U.S. Supreme Court won't hear hog case

By Chet Brokaw, Associated Press Writer | Tuesday, February 25, 2003

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PIERRE - The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to get involved in a legal battle over the fate of a huge hog farm on land owned by the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in south-central South Dakota.

The company that built and operates the hog farm had asked the nation's highest court to strike down a federal appeals court decision. The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear the case.

The Supreme Court's order leaves intact a ruling by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The appeals court in April 2002 struck down a federal judge's order that had allowed the hog farm to be built and operated. The appeals panel said Sun Prairie, a Nebraska company that operates the farm, had no legal standing to seek the 1999 order that has protected the operation.

Meanwhile, Sun Prairie last year filed another lawsuit in South Dakota's federal courts. The second lawsuit, which is pending, contends that federal and tribal agencies have unconstitutionally interfered with the hog farm and should be liable for any Sun Prairie losses if the operation is shut down.

Sun Prairie last year said it had borrowed $45 million to start the first parts of the hog farm. Company officials said if the operation is shut down, they could not repay loans or comply with contracts for buying and selling hogs.

Jim Dougherty, a Washington lawyer representing some groups that have joined with the tribe to fight Sun Prairie, said the Supreme Court's ruling clears the way for opponents to seek an end to the hog farm.

"With only two of the 13 proposed hog-raising sites built, we can now plan an orderly shutdown of the facility," said Dougherty, who represents the Humane Farming Association, the Concerned Rosebud Area Citizens and other organizations.

Sun Prairie, an affiliate of Bell Farms of Wahpeton, N.D., signed a lease with the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Council to build as many as 288 hog barns on 13 sites on tribal land near White River. The first parts of the project have been operating since 1999.

The first two sites each have a capacity of 48,000 hogs. If all phases of the project were completed, the operation would produce nearly 900,000 hogs a year, officials have said.

After the Bureau of Indian Affairs decided the project would not have a significant impact, it approved the lease between the tribe and Sun Prairie. But Kevin Gover, who was the assistant secretary for Indian affairs at the U.S. Interior Department, voided the lease in January 1999 because he said it did not comply with federal environmental protection laws.

The tribe and Sun Prairie then went to court. U.S. District Judge Charles Kornmann ordered in 1999 that the federal government and environmental groups could not interfere with the building and operation of the hog farm.

As the legal dispute progressed, however, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe changed sides. The tribe initially supported the project but changed its stand after an election.

The appeals court ruling struck down Kornmann's

order. The appeals judges said Sun Prairie had no legal standing to seek the court order.

The appeals panel said Sun Prairie clearly has an economic interest in the dispute, but the laws dealing with Indian affairs and environmental protection did not give the company standing to seek the court order that has protected its operation.