The state House today voted 63-48 to pass the Farm Act, a bill that ostensibly supports North Carolina's farmers, but includes giveaways to industrial hog operations that endanger the environment and public health.
Senate Bill 315 will now be returned to the Senate for a concurrence vote on changes made in the House, none of which addressed the bill’s environmental concerns.
S 315 contains a section that would make secret some records - currently available to the public - related to soil and water conservation programs, including documents about factory farms that may expose environmental issues.
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.
“This bill does nothing to help the neighbors of factory farms who have long suffered 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 offering more special treatment for the industrial hog industry instead of addressing problems. This year’s Farm Act is no different. We call on the Senate to not concur.”