"The state’s massive poultry industry is largely unregulated, leaving the state to guess about the number and location of giant production facilities producing millions of chickens."
"The legislation aimed at regulating North Carolina’s huge and largely unregulated poultry industry seemed modest in scope, requiring commercial chicken farms to submit waste management plans to environmental regulators so the public would know where millions of tons of chicken “litter” ends up.
But as the legislative session in Raleigh came to a close in July, the bill had moved not an inch—and no one was surprised.
“We’re unlikely to see any poultry related legislation passed in the short run,” said state Rep. Graig Meyer, a Democrat and one of the bill’s main sponsors, lamenting the industry’s influence. “We’re in the very early stages of what is likely going to take many years of work.”
Commercial poultry farms produce more waste laden with nitrogen and phosphorus than the state’s massive commercial hog farms but need no operating permits, face no requirement to submit waste management plans to the Department of Environmental Quality and can only be inspected if someone in the community complains about their operations."
Aman Azhar reports for Inside Climate News October 13, 2021.
