GRAND FORKS (AP) - The City Council has dumped a proposed law that would have allowed the dumping of sugar beet pulp on rented land west of the city, amid worries about a possible stench.

Meanwhile, the prepile sugar beet harvest was getting under way in the Red River Valley.

The Grand Forks City Council on Monday indefinitely tabled a vote on the proposed pulp dumping law, which was sought by Moorhead, Minn.-based American Crystal Sugar Co. for its plant in East Grand Forks, Minn.

Council President Hal Gershman said the law might open the door for American Crystal to "ring the city" with pulp that, when the weather was right, might create a terrible odor.

Council members Doug Christensen and Curt Kreun supported the pulp dumping plan, saying they were convinced that the pulp would not stink.

Beet pulp is the portion of the sugar beet that remains after the sugar is removed.

American Crystal officials had said earlier that the pulp would not smell like beet sewage does, because it has no sugar on which bacteria can feed.

The company said the pulp also would be plowed under the ground, not left sitting in a lagoon open to the wind.

Crystal representative Steve Clausen said the company does not need the Grand Forks land because it has enough land in rural East Grand Forks for dumping pulp. The Grand Forks land would have served as a backup, he said.

The prepile harvest, which American Crystal started this week, has growers getting just enough beets out of the ground to get processing plants running. There are Crystal plants in Hillsboro and Drayton, and on the Minnesota side of the Red River in Moorhead and Crookston, along with East Grand Forks.

Crystal spokesman Jeff Schweitzer said this year's crop looks to be above the average of the last five years of 21 tons per acre.

"We don't expect the 25-ton crop we had last year, but some of the early indicators show our crop could be in the 23-ton-per-acre average," he said.

Crystal's full harvest is to begin Oct. 1.

Farther south, Wahpeton-based Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative was planning to begin its prepile harvest on Sept. 12, spokeswoman Susan Johnson said. The co-op does not set a firm date for the start of full harvest, instead launching the harvest when the weather is appropriate, she said.