Hogs

A new report from the environmental group Environmental Defense predicts that new technologies to manage hog waste could generate 7,000 jobs and $10 billion over a 20-year period. The report says that hog farmers should replace lagoon systems with cleaner systems that create marketable byproducts such as compost. Rep. Earl Jones and I have introduced legislation , House Bill 1822, that would require a permanent phase out of old hog lagoons that don't adopt the new technologies, but resistance from the hog industry has prevented that bill being heard. In addition, Rep. Carolyn Justice has sponsored legislation, House Bill 1933, which I cosponsored, which would require that hog lagoons adopt the new technologies, and bans new lagoons that don't. That bill is pending in the House Agriculture Committee, where it has been held up until the hog industry's objections can be dealt with. And why can't we just pass good legislation over the objections of the hog industry? Not until we get true campaign finance reform in North Carolina.