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Municipal sewage overflows from Florence dwarfed hog waste discharges

Municipal sewage systems jettisoned tens of millions of gallons of untreated human waste into Hurricane Florence floodwaters, dwarfing the hog manure lagoon discharges state and national media cited as public health and environmental hazards. The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality issued preliminary estimates Wednesday, Oct. 10, showing municipal sanitary sewer systems disgorged 26.7 million gallons...

Dan Way
News

Lawmakers differ on Florence’s effect on hog waste lagoons

State Rep. Jimmy Dixon, R-Duplin, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, says waste-handling operations at North Carolina hog farms functioned as intended in the flooding of Hurricane Florence.  But state Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, has a different takeaway. “Short answer is that the lagoons haven’t held up well in Florence.”  Repeated attempts to get comments...

Dan Way
News

Cooper vetoes hog waste bill, citing property rights concerns

Gov. Roy Cooper on Friday vetoed House Bill 467, a measure limiting damages property owners can receive if they win nuisance lawsuits against nearby hog farms or other agricultural or forestry operations. The bill passed in April. It capped the amount of compensatory damages in those lawsuits at the fair market value of the property...

Rick Henderson
News

Lawsuit challenges A.G.’s hog waste ‘slush fund’

A lawsuit filed by the president of a conservative policy organization says the North Carolina Constitution requires payments from a 2000 agreement between pork producer Smithfield Foods Inc. and the North Carolina Department of Justice go to public schools instead of being used by the attorney general to award discretionary grants. Civitas Institute President Francis...

Don Carrington

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