Stunk out of house and home near a dairy feedlot

Minnesota health officials took the unprecedented step of advising several families to evacuate their homes Sunday night after fumes from a large dairy feedlot near Thief River Falls reached unhealthy levels.

People who live near Excel Dairy reported headaches, nausea and weakness, and say they have measured levels of foul-smelling hydrogen sulfide in recent days more than 200 times higher than what state air quality standards allow.

Pollution authorities confirmed high levels of hydrogen sulfide at the dairy's property fence-line with their own equipment.

At least three families departed Sunday night, and more were reportedly leaving their homes Monday. About 40 people in a dozen homes live within a mile of the 1,500-cow dairy.

The smell of large-scale livestock operations has long led to clashes between rural residents and farmers. The Excel Dairy has been a focus of odor complaints in the past.

In May, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency set up devices on the farm's perimeter to monitor how much hydrogen sulfide is reaching neighbors.

The MPCA has speculated that the pollution may be a temporary side effect of the company's effort to improve its manure storage.

"It's so strong and so sour and so potent that it takes your breath right away," said Jeff Brouse, who lives less than half a mile from the feedlot. Brouse, his wife and two children, ages 3 and 5, left their home Thursday evening. "You may not smell it at 6 p.m., and then the wind will change and all of a sudden at 9 or 10 it's like a wall of stench that rolls right through the house."

When notified on Sunday of the extremely high levels that citizens bordering the dairy were recording on hand-held meters, Minnesota Department of Health toxicologist Rita Messing advised people to leave their homes if they could do so.

State air quality rules allow no more than 30 parts per billion as a half-hour average, no more than twice during a five-day period.

Although the citizen-reported values of 6,800 parts per billion have not been validated, "the point is the levels that are being measured here are really much higher than what we've seen from other feedlots and other sources like beet sugar plants and paper mills," Messing said.

Company officials did not return phone calls Monday to comment. State feedlot records indicate that the Excel Dairy is licensed for 1,544 cows and is owned by a parent company called the Dairy Dozen in Veblen, S.D., which owns several dairies in Minnesota and the Dakotas.

Gaylen Reetz, director of the regional division for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, said that the strong odors may be caused by work that Excel is required to do because of other regulatory problems last year. As part of an agreement with the state, the dairy must empty one large manure basin, spread the liquid manure, and remove sludge at the bottom so that the basin can be relined.

The dairy is also proposing to add another 500 cows, Reetz said.

In addition to the hand-held citizen monitors, Reetz said the hydrogen sulfide concentrations were "pegging the meters" dozens of times recently on more reliable state monitoring equipment whose upper limits are 90 parts per billion.

Reetz said the parent company also owns New Horizon Dairy in west-central Minnesota. The MPCA has also received citizen complaints about odor from that feedlot, he said, and is monitoring the air near its location in southeastern Grant County. Last year, the state fined New Horizon $17,400 for applying too much manure on fields and for other waste-handling problems.

State pollution control engineers met Monday afternoon to determine whether there are any immediate ways to reduce the odors at Excel Dairy. A different MPCA group met to discuss whether the company had violated any air quality rules. While the concentrations were far above state standards, Minnesota also allows exemptions from those rules in some cases when manure basins are being agitated and pumped.

At low concentrations of a few parts per billion, hydrogen sulfide is a nuisance, and its rotten-egg smell can cause headaches, sore throats, eye irritation, vomiting and diarrhea. However, chronic exposure even to low levels of hydrogen sulfide can lead to memory problems, dizziness, fatigue and loss of appetite, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Chad Bottem, an electrician who lives less than a half-mile from the dairy, said that he's tired of constant headaches from the smell and the mornings where "it's like you wake up with a hangover."

Bottem and his wife were packing up Monday and leaving for their cabin until the state says it's safe to live in their home again. "Our daughter is getting married in September and wanted to do it in the yard," he said. "We told her no because we don't know which direction the wind will be coming from."

Tom Meersman • 612-673-7388