hog waste
PFAS, climate change, mining and hazardous waste: 2022 will be another critical year for the environment in North Carolina
On the first day of 2022, the neighbors’ air conditioners were running. The temperature at Raleigh-Durham International Airport hit 78 degrees, a record for the date; at 1:51 p.m. the high humidity even produced a heat index of 79. A heat index. In January.
Partial hog lagoon breach spills 3 million gallons of feces, urine in Sampson County
June 15, 6:59 p.m. This story has been updated with comments from the Department of Environmental Quality. Three million gallons of feces and urine spilled from a hog lagoon Friday, as farm owners to tried to prevent the waste from entering a nearby swamp. The lagoon breach occurred at B&L Farms, 2525 Plain View Highway, […]
Legislators have gone home, but the week ahead includes key dates on Chemours, coal ash, red wolves, hog waste and more
The Legislative Building might be quiet as a tomb, but state and federal agencies are crafting critical environmental policies that will affect North Carolina’s air, water and endangered species. Tuesday, July 10: Already on the brink of extinction in the wild, the 40 or so endangered red wolves have a dim future in eastern North […]
Editorial: Hog farm trial should cause legislators to wake up and smell the…
As Policy Watch reporter Lisa Sorg reported once again yesterday, the facts of industrial hog farming in our state are profoundly disturbing and ought to be enough — even for those of us who live nowhere near such an operation — to cause a serious second, third and fourth look at lax state environmental policies. […]
This morning’s “must read” editorial
Be sure to check out this morning’s lead editorial in Raleigh’s News & Observer, which is based in large measure on the reporting of Policy Watch’s award-winning Environmental Reporter, Lisa Sorg. As Sorg reported earlier this week, North Carolina’s latest proposed animal waste rules — an area already poorly regulated — pose numerous potential problems […]
Editorial: Bill to limit lawsuits against hog polluters is dead wrong
As Lisa Sorg reported last night in the post immediately below, the state House approved legislation last night that would insulate polluting hog operations (“farms” seems like too genteel a term) from liability for the damage they inflict on their neighbors. This morning’s lead editorial in the Winston-Salem Journal explains why this idea, to put […]
[Updated] In eastern NC, hog lagoons, coal ash basins flooded; environmental damage still unknown
Update: At 3:40 p.m. Fox Carolina reported that a break has been detected in the earthen basin wall surrounding the cooling pond at the H.F. Lee Plant in Goldsboro. From the story: A statement from the utility on Wednesday said there is a 50- to 60-foot break in a corner of the cooling pond, which […]
Monday map time: Every permitted pig, cow and chicken operation in NC
Congratulations, North Carolina, we’ve reached a milestone in which the population of people and factory-farmed hogs is nearly even: 10 million each. Add in the 79.7 million broiler chickens, nearly 4 million egg-laying hens, 13,700 dairy cows and 3,800 beef cattle — and well, you’ve read Animal Farm, right? Four legs good, two legs bad. (But […]