NEW YORK (Associated Press) - North Carolina hog farmers could rebuild after a natural disaster or change operations without having to follow decade-old distance requirements from homes or schools in legislation approved by a Senate committee.

The bill, which was approved Tuesday, also provides a similar exception for farmers, many associated with Smithfield Foods Inc., who are making plans to expand living areas for their pregnant sows.

Swine houses built before the mid-1990s are exempt from buffer requirements, approved in landmark hog legislation after some high-profile animal waste spills. Now the hog industry wants to remain exempt if new construction is performed in narrow circumstances.

But environmentalists said the bill, which is slated for Senate floor debate Wednesday, is a step backward for the health and safety for those who live close to hog operations or go to church or school nearby.

"This represents the first significant erosion of existing protections," Molly Diggins, state chapter president of The Sierra Club, told the panel, before the Senate Environmental Committee agreed to the changes.

Sen. Charlie Albertson, the bill's chief proponent, said the bill would help livestock operations hurt by the skyrocketing cost of feed and fuel, and a glut in the number of sows.

The state's hog industry creates 48,000 jobs, according to the North Carolina Pork Council, mostly in eastern North Carolina. North Carolina is the nation's second-largest hog producer, behind Iowa.

"I would never do anything that I thought would degrade our community," said Albertson, D-Duplin, who helped pass 1995 legislation restricting hog lagoons. "This industry is so important to our people that this is prudent, it's reasonable."

The current law requires swine houses built before July 1995 to stay at least 2,500 feet from schools, 1,500 feet from any residence and 500 feet from any property boundary.

If the farm operator wants to build more closely, it must receive written permission from affected property owners.

Swine house operators say they want to be able to rebuild the older operations without obtaining a written OK from neighbors when a fire or other act of God damages the property substantially, and when replacing them under the buffer requirements is impractical.

The measure won't change current restrictions on hog lagoons or allow farmers to expand the number of head of livestock on individual farms.

"In almost all cases we'd be moving away from boundaries and property lines," said Angie Whitener, a spokeswoman for the N.C. Pork Council. "We're not trying to get around performance standards ... or (put) more animals on the farm."

The setback exception also would apply when the farmer wants to adapt the swine house to a different operation, such as from raising sows to keeping older pigs before they are taken to market.

Other swine houses need more room for pregnant sows, which historically have been kept in stalls or crates, which animal rights activists have criticized as inhumane.

Virginia-based Smithfield said last year it would phase out the crates in favor of larger pens at its company-owned hog operations.

Extending the exception would give older farmers the right to rebuild indefinitely and take neighbors out of the approval process, environmentalists said.

Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, D-Orange, complained that the bill was being rushed through the panel with little debate.

"I'd like to be heard for the citizens of eastern North Carolina," said Neuse River Keeper Rick Dove, who interrupted the committee meeting after the bill passed. "This is a terrible day for eastern North Carolina."