The N.C. House today passed S 605, the Farm Act of 2021, without a section that would have weakened protections for whistleblowing workers but retaining an environmentally harmful proposal to allow general permits for biogas systems at factory hog farms.
Rep. Raymond Smith (D - Sampson, Wayne) put forward an amendment to remove the biogas provision this morning but it was not approved. The House voted 74-32 in favor of the measure, which must now be returned to the Senate for approval of the changes.
An amendment approved in committee removed a provision that would have made it harder for farm workers to sue employers who retaliate against them for reporting violations.
Unchanged was the section that would allow biogas systems to be installed at CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations) under a general permit, instead of requiring individual permits for each project. That would mean easier permitting for corporations like Smithfield and less oversight.
Cynthia Satterfield, acting director of the N.C. Sierra Club, issued the following statement:
"The legislature asked the hog industry 20 years ago to implement safer waste management systems at hog operations. Now it's helping to lock in the lagoon-and-sprayfield systems that have caused so many environmental and health problems for neighbors of these facilities. People in hog-producing counties may be outnumbered by pigs, but they shouldn't be overlooked by their state representatives.
"Burning biogas releases methane, a top greenhouse gas contributing to climate change. The biogas systems supported here won't help the people who suffer respiratory diseases and other illnesses due to hog waste being sprayed into the air around their homes. Hog operations with biogas will still be vulnerable to flooding, hurricanes and other extreme weather that can send hog waste spilling into eastern North Carolina waterways.
"Some North Carolina hog farmers are already using superior systems to what is being proposed in this bill. Let’s do more of that. We urge the Senate to vote to not concur on the Farm Act and send this bill back to the drawing board."