North Carolina Hog Permit Fails to Protect Environment and Public Health

Raleigh, N.C. – The Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) today issued the Swine General Permit, in addition to two other permits for animal operations. While the permit takes some steps in the right direction, it fails to adequately protect the environment and continues to put communities, especially communities of color, in harm’s way.

A statement follows from Valerie Baron, Staff Attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC):

“This permit does not do nearly enough to protect the environment and public health. Without adequate protections for communities of concern, the permit continues to violate federal anti-discrimination laws and put people in harm’s way. With two ‘thousand-year flood’ events in the last three years alone and scientists predicting more extreme weather in coming years, we cannot continue to delay modernizing these safeguards. This should be the last general permit for the lagoon and sprayfield system.”

For more background, read: North Carolinians: Tell DEQ to Improve Its Hog Permit