House hustles to get draft of hog farm bill passed by deadline

April 26, 2001

The moratorium on new or expanding industrial hog farms would be extended for two years under a bill that passed the N.C. House on Wednesday.

The moratorium was contested when it first took effect in 1997. But the extension generated little debate before the House approved it by a vote of 87-13 on Wednesday.

Rep. Pryor Gibson, D-Montgomery and the bill sponsor, expects more debate in the Senate, where more details of the extension will be hammered out. The measure had to be approved in one chamber by today or it would have been difficult to extend the prohibition, set to expire July 1.

Rep. Don Davis, R-Harnett, said farmers were growing tired of the moratorium, which was installed so the state could find better ways to regulate hog waste from the farms.

"We've been playing around with this moratorium for three or four years," Davis said. "Let's let the farmers do their business."

The state's two largest hog producers - Smithfield Foods Inc. and Premium Standard Farms - have agreed to work with N.C. State University to find a cleaner alternative to hog lagoons by 2002. Smithfield Foods also has agreed to phase out open-air waste lagoons.

On Monday, S.C. Gov. Jim Hodges signed an emergency executive order, good for two weeks, banning new or enlarged hog farms or hog waste lagoons.