$23,500 fine for dumping effluent

The pig farmer at the centre of a national animal cruelty controversy has been fined more than $20,000 for illegally dumping swine sewage.

Horowhenua farmer Colin Kay was fined $23,500 in the Palmerston North District Court yesterday for illegally getting rid of effluent on his Foxton property.

Kay's pig farming practices came under the spotlight in early 2009 when comedian Mike King and animal rights activists broke into his Kuku Beach piggery, near Levin.

The highly publicised break-in showed distressed pigs – some in sow crates, chewing bars, frothing at the mouth – a dead pig and depressed animals.

But Kay has rejected criticism the living conditions were sub-standard and a Ministry of Agriculture investigation found no breach of rules.

The environmental fines come as Kay attempts to establish a state-of-the-art piggery to replace his two old farms near Levin and Foxton, which are nearing the end of their life span.

Kay's lawyer, Lara Blomfield, told the Palmerston North District Court yesterday the new piggery should be built within 18 months and would benefit the environment. However, she said the future of the project could be affected by the fines after Kay had spent more than $31,000 cleaning up his mess at Foxton.

Outside court, Kay was tight-lipped about his new venture and refused to comment on the fines.

Horizons Regional Council granted Kay and his business partner Graham Sexton a resource consent in August 2008 to build a piggery holding up to 4800 sows.

The 15-year consent contained strict conditions and would lapse within five years if the operation at Wyllie Rd, Foxton, was not established, senior consent planner Clare Barton said outside court.

Ms Blomfield told the court Kay was "stuck between a rock and a hard place" when he dumped the effluent at the Foxton piggery, housing 200 sows, between April 2008 and September 2009.

The contractor who trucked the effluent to Levin, where it was discharged on to land, pulled the pin in April 2008. Kay could not find anyone else to do the job, Ms Blomfield said. He stored the waste in two effluent ponds and when they nearly overflowed due to rain, staff were told to lower the pond levels by dumping effluent among blackberry bushes.

Kay persuaded the contractor to resume tanking the effluent in June 2009, but three months later he found himself in a bind when the contractor was unavailable again.

The dumping was reported to Horizons, which laid charges against Kay and his company, NK Limited. Kay spent $17,000 on removing effluent from the blackberry bushes and $14,700 on lowering the ponds. These costs cancelled the $11,000 saved by not transporting the effluent, Ms Blomfield said.

On behalf of Horizons, Crown prosecutor Evan McCaughan said the fine should outweigh money saved to deter farmers from flouting the law in order to make a profit.

Judge Brian Dwyer said while there was no evidence the environment was harmed by Kay's actions, the affects of this type of pollution was incremental.

He described the offending as deliberate. "The fact that the discharge occurred over such a long period of time contradicts the desperation claim," he said.

Kay and his company were fined $11,750 each for illegally discharging contaminants.

Judge Dwyer also ordered them to pay court costs and expenses.

There was "no doubt" coastal lakes and streams were polluted by the nutrient-rich effluent seeping into groundwater, Horizons regional and regulatory planning manager Greg Carlyon said outside court.

Kay was also hit with a $6500 fine earlier this year for illegally discharging effluent in late 2008 on the outskirts of Marton.

- © Fairfax NZ News