The legislature voted today to approve the Farm Act, a bill that includes a giveaway to industrial hog operations that endanger the environment and public health with outdated lagoon-and-sprayfield waste management systems.
Senate Bill 315 will now be sent to Gov. Roy Cooper for his consideration.
S 315 contains a section that would make secret certain records related to soil and water conservation programs that are currently available to the public, including documents about factory farms that may expose environmental issues.
The measure would also 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 would undermine a 2007 ban on construction of hog waste lagoons and sprayfields, which required new or expanding hog production facilities to meet environmental performance standards. Environmental performance standards are meant to protect air and water from pollutants associated with the waste from industrial swine farms.
“This bill, like many before it, ignores the communities who live near factory farms and who suffer environmental nuisances,” said Cassie Gavin, Director of Government Affairs for N.C. Sierra Club. “These neighbors have repeatedly won in court, but the legislature keeps offering more special treatment for the industrial hog industry instead of addressing problems.”