A staggering 23 percent of all new poultry operations tracked by EWG are located in these two counties. And within the confines of Duplin and factory farms are
Sampson counties,
tightly clustered. An astonishing 93 percent of the poultry operations are within three miles of at least 20 other poultry or swine farms. The rapid growth in North Carolina’s unregulated poultry sector means that across the state, poultry are now a bigger source of nutrient pollution than pigs. North Carolina’s 4,700 poultry farms
create five million tons of nutrient-laden poultry waste a year. That’s on top of the 2,100 swine operations, which generate enough liquified waste to fill more than 15,000 Olympic-size swimming pools every year. EWG‘s calculations show there is 4.8 times more nitrogen waste from poultry than from pigs and 4.1 times more phosphorous waste from poultry than from pigs. EWG’s findings compare favorably with the Basinwide Manure Production Report prepared by the state’s Department of Environmental Quality, or DEQ, that concluded poultry waste generated three times the nitrogen and six times the phos- phorus as pigs in 2014. The vast majority of poultry operations
in the state do not require a permit and operate with impunity. Although the 1997 moratorium on new and expanded hog facilities in North Carolina was precipi- tated by hurricanes hammering farms in floodplains, 74 poultry operations have been built in the vulnerable area densely concentrated around three rivers – the Lumber, the Neuse and the northeastern area of the Cape Fear. Seven of those op- erations are new since Hurricane Matthew. After Hurricane Florence, an EWG and Waterkeeper Alliance investigation found that 35 poultry operations were flooded, 21 of which were actually outside the floodplain. Poultry waste, which is mixed with feathers and bedding to form so-called dry litter and is then spread on fields, is kept in large piles, where rain can wash the nutrient-heavy pollution into nearby rivers. One of the few regulations on this waste is that it must not be left uncovered for more than 15 days. But these minimal regulations are rarely enforced, as DEQ does not in- spect poultry operations unless there is a complaint. Worse yet, the water quality staff of the seven regional offices respon- sible for responding to complaints was slashed by 41 percent between 2011 and 2016 because of budget cuts.
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As EWG’s new data and maps clearly
show, there’s been an explosion of growth in the poultry sector that has largely flown under the radar. The deluge of nutrient-saturated, bio- hazardous material churned out by North Carolina animal agriculture poses serious threats to public health. As such, the ram- pant growth in the state’s poultry industry must be factored in when state regulators meet in the coming days to renew the anemic general permit governing swine animal feeding operations.
NC regulators are required under state
law to consider the cumulative impact of similar operations – hogs and poultry – on the environment because toxic runoff from both poultry and swine operations pollute the very same water bodies. The issue of environmental justice is another reason regulators should factor the burgeoning poultry industry’s excessive pollution into their deliberations about the swine permit. In January 2017, the U.S Environmen-
tal Protection Agency issued a stern letter to the North Carolina DEQ expressing “deep concern about the possibility that African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans have been subjected to dis- crimination as the result of NC DEQ's operation of
the Swine Waste General
Permit program, including the 2014 re- newal of the Swine Waste General Permit.” This echoed long-standing fears that fac- tory farm waste disproportionally impacts minority communities. Clearly, this recent and dramatic ex-
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pansion of avian agribusiness and the threat these operations pose to the environment should be factored into regulators’ delib- erations over the general swine permit. The DEQ must also press ahead quickly to complete its community mapping tool to ensure fair treatment of all citizens when permitting and regulating factory farms. The health and well-being of North Carolina’s citizens hang in the balance.
Greensboro, NC 27408
Written by Environmental Working Group staff members Audrey Lothspeich, GIS Analyst, and Sarah Porter, Senior GIS Ana- lyst, who also made critically important contributions to this project. EWG is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to protecting human health and the environment. Visit
www.ewg.org Sources: EWG, Waterkeeper Alliance and North Carolina Department of Environmen- tal Quality
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