Plan in place to reduce odors from pigs

Dan Kulin

Thursday, Feb. 13, 2003 | 11:11 a.m.

The pig farm in the middle of North Las Vegas will always smell bad, but by May it shouldn't smell as bad as often.

The owner of R.C. Farms, Robert Combs, agreed Wednesday to an odor-reduction plan in exchange for Clark County's waiver of all but $500 of the $71,000 in fines that had been levied against the farm.

R.C. Farms will be fined $10,000 if the farm does not follow through with plan, which basically requires that the farm and its 6,000 animals be kept cleaner.

For 40 years, Combs has taken table scraps from Strip hotels to feed his hogs. For decades, the smelly operation was beyond the range of most of his neighbors' noses.

But as residential development exploded north, homes were built closer and closer to the farm, and North Las Vegas annexed land around the farm until the city limits surrounded Combs. About five years ago people began moving into homes across the street from part of the farm, and now there are plans to build another 344 homes next to the farm.

With the new neighbors came complaints about the stench and then fines from the county for failing to prevent an odor that was a nuisance to the community.

"Sometimes we can't even open our windows," said 39-year-old Paul Matha. He has lived about 250 yards from the farm for five years with the wife and two children.

Combs said some people ask him why his new neighbors complain about the smell when they knew, or should have known, that his farm was close by. But Combs said he wants to be a valued member of the community, so he'll do what he can to lessen the smell.

"We want to be an asset to the community, not a hindrance," Combs said.

The changes Combs has agreed to make make include feeding his 5,700 pigs through a trough instead of just throwing the food at them, resurfacing some of the pigpens and cleaning the animals and their pens more frequently. The farm is also home to about 300 cows.

"Generally, we'll keep the place cleaner than we're used to," Combs said.

The changes won't get rid of the bad smells entirely, Combs said. "But it won't be as strong."

Matha said this morning that he was glad to hear that Combs had agreed to try to mitigate the smell.

"It is a pig farm and there's cows there, so there's going to be a smell," Matha said. "But if he can do something like extra cleaning to make it not so strong, that'll be great."

North Las Vegas Mayor Michael Montandon also hopes the planned changes reduce the smell, but he cautioned that the changes will take time.

"It's a great step but he's got a lot of work to do," Montadon said.

Combs said the odor-reducing changes, which will cost about $70,000, will be in place by May.

Combs also said he will notify county officials when he's about to do some of the smelliest work on the farm, such as cleaning the concrete-lined settling basins that catch animal waste. By informing the county when this work is being done, county officials will be able to tell people who call to complain what is going on and that it won't last long.

Deputy District Attorney Catherine Jorgenson, who handled the case for the county, said she hopes the odor-reducing plan will lessen the farm's impact on neighbors.

"I don't think anyone expects there to be no smell, but the odor will be reduced significantly," Jorgenson said.

The odor-reducing plan was developed a year ago by C.M. Williams, who was director of the North Carolina State University Animal and Poultry Waste Management Center. The county paid about $5,000 for the report, Jorgenson said.

Williams' report, which was given to the county in March 2002, laid out general recommendations for reducing the odor at Combs farm.

Jorgenson said Williams or another expert in the field will take those general recommendations and develop a specific odor mitigation plan for R.C. Farms. For example, Williams' report suggested keeping the animals and their buildings cleaner, while the revised plan could specify how often the animals need to be cleaned, she said.

The revised plan should be completed within two months, after which Combs will have another six months to implement the plan. During that time R.C. Farms will not be subject to any new, odor-related fines, she said.

Combs could be granted a 30-day extension to put the plan in place. But if Combs ultimately does not follow the plan he will be fined $10,000, Jorgenson said.

The $500 fine Combs agreed to pay Wednesday comes from missing deadlines to submit reports explaining how much fuel the farm uses in its boiler, which is used to cook the food for the pigs. The farm is required to report this because of emissions from the boiler, she said.

The settlement was approved Wednesday by Ernest Freggiaro, the county Air Pollution Control hearing officer, who commended both sides for resolving the matter on their own.

"I'm glad to see we're not being onerous here," he said, adding that the county does not want to put Combs out of business.

Another part of the agreement between Combs and the county says the county must consult with state agriculture officials before adopting a new law regarding odor complaints against farms such as R.C. Farms.

That agreement is intended to resolve a jurisdictional argument that arose in September when attorneys for Combs said state law barred the county from going after agricultural operations.