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Agriculture:
Swine Farms Environmental Performance Standards

Our Position: support
Bill Number: S1465
Sponsor: Sen. Albertson
Legislative Session: 2007

This legislation makes North Carolina the first state in the country to permanently ban new lagoons and sprayfields.  New swine operations can be permitted but only if they meet higher environmental performance standards, to be determined by the state’s rule-making body.   This measure brings to a close a 10 year moratorium on new and expanded swine operations.

The bill also creates a $2 million a year cost-sharing program to help farmers fund replacement of lagoon and sprayfield waste management system with more environmentally friendly alternatives. It creates a pilot program to use methane from the lagoons to generate electricity on up to 50 farms, but does not require the energy-capture technology to also address byproducts such as ammonia, pathogens and odor, as sought by environmental and community groups.  The bill also allows repair of lagoons that are about to fail if the lagoon poses an imminent hazard to public health or the environment. 

The bill does not include a date at which all lagoons and sprayfields would be permanently phased out.

Status

The bill passed with overwhelming support in both houses.

Action Needed

Background

The session began with an array of bills aimed at permanently banning lagoon and sprayfield technology, including legislation introduced by Rep. Carolyn Justice (R-Pender) and Sen. Charlie Albertson (D-Duplin).  North Carolina is home to 10 million hogs and over 2,500 hog operations that use a waste management system responsible for a host of environmental problems.  Many operations, by virtue of their scale and proximity to poor and minority communities, have created deep, emotionally-fraught political rifts.  This was to be the session to finally move one step forward.