Massive Swine Farm Coming To North Bismarck! (NOT TRUE)

NIMBY- "Not In My Backyard"

It's a story causing a real stink in Cass County.  Two things nobody wants built in their backyard are prisons and pig farms.  I mean, you think Grand Forks sugar beets stink? Take a trip through northern Iowa and take a deep whiff.  Could be turkey farms, or could be pig farms...but, it's definitely the start of a club sandwich.

Pigs, hogs, swine, sows, boars, no matter how you slice pork it's delicious and unfortunately pretty smelly.  But, you can't have a BLT without someone living downwind from a swine farm.  In Cass County, or more specifically Howes Township, an ordinance is currently preventing a large scale swine unit from being built.

That's NIMBY for ya...

Well the North Dakota Farm Bureau is attempting to make them squeal by taking the township to court to show there's no justification to their set-back requirements. The ND Farm Bureau is bringing friends too- like Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, who's just coming off a victory lap after pulling down Governor Burgum's pants on that whole Jeff Delzer issue.  Wayne's not coming alone- he's got North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goering with him, and they both "have determined the township failed to provide any reason to justify the set-back requirement."

Stink obviously not being a valid reason.

But Howes Township isn't the only pain in ND Farm Bureau's pork butt, Ramsey County has been denying a different swine farm access for quite some time.  Here's from last year's Grand Harbor Township lawsuit with the NDFB.

The ordinance, court documents say, “imposes environmental obligations, water setback distances, highway and road setback distances, as well as odor setbacks, which are impermissibly broad in various respects.”

How much stink is too much stink?

I'll conclude that if they wanted to build a hog farm next to Costco maybe they could...I mean, NDFB says you voted for it in 2012.

North Dakota voters in 2012 overwhelmingly supported a Constitutional amendment to ensure the right to farming and ranching. The Constitution now includes the right to “engage in modern farming and ranching practices,” and that “no law shall be enacted which abridges the right of farmers and ranchers to employ agricultural technology, modern livestock production, and ranching practices.”

I see the point from both sides...and I do love pork chops.

Stay fragrant y'all.