GOP lawmaker vows to kill rules to reduce farm manure smell

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A key Republican lawmaker vowed Wednesday to block new state restrictions designed to protect farmers’ neighbors from the stench of manure following a flurry of complaints from Wisconsin’s agricultural community.

The state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection has spent the last three years drafting revisions to farm siting regulations. The latest version calls for dramatically expanding manure storage facility setbacks from neighbors’ property lines for new farms and farms looking to expand.

Sen. Steve Nass, co-chairman of the Legislature’s rules committee, issued a terse statement Wednesday accusing department “bureaucrats” of ignoring the industry’s concerns and making life harder for farmers. He promised to do everything he can to block the rules if they reach his committee in their present form.

Current state standards require farms with at least 500 animals to place their manure storage facilities at least 350 feet from neighbors’ property lines. The state doesn’t impose the standards but local governments must apply it if they regulate farms.

Under the revisions, new farms with at least 500 animals, as well as farms looking to expand to at least 500 animals, would have to place manure storage facilities between 600 feet and 2,500 feet from neighbors’ property lines. The exact distance would depend on the size of the herd. Farms could reduce the setback distance by mitigating the stench using anaerobic digesters, injecting manure into the ground rather than spreading or other techniques.

“It would be a terrible mistake for (the department) to formally submit their current version of rule changes to the Legislature,” Nass said. “Instead, the department should scrap their current process and begin anew, this time seeking to work cooperatively with the widest representation of Wisconsin’s agricultural community. However, if the agency prefers the route of confrontation, then that is what they will get from the Legislature and farmers of this state.”

The department plans to bring the rules to an internal board for approval in November. From there the rules would go to Gov. Tony Evers. If he approves them — which seems likely, since his administration controls the department — they would go to Nass’ committee. He could call a vote to block the rules from taking effect.

The agency issued a statement saying it has provided multiple opportunities for public input, including holding a dozen public hearings and taking more than 450 comments from the public.

“We are now considering those comments for possible revisions and will contemplate what the next step is,” the statement said. “Throughout this process, (the department) has welcomed and valued the public input it has received.”

A department advisory committee concluded in April, however, that the 350-foot minimum setback doesn’t protect homes, schools and high-use areas such as playgrounds from odors.

The state wouldn’t impose the standards on farmers but local governments would have to apply them if they permit farms, just like the current system.

Scott Laeser, water program director for environmental group Clean Wisconsin, on Wednesday called the standards “modest and long overdue.”

But a coalition of farm advocacy groups sent DATCP a letter last week arguing that the approach wouldn’t be workable. Farmers could be forced to place manure pits thousands of feet from a neighbor’s empty fields or woods. They also complained that farmers would have to purchase costly odor-mitigation equipment to reduce setbacks.

The groups held a joint news conference Monday to rail against the regulations, saying no farmers were included on the advisory committee, the setbacks are so extreme no one will be able to expand their operations and local governments that oppose factory farms will apply the setbacks to block new facilities.

“If adopted unchanged, this revised rule would result in significant costs to operations that want to expand, resulting in a ‘chilling effect’ on livestock industry growth,” the Wisconsin Dairy Alliance said in a statement Monday. “Rather than grow in Wisconsin, producers will leave the state for more workable locations. Following the supply, meat and milk processors will move new investment opportunities to wherever that supply is.”

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