BISMARCK, N.D. (AP)--Animal feedlots should include half-mile cushions to lessen the stink for their neighbors, even if their county has no zoning restrictions, a rural lawmaker and state officials believe.

Rep. Mike Brandenburg, R-Edgeley, is sponsoring a bill that would establish standard "setbacks" for feedlots of 300 animals or more. The provisions would apply in counties and townships that have not adopted their own feedlot zoning rules.

Brandenburg said feedlots need the space to avoid conflicts with homeowners and other neighbors who are increasingly unaccustomed to the scent of cattle and hogs.

"The way the population is shifting from rural to urban, it's going to be even harder to keep these types of things in place," he said.

The buffer zones would increase for operations with more animals. Hog feedlots generally must set aside larger swaths of land.

The bill also grants feedlot operators 15 days to eliminate smells before they are fined, and gives urban operations such as livestock auction yards more space to let the odor dissipate.

The state Health Department regulates the odors from feedlots and auction yards. The smells are considered a nuisance, and the department investigates only if it gets a complaint.

Feedlots typically are not allowed to spread odors for farther than a half-mile, or within 100 feet of homes, businesses or other gathering places. Neighbors who move too close after the feedlot is established generally are expected to put up with the odor.

Dave Glatt, the agency's environmental chief, said the state has issued only three violations of the odor rules in the past decade. North Dakota has issued permits for about 500 animal operations, he said.

"It isn't something that happens often. But when it does happen, there are some significant odors," Glatt said.

The bill also would increase the cushion allowed for the odors from auction yards. North Dakota Stockmen's Association spokesman Wade Moser said those businesses need even more room because in many cases, urban residents are encroaching on them.

"In most cases, they've probably had that buffer there before everybody else moved in," he said.

The Senate Agriculture Committee did not immediately act on the measure. It already has been approved in the state House, and it will get a separate vote in the Senate.

Brandenburg said the measure is intended to gird North Dakota's odor rules for potential court challenges from people who move to the countryside and find they don't like the smell.

"With the less people that understand agriculture, we have to have these setbacks to protect agriculture," he said.

The bill is HB1291.

Date: 3/23/05