Fears of hog lagoon flooding in NC raise question of who should fund industry efforts to adapt to climate change - Entrepreneur Generations

Hogs on a flooded farm crowd on top of a barn in N.C. after Hurricane Floyd in 1999. (Reuters photo)

This year's hurricane season is predicted to be stronger than usual. That has some North Carolina residents and organizations worried that storms will again overwhelm hog lagoons and flood communities with waste. That, in turn, invites consideration of a larger issue: who should fund efforts to keep industry from harming communities because of climate change-fueled disasters.

North Carolina has the most poultry farms and the second-most hog farms of any state in the U.S., and its concentration of such operations on the coastal plain makes it uniquely vulnerable to storm damage, Cameron Oglesby reports for Environmental Health News. Animal waste is stored in open lagoons, and contains harmful bacteria like E. coli or salmonella. When lagoons are flooded, the bacteria can get into local waterways and contaminate groundwater. In 2018, over 100 lagoons were damaged or flooded after Hurricane Florence, and some state officials and environmental advocates told Oglesby they worried the hog industry has not adequately prepared for future storms since then.

Roy Lee Lindsey, CEO of the North Carolina Pork Producers Council, told Oglesby their lagoons are not outdated, and that the industry has participated in a voluntary state program that buys out hog farms in floodplains, leading to the permanent closure of 43 hog farms and about 103 waste lagoons since 2000. More hog farmers would participate if the state better funded it, he said.

After Hurricane Florence, the state legislature allocated $5 million to expand the North Carolina Floodplain Buyout Program, Oglesby reports. Will Hendrick environmental justice advocate for the North Carolina Conservation Network and staff attorney with the Waterkeeper Alliance's Pure Farms program, questioned whether taxpayers should fund buyout and other pollution mitigation programs instead of requiring, and enforcing, stricter industry regulations.

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/3hDV8zZ Fears of hog lagoon flooding in NC raise question of who should fund industry efforts to adapt to climate change - Entrepreneur Generations

Posted by Entrepreneur Generations

Tweet