The state Senate this evening passed a measure meant to support North Carolina's farmers, but with giveaways to industrial hog operations that endanger the environment and public health.
Senate Bill 315, the Farm Act, contains a section that would make secret certain public records connected with soil and water conservation programs, including documents about factory farms that may expose environmental issues. The bill would also create a new exemption to odor rules for certain farms. The bill sponsor, Sen. Brent Jackson, indicated that this objectionable provision will be modified or come out.
The measure would allow hog farms that install biogas technology to avoid upgrading to environmentally superior technologies, as long as the farms don't increase the number of pigs on site. This may undermine a 2007 ban on construction of hog waste lagoons and sprayfields, which required any new or expanding hog production facilities to meet environmental performance standards.
None of the Farm Act’s provisions help to address water contamination associated with factory hog farms or nuisance complaints from farms’ neighbors. The measure will now go to the House for consideration.
“It’s disappointing that the legislature still seems unwilling to act to help neighbors of factory farms who have long complained about environmental nuisances, “said Molly Diggins, state director of the N.C. Sierra Club. “These neighbors have gone to court and won repeatedly, but the legislature keeps stepping in to offer more exemptions and special treatment for industry instead of addressing the problems. This year’s Farm Act is no different. We call on the House to remove these provisions.”