Oklahoma agriculture board approves poultry farm proposals

The Oklahoma Board of Agriculture on Tuesday approved proposals for new or expanding poultry operations requiring them to be a certain distance away from homes and schools, but some eastern Oklahoma residents say the plan doesn't go far enough. The board voted 3-2 for the rules that include "setback" requirements that operations with fewer than 150,000 birds be at least 500 feet from homes and larger operations be at least 1,000 feet away. All operations must be at least 1,500 feet from schools.All operations must be 200 feet from streams, 100 feet from private wells and 500 feet from public wells.The proposal now goes to the Legislature and, if approved and signed by the governor, would go into effect in September.