:2 22:10
48:13 56:24 69:19
74:4 85:13 91:1
162:1 164:21
258:14 268:17
273:7 274:15
346:9
operators 73:1
274:11
opinion 68:8
112:4 131:23, 24
132:9 147:17
148:10 150:23
152:2, 2, 9, 12, 15
157:21 162:13, 15,
24 163:3,23 213:5
254:21 260:15
278:6, 8 298:2
304:16 341:24, 25
opinions 79:12
opportunity 11:10
105:20 152:16
153:6, 21 214:4
216:16 238:7
251:18 257:5
272:16 275:19, 21
276:4, 25 298:4
332:23 336:4
339:12
opposed 185:3
option 243:5
250:10 330:5
options 82:17, 18
135:7 187:15
188:5 330:4
orally 89:10
Order 19:16 37:6
40:25 41:2 66:8
80:1 95:11, 23
97:1, 5, 15 125:5
126:21 150:5
172:6, 9, 10 177:11
183:1, 7 194:23
217:14 262:17
268:15 271:1
283:19 302:13
317:15 318:19
327:6
orders 63:12
85:15 139:2 175:5
ordinance 314:17
ordinances 10:3
187:11 242:1
Oregon 164:16
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
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Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
organic 138:13
165:20, 25, 25
249:5
organics 214:25
215:9, 23 216:4
249:2 252:15
321:15
organization 146:3
181:21
orientation 114:5
original 20:22
24:3 26:14 39:14
47:20 48:4 49:1
69:16, 22 70:8, 11,
11 81:4 134:1
219:16, 23 253:1
259:3 273:24
287:16 306:11
Originally 21:20
27:3 47:9 144:15
219:17 220:16
346:17
Otis 202:18
ought 151:13, 14
152:14, 16 155:16
156:25 158:5
161:12
outdoor 206:8, 10
outlets 210:19
outline 37:5
outlined 41:3 46:2
51:11 60:19 66:9
181:12 264:24
outlining 22:8
48:11 264:23
output 170:11
outside 20:16, 16
58:13 93:24 115:2
200:21 208:16
236:24 347:16
overall 179:14
247:17 295:10
overcome 225:5
overlapping 165:7
overlaps 165:12
overreacting 228:24
oversights 166:19
overview 37:7, 13
51:16
overwhelming
139:13
owned 227:23
308:5
owner 4:17 5:7
6:23 7:2 22:10
48:13 56:24 74:4
150:17 151:7, 22,
23, 23 152:17, 19
153:7, 13, 15, 23
154:2 155:5, 12, 14,
14, 19, 25 158:15
227:6, 7, 23 235:25
236:1 258:13
268:17 271:13
272:20 273:1, 7
274:11, 15 275:11,
22, 22 276:4 277:7
279:13 294:8
295:11 298:8
346:8, 8
owners 20:23
21:16 22:20 67:10
142:1 157:18
273:24 333:21
ownership 78:11
80:23 155:1, 2
156:3 159:15, 17
161:22 195:1
223:8 268:4, 10, 12,
23 272:25 273:21
274:1 281:13, 19
282:1, 5, 9, 15
283:4 295:3 296:2,
4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 17, 24
297:8 302:7 305:4
333:7
owning 236:15
owns 222:16
304:18
<P>
p.m 103:6, 14
352:7
packaged 28:9
packages 200:12
packet 282:13
283:14
pad 50:8 54:8, 21
144:15, 17, 20, 25
145:3, 5, 6 284:22
page 31:8
paid 65:1 148:16,
20 170:14, 15
210:15 214:12
217:12 231:11
paint 228:1, 2, 4
pair 126:14
panel 230:14
panic 208:16, 18, 22
paper 81:22
215:25 271:6, 7
papers 214:17
paperwork 160:25
177:21 281:19
Parallel 211:4
paraphrase 135:9
paraphrasing
230:24 231:4
Park 211:19 212:2
parking 174:3
Parko 270:14
part 3:22 16:2
17:17 30:2 32:20
38:7, 11 39:14
43:9 45:2 46:4
50:6 51:7, 8, 18
53:21 63:15 66:8
70:5 77:23 89:19
94:22 95:7, 25
103:4 112:24
141:8, 10 142:7
144:6 147:9, 10
153:11 154:10, 11,
13 170:2 185:21
187:4, 12, 17 210:6,
15 211:20, 25
215:22 216:11
222:19 223:4
224:13, 18 238:2
244:21 254:13
260:3 273:20
274:18 276:17
285:13 288:11, 14
289:9 291:8 292:8,
10 293:10, 16
295:7, 9, 12, 13
296:11 298:6, 6
314:23 321:24
322:2 324:13
332:20 333:1, 17
336:12, 21 342:10,
23 343:23 349:4
participant 142:20
particular 28:10
95:2 106:9, 16
143:22 186:2
199:16 243:13
247:16 271:6, 20
particularly 184:24
185:1 248:15
271:4
particulate 5:15, 17
306:15
parties 82:7 142:1
297:23 353:13
partly 258:22
partnership 223:17
parts 94:18
133:21 143:19
288:6
party 142:2 143:1,
7 213:18 285:19
pass 191:16
passed 234:20
265:2 286:18
pasture 224:22
path 190:11 207:8
309:22 310:13
pathogen 51:6, 10
pathogens 134:15
135:24
patience 164:9
pattern 89:2
157:15 192:7
Paul 222:16
paunch 146:23
paved 174:5
pay 30:22 64:21
168:13, 18 210:23
217:11, 15 231:13
paying 168:12
190:23
payment 30:21
payments 168:12
PAYNE 2:2 76:19,
23
PAYTON 2:2 76:19,
23
PCSC 3:5
peat 250:6
peel 179:10
penalization 209:20
penalize 191:5
193:7 196:5
199:21 232:11
235:18 237:9
penalized 235:12
penalties 194:16
262:19 323:18
324:11 326:4
327:6, 13, 18
penalty 97:16
313:15 314:19
317:16
pending 42:13, 21
44:3 140:12
311:15 316:10
penetrating 208:21
people 91:2 92:18
123:16, 18 129:21
130:7 145:20
157:14 168:8
175:23 176:13
177:3, 4, 18 178:2
192:1 193:9
196:11 197:9, 9
199:18 201:4
204:19 210:13
212:10 225:3
228:25 229:3
230:12, 14 231:8
233:17 244:17
245:15 246:19
254:23 255:5, 6, 19
257:1 261:16
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
36
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
287:10 294:12
299:20 300:1
301:9, 18 303:5
305:9 308:3 310:1,
12, 14 331:21
339:12 350:6
percent 6:3 27:6
113:2, 9 115:5
124:13, 19 125:24
127:1 171:20, 21,
25 182:24, 25
183:7, 10, 15, 17, 17
184:18 211:24
215:14, 16, 17, 19,
23, 25, 25 216:1, 1,
4 330:9 334:19, 20
338:3, 3
percently 165:10
perceptible 114:10
perception 121:12
Perfect 103:13
perfectly 184:10
perform 38:10
321:3
performed 61:7
100:1 104:17
period 70:1
104:21 105:24
109:13 115:10
127:8, 9 157:18
239:7 265:8
313:10, 16 330:15,
15 332:15, 22
337:19
permanent 31:2
174:18
permeability 50:8
54:8,21 284:21
permission 233:7
Permit 3:13, 25
4:15 7:7 10:7
17:4, 22 18:16
24:14, 18, 19 25:7,
13,14,15 27:5, 13
28:19 30:9 37:20,
23 38:5, 13 41:17
42:13 43:6, 24
44:3 53:22 69:16
70:24 71:11 73:7,
19 74:14 84:12, 16,
21, 21 86:13 97:18
98:3 141:11, 11
142:25 146:18, 19,
20 147:1, 13, 18
156:23 173:8, 15,
16 183:12 201:21
289:2, 8, 14 291:10,
12 293:17, 20
303:10 307:23
308:9 310:17, 23
318:24 326:3
332:10 343:5
344:17 350:25
permits 5:21
24:13 38:16 72:18,
24 73:25, 25
143:19 146:14
147:7, 17 154:16
156:11, 12 173:6
191:2, 3 193:6
196:4 243:6 288:2
permitted 72:21,
23 220:17 290:14
291:1, 2, 3
permitting 78:19
236:12 252:17
289:5
persistent 116:22
person 194:17
253:13 262:4
304:18
personal 192:13
231:21, 23 245:17
252:6
personally 108:9
188:4 245:18
250:13, 19, 25
252:15 253:2
261:16 277:12
322:18
personnel 204:3
perspective 180:24
208:4 214:6 232:1
236:6
pertaining 4:19
57:1 59:5 258:15
pertains 37:2, 8
pertinent 81:14
pesticides 146:21
Ph.D 1:1 122:25
244:11
phased 94:3
Phil 1:1 38:8
44:17 67:2, 2, 9, 14,
17, 19 77:24
117:14 182:13
200:9 209:7
237:25
Phil's 61:25
phone 141:21
246:10, 11
photo 39:24, 25
40:1
photographic 40:4
84:8
photographs 94:3
347:16
photos 29:3
phrase 295:20
physical 244:9
physically 35:11
picked 125:14
239:15
picture 30:24 85:3
115:23 173:1, 3
pictures 26:21
28:15 29:7
piece 118:24, 25
119:1 271:6 342:9
pieces 133:21
203:16 261:13
pig 208:4 254:2
pigs 196:12
pile 134:24
piles 169:19
pilot 50:15, 21
51:13 52:23, 25
53:8, 9, 19 64:2
140:12 143:25
144:10, 13, 25
145:2 269:12
285:11
Pinkham 1:1
30:13, 13 33:7
pioneer 191:10
pioneers 191:15
250:16
pipe 183:24
pit 35:18, 25
36:18 58:17
pits 21:13
pivotal 216:8
pivots 288:8
place 27:4 79:4,
20 100:2, 3 127:16
155:24 166:10
173:5 174:19, 22
177:21 183:2
190:5, 21 200:1
228:16 239:9, 15
243:13 253:6, 14
254:10 262:16
310:17 312:4
316:11 322:17, 19
335:16 336:2
341:22 353:7
placed 96:20
placement 74:10
places 283:15
Plan 3:12 4:23
5:3, 13, 17 20:14
22:24 38:12 47:14
50:8, 13 51:12, 17,
19, 23, 25 53:8, 10,
12 54:8, 10, 13, 17,
18, 21 56:4 63:9
64:9 66:20 84:13,
18, 24, 25 85:2, 6, 8
93:4, 10, 10 94:2, 8
190:1 215:7, 12, 16
216:12, 25 219:16,
23 224:8 225:13
249:16 258:19
260:7 262:16
267:24 284:16
285:9 293:3, 10, 11,
16 296:20 300:22
342:10, 21, 22
345:6 346:15
350:4
planned 217:21
290:15
Planning 5:9, 9
18:4, 7 19:3 24:24
33:10, 13, 17 34:24
69:8, 10 71:22
73:6 78:19 99:15
153:11, 17 154:13,
16 173:1 217:18
242:5, 6 262:22
276:3 279:16
286:17 287:5
295:13 328:21
343:25 346:10
Plans 37:14 38:17
93:11 192:19
193:4 246:24
247:1, 2 306:10
346:17
plan's 215:22
216:8
plant 3:17, 18
20:7, 8 75:10
107:21 108:12, 17
109:1, 3 110:18
112:2, 7, 12, 19
113:5, 5, 8, 14
114:1 115:2, 7, 10,
14 116:9, 17 117:6,
21,24 118:11, 12,
13, 15, 19, 20 119:3
120:19, 23, 25
164:20 165:24
166:3, 3, 4 169:18,
20 170:14 176:5,
15 177:10 184:19
185:7 188:13
189:5 190:9, 24
191:4,9 193:7
196:13 197:20
198:5, 21 204:3, 7
209:6, 10 212:8
214:5 215:13
216:3, 8, 10 217:4,
20 218:12 225:8
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
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Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
227:8 229:1
237:13 242:3
246:2 251:25
252:25 261:25
262:7, 8 275:8
plant's 109:2
115:1
plastic 29:1 36:4
216:1
plat 22:14 26:13
81:4 101:17
154:14 277:17
295:5, 6, 21 296:12
298:6
play 37:25 212:11
311:19
playing 231:18, 24
Please 44:22
57:20 74:22 88:6,
21 90:14 97:11
104:11 114:21
122:20 123:23
168:1 169:5, 15
172:21 175:14, 19,
19 186:10, 17
190:7 196:11
199:20 219:11
260:21 262:15
264:13 283:17
298:15 316:25
pledging 222:2
plenty 271:11
276:1
plethora 233:11
plumbing 34:6
plume 106:19
110:3, 13 116:3, 5,
6
plus 123:3 199:15
236:3
podium 74:25
75:3, 5 150:6
point 8:13 9:3
13:2 17:19 18:13
26:12 31:22 32:7
55:20 57:17 65:14
69:6 77:6 100:5,
13 102:9, 21 103:2,
3 108:4 110:1, 12
112:16 113:1, 13,
23 114:7, 24, 25
115:9, 22 116:13,
14 117:17, 25
118:14 119:7, 18
130:3 133:4 139:3,
11 150:13 188:4
208:4 217:2, 3
218:6 226:10
233:14 243:3
258:3 260:8
283:16 301:12
303:15 311:7
320:15 323:1
325:19 329:14
331:4 335:21, 25
342:25
pointed 20:9
79:16 190:25
208:10 278:19
pointing 320:16
points 63:2
105:19, 19 136:16
203:18 241:3
poison 195:11
poisoning 191:19
policies 236:4, 4, 5
pollutant 37:22
pollute 242:22
polluting 242:11
pollution 5:21
37:24 38:19, 24
39:19 40:2 42:18
43:18 44:8, 23
45:1 66:9 95:13
173:19
pond 21:8 30:1
197:1
ponds 21:7, 8, 9, 10
30:6 34:10, 14, 23
57:12
pony 237:15
239:19
poor 217:18
Portland 164:16
position 87:25
99:1, 6 117:2
142:17 150:5
153:20 155:22
251:20 272:3
275:17 276:1
278:22,23 297:14
318:16
positive 212:21
213:9 251:15
321:12
positively 218:15
possibility 248:22
possible 118:16, 17
182:3 203:8
216:16, 24 292:20
310:25
possibly 44:6
post 25:2
posted 21:2
post -transfer
101:12
potential 6:16
72:4, 9 88:19
97:14 113:25
114:1 137:3
195:10 235:16
310:5 330:7
347:13
potentially 53:4
87:24 141:7
183:18 293:18
309:23 330:5, 11
344:1
pounds 34:10
PowerPoint 31:7
39:9 43:13 75:6
331:3
PowerPoints 11:25
202:22
practical 279:13
298:3, 3
practices 58:1
249:19, 22
pre -application
23:10
preapproved 134:2
precedence 59:11,
24 236:21
precedent 194:9
235:8
predicated 163:18
prefer 52:10
preferable 217:2
premise 134:1
prepackaged 28:12
29:14
prepare 78:18
89:20
prepared 280:12,
15 303:9 344:7
preparing 89:22
preponderance
179:1
presence 84:21
present 3:4, 24
64:11 74:25 98:6
103:19 114:18
150:6 272:16
presentation 58:12
67:5 75:13, 17
76:18 84:15 90:20
93:5 103:5, 23
136:12 149:23
164:9 166:13
167:1, 4 180:9
185:17 264:24
presentations
201:11
presented 4:7
8:25, 25 34:2
38:18 39:25 41:16
42:17 45:18 56:7
65:22 78:4 79:23
84:17 104:25
132:10 150:25
187:21 219:17
241:2 279:15
297:13 344:15
345:1, 4 346:16
347:24 348:2
presenter 119:15
presenters 150:1
president 75:15
164:12, 15 220:2
249:3
pressure 181:19
182:3
pretty 89:20
118:18 119:8, 18
160:20 170:13
206:7 217:4
220:17 231:22, 23
247:6 256:8 301:9
303:8
prevent 59:6
60:13 72:8 345:18,
20
preventing 331:1
previous 26:4
36:18 65:22
116:13 171:24
185:23 277:22
302:24
previously 19:6
75:1 82:9 85:8
91:8 95:10 110:2
122:9 219:13
346:21 351:6
price 181:24
190:23
prices 197:15
pride 223:7
primarily 134:1
135:10 136:5, 22
primary 134:19
249:6
principal 214:9
prior 20:9 38:25
55:21 57:13 62:10
63:18 76:25 77:2
80:25 81:1 86:10
104:17 144:1
254:7 268:11
277:19 326:6
342:1
private 141:21
217:20
privy 43:2
probable 24:7, 9
77:10 162:8 180:4
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
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Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
182:19 183:4
302:6 310:18
probably 68:16
71:6 75:4 89:19,
22 93:6 110:13
120:24 237:25
243:14 248:3
255:20 256:6, 19
277:21 295:14
306:13, 14, 17
307:3, 12 310:3
321:10 331:24
335:2
problem 175:11, 13
177:3 178:5 179:2
184:2 197:7
198:19 220:23, 23,
25 221:5, 25
225:16, 23 241:7,
14 245:11 247:19
256:9, 12 331:15
338:13, 15
problematic 176:19
problems 144:23
167:22 168:16
176:5 200:10
220:19 222:5
225:16 226:3, 9
procedural 77:4, 5
103:7
Procedurally 313:7,
8
procedure 19:18,
19 145:9 314:16
procedures 46:2,
13 136:6 305:22
333:15
proceed 80:19
82:23 320:14
proceeded 243:15
proceeding 154:6,
7 296:11
proceedings 75:21
278:12 352:7
353:6
process 3:20 9:1
11:8 18:19 20:11
21:4, 8, 15 22:19
24:5 27:16 28:21
32:6 34:11, 13
35:23 49:11, 11
70:12 72:13 74:13
78:6 80:5, 6, 7, 16,
21 82:2, 2, 8 83:5,
22 84:6 91:5 95:7
105:13 138:21
141:3 143:17
144:6 145:1
146:10 147:11
151:8,12,13,14,21
153:11, 17 154:1,
10 158:6, 17
160:17, 18 161:3,
11 169:9, 17, 20
170:16, 24 179:25
180:21 181:2, 4, 4,
20, 25 182:1, 2
211:8 223:21
224:1 225:20, 25
236:11 238:3
249:11 251:19
252:8 253:11
262:4 265:7, 15
271:6,11,15,24
272:5, 23 273:21
275:10, 18, 25
276:2 277:2, 10
279:6, 16, 19 280:1
285:22 288:12
289:5, 10 290:9
295:10, 13, 15, 16,
17 296:12 298:1
302:22 313:1
314:19, 21, 24
315:12 317:12
324:6 325:9, 12
326:20 327:1
328:23 332:25
335:10 336:5, 21
338:6, 25 339:12
341:17
processed 23:25
169:11 170:9
343:4, 7
processes 5:25
179:9 223:24
254:8 262:5
279:21, 22
processing 3:16
5:2 6:2 20:5
26:15 27:2, 8 28:8
29:15 36:7 39:5
49:13, 19, 23 56:2
60:17 68:6 166:2,
3, 4 215:8 218:11
249:19 292:5, 11
334:18
produce 212:9
223:15, 21 224:1
produced 290:11
producers 203:3
242:15
producing 5:25
206:3 211:24
287:23
product 51:1
82:20 134:7, 11, 17,
18 135:8, 14, 15, 23
136:4, 14, 21, 22, 24
137:1, 8, 25 138:8,
14 144:18 145:7
146:22 147:2
148:3, 10, 21
187:24 203:15
212:9 263:22
264:3, 11, 17 265:2
266:20 286:22
289:22 290:10, 10
292:14 293:1, 9
production 171:10,
20, 25 172:1 183:7,
10 223:12 329:16,
18, 21 334:19
337:23 338:5
products 134:6
137:12 146:21
169:3, 11, 25 170:7,
7, 14 241:16
Professional 2:10
353:4
professionals 241:4
profile 22:3
program 53:8, 9,
13, 19 94:17
143:25 144:11, 13
166:20 223:20
programs 52:24, 25
progress 94:5
167:15 215:13, 20
progression 337:14,
17
prohibited 93:25,
25 94:1
project 22:10, 11
48:13 50:15, 21
51:14, 15 64:3
93:13 102:1 133:3
134:20 136:7
138:20 139:4, 8, 24
140:1, 12 142:12
143:11 145:18, 24
166:20 167:16, 19,
24 168:4, 9, 14
173:14 174:10
177:1, 19, 20
178:16 220:9, 11,
16 221:24 222:17
224:25 225:1
246:24 249:7
251:4,8,9,12,19
254:12, 25 255:1,
19 262:10 269:13
285:11
projected 216:9
projects 72:20
75:25 133:7 141:2
143:9 164:23, 24,
24, 24, 25, 25 165:2
181:20 214:25
215:4 220:15
promise 248:11
promptly 179:18
proof 101:5, 8, 23
192:15, 21 307:1
propagated 106:20
proper 40:4 55:14
151:23 152:19
186:25 189:7
190:10 280:4
311:21
properly 156:3
241:17, 19 255:9
305:10
properties 149:1, 2
238:25 239:1
302:2
property 4:17 5:6
6:23 7:2 20:23
21:16 22:9, 20
48:12 56:24 67:10
74:4 80:23 96:5
101:24 168:18
210:22 231:19
258:13 287:23
324:24 331:6
333:21 345:24
346:8
proposals 175:15
proposed 5:11
14:5 21:6, 11, 17,
23 23:15, 20 63:7
72:11 346:12
proposing 13:6
29:20
protect 191:16
192:4 239:17
300:13 308:7
350:11
protected 239:18
protection 213:2, 7
protects 236:5
protocol 108:15
proud 167:20, 20
178:13, 14 251:5
299:12, 14
prove 41:11
proven 134:17
190:8 199:21
proves 135:12
provide 36:9
75:20, 24, 25 79:10
87:7,7,8 88:5
89:17 95:17
151:11 159:17
208:3 222:5
323:18
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
39
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
provided 20:19
57:24 79:5, 10
80:12 81:15 84:2
85:3 88:24 89:6
91:10 92:12, 14
101:9, 18 102:10,
12 103:11 202:20
273:20, 24 294:11,
13
provides 113:22
130:17 249:24
262:17 273:18
278:21
providing 86:19
91:11
provision 150:16
273:18 274:20
provisional 22:9
provisions 4:6
156:24 159:12
187:12 272:13
prudence 265:25
Public 2:10 4:25
5:8, 10 10:16, 16
17:18 18:14 20:12,
20 23:4, 13 30:12,
14 38:9 40:1
67:20 81:3 96:7
98:4 171:9, 9
181:9 185:19, 24
187:7 195:2
199:15 212:19
217:11, 12 226 7
238:3, 5, 8, 11
239:3 242:1
247:11 252:23
257:14, 15, 16
262:21 263:18
264:15 268:16
281:12 322:2
332:25 345:25
346:5, 9 353:5
published 7:10
214:17
pull 111:10
pump 58:3
purchase 175:5
197:4 210:24, 24
212:7
purchasing 181:20
purpose 218:19
270:2 312:14
purposes 11:8
155:12, 19
pursuant 4:3, 5, 9,
18 81:11 102:15
187:13 316:19
pursuing 223:17
push 166:6 224:21
pushed 29:23
put 21:23 34:2
47:6 49:12 50:19
116:23, 23 122:10
144:1 169:7
170:17 174:19
203:21 211:11
229:10 231:9
239:9 241:6
242:14 253:5
256:3 270:5, 25
271:24 276:23
299:6 300:5
302:22 307:18
308:2 314:2 315:6,
21 333:1 336:2
337:6 348:18
putrid 198:6
puts 198:6
PUTT 202:17, 18
204:20 205:8, 17,
19 206:1, 9, 24
207:6, 12, 17
putting 21:25
157:14 173:9
181:18 183:2
224:1 240:5
261:19 302:25
335:15
<Q>
QA 139:16 145:13
QC 139:16 145:13
qualifications 214:8
qualified 107:3
quality 5:20 6:9
37:4, 8, 17 41:21
42:11 48:16 59:10,
23 60:5 66:2, 3
77:22 83:7, 17
84:20 97:15, 18
98:12 105:14
123:2 137:5
141:17, 17 170:12
187:2 190:16
191:22 192:7
212:10, 11 306:20
346:23 348:9
quantified 115:20
quantify 115:24
261:16
quantifying 111:6
113:3
quantitative 96:16,
17, 19 98:19 99:4
130:17
quantitatively
129:20
quantity 71:8
quarter 3:22
145:17 197:14
230:4
question 11:14
16:9, 11 17:16
31:5, 22 33:22
35:4 42:9 43:1
61:16 67:2 68:3,
15 69:13 70:15
84:10 89:15, 24
92:25 93:5, 18
96:6, 6, 10, 15
97:21 99:21 109:6
111:20 118:9, 23
120:7 121:16
128:19 140:9
141:9 146:7 149:8
155:20 162:1
167:3 173:7
177:25 180:21
195:14, 17 199:12
201:25 204:13
206:12 226:16
236:17 242:12
264:20 272:20
273:3, 12 276:5
280:25 286:16
288:5 289:12
290:9, 20 291:4
292:6 298:19
316:24 320:1
323:21 325:16
328:18 332:7
341:10 343:2
questionable
199:11 309:9
questioning 227:20
questions 7:15
16:11 18:3, 23
31:3 40:16 52:22
53:18 57:20 66:23
69:5 74:18, 19
96:22 117:9
121:19 122:9
131:9, 10 132:16
133:2 137:9
138:17 140:3, 18,
20 149:20 158:22,
23, 25 164:5
166:25 180:6
185:11 205:23
263:6, 8, 10 267:18
274:5 276:16
283:22 284:1
298:10, 25 323:12
329:15
quick 25:22 42:8
61:16 105:6 149:8
204:12 299:6
quicker 50:17
quickly 172:12
189:9 247:22
quit 141:15 336:25
quite 12:6 85:18
121:6 130:9 174:5
244:7 300:23
303:17 304:1
320:10 334:10
346:24
quote 134:12
194:17, 20, 24, 25
195:3, 4 249:10, 13
quotes 299:10
<R>
rabbit 179:9
racing 208:24
rack 189:15
Rademacher 295:9
radio 299:10
rail 222:22
raised 135:23
155:13 158:14
248:1 252:17
Ralph 224:14
Ramboll 122:24
ran 208:16 210:8
229:1
random 243:15
range 106:6, 8
125:16, 23 126:6, 7
127:10 137:2
203:7, 8 215:14, 15,
21 216:4, 19
220:22
ranger 95:8
110:23 111:3, 5, 6,
11,12,13,18 113:3
115:4, 20, 24
116:21 117:2
130:17 232:14
ranging 97:16
ratchet 183:16
rate 189:13, 13
rates 137:3
ratio 124:25
rationale 152:1, 15
278:17
Ratzlaff 256:18, 18
257:12, 12
raw 223:25
reach 132:3
read 11:23, 24, 25
25:23 44:5 45:14
78:2 121:7 122:18
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
40
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
124:22 134:12
187:5 235:25
278:8 282:2 300:2,
2, 4 302:8, 10
304:2 322:21
326:1 333:12
reading 7:17
17:16 34:13 41:12
113:4 116:21
264:1 266:10
267:19 274:9, 23
303:17
readings 35:10
41:13 42:3 115:4,
21
ready 117:2 218:8
230:7 321:10
323:10
real 25:22 157:4
169:2, 3 217:24
251:10 299:6
320:23, 24 336:25
reality 251:2
331:15
realize 181:11, 15
realized 241:13
really 37:20, 24
46:16 49:3 52:4
77:6 82:21 108:24
112:18 115:25
116:10 121:12
123:10 125:3, 6, 7
126:18 128:14
129:14, 16 130:4,
19 131:21 141:10
143:24 144:25
150:5, 9, 24 151:3,
5, 19 154:20
157:22 158:11,20
165:1 167:20, 20,
21,22 169:8
172:22 182:6
183:25 184:14
185:24 197:24
198:2 199:12, 13
211:17 217:5
219:4 222:11
223:24 224:15, 17
230:17, 19 238:14
239:9, 23 243:17,
21 246:16 254:13
255:3, 9 262:2
266:8 272:12
276:6, 7, 25 278:21
279:11 280:17, 21
282:4 300:23
301:18, 18 310:2,
16 311:11, 19
317:21 322:16, 18
329:17, 20 334:25
337:10
reals 194:1
re -amend 259:16
reapplied 27:5
reapply 17:6
332:18
reason 7:7 232:19
255:3 274:24
294:23 326:2
327:15 349:24, 24
350:1, 2
reasonable 96:18
187:7
recall 10:2 67:13
95:10 104:25
110:2 147:12
224:20 298:15
recap 66:1
receive 23:12
34:25 55:17 57:13
63:18 67:12 69:1
89:9, 9, 10 98:3
received 19:7
32:2, 18 44:25
55:11, 21 56:18, 22
62:12 63:17 66:17
67:21 78:24 87:18
88:20 97:24
101:24 124:3
126:8, 10 127:13
128:3 195:19
220:12 268:6
345:14 346:1
receiving 24:16
25:10 27:6 86:24
139:25 144:13
172:3 175:6
277:19
recess 102:23
103:14 257:17
Reclamation 142:25
recognition 101:11
220:12
recognize 82:9
129:22 261:17
recognized 101:16
166:18
recommend 176:2,
3
recommendation
45:17 46:18
203:22 258:23
266:2, 4 312:9
recommendations
52:7
recommending
280:6, 6, 7
reconsidering
266:11
reconvene 16:5
103:6, 17
record 3:3 14:4
17:18 18:14 23:7
34:2 73:13 77:1
81:3 102:3 103:11,
18 122:15, 19
124:15 126:25
185:22 186:11, 18,
24 257:10 295:24
302:23 307:19
334:14 344:25
345:13 346:22
348:18 349:4
recorded 22:15
81:4 108:21
192:12
recording 123:23
277:17
records 72:24
73:25 88:20
101:18 142:5
186:5 266:22
recover 254:11
recovers 217:6
recovery 249:13,
20 254:5
rectangular 21:12
rectify 331:15
recycled 250:6, 9
recycling 3:16
20:5 210:8, 14, 16
212:22 249:5, 20
250:1 254:8 292:4,
11
red 42:1 113:21,
22 218:3
reduce 170:21
171:4 205:6
212:10 310:22
reduced 171:3
310:10 316:12
353:8
reduces 211:25
reduction 51:7
reductions 51:10
refer 22:23 71:13
110:16 180:15
209:4 264:1
297:19
Reference 6:4, 6
113:22 136:16
referenced 61:23
202:21
referral 20:11, 16,
17
referred 110:23
referring 55:23
93:4 191:3 259:2
refers 23:2
reflect 3:3 103:18
271:22
reflected 151:17
191:14
reflection 192:13
refresher 105:7
Reg 84:20 95:7,
25 133:14, 22, 22
134:12 135:1
137:16 138:9
266:17
regard 11:11
45:12 60:11 81:11
84:19 85:23 86:18
87:4 91:14 92:7,
9, 16 93:15 98:11
99:7 100:12
101:24 133:2
268:4 281:13
284:5 286:19
296:1 300:10
302:7 333:10, 11
344:24 345:3, 9, 11
346:3 347:3, 15
REGARDING 1:1
19:8 78:8 82:11
84:4 86:23 89:24
92:10 94:21 214:4
243:19 298:16, 19
regardless 110:9
286:6, 20, 21
333:22
regards 19:21
20:22 73:3 88:24
220:22 243:25
258:4
region 251:15
regionally 251:22
Registered 2:10
86:6 148:14 353:4
registration 55:12,
14 57:16 83:2, 12,
14 86:11 136:6, 8,
11 137:20 146:11
148:1 186:25
regs 87:14 133:14,
16, 16 328:13
regular 85:14
89:21
regulate 60:5
136:3
regulated 187:3
220:9 226:6
266:16
regulates 76:14
regulating 187:25
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
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Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
regulation 4:18
6:9 40:21 41:20
59:10, 23 66:4
77:23 80:6 107:11
112:24 115:16, 17
133:23 134:14
137:13 138:8, 19
187:13 193:8
231:15 264:25
266:21 273:6
303:19 347:7
Regulations 4:4
5:20 6:20 45:23,
25 46:21 51:6, 11
57:1 59:5, 25, 25
64:18 71:2 72:16
76:8 81:13, 14
98:13 132:13
133:4, 23 134:8, 10
151:10, 25 153:9
163:8 165:7, 8
187:14,22 188:11
190:10 191:1
192:3, 8, 23 193:10
194:6 195:6
216:14 227:25
230:24 231:6
233:9, 12 235:10
236:13, 25 238:6
241:24 242:25
258:15 270:6
273:9 275:24
293:22 298:21
305:23 333:17
340:5 345:6
347:22
regulators 178:7
265:7 271:8
regulatory 39:3
78:18 80:20 82:4
133:12 138:21
165:8 178:16
179:7, 17 220:8
266:1 272:12
reissue 8:14
reissued 13:1, 2
reiterate 218:25
reject 168:8, 10, 10
relate 122:1
related 117:24
186:1, 9 249:18
250:11 264:10
282:1 304:23
305:3 353:11
relation 40:21
relationship 224:17
264:17
relative 114:5
relatively 150:2
265:15
release 39:20
43:4 263:21
released 215:6
releasing 201:17
relevant 62:25
63:3 214:6 221:4
300:24
reliance 82:2, 7
153:16 279:22
relied 82:8 277:22
279:21
relocated 29:16
rely 36:8, 11
remain 189:14
remaining 14:25
217:9
remains 263:19
remarkable 167:17,
18 217:4 223:24
remarks 340:9
remedies 318:18
327:8, 19, 21 328:5
remedy 58:10
156:21 157:13
311:9,10,21,21
312:12, 12 320:5
remedying 321:1
remember 109:12
193:11 212:23
223:6 238:4 242:4
remind 218:19
reminder 107:14
108:14
reminding 65:1
removal 5:24 6:2
94:7 307:3
remove 220:7
removed 74:2
RENA 191:7, 7
renewable 3:17
4:12 19:10 20:7
78:12 149:9
164:19 170:12
212:3 220:15
224:2 225:1 250:6
251:20 282:16
294:8 305:1, 6
336:20
repeat 105:21
303:13
repeatedly 233:8
repeating 107:6
repercussions
194:16
replace 30:11
73:19 74:15
replied 87:11, 12
report 33:13 34:6
35:7, 9 36:13
38:18 39:16, 18
46:23 48:16 62:9,
12 104:15 123:15,
16 177:9, 15, 17
180:3 309:4
reported 123:11
124:19 130:10
Reporter 2:10
263:24 353:4
REPORTER'S 353:1
reporting 75:18
123:13 130:11
236:7
reports 38:21, 24
89:22
representative
74:22
REPRESENTATIVES
1:1 79:6
represents 128:4
reputable 261:22
reputations 261:9
request 11:14
22:8 31:15 48:11
56:16 63:17 64:8
73:14 81:14 91:7,
18 140:5 155:4
180:5, 22 235:17
282:14 284:14, 14,
19, 22 294:16
295:2, 25
requested 73:5
85:16
requesting 25:5
31:10 72:8 82:5
281:2 328:21
requests 63:18
require 10:6 22:4
32:9 37:19 38:2
46:5 50:2 73:16
82:3 94:23 183:14
196:23 259:25
275:1 288:9
347:21
required 4:2 9:25
12:18, 21 23:16
32:24, 25 33:1, 17
38:1 41:3, 15, 20
43:10, 24 46:9
47:16 49:24 51:8
52:4 59:9 66:22
72:19 73:8 74:1
80:17 83:23, 24
86:25 94:8, 9
95:22 146:14
147:18 160:22, 23
259:1, 15 266:21,
22 272:4 277:5
279:4, 6, 7 281:14
285:15 287:19
requirement 8:8,
19 14:1 18:13
32:20 39:16 52:2
84:23 95:14 98:21
147:24,25 259:8
290:3 292:20
293:21 318:6
requirements
40:15 46:24 51:10
59:17, 18 74:11
87:16 95:15 134:9
135:20, 21 137:16
139:14 150:10
156:9, 10, 11, 12, 13,
13 178:17 183:12,
14 262:18 264:5
266:24 274:16
287:7, 9 292:17
requires 8:4 14:16,
20 15:17 99:9, 10
101:2 177:12
272:23 273:9
287:25 304:12
requiring 19:9
23:19 268:12
285:25
re -review 22:5
Research 214:9, 10
240:7 300:10
reserved 85:17
reside 219:7 232:6
residence 200:1
resident 188:14
209:24 253:23
residential 216:2
residents 189:11,
18 190:13, 18
192:5 247:17
248:23 250:4
252:10 256:2
300:14 301:3
302:1 308:8
321:20 350:11
re-sign 186:13
resite 216:21
resolution 47:1
204:10 219:2
248:19 286:18
294:6 295:19, 25
303:12 345:2
resolutions 187:11
298:7
resolve 95:12
167:25 176:5
203:24 243:5
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
42
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
resolved 86:14, 17
163:4
resolving 204:4
241:7
resource 249:13,
20 254:4
resources 193:12
254:10
respect 11:7
152:12 209:18
221:25 222:6
228:10 248:1
270:4 272:15
276:15 277:6
280:9 287:3, 6
324:10 345:21
respectfully 76:3
99:2 166:12
235:17
respective 224:13
respond 18:19
76:17, 17 186:22
273:13
responded 221:9
respondent 3:7
74:21 93:7 143:22
258:10 259:20
260:21 330:13
respondents 18:18
206:15 258:2
respondent's 74:21
response 88:10
209:10 267:8, 11
284:21
responsibilities
235:25 275:15
responsibility
236:8 274:15
345:18, 20 349:20
responsible 6:23
7:2 74:4 195:14
223:12 229:6
236:2, 6 262:25
responsibly 192:22
249:25
responsive 160:12
172:14
rest 217:5 303:4
309:21
restart 341:6
restaurant 251:24
254:8 315:17
restaurants 313:6
resting 174:11
restriction 248:17
resubmittal 47:13
resubmittals 47:23
result 23:24 96:4
130:11 163:24
330:17 331:4
353:14
resulted 162:21
resulting 345:23
results 145:9
167:21 178:5
279:17
retail 210:18
retention 36:1
rethought 278:23
retired 145:21
265:9
return 223:22
reusing 169:3
250:1
revenue 190:19
200:14
Review 3:13 4:9,
15 10:7 18:7
20:13, 13 25:15,16
32:11 38:11, 13
42:19 46:5 48:17
50:11 53:4 54:23,
25 64:4 81:12, 18
85:18 87:14
129:10 142:1, 21
143:18 154:11, 12
280:20, 21 281:14
283:7 288:3 291:7,
16 298:4 326:3
343:5 344:17
350:25
reviewed 22:2
35:1 38:18, 20
55:3 94:11 142:4,
6 181:23 186:7
285:10 296:17, 23
297:7 303:22
reviewing 13:11
217:17 233:12
reviews 45:21
142:19 273:10
revised 47:21
revision 269:11
304:6
revisions 33:15
47:16, 23 48:19
70:16 260:9
revocation 3:11
7:7 16:25 97:18
187:18, 19 188:5
209:19 279:18
309:21 311:13
323:3, 24 324:11
326:2 327:11, 18
340:20
revoke 7:23, 25
8:12, 23 9:9 13:7
17:4, 21 18:16
187:8 191:2, 4
193:5 196:4
199:20 201:20
229:8 232:11
235:18 237:8
240:17 243:6
303:10 307:22
308:9 312:3 319:4,
5 324:1 332:9
333:4, 23 335:2, 10
revoked 13:7, 12
257:6 315:4
341:16
revoking 156:23
235:6 280:8
rewards 165:2
REYNOLDS 235:22,
23
rhetorical 177:24
rich 132:20 170:12
220:1 224:3
Richard 232:5
ridiculous 232:19
right 8:23 10:25
15:4 27:18, 19
30:19, 20 54:2, 3
93:7 103:22
109:11 113:14
121:18, 21 132:11
148:6 150:1
159:23 165:4, 15
166:18 167:19
168:14, 15 169:6,
16 173:22 177:1
178:9, 9 187:14
191:3 192:18
197:10 198:21
199:11 202:6
206:11 207:3
211:3 213:23
221:14 225:12, 20,
25 226:20, 21, 24,
24 228:23 229:3, 7,
8 237:12 242:18
247:10 248:2, 5, 20,
21 254:3 261:14,
23 264:7 267:1
274:4 280:4
282:22 291:10, 14,
19, 21, 22 297:10
299:13 301:20
302:19 308:12
315:16 323:13
324:25 325:25
330:20 331:24
334:2 335:24
338:15
rights 239:17
rigorous 114:13
ring 107:22, 22
ripple 321:21
risk 251:1
Road 31:1 101:25
102:1 174:8
186:20 188:10
191:8 193:16
197:19 199:25
208:2 219:7
222:18 227:6
229:15 232:7
233:2 235:24
237:12 240:25
243:12 247:13
256:19
Rocky 211:18
212:1 251:14
Roger 263:17
264:23
role 212:12 249:12
roll 351:15, 19
rolling 208:9
Roman 4:1, 13
Ron 222:25
room 222:2 227:9
228:14, 25 234:15
245:12 250:14
252:7 261:9
roots 250:15
Ross 237:11
rotting 185:3
roughly 26:14
27:3, 5 109:18
115:5
route 314:14
routine 111:14
RPR 353:22
rubber 271:5
ruining 196:13
rule 187:12
281:16, 22 298:5
302:7 303:18
rules 6:19 64:18
72:16 97:15 99:4
176:8 192:3, 8
193:10 197:6
233:9 238:5 248:2
264:5 281:13
302:9 305:23
306:6 333:16
347:22
run 50:23 106:25
119:22 151:24
153:8, 23 165:4
167:19, 19 168:14
194:5, 10 195:10
197:7, 9, 13 212:15
227:9 262:6, 6
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
43
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
274:16 275:8,8
276:7 337:1
running 177:1
199:12 217:6
236:15 254:18
runoff 50:22 197:1
rural 210:15
<S>
Sacramento 189:22
sadly 193:2
safe 134:17
135:13 177:6
242:2
safety 135:21
139:6, 14 213:2, 7
236:4, 9 252:24
308:8 333:12
Safeway 185:4
sake 308:5
sales 168:19
210:21
salmonella 135:12
salt 137:6
samples 109:8
119:5 137:4, 4
144:21
sampling 148:23, 24
San 3:8 122:22
sat 165:15 233:15
satisfied 279:15
Saturday 232:9
sauce 233:23
save 201:12
226:19
savior 208:17
saw 19:4 58:11
68:7 77:13 113:8
173:1 190:20
246:11
saying 14:2 15:8,
25 37:24 43:22
46:1 56:22 61:18
88:7 109:20 111:7
113:5, 6 142:14
143:11 147:16
148:12 161:19
178:21 198:23, 24
206:25 213:12
230:12 238:13
242:4 245:7
259:13 275:6, 9
277:16 281:25
288:25 290:4
304:5 312:23
317:10 318:15, 16
325:7, 8, 13 332:4
337:9, 14 339:17
341:14 342:4
says 24:18 31:10
54:17, 19 57:24
60:12 104:23
134:11 140:23
142:22 143:4
150:17 154:19
158:1 168:11
172:10 182:10
187:6 228:24
230:22 240:3
245:6, 12 266:20
268:19 270:8
274:10 276:10
277:14 283:3
285:13 296:23
303:20 306:19
307:8 309:2 319:3,
6, 16 323:25
327:19
scale 116:23
285:11
scary 194:9
scenarios 137:2
313:1
schedule 106:10
scheduled 20:18,
25 24:10 99:22
106:25 175:6
scheme 108:14
schools 189:25
science 117:23
scope 251:9
Scott 253:21
screen 54:20 96:9
326:9, 11
screened 135:19, 20
screenings 236:8
scrubbers 184:9
scrutiny 142:13
143:11
se 310:4
Sean 1:1 227:10
228:22
season 136:20
137:18 138:12
second 84:4
154:11 171:16
173:25 174:16
215:25 217:4
298:18 317:17
321:8, 9 324:13
327:6 348:14
seconded 348:16
Section 3:23
27:19 45:24 51:17
74:8 274:24 291:6
304:13 319:1, 2
323:17 325:17, 21
326:7 327:16
328:2
sections 4:18
56:25 258:14
306:4
security 59:2, 3
212:6
see 26:13, 18, 25
27:16 28:14 30:5
31:7 40:14 73:13
76:5, 8 103:9
105:21 108:6, 7
110:15 113:16
114:24 124:12, 22,
24 127:13, 17
128:4, 7, 13, 16
129:15 134:3
136:12 144:2,22
151:22 153:5
167:4 169:18, 18,
19, 20, 20 174:2
198:2 208:25
256:2 269:20, 22
283:4, 8, 10 286:19
291:16 294:20
296:1, 22 324:2
329:16, 21 341:4
seeing 105:5
136:13 138:12
165:13 178:5
211:2 257:15
291:16 352:5
seek 82:18 271:1
317:17
seeking 319:20
327:6, 21
seemingly 279:7
seen 11:25 30:24
61:4 104:4 111:4
136:24 187:24
197:24 201:11
222:7, 8, 8 246:24
268:25 284:12
288:12
sell 238:17
selling 148:19
semi 226:24
semiquantitatively
112:17
semi -truck 223:16
226:21
semi -trucks 226:18
send 21:16 201:21
223:20
sending 139:12
198:23
senior 247:20
sense 103:2 109:1
145:7 316:1
335:13 336:13
341:5
sensitivities 129:21
sensitized 130:7
sent 12:8 20:15
24:6 56:17, 20
79:1 91:11, 20, 22,
25 92:5 100:13, 15
186:6 200:11
263:19 269:6
270:13, 21 283:2
285:6 296:10
300:7, 9
sentence 50:7
60:2, 3 260:3
327:17 328:1
sentiment 194:13
separate 38:18, 18
50:8, 9 54:9, 20, 22
84:10 123:25
154:6 223:21
343:3
separated 41:14
295:15
separately 123:20
124:5
separates 28:9
separation 225:21
September 24:11
30:21 104:15, 17
113:15 118:6
171:11 202:12, 14
285:16
seq 4:4, 5
sequence 138:15
series 76:7 133:8
294:5
serious 168:3, 4, 4
196:20
seriously 95:19
177:3 178:24
236:9 249:9, 14
252:9 261:8
Service 96:8
138:1 192:25
311:14
Services 5:9 19:3
24:24 69:8 73:6
104:13 202:18
346:11
session 3:3 181:23
set 11:3 20:15
77:10 107:14, 14
178:9, 9 182:13
194:8 196:9
235:10 236:25
247:1,2 314:16,25
353:8
sets 96:17 236:20
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
44
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
setting 203:19
235:7
settling 21:10
seven 76:11 197:8
235:3
severe 209:2, 19
shape 34:24
share 105:2
176:22 214:4
216:5
shared 178:7
225:13
Shari 1:1 119:10
121:25 122:18
sharing 91:8, 12
Sharon 2:10 219:6
353:3, 22
sheet 186:12
257:20
shell 193:24
shelters 57:22, 24
SHELTON 222:15,
16 223:1 225:12,
20 226:1, 5 305:5
shifted 127:8
short 86:20
111:16 194:16
196:20 197:9
260:23 261:3
shortcuts 241:23
shorter 21:24
shorthand 353:7
shortly 51:15 94:6
295:4 296:5
SHOW 1:1 3:5, 10,
10 8:24 9:3 11:19,
19 15:4, 24 16:1, 5
17:21 24:10, 10, 21
28:6 29:7 35:1
39:14 47:17 50:21
56:6 60:22 62:21
75:19 76:4, 9, 10,
15, 25 85:5 102:3
115:21 142:3
162:9 169:16
171:11, 24 178:10
179:25 180:20, 23
181:3 183:19
185:23 186:2
200:14 218:20
219:3 237:15
239:19 244:19, 21
245:1, 5 247:21
262:13, 15 300:19
302:24 305:24
306:1, 15 310:18
312:5 316:8
320:24 321:9
329:24 330:6
344:19 351:7
showed 84:9
281:24
showing 14:4
107:19 191:19
196:7 200:12
shown 49:25
63:14 94:2 101:18
233:8 241:25
243:1 261:19
317:24
shows 29:22 42:1,
2 63:21 86:15
108:13 166:9
305:13 347:13
showstopper 218:8
shroud 196:3
shut 193:6, 6
194:23 196:19
221:24 225:8
229:8, 10 247:8
257:1, 1, 3, 6 262:7,
8 299:19 315:12
320:21 332:12
337:8
shuts 323:4
shutting 157:13
261:25 262:1, 9
280:7
sic 165:10 168:13
225:9 231:21
sick 201:22
side 26:24 27:11
28:5, 14 29:2
69:10 71:23 114:3
164:22 197:7
233:18 245:12
sides 28:24, 25
29:10
sidestepped 241:24
sign 21:1 25:14
30:7,10,10,11
73:10, 11, 14, 17, 19,
20 74:15 122:15
178:17 257:21
signage 94:14
signature 101:17
268:18 353:16
signed 295:8
significant 112:9
115:2, 10 130:4
203:25 205:16, 18,
19 223:11 246:2
295:6
significantly 75:16
241:11 253:5
sign -in 186:12
signing 257:24
signs 25:2 74:10
sign-up 257:20
silage 120:24
silly 227:15
similar 135:16
160:19 226:10
282:11 310:5
313:6 314:3
similarities 133:15
simple 170:13
181:15 274:12
simplest 118:9
simply 114:5
150:18 156:7
237:5
simultaneously
203:18
single 66:2 87:6
123:11 131:2, 3
138:3 141:20
233:25
sir 180:13, 17
185:16
sit 343:24
site 3:12, 14 5:16
6:10 20:3 21:2, 6,
23 22:4 23:8
24:24 26:16, 20, 21
30:7 33:11 34:5,
20 36:16 40:22
41:19 47:8 48:23,
24 50:13 51:25
55:25 56:3, 17
59:2 60:24 61:4,
6, 8, 13 62:14 63:9
66:15 72:5, 21
73:23 74:11 92:10
93:3 96:2 106:2
138:3 141:23, 24
142:3 167:16
172:22, 22 175:18,
19 177:20 178:11
184:4 187:10
253:3, 3, 4 261:18,
19 292:3 296:1
306:16 324:24
331:9 335:18
345:18 346:5
347:7
Sites 4:19 8:5
12:20 13:25 57:2
98:12 193:18
196:22, 24, 25
258:16 260:5
262:24 270:6
273:8 302:16
306:5 318:2
sitting 103:9
185:4 209:13
234:14 246:25
situation 106:15,
15 151:6 180:11
192:11 204:9
242:10 288:21
316:16
situations 324:5
six 21:7, 25 183:3
196:18 211:6
214:18 229:24,25
241:12, 16, 18
242:10 256:21
262:13 321:4
size 73:11, 17
168:4 173:2 251:9
sized 216:24
skid 206:9
skillfully 242:14
skin 208:21
SKUMATZ 214:1, 2,
9 218:3, 6
sleeve 227:16
slept 209:1
slew 153:10
slide 19:4 26:4
28:2, 15 34:4, 7
67:7 76:5, 9 77:12
108:13 109:16
166:5, 9 168:1
169:5, 6, 8, 15, 22,
23 173:23 174:13
175:1, 14, 17, 17
176:23, 24
slides 28:5 55:22
57:5 65:22 66:7
107:13
slight 115:8
slippery 36:3
slope 36:4
slow 125:7, 9
186:15
slowly 191:22
223:1
sludges 57:11
slurries 288:8
small 135:9
216:24 223:6
227:23 235:12, 24
236:1 336:6
smaller 30:10
smallest 111:12
130:9
smell 110:7, 8
111:9,10,11 120:1,
24 121:5, 6, 9, 9
171:3 177:5, 6
184:5, 7 193:21
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
45
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
228:5, 18, 18
229:21, 22 230:4,
10 234:5, 5, 11
245:8 246:5, 12, 15
256:23 300:17
smelled 229:23
230:1, 1 237:23
329:20
smelling 120:1
208:18
smells 118:7
120:2 193:18, 20,
21 229:10 232:8
smell's 320:22
smelt 300:17
smoke 242:2
Snapp 265:11
Snapp's 266:2
snow 36:3
society 211:12
soil 58:21, 23
82:12, 13, 22
132:20 133:2
135:20 136:9
137:4, 7, 11, 11, 11
144:21 145:8
146:10 148:14, 23
165:23 169:13
250:7 263:23
264:4, 11 265:3, 14
286:4 289:21
290:24
solar 164:24
221:10 222:8
336:20
sold 147:4, 5
222:21
solely 190:18
solid 3:14 4:19
8:4 12:18, 19
13:25 37:9 42:4
45:9, 23 50:9, 13
51:25 54:22 57:1
59:5, 18, 25 60:8,
10 62:4 63:9
64:21 66:11 82:16
87:10, 17 89:8
94:17 98:11, 22
133:5, 9, 19 134:16
137:11, 13 141:17
142:15 150:16
151:25 153:9
154:21 174:21
187:3 214:16, 21
215:11 217:14
223:21 230:18
233:13 235:16
238:6, 6 239:5
249:12 258:15
260:4 263:19
264:8, 14 265:1, 16,
20 266:4, 17, 24
270:5 273:7 284:5
285:22 292:3
295:2 300:3, 10, 17
304:19 306:4
318:2, 5, 9 324:23
330:25 333:16
343:6 345:6
solids 50:18, 24
51:3 56:3 57:25
134:5, 20 139:25
144:14 224:2
284:15
solution 221:11, 13
222:3 249:25
solutions 193:1
202:21 222:4
solve 301:11
321:20 323:5
solved 179:2 184:1
solving 178:4
somebody 68:4
89:16 93:17 111:2
118:6 154:18
160:25 161:9
206:14 246:12
248:16 265:24
272:14 320:15
342:3
someday 190:4
someplace 121:8
somewhat 123:12
150:23 309:9
son's 198:10, 15
soon 44:11 155:2
270:11 326:24
sooner 199:17
sophisticated
176:15
sorry 40:9 59:13,
14 69:13 83:10
91:15 97:12
109:22 123:17
127:5 160:3
165:16 166:5, 13
167:3, 21, 22 178:1,
17, 19 199:3 238:9
239:8, 10 269:22
283:18 284:18
286:11 289:6, 17
291:23 306:23
317:1
sort 84:2 103:3
154:6 172:9
184:15 247:19
260:16 273:22
327:24
sorted 165:10
sound 261:14
sounds 53:5 66:5
104:8 133:17
154:19, 20 343:25
sour 121:9 234:4
source 6:3 43:11,
15 115:2 116:18
117:6, 17 118:2
129:8 202:4
206:11 246:2
251:23 252:1, 2, 3,
13
sources 37:19
38:2 41:16 108:4,
5 114:1,2,4,6
115:15, 18, 19
117:19, 25 119:7
176:8 183:22
191:21 202:5
south 29:2, 14, 25
34:14 202:19
southeast 3:22
125:19
south-southeast
125:20
Southwest 164:16
space 255:14
spare 204:6
speak 11:10 41:7
89:16 189:23
205:9 210:10
239:3 243:20
253:1 273:23
282:7 312:22
speakers 257:24
speaking 98:15
199:18 203:11, 23
268:10
speaks 228:14
260:9 267:23
273:6 318:2, 3
326:16
Special 3:13 4:15
10:7 53:4,21
154:11, 12 288:2
291:7, 16 326:3
343:5 344:17
350:25
specializing 164:19
specific 3:12
38:21 40:15 47:3
66:10 70:15 71:14
115:9 117:16
119:2, 6 133:6
138:2, 6 147:13
150:15 155:3
182:13 262:17
276:9 298:20
312:1
specifically 6:13
60:6 71:25 91:19
153:12, 13 155:5, 8,
11 187:5 271:14
275:2 279:24
282:20 285:9
288:20 297:6, 16
specifications
134:13 135:14
264:25
specifics 41:7
162:16
speed 125:7, 8
126:22 130:18
spend 153:17
161:6 222:2, 3
225:21 246:18
spending 163:3
spent 175:2, 3, 4
215:7 238:10, 11
239:8 279:22
299:20 300:15
spillway 139:21
spoiled 170:6, 7
spoke 79:15 91:23
242:13 257:20
268:11
sponges 172:15
spot 184:14
336:23 341:1
spots 183:24
square 24:15 25:9
28:20 30:10 72:11
73:11, 19
squarely 151:4
SS 353:1
stable 136:16
stack 6:1 39:23
40:14 83:20
144:20 269:21
stacking 144:18
STAFF 1:1 19:1
22:2 23:9, 25
39:25 69:5 77:5
83:19 84:11 88:1
89:12, 22, 24 90:4
91:5 99:15, 15, 25
101:10, 19, 22
133:10 142:11
143:5 145:22
146:1 265:10, 10
278:14 283:22
284:1 292:16
303:11 306:1
307:19 341:16
342:19 343:25
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
46
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc,
345:1 347:3
staff's 90:20 143:1
stage 148:21
staged 58:6, 8
stamp 271:5
stand 188:20
239:24 252:15
standalone 50:8
54:20
Standard 4:16 5:6,
14, 18, 23 6:8, 12,
18, 22 7:1 8:4
12:16, 22 13:24
16:14 22:23 23:1
33:18 35:6 39:15,
21 40:20, 20 41:22
42:12 47:2, 3
56:15, 24 59:8
61:10, 17, 19 62:8,
20 63:6 64:16
65:21 66:3 71:24
72:14 73:9 74:3
77:8 95:9, 24
96:17, 19, 20 98:23
108:15, 19, 24
109:4, 14 110:5
111:8 113:17
120:19, 20 131:14,
17, 18 132:3 196:9
235:13 248:9
258:5, 12 259:2, 4
260:1 306:2, 25
307:2, 11 308:16
309:7 316:17
318:1 342:18
345:3, 10 346:7, 19
347:4, 5, 12
standards 4:15
6:14,24 7:4,5,7
9:11 10:10 11:18
12:3 13:14 14:8,
14,21,25 16:13,21
19:24 20:2 23:6, 7
25:1 37:12 38:15
39:12, 13 56:9
61:20, 24 62:2, 16
69:9 72:1 74:5, 8
83:17 98:10, 14, 18
103:24 131:20
182:13 187:2
236:24 258:4
259:7 263:21
270:5 305:21
307:21 308:22, 25
309:3 312:1
314:21 316:7, 18,
20 323:18 324:18
326:2 327:23
332:22 333:15
340:15 344:23
347:20 348:5, 9, 10,
24 350:2, 18, 25
351:5, 8
standing 8:20
14:22,24 113:20
120:18, 22 228:13
245:7
standpoint 36:7
141:6
stands 230:21
231:14 242:24
Stanford 123:1
start 53:13 67:9
77:3 104:2 121:13
151:16 154:25
157:16 190:1
208:7 238:11
244:15 246:21
255:21 299:3, 5
341:2
started 53:9 67:3
105:25 133:7
164:20 166:17
170:17 171:8
198:10 208:8, 9
219:22 246:24
256:6, 7, 23 265:18
302:5 320:24
334:12 335:7
starting 170:20
173:5 208:8 215:5
249:4 294:6 341:2
starts 104:11
128:15
State 2:10 4:7
6:20, 20 7:18 9:25
10:22 12:8 19:7,
12, 13, 19 20:12
22:12 23:3, 12, 17
32:13 43:25 44:10
45:17, 21 48:9, 14
53:19 60:11 63:13
64:18 72:16 77:18
78:22, 25 79:21
82:24, 25 85:16
86:23, 25 87:5, 7,
14 90:21, 22, 24, 25
92:22, 23, 23 95:13
97:1, 11, 15 99:9,
25 100:7, 14
102:11, 12 117:20
131:17, 25 132:12
133:5 138:4
139:10, 11, 23
140:23 142:18, 22
143:17, 18 144:16
145:11, 20 147:22
150:18 151:11
152:4 153:25
155:4, 5 157:17, 20
159:9 160:23
161:19 163:7, 7, 19,
24 164:1,3 172:6
177:12, 16, 17
182:8, 9, 16 183:1
186:10, 17 187:2, 3,
14, 22, 22, 24 188:2
189:8 191:5 192:1,
23 193:2,10 194:7
210:12, 14, 21
211:21, 25 212:4
213:20 214:20, 22,
25 215:4, 9 216:7,
13 217:5, 23
218:23 220:10
233:6, 9 235:10
241:24 249:17
251:14, 21 262:17
265:2, 7 266:11, 19
268:9 271:11
272:6 277:23
278:22 279:23
280:1, 20 285:1, 4,
5, 17 292:17, 25
293:11, 20, 22
294:16 296:8, 9, 20,
23 297:6, 14
298:20 302:13
303:18, 23 304:11,
14, 24 305:9, 22
309:10, 16 310:6
313:22 317:10
318:15, 16 320:13
321:2 322:21
325:6 326:18, 21
327:25 329:8
331:8 339:1, 4
341:24 342:3, 7
345:14 346:11
347:23 349:2, 12
353:1, 5
state -by -state
131:21
stated 19:14 26:5
54:8 56:23 80:24
85:8 94:2 95:6
136:9 140:20
186:24 187:20
246:5 260:14
265:6 292:16
308:24 311:25
326:19, 22 329:23
330:1, 13 334:14
337:24 344:3, 18
349:22 351:6
statement 50:7
100:22 112:10
116:3 226:17
248:8
statements 249:15,
17 260:22 347:2
states 46:21 58:3,
14, 19 64:17 99:3
131:16 214:19
218:8, 9 244:22
249:10 258:13
260:3 269:25
285:9, 20 304:17,
22 338:20
State's 82:24
107:11 141:11
215:11, 15 273:9
325:12
state -to -state 132:6
statewide 214:5
216:11, 15
static 134:24
stating 12:9 46:16
50:7 64:1 100:8,
17 259:15 271:2
283:6 305:7
345:15
stations 210:20
statistic 112:25
statistics 112:14
128:15
status 55:16
75:24 177:10
270:4
statute 9:25 80:5
99:9 133:5 150:16,
19 151:5, 9 275:23
277:2, 5 278:21
279:5 298:20
305:9 317:13
319:1 323:23
345:11
statutes 81:13
163:7 187:3, 22
235:11 241:25
305:16 306:6
318:4, 6 328:13
statutory 272:12
stay 74:24 197:5
213:15 344:20
staying 232:2
stealing 198:10
steel 25:9 173:16
stench 234:3, 6, 11,
16, 18, 21 235:3
step 37:1 80:4
111:8 117:1
280:17, 18
steps 80:19
169:17 183:5
280:21
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
47
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
Steve 1:1 199:24
202:2 208:3, 10
234:7
stewards 191:12
stewardship 251:16
stick 247:23, 23
248:5, 7, 21 312:22
315:24, 25 320:1, 1,
17
stinks 189:6
200:24 201:1, 5
stipulated 134:9
stipulation 310:21
stocking 203:14
stockpile 225:15
stood 201:17
202:8 231:1
319:25
stop 139:12
156:16 157:25
171:15 175:25
179:4 237:8
253:15 254:25
318:8 335:13
341:5
stopped 110:10
182:1 188:2
stopping 103:3
stops 166:24
228:8, 9 231:2
storage 24:17
25:11 57:25 58:16
86:11 93:25 94:3
183:24 184:3
186:25 217:19
225:19 249:19
store 50:18
144:20 145:6
185:5
stored 6:14 58:7,
9, 13, 15, 17 72:2
144:14
stores 170:4
210:19
storm 34:12 140:9
141:9 142:8
stormwater 21:8, 9
34:16 35:23
138:18 342:21
story 209:10
straight 35:17
stream 87:23
89:18 90:3 217:8,
9 321:16
streams 58:15
88:9, 13 89:6
216:7
Street 1:1 2:3, 6
76:24 122:22
209:25 220:3
353:23
stress 139:1
165:20 166:1
168:7 175:12
209:17 261:7
stretches 176:16
strict 138:23
strictly 133:18
stringent 114:13
strong 115:2, 13,
19 116:15 117:21
131:8 138:13
190:3 230:9 246:2
structural 25:9
structure 28:14
29:9, 16, 21
structures 41:4
struggle 277:1
335:9 340:19, 19
341:20
struggling 339:20
Stuart 102:14, 16
stuck 219:15 235:2
student 105:11
studied 136:19
studies 211:13
study 117:23
210:14
stuff 49:9 121:24
164:10 165:22
168:25, 25 170:5
183:7 186:5
198:12 207:1
240:21 246:20
247:3 254:3
256:13 276:8
331:17 336:13
stuff's 155:9
stunk 202:9 238:22
subject 88:22
115:16 264:5
submission 87:1
294:25
submit 32:10
43:10 51:15 64:3,
5, 11 66:5 86:2
99:2 102:17 140:2,
23 141:25 145:16
154:13 158:5
160:7, 24 173:8
177:15, 16 269:11
280:20
submittal 38:25
152:22,23 153:5
submittals 155:10
submitted 20:10
22:8 24:13, 15
25:6, 8, 14, 16 30:9
31:11, 12 32:16, 18,
21 33:16 36:12
39:4, 7 44:6, 19
47:14 48:11, 17
50:9, 13 54:9, 11,
14, 18, 21 62:10
63:13, 16, 20, 24
64:8 70:5 73:18,
20 74:1 81:17
85:14 87:1 91:8,
18 139:17 140:13
155:2, 3 159:4, 6,
21 161:20 173:5,
15 264:9 274:18
276:12 281:18
282:3 284:20, 22,
23 285:3 292:18
294:16, 17
submitting 32:14
139:2, 9, 18
subsequent 154:13
294:24 295:21
299:9
subsequently
295:4 297:12
substance 276:13
substances 134:3
substantial 96:4
141:6 142:5
217:21 307:14
331:5 345:23
substantiate 114:20
substrate 26:22, 25
28:18 29:24 57:25
60:17 170:20, 22
172:16
substrates 249:8
Subtitle 300:2
subtle 261:12, 13,
15
success 251:3
263:3, 3
successes 165:3
successful 248:10
successfully 137:17
sudden 239:22
suggest 177:9, 13
232:12, 16 243:2
suggested 150:25
161:11 248:17
265:12, 24
suggesting 12:14,
15 115:14, 18
277:8
suggestion 213:17
265:18
Suite 2:3, 6 353:23
summarize 136:1
summary 104:24
sun 40:13 185:3
Sunday 232:21
254:16
sunset 106:7
Superior 214:3, 11,
14
supersedes 98:24
supplier 249:6
suppliers 168:24
supplies 168:23
supply 196:18
211:7 217:18
221:23
support 190:15
197:15 222:11
252:16 323:2
supported 155:23
suppose 316:15
supposed 35:18
168:13 205:11
304:17 307:8
331:1, 16 347:6
349:25
supposedly 244:6
Supreme 279:10
surcharge 64:22
87:10, 13, 17, 19
88:3, 4, 22 89:8
90:3
surcharges 65:19
Sure 13:19 26:3
43:22 51:9 52:16
53:6 54:2 59:19
81:20, 22 87:6
89:3 91:12 92:14
104:1 105:20
121:7,16 125:6,12
129:14 131:12
147:15 161:5, 13
177:20 178:8
180:16 183:8
191:3 229:13
231:4 232:9 244:4
245:25 259:13
260:10 267:6
273:16 274:15, 19
276:11 284:3, 9
289:18 296:14
309:13 311:4
317:6 327:14
343:24 344:25
348:1 351:12
surface 184:14, 15,
17
surprise 230:20
surprised 53:19
229:18, 19, 20, 21
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
48
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
230:11, 13, 15
231:1, 5
surprises 53:20
229:17
surprisingly 113:7
116:12
surround 58:20
surrounding 20:23
67:10 150:11
196:12 324:24
333:21
surrounds 217:6
suspend 8:12, 23
9:9 10:25 13:6
17:9, 23, 24 187:8
248:7 312:3, 24
315:11 319:5
324:1 327:10
332:19, 22 333:5,
23 338:22 339:16,
17 344:16 348:17
350:22
suspended 13:12,
15, 16, 17 224:5
341:15 348:22
suspending 14:10
156:23 340:23
suspension 9:22
13:22 15:12 16:24
187:17 243:3, 4
311:13, 15 313:16
314:14 315:13, 16,
18, 21 316:9 323:4,
6, 6, 19 324:11, 15
326:3, 5 327:13, 17
330:6, 10 332:20
335:3 337:5
340:20 344:20
348:20 350:12, 16,
19
sustainability
217:3 249:19
sustainable 223:13,
19 224:8 225:13
250:5
sustained 106:15
swales 34:6
sweet 121:8 234:4
swine 232:15
swirls 199:4
switch 340:22
system 5:3, 24
22:19 26:15 27:2,
8 28:8, 13, 17
29:15, 22 39:5
44:25 49:9, 11, 14,
18, 19, 23 56:2
171:8 172:17
173:20 174:19, 19,
23 184:20, 24
201:15 203:6, 21
205:12 206:25
225:21 307:3
334:18
systems 41:5
171:12 185:8
202:21, 25 203:17
204:23 205:5
<T>
table 75:1 78:5
95:5 134:13
135:10 137:13, 17
138:9, 9 147:24
234:15 264:24
265:1 266:24
tables 34:8 104:25
take 12:13 13:13
14:6 15:7, 24 16:5
28:8 37:1 49:2, 5,
8, 10 55:14, 18
64:24 70:3 79:24
80:4 83:4 102:22
105:2 122:12
123:14, 18 158:21
165:20, 21, 21
166:22 169:23, 24,
24 172:8 173:8
177:2 178:24
184:23 197:8
198:13, 18 201:18
209:9 223:7 227:8,
10 228:22 236:9
240:20 243:21
249:9, 14 252:9
254:25 257:16
261:7 262:7, 10
279:10 283:21
291:20 298:2
319:25 320:21
332:10, 11 336:13
337:7, 9 347:19
Taken 2:8 14:23
30:25 40:1 52:8
66:14 95:18
102:24 103:15
108:24 111:17
113:2 121:23
127:16,19,21
166:10 202:7, 7
208:14 212:15
241:23 246:20
257:18 318:16
353:7
takes 59:10, 23
85:18 193:25
224:16 234:8
298:2 300:3
315:11
talk 79:12 105:21
106:3 110:16
111:5, 23 117:9
119:11 123:9
124:6, 10 125:1
126:13 175:17
220:13 229:18
240:19 244:1
246:16 272:25
276:10 282:4
287:15
talked 19:6 81:6
95:6 98:10 110:3
123:8 126:6 144:3
151:2 178:22
261:22 282:3
350:16
talking 21:21
28:23, 24 65:12
77:3 89:25 91:3
103:24, 25 111:2, 6
113:11 149:23
161:21 162:3
199:19 205:4
220:7, 14, 15
260:19 269:4
270:18 287:8
292:1 329:1
337:12 341:21
talks 22:6 74:10
111:3 216:12
246:9 258:21
260:2 263:18, 21
267:22 270:2
274:14, 24 275:2
297:16 306:8
323:24 326:16
327:17 348:4
tank 94:24 95:2
170:20 174:18
184:6, 12, 13, 15, 19
201:13, 16, 18
202:3
tankers 58:4
tanks 21:13, 20, 21,
22, 24, 25, 25 22:3
26:20, 22, 23, 24
27:1, 7 28:18
29:24 30:4, 5, 6
60:18 170:22
172:16 173:21
183:23 184:3, 4
tank's 184:13
taste 208:21
taught 210:4
tax 88:6, 21
168:19 189:16
210:21
taxes 210:21,22
teach 123:2
team 98:6 167:17,
17 178:13
technical 40:17
46:22 47:4 142:18
143:6 158:2, 19
160:13 161:18, 19
206:13 207:11
279:5 321:7
technicalities 221:7
technicality 157:5
160:14 161:24
238:1, 2, 19 271:5
280:10 305:8
technician 210:6
technological 222:4
technologically
249:24
Technologies 211:4
221:6
technology 176:9,
16, 16 196:13
217:1 223:23
224:24
teeth 310:15
teleslide 104:23
tell 69:15 83:11
88:21 131:13
188:12 198:19
199:1 226:21
228:17, 23 231:7,
19, 22 233:16, 24
234:1, 17 237:19,
25 239:24 240:9
247:3 253:4
273:23 284:6
299:13 301:9, 10
telling 199:19
227:20 230:2
233:21 244:25
322:22
tells 179:1 302:18
temperature 170:21
temperatures
135:23 171:4
temporarily 187:8
324:1
temporary 24:17
25:11 172:19
173:19 174:9
tend 116:12, 15
term 144:13
196:20, 20 225:4
terminate 179:25
262:12
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
49
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
terms 32:8 35:17,
20 65:11 67:11
68:4, 7 80:20, 21
109:9 117:13, 18
123:21 124:25
129:9, 10 137:22
163:21 204:22, 23
205:1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 10,
15 216:25 226:11
248:14 313:9
320:17 321:7, 12,
13, 18, 22, 25 322:2,
3
test 83:21 95:8
96:12 110:25
182:12 183:1, 7, 11
334:15
testament 217:25
tested 51:1 148:13
testified 310:12
testimony 10:16,
17 162:20 163:22
300:23 302:3
320:19 321:5, 8
322:2 331:7, 21
335:18 338:9
342:19 344:14
347:15
testing 50:25 51:9
77:14, 14, 17, 19
83:24 84:9, 10
110:22 135:3
145:8, 9 148:22
183:12, 14 266:21
Texas 131:19
Thank 27:24
29:11 33:2, 8
35:14 36:21 40:18
45:6 55:7 60:15
63:1, 5 67:19
68:25 71:16, 18
76:20 79:8 90:7,
16, 16 92:2, 6
93:20, 22 97:9, 19
102:19, 20 109:24
111:15, 19, 21
121:20 122:23
128:23 129:18
132:16, 17 140:17
148:7 149:18
150:7 162:24
164:4, 6, 7, 14
167:8, 13 168:21
181:18 185:10, 12,
13,18 188:7,8
191:5, 6 193:13, 14
196:14, 15 197:17
199:22, 23 201:22,
24 202:16 204:10,
11 205:21 207:23,
24 209:20, 21, 22
212:16 213:24, 25
214:1,3 218:16, 17
219:23, 24 222:13,
14 225:6 226:13
227:3 229:12
232:2, 3, 4, 24, 25
235:19,20,21
237:9, 10 240:23
243:8, 9 245:22
247:10 248:25
253:11, 12 256:17
257:8, 13, 25
259:19 261:2
263:4, 5, 12 267:1,
15 269:2 273:11
286:15 293:25
294:4 297:11
298:11, 12 299:1
314:9 326:10, 12
thankful 234:13, 13
thanks 102:10
111:21 122:4
123:17 149:21
163:10 227:2
232:23 248:24
256:16
Thanksgiving 234:2,
14 238:21,22
them's 244:7
theory 207:6
thereto 187:13
thick 208:20
thing 12:12 14:8,
9 69:7 74:7 114:7
121:13 159:13
168:14 178:20
179:5 201:18
232:12 239:10
243:17 244:4
247:8 257:19
279:17 309:18
311:4 312:20
314:11 317:17
318:23 323:15
324:9, 19 327:6
330:24 332:19
336:24 337:16
340:8, 16, 21, 25
341:23 342:14
350:15
things 15:5 16:14,
23 17:18 53:2
75:19 96:3 105:22,
23 113:13 125:5, 8
133:11 134:15
136:15 137:21
138:14 139:15
143:13 144:4, 7
148:24 157:2, 7, 12
158:19 170:13
171:2 172:8, 11
174:9 176:18
177:21 181:13
184:8 185:1, 2, 25
186:9, 22 197:25
211:2 212:14
213:15 219:21, 21
220:19 227:10, 22
228:8, 25 229:17
232:10, 13 244:3,
13,18 246:8
247:24 248:2
255:16 261:6, 24
275:4 277:17, 18
279:4 283:22
288:8, 9 291:8
292:16 308:13
309:1 311:4, 11, 11,
17 312:8, 13, 15
313:2, 18, 23 314:4
315:14 317:14
320:4, 8, 14 321:4
324:16 327:5
328:15 331:23
334:11 335:16, 20
336:2, 11, 21 350:1
think 9:13 11:8
13:5 15:3 26:4, 9
27:14 29:3 31:7,
9, 14 33:21 53:17
64:5 67:6 71:15
93:3 103:2 104:8
107:5, 6 108:22
112:10, 13, 16
118:5, 24 121:3, 3
123:9 128:20
129:16, 22 130:21
141:13 143:24
144:2, 7 145:14, 23,
25 150:10, 11, 14
151:13 152:3
154:4 155:20, 21,
22 156:4 157:21
160:20 161:3, 9
162:4, 11, 14, 18
163:12 169:7
172:7 175:25
179:5, 14 187:19,
25 188:5 191:11
199:8 201:9 202:4
207:12 213:14
214:6 220:17
221:3 223:23
224:25 225:1
240:15 244:2, 20
245:11 246:15
247:7 257:4, 5, 23
261:14 272:2, 9
274:21 275:3
276:1, 13 277:13,
21 278:11, 16, 24
279:7 280:3, 5, 24
283:14 284:7
287:2 288:19, 20,
25 289:9 290:21,
25 299:10, 15
300:25 301:20, 25
302:2 303:3, 7, 8,
12 306:17 307:13
308:20, 21, 23
309:8, 9, 13, 15, 18,
22 310:4, 8, 14, 20
311:5, 24 313:25
315:6, 7 317:8, 9
318:13 319:24
320:1, 4 321:11, 24
322:17 323:5, 14
324:9 325:2, 18
329:23, 25 330:1
331:7, 20 334:4, 5,
22 335:1,7,7,8,19
336:25 337:13, 14,
16, 17, 18 339:18
340:3, 10 341:20
342:9, 11 343:8
347:25 348:11
349:6, 14, 15, 16, 19,
20
thinking 208:16
315:1
thinks 152:14
158:7 280:1
third 130:3 213:18
222:19 232:7
237:14 285:19
third -party 75:25
76:1 77:20 136:21
139:16 148:18
175:21 176:1
Thomas 1:1, 1
74:24 75:8, 10
76:21 103:21,22
121:22 132:18
149:22 164:8
166:7 171:23
185:16 209:7
thought 36:5
62:24 138:15
171:20 178:2
208:3 227:16, 16
230:9
thoughts 52:7
243:15
thousand 223:2
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
50
Agren Biando Court Reporting & Video, Inc,
thousands 240:7
255:22
three 21:9 48:2
56:4 58:25 70:16,
24 73:23 128:11
141:15 145:19
157:19, 19 158:13
161:4 170:13
172:8 177:2
185:20 199:6
215:10, 21 219:1
224:11 230:12, 15
232:2 260:24, 25
265:7 272:22
276:14 320:15
335:11 350:7
threshold 41:11, 19
59:9 61:12 94:13
115:5 310:11,22
316:12 330:14
347:11
thresholds 6:11
thrive 190:16
throw 83:11
142:11 313:20
throwing 330:5
throw -off 276:23
thumb 242:22
thumbing 191:25
Thursday 200:3
tie 81:21
tie-in 221:21
ties 226:15 342:8
tighter 248:17
till 29:6 140:1
323:7 337:10
339:17
time 8:18 9:2, 11,
19 10:12, 22 12:24
13:4, 7, 9, 12 14:6,
9, 11 15:14, 21
16:4 19:4 23:18
39:8, 17, 20, 21
43:1, 12 45:4
48:21 49:22 53:14,
16 61:3, 4, 6, 11
63:11 64:14 66:6
67:11 70:1, 2
73:15 74:20 77:8
79:9 93:14 103:25
104:20, 24 105:3
106:17 108:17
110:5 113:3, 9
115:10 116:14, 22
117:2 118:17
119:19 121:4
122:4, 13 124:4
128:4 129:6 136:9
141:3 143:24
144:1, 8 146:1
164:11 165:18
171:11,24 172:3
177:14 179:10
185:14 199:5
202:14 206:5, 16
207:21 210:3, 6
212:9 215:8 220:5
222:13, 22 224:5
227:13 232:3,23
235:19 236:12
237:14 242:9
243:8 251:1, 10
256:1, 22 260:8, 23
262:10 263:4
272:4 274:1
280:22 281:8
282:21 285:1
292:14 299:12, 20
300:15 302:11, 19
305:15 313:16
322:10 332:16, 22,
24 334:4, 6 337:20
343:11 353:7
timeline 19:20
44:13 54:2 135:25
336:4 337:6, 12
times 105:19
106:9, 11 107:6
110:13, 23 112:22
115:6 117:3
119:21 123:14, 16,
17, 18 124:2 177:2
197:24 198:1, 9
199:6 200:15
203:24 209:4
224:12 230:12, 16
236:19 238:18
253:3 254:20
265:24 307:24
334:15 337:24
time's 247:6
timing 125:12, 13
126:23, 24
tinker 200:19
tipping 217:14, 24
tired 201:3 240:1,
5,5,6,6
tirelessly 188:16
tissue 137:4
148:24
title 292:9
titled 258:22
today 3:24 8:12,
23 11:3, 15, 19
15:10 16:12, 20, 22
17:4 19:25 24:22
36:25 37:3 75:18
77:3 91:24 102:18
112:2, 7 117:9
122:5 124:6 134:1
138:16 143:24
144:8 152:24
153:3 160:20
165:13 186:2
188:19 190:8, 11,
15 194:21 196:4
197:9, 15 201:6
214:5 215:10
218:20 219:5, 21
220:22 229:17
230:1 233:15
235:17 241:3
242:13 244:6
247:20 260:19
261:6 265:24
280:19 282:6
308:10 310:2, 12
312:10 316:14
321:6 329:24
330:7 332:10
333:5 338:9
339:25 342:11
344:15
told 111:24
154:21 195:23
197:22 198:1, 8
240:12 244:3
281:18 283:11
301:23 304:15
329:8, 10 338:9
339:23
Tom 132:21, 24
149:21 264:19, 21
270:14
ton 37:21 211:15
216:2
tons 211:14 217:7
255:22
top 28:23 34:11,
21 35:21,22
124:11, 12 128:1,
14 173:9 184:14
201:18 215:21
217:14 221:18
topic 96:15 214:18,
23 219:4
topics 85:24
total 88:13 109:12,
14 124:14 128:3
172:1 191:19
192:22 241:25
242:25
totally 140:6
182:1 332:12
tough 329:13
334:9 340:8
341:10
tour 201:13
tours 175:18 202:7
Town 214:13
towns 215:1
trace 136:17
track 110:7, 11
tractor 200:12
tractors 200:19
traditional 205:24
traffic 23:23
165:11 174:8
trail 179:9
trailers 72:19, 21,
23 73:2 200:12
trample 190:13
transaction 148:18
transcript 353:10
transfer 80:5, 17,
22 81:6, 7, 15 82:3
99:7, 9, 16, 19, 23
100:8, 11, 19 101:6,
16 102:6, 8 136:21
151:12 155:2
156:3 157:23
159:15, 17 161:22
268:4, 10, 12, 22
273:21,25 274:11
281:13, 19 282:1, 5,
9 283:9 295:3
296:2, 4, 4, 7, 8, 9,
17 302:7 304:7
317:25 325:5
329:12 333:7
transferred 78:12
136:20 151:8
273:20 274:1
283:3 297:24
303:21 305:10
333:25
transferring 135:8
255:21 270:18
274:3 305:16, 20
transfers 101:15
transfership 273:6
transmute 225:9
transparency 196:1
transparent 178:6
213:16
transport 224:7
transported 96:2
trash 72:6, 9, 10
178:19 347:16, 18
travel 114:15
220:12
treat 190:14
206:10 237:7
252:2
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
51
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
treated 135:5
treating 203:13
treatment 41:5
171:13 205:25
251:25
treats 206:9
tremendous 191:16
336:10
Tribune 7:11
tried 106:10 178:1
188:2 242:14
266:1 280:22
trier 152:9 278:7
trigger 53:5 95:1
triggered 94:23
Trinity 104:4, 13
178:6 245:24
246:1
Trinity's 105:15
triticale 136:23
trivialize 241:5
troubleshooting
203:19
truck 239:11, 12
trucking 218:10
trucks 224:6
254:18
true 15:9 114:16
353:10
truly 153:22 196:8
317:21
trust 92:17 180:23
181:15 240:1
243:23 320:2, 7
trustee 214:13
truth 227:21
try 37:3, 5, 6, 10,
10 42:5 45:10
50:16 104:21
166:13 179:20
186:20 192:25, 25
213:11 217:11
219:1 225:14, 22
245:5 299:19
300:4 312:17
320:5 331:15
335:14 341:3, 6
347:18
trying 17:13 43:15
44:5 58:10 61:24
65:25 68:14
112:17, 19 115:22,
25 117:15 162:2, 9
175:11, 12 176:18,
18 178:15 179:20
188:1 216:21
227:9 234:15, 21,
22 246:25 252:5
254:17 261:7, 23
272:14 299:5
300:8 322:12
335:14 336:1, 17
340:25
tune 204:1
turbine 164:25
turkey 254:2
turn 76:18 119:9
184:6 188:17
279:16
turned 47:21 257:2
turnover 146:2
265:10
turns 50:15
twice 173:3 174:2
236:19
two 21:9 25:2
34:8 37:18 38:21
41:13 45:5 46:17
65:7 72:20 98:17
107:13 116:8
119:21 125:11,22
126:4 139:14
149:15 150:1
159:14 165:15
184:8, 11 187:15
188:14 199:6
200:24 202:7
205:23 214:20
230:5 233:17
234:23 240:14
241:6 244:5 275:4
282:9 289:12,22
298:13 304:22
311:4, 11 312:13
317:14 320:21
327:5, 8 328:15
337:7 351:8
two-hour 127:8, 9
two -month 315:12
323:6
type 49:3, 4, 4, 5, 6,
7 65:17 69:16, 18,
20, 23 70:9, 23
71:3, 9, 11 119:3
138:1 141:24
145:4 162:6 194:8
220:8 248:15
252:20 288:9
298:1 310:5
318:24 330:8
types 70:21,24
119:6 250:12
309:1
typewritten 353:9
typically 97:16
116:7, 24 142:20
146:23 182:5
225:14 259:6
287:9, 13, 24
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U.S 176:12 202:18
217:16
ultimately 76:3
274:25
Um -hum 10:8
55:1 146:12
205:17
unannounced
76:11 178:12
unbelievable 234:12
unclear 84:14
191:1
undeniable 192:15
underground
201:14
underneath 12:18
50:20 64:25
169:21 184:16
understand 13:23
15:25 44:18 64:22
67:5 69:21 100:4,
16 117:15, 22
124:16 126:19
132:8 143:10, 15
150:15 165:1
170:23 181:16
183:6 194:12
206:24 230:5
234:23, 24 238:15
247:25 262:3
277:16 296:15
297:5 300:1, 25
301:2 308:1, 2
309:20 322:14
324:4, 20 325:10
330:16 331:18
334:9 337:25
338:12 343:12
understanding
16:15, 19 40:12
44:1 53:6 63:23
79:19 81:1 100:3,
17 141:1 147:16
224:16 259:13
271:19, 23 281:3,
12, 17 293:23
338:23
understated 251:17
understood 154:1
282:8, 9 304:24, 25
undertaken 97:4
156:3
uneven 123:12
unfair 188:24
unforgiving 182:16
Unfortunately
106:23 130:25
179:6 295:14
ungelled 254:18
UNIDENTIFIED
253:13
unified 204:4
uniformly 114:16
unilaterally 221:24
299:18
unintended 242:17,
19
universally 241:15
University 123:1
unlawfully 235:9
242:3
unlimited 193:12
255:13
unloaded 58:4
unloading 57:22,
25 58:1 93:24, 24
94:1 206:21
unnecessarily
216:17
unnecessary 220:8
unprecedented
77:14 251:13
unreasonable 96:4
331:5 345:23
unreliable 209:16
unrestricted
134:18 135:3
263:21
unsafe 209:15
unsold 169:24
unsure 44:14
untrustworthy
209:16
unusual 116:25
272:11
update 46:13
75:24 104:1, 18
262:23 296:19
304:1
updated 46:11
49:24 285:14
updating 296:25
297:5 304:8
upgrade 30:17
upgrades 30:23
252:25
upload 141:25
upsetting 130:5, 10
Upstate 220:2
upwards 215:18
upwind 113:2, 11,
23 114:2, 4 118:11,
13, 18, 21 120:19,
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
52
Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
23 125:3, 8 127:19
129:14
urge 190:15 196:4
218:15 237:8
248:6
use 3:13 4:15
10:7 20:17 23:11
46:25 53:3, 3, 21
57:9, 12 71:1 83:2
86:12 96:5 107:18
111:4 128:25
129:20 130:18
134:18 137:19, 23,
24, 25 138:2, 5, 7
141:5 143:16
144:6 154:10, 11,
12 168:19 178:1
202:24 210:23
225:25 246:8
264:8, 14 265:19
266:5 267:9
275:10 276:18
284:6 285:14, 25
286:24 287:12
288:2, 11 289:18,
25 290:4 291:2, 4,
7, 9, 13, 16, 19, 21
293:13, 18 295:16
296:12 313:1
315:25 331:6
336:15 343:5
344:16 345:24
350:25
useful 105:12
137:25
users 170:4
uses 206:1 287:11
291:1 292:8
USR 8:12, 19 9:11,
19 11:1 12:13
13:7, 8, 11, 14
14:21 15:14, 18
17:6 18:3, 6
19:18, 21 20:3, 18,
22, 22 21:15 23:21,
22 24:1 32:8, 9
37:8, 16 38:14
46:25 49:2 50:2
69:16, 22 70:11
73:13, 15 96:20
98:25 141:7 144:6
147:10, 14 163:7
235:7, 18 236:12
239:5 259:9, 17, 25
260:11 279:18
280:8 286:19, 23,
24 287:1, 9, 10, 11,
19, 20, 21, 25 288:9,
11, 13 289:10
290:9, 14 291:1, 2,
4 292:2, 2, 9, 22
293:16 299:7
300:20 314:21
316:13 324:6
326:16, 16 327:9
330:3 332:18
343:6, 10, 20, 21, 22
344:2, 3, 5, 23
348:24
USR-1704 3:13
4:15 21:3 22:14,
17 24:4 47:8
USRs 37:12 38:19
usual 193:18
Usually 10:4
138:3 199:6 220:6
254:22
utilities 173:10
utility 96:10
utilize 83:23
utilized 84:7
298:23
utilizing 82:20
138:11
<V>
vacuum 78:15
vague 276:19
valid 4:3, 10 7:19
8:8 9:4 10:20, 23,
24 11:5 12:8, 9, 10
14:1 16:17 17:20
56:12 57:7 78:10,
10 79:3 80:15
86:1 100:9 127:15
152:5 155:24
179:1 187:16
235:15, 15 269:10
270:25 271:2
272:6 278:3
304:15 307:14
308:18 317:6, 10,
23, 25 318:10, 10
319:3 326:15, 17
334:9 338:11, 16,
22 339:16, 19, 21
340:2, 4, 17 341:18
342:6 344:21
345:12, 16 348:3, 6,
22 349:7, 23
350:23
validity 11:17
19:8 302:23 317:4
valuable 250:23
value 129:14
181:25 241:8
valve 139:19
Van 96:8 99:3
variable 123:21
variance 34:19
73:16
varied 124:24
127:25 128:13
variety 105:10
112:21, 22 313:1
various 4:5, 14
56:8 78:20 85:24
91:2 94:20 108:7
112:11, 11 119:21
124:4 145:15
164:19 345:7
varying 131:7
vastly 217:1
Veatch 166:22
vehicle 111:9
vehicles 201:2
vendor 202:24
203:21 206:1
vendors 204:1
vent 184:3
verification 44:20
139:17
verified 24:18
320:3
verify 180:24
181:14 183:1
version 48:6, 7
114:23, 23
versus 22:1 23:3
80:10 96:8 98:12
121:9 126:24
131:8 137:23
213:8 274:22
289:20 340:20
vetting 236:6
viability 217:19
viable 223:13
vice 75:15 164:12,
15 249:3
vicinity 107:20
view 169:9 179:14,
14 208:4 217:2,3
viewpoint 298:3
views 201:5
violating 97:15
violation 4:14
19:17 40:7, 22
41:15 56:8 66:2
77:21 83:25 84:3,
18, 22 85:5 95:24
112:24 157:10, 11
158:2, 19 161:18,
19 162:21 170:19
179:15 187:1
243:4 248:6
302:14, 14, 15, 16,
17 303:18 305:8
306:2 307:10, 11
313:11 315:2
324:5 340:12, 13,
14, .15 345:4 347:9
348:7, 8 350:19
351:2
violations 25:20
26:7 40:3, 24 61:1
107:9 165:11
175:8, 9, 10 180:5
187:17, 22 189:15
235:16 302:19
311:8 314:18, 18
319:20 324:17
violators 237:1
Visible 6:1, 5
vision 249:15, 17
251:6
visit 33:11 36:15
visited 34:20
108:9, 19
visits 68:3
visual 169:9
visually 169:17
voice 122:5
volume 34:11, 15,
16, 23 35:22 65:18
184:11
volumes 228:14
vote 209:19
351:15, 19
< W >
wades 188:11
wait 29:6 33:21
35:5 87:4 120:4
139:11, 23, 24
140:1 144:17
145:12 322:3
waited 143:8
waiting 172:18
waive 293:21
waiver 64:8 91:7,
18
wake 247:15
waking 208:14
walk 173:25
198:21 200:21
201:1 232:20
WALTERS 232:5, 6
want 26:3 43:21
53:6 54:1 65:23
73:1 75:6 89:23
103:25 107:13
109:11 113:1
114:18 115:8
119:15 122:12
124:6, 10 125:1
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
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Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
126:13 129:2
133:1, 4 139:1
142:11 144:16, 21
159:16 160:12, 17
161:1, 13 164:21
166:1, 25 177:5, 6
179:5 181:18
183:21 186:22
187:15 189:10
195:8 210:10
218:6 225:3, 22
227:13 229:13
231:3, 6, 7, 10, 17,
23 233:10 243:14,
23 244:1 246:16
252:11 259:12
261:7, 8 263:2, 3
272:19 281:7
283:21 288:18
289:12,21 291:3
301:8 302:17
311:2 313:21
315:5 324:10, 20
325:12 329:2, 17,
20 333:22 335:2
344:24 345:9, 17
wanted 26:12
31:6 69:8 103:9
105:2 138:9 150:9
179:7 219:8
230:22 298:13
309:18 325:11
327:16 330:24
335:22
wants 161:2
206:14 258:6
288:5
WARNER 219:25
220:1
warrants 33:6
waste 3:14, 15
4:19 6:12 8:5
12:18, 19 13:25
20:5 30:6 37:9
42:4 45:9, 23 46:9
49:6, 7, 10, 15, 16
50:10 54:22 55:9,
9, 11, 14, 15, 18, 21,
23 56:17 57:1, 8,
13,14 58:12, 15, 16
59:5, 18, 25 60:8,
10 62:4, 13 64:21
66:11, 14, 15, 17
69:16, 17, 18, 24
70:6, 9, 9 71:9, 11,
25 82:16, 21 86:5,
6, 9, 10 87:10, 17,
18, 23 88:2, 8, 13,
19,21 89:5, 8, 18
90:3 94:17 98:11,
22 133:5, 9, 15, 16,
19, 22 134:2, 2, 16
137:14 138:3
141:17 142:15
150:16 151:25
153:9 154:21
165:20, 21, 21
169:3, 11, 25, 25
170:3 184:22
187:3, 25 189:8
191:21 195:4
211:11, 11, 15
214:16, 21, 24
215:12, 15,
216:7 217:7, 9, 14
227:25 233:13
235:9, 16 238:6, 6
239:5, 11 249:11,
12, 13, 21 250:2, 8,
22 251:25 254:4
255:15, 17, 18
258:15 260:4
263:19, 20 264:8,
11, 14, 18 265:1, 16,
20 266:5, 17, 25
270:5 273:7 284:5
285:21, 22 286:5,
22 287:23 290:11,
12, 23 292:3, 4, 11
295:2 298:22
300:3, 11, 17
304:19 306:4
318:2,5,9 321:16
324:23 330:25
333:16 334:20
343:6 345:6
wastes 66:18 70:4,
6 146:22
wastewater 30:1
57:12 135:17, 22
195:9, 10, 15, 22, 23
205:25 206:2
226:11 285:23
286:2
water 27:7 34:11,
13 35:22, 23
132:21 141:17
156:12 169:14
170:12 184:16
189:20 191:12, 20,
21 195:8, 19 197:1
202:18 223:22
224:3 225:25
226:4, 5, 12 242:12
285:22
waters 136:15
waterways 195:11
way 10:18 13:10
16:24 48:1, 2
106:21 107:17
133:7 135:6
142:24 166:11
168:11 196:13
201:2 203:14
219:20 233:20, 22
243:5 248:18
261:8 265:20
269:4 279:10
280:3 301:20
310:8, 20 317:18
323:7 327:19
336:2 338:6 341:4,
14, 22
ways 118:9 212:5
252:2
wealth 231:23
wear 227:15
weather 106:13, 21
112:22
week 27:14, 15, 15,
22 32:18 87:22
106:8 191:14
202:13 233:19
235:3
weekend 7:18
weekly 139:3
226:22
weeks 106:24
weigh 213:1 322:3
weir 139:20
Welch 186:19, 19
188:7 219:6, 6, 13
231:8 243:10, 11
244:20, 25 245:4,
10, 20, 23 246:1
247:7 300:7
welcome 45:7
88:11 233:18
WELD 1:1, 1, 1 4:6
5:7 6:21, 25 20:19
25:6 33:16 38:8
44:17 50:10 54:23,
24 64:19 67:19
72:17, 18 74:6, 8,
12 78:24 79:21
80:24 88:1 89:12
90:18, 22, 23 91:19
98:3 99:25 100:14
101:9, 10, 19 108:3
133:5, 9 134:4
141:2 142:16
146:17, 25 147:12,
17 156:14 168:23
177:23 188:13
189:3 190:2, 17
191:10 192:1, 5, 8
193:9, 17 194:9, 12
195:1 197:19
199:25 208:2
209:18, 23 210:1, 5
211:21 212:19
218:14 219:7
220:14 221:2
223:9 227:6
229:25 232:7
236:21, 25 237:2
241:4 242:24
247:16 249:2, 9, 16
250:13, 15, 17
251:13, 18 254:1, 9
256:14 268:7
269:7, 7 270:10, 14
282:19 294:11, 13
301:1 320:11
326:23 336:11
347:23
welfare 213:3, 8
236:3 300:13
308:7 350:11
Well 10:5 15:8
17:15 25:17 28:16,
21 29:21 30:3
45:13 51:12 53:24
56:22 64:6 65:24
98:8 99:25 105:14
120:17 122:19
123:4 124:5, 25
129:20 130:13
138:22 142:10, 14
143:14 145:7
146:3, 16 151:17
152:6 154:24
155:23 156:5, 7
159:8 160:8
162:11, 14 163:9,
12 165:2 182:14
187:1 193:15
198:15, 21, 25
204:1 207:8, 19
213:11 217:20
220:19, 23 228:9
229:13, 17 230:12
231:7, 14 233:12
235:15 237:19
239:21 240:9
242:5 244:14,20
246:6 249:14
250:8 251:22
253:23 254:16
256:15 262:1
265:9 271:3
276:20 277:22
278:5 279:11, 23
282:12 290:15
297:2 301:5, 21
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
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Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
302:9 303:6, 17
304:17 305:20
307:9 308:16
312:2, 6 313:25
316:6 319:4, 23
323:14 328:9
329:22 331:11, 20
335:9 337:13
341:12 344:2
351:18
well-being 236:10
wells 139:5
went 55:23 56:9
67:23 73:12 90:23
102:11 107:24
108:18 136:2
210:7 238:21,21
276:3 278:13
302:21 304:3
347:25, 25 351:4
we're 8:13 12:23
16:20 17:14 19:22
28:23, 23 36:22, 25
37:4, 6, 9 42:5
43:22 45:10 65:12
72:7 75:18 80:19,
19 82:6 86:1, 19
87:8 89:25 90:5
91:11 94:19
102:21 103:1, 5, 19
110:4, 6 112:15, 18
114:3, 24, 25 115:6,
22 135:17 136:13
138:12 139:18, 25
142:22 144:12, 18
145:14 146:21
148:22, 22, 23
149:23 160:17
161:1, 7 162:9
165:12 167:25
168:12 169:2, 3, 4
172:18 173:9, 24
174:15, 17 175:6
176:17, 18, 19
177:8 178:5, 9
179:3 180:15, 18
182:5 183:11
184:21,23 185:6
196:17 197:10
199:18 200:3
211:2 216:15
220:6, 14, 15
227:20 228:17
230:22, 25 231:10,
11 238:24, 25
239:1, 23 240:1, 5,
5, 6, 6, 11 244:18
246:14 248:11
249:6 253:7
255:11 256:25
257:1 260:18
261:19, 22, 23
262:23 263:1
266:21, 22 271:3
272:24 275:5, 9
276:10, 11 277:8,
10 280:12, 15
300:20 305:24
309:13 312:23, 24
313:15, 16 315:9
316:9, 13 320:3, 3
323:11 327:2
329:24 333:25
335:1, 10 336:17,
17, 18 337:20, 22
341:21 342:4
349:13, 15, 25
350:12
West 2:3 26:20
30:4 76:23 197:20
Westchester 209:25
Westlake 238:22
wet 197:3, 5, 6
we've 11:23 75:1
77:19 78:19 79:18,
20 91:8 95:6, 6
103:1, 24 104:18,
19 106:1 107:7, 9
112:10 115:20
123:8 132:18, 19
136:24 153:1, 3
157:20 158:8, 12
161:5, 6 162:8
167:15, 24 168:16
171:13 173:2, 20,
21 174:8, 10, 10, 12,
17, 18 175:3, 3, 5,
24 176:20, 21
177:2, 18 178:6, 7,
8, 10, 22 179:6, 15,
19 183:19 184:1,8
186:7 190:5
194:20 198:1, 8
217:16 220:4
222:7, 8, 8 223:17
224:10, 12, 19
241:13, 13 243:12
256:20 257:23
265:7 266:1
268:25 271:20
272:1, 13 279:22
280:22 283:3
287:13 300:15, 16,
17 305:11 320:12
321:7 322:24
329:18, 19, 25
330:1 331:7
334:22 335:17, 22
342:11 344:3
whatsoever 10:17
wheat 136:23
when's 53:14
whereof 353:15
wherewithal 162:6,
19
whey 146:22
whiff 111:12
whirlwind 208:19
white 183:24
184:14 241:15
261:12 303:9
wide 125:15, 23
126:5, 7 139:22
wider 21:24
widest 203:8
wife 232:6 243:12
wiggle 125:21
William 2:2
WILLIAMS 240:24,
24
willing 161:1
248:16 262:14
272:24 276:11
277:10 310:9, 10
329:22 330:9, 10
336:24
wind 61:2 106:14,
15, 16, 24 113:18,
19, 21 114:5, 8, 9,
10,14 118:12, 15
120:13, 16, 17
124:7 125:2, 7, 8,
14, 16, 17, 22 126:3,
5, 7, 11, 22, 23
127:5, 6, 7, 11, 15,
20 130:11, 18, 19
131:4 164:24
199:4 206:7, 17, 18
207:2, 7, 19, 20, 20
232:22 301:19
336:20
windows 234:7
windrow 134:23
winds 60:25, 25
233:20, 21
wind's 199:1
windy 207:4
wing 233:14
wintertime 184:25
win -win -win 213:21
wire 58:22, 25
wish 80:12 111:2
324:14
wishing 270:15
witness 353:15
witnessed 205:3
329:20
WITNESSES 1:1
witnessing 192:2
won 214:20
wondering 10:24
268:5
wonders 172:17
word 121:14
155:6 227:13
243:23
words 116:1
120:10 123:13
124:20 125:21
230:17 287:19
work 50:8 53:8
54:8, 21 85:18
89:12 123:2, 3, 4
131:16 146:4
157:14 171:1, 1
176:4, 8 177:3, 3, 4,
7, 7, 13 178:15
179:3 185:9
202:18 203:11
204:8 206:4,22
207:17 212:14
213:12, 20 214:21
215:5 217:11, 13,
16 218:15 224:17,
23 235:24 239:12
244:9 247:4
256:24 335:23
336:5 341:15, 16
worked 133:20, 20
136:23 141:16
172:17 182:3
188:16 203:12
210:1 214:18
254:1 261:22
265:8
working 78:17
79:19, 20 86:1
92:13 167:25
173:20 176:20, 20
178:10 179:4
184:9 200:18
203:6 214:15
218:13 221:1
222:5 250:21
254:7 256:1,3
289:25 322:11
331:14
works 30:12, 14
34:4 166:24 169:9
172:20 177:4
183:3 206:23
329:16, 21 338:6
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
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Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc.
world 157:4
166:21 176:13
255:7
worry 237:1
worse 107:16
208:18
worsened 242:10
wrap 145:14, 15
211:13 218:2
247:6 256:11
271:25
write 162:2
writing 87:11, 12
88:10 89:10
written 42:16
152:22 153:5
155:9 175:5
307:19 310:21
345:2
wrong 199:2 242:6
wrongdoings 196:5
wrote 331:11
Wyk 96:8 99:3
<Y>
yank 161:8
yard 208:20
Yay 246:19
Yeah 7:14 15:2,
20 27:20 28:4, 7
29:8, 12 59:15
71:17 109:10
111:1 119:1
120:14 148:14
165:14 181:1
204:20 246:18
267:5, 17 279:9
286:14 289:7
293:9 297:4
312:23 313:15
314:12 319:23
331:10, 12 335:6
343:12 351:13, 18
year 37:21 38:11
51:14 53:14
109:21 144:22
145:8, 10, 10
168:18 180:25
200:8 211:6
221:13 224:6
227:1 242:3 249:5
255:22 256:6
294:17, 18 297:17
334:5
yearly 197:13
years 48:3 105:13
123:3 141:15, 16
145:19 157:19, 19
158:13 161:4, 10
164:21,23 189:12,
21,22 190:6
191:13 198:4
199:4 203:4 210:1,
2, 9 214:14 222:23,
25 223:5, 7, 18
224:11 240:14, 21
241:6, 21 243:14
249:4 250:20
253:11 271:16
272:22 276:14
279:20 341:23
342:5
year's 215:6
yesterday 228:20
YOST 249:1, 2
Yost's 321:14
you -all 90:4
308:11
young 244:2
<Z>
zero 127:17 175:9,
9, 10 194:16
340:25
zone 3:21 73:12
291:7
zoning 72:18, 24
73:7 274:12
314:18
ZPMH 72:22
WELD COUNTY SHOW CAUSE HEARING 12/19/2016
56
Esther Gesick
From: William F. Garcia <WGarcia@cp2law.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 28, 2016 8:11 AM
To: Bruce Barker; Esther Gesick
Cc: Al Kurzenhauser; Robert Miller; Garrison W. Kaufman; 'Chris Toll'; Steven Collis; James
Borgel
Subject: December 19, 2016 show cause hearing transcript
Attachments: 121916 WELD COUNTY HEARING-CT.PDF
Hello Bruce and Esther,
As required by Weld County Code Section 2-3-60 and as stated in my letter dated December 12, 2016, attached please
find one (1) copy of the transcript of the Show Cause Hearing dated December 19, 2016. If you have any questions,
please feel free to contact me. Thank you.
William F. Garcia, Esq.
Coan, Payton & Payne, LLC
5586 W. 19th Street, Suite 2000
Greeley, CO 80634
Telephone: (970) 339-3500
wgarcia@cp2law.com
www.cp2law.com
C
Denver ■ Fort Collins • Greeley
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is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copy of this communication is prohibited. If you have
received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by telephone at (970) 339-3500 or reply by e-mail and delete or discard the
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communication (or any attachment) addresses any tax matter, it was not written to be (and may not be) relied upon to (i) avoid tax -related penalties
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Hello