Pure Farms Pure Waters Archives - Waterkeeper

Pure Farms Pure Waters

Tell the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality to Stop Enabling the Chaos That CAFOs Create


Farming in North Carolina is not what it used to be. Profit-driven industrial giants have eradicated the traditional “family farm” model of agriculture....

Waterkeeper Alliance Responds to EPA’s Denial of Petition to Better Regulate Pollution From Animal Factories


The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week denied a petition from Waterkeeper Alliance and dozens of environmental and community...

Waterkeeper Alliance Calls on NCDEQ To Listen to Public Input, Protect Communities During 2024 General Permitting Process


Waterkeeper Alliance & Partners Will Host the “People’s Hearing” to Increase Access to Public Participation & Ensure that the Final General...

Catawba College and Waterkeeper Alliance Partner on Advocacy Boot Camp


A Profound Learning Experience in Environmental Advocacy Recently, six Catawba College undergraduate students traveled to New Bern, NC to participate in...

Tell EPA to Reestablish CAFOs as a National Enforcement and Compliance Initiative


Every four years, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets national enforcement and compliance priorities to focus its resources on the nation’s...

Waterkeeper Alliance Fly -In

Waterkeeper Alliance Holds “Fly-Over” in North Carolina to Get Better Look at CAFO Crisis


Recently, Waterkeeper Alliance held a “Fly-Over” in North Carolina. With the help of South Wings, and accompanied by a half dozen other local...

Hogs in a CAFO by the Federal District Court for Eastern NC.

Op-Ed: We Must Shut Down Factory Farms to Protect Clean Water and Environmental Justice


by Gloria Reuben For years, Americans have been served an image of an idyllic family farmer who is responsible for the food that makes its way to our homes....

Waterkeeper Alliance and Other Groups Petition EPA to Improve Oversight of Water Pollution from Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations


WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, a nationwide coalition of 51 citizens’ groups and community advocacy, environmental justice, and environmental advocacy...

North Carolina’s Biogas Permits Are Woefully Inadequate


More Stringent Monitoring and Compliance Protocols Are Needed  Waterkeeper Alliance and Waterkeepers Carolina are severely disappointed with the North...

New Book From Corban Addison Highlights the CAFO Crisis in North Carolina


Wastelands: The True Story of Farm Country on Trial, the latest book from Corban Addison, documents the horrendous, unjust, and often untold story of how...

Waterkeeper Alliance Responds to the Congressional Spending Bill’s Extension of Polluter Loopholes for Industrial Animal Agriculture


Daniel E. Estrin, General Counsel and Advocacy Director of Waterkeeper Alliance, released the following statement: The omnibus spending bill recently signed...

Mexican Court Urged to Rule for Indigenous Mayan Youth in Constitutional Challenge to Massive Industrial Hog Operation on Yucatán Peninsula


Mexico City, Mexico — Conservation groups, scientists, doctors and public-health experts filed a legal brief today supporting constitutional claims...

Week of Action: Transition to a More Sustainable and Equitable Food System


This action notice is updated from a notice originally shared in September 2020. We require farms and food systems that are resilient, healthy, and fair...

International Coalition Petitions Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to Investigate Factory-Farm Abuses


The coalition includes advocates in Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Ecuador, United States, and the request is supported by 127 organizations and 151 academics,...

In Response to Lawsuit, EPA Pledges to Strengthen Standards for Slaughterhouse Water Pollution


In a victory for clean water, EPA announced yesterday that it will update water pollution control standards for the slaughterhouse industry following a...

Clean Water Act Victory in the Washington State Court of Appeals


Originally published by Puget Soundkeeper, reposted with permission. Soundkeeper and Partners Successful in their Challenge of a Statewide Agricultural...

Washington Appellate Court Rejects State’s Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation Permits, Finds State Failed to Protect Water Quality and Account for Climate Change


Yesterday, as record-setting heat threatened the sustainability of Washington’s water resources, a three-judge panel of the Washington Court of Appeals...

Public Health Experts, Conservationists Ask Mexico’s Highest Court to Uphold Suspension of 49,000-Hog Industrial Animal Operation in Yucatán Peninsula


Efforts Support Constitutional Claims Raised by Mayan Children MEXICO CITY, Mexico— Conservation groups, scientists, doctors, and public-health experts...

N.C. Court Chooses to Restrict Local Property Rights of Neighbors Besieged by Industrial Hog Waste


Ruling Draws an Appeal From Civil Rights and Environmental Groups Challenging Special Legal Protections for Industrial Hog Operations   Individuals suffering...

Florescent lab samples under UV light. There are rows and rows of bright green dots surround by shades of blue and purple.

It’s time for NC to make a simple, scientific, change to improve its water quality standards


North Carolina is behind Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, and Mississippi in water quality standards By Brandon Jones, Catawba Riverkeeper Gov. Roy...

A pig on a farm looks at the camera, with two more pigs behind it.

This Holiday Season, Buy Locally from Sustainable Farmers


By David Caldwell, Broad Riverkeeper with MountainTrue. Originally published by MountainTrue. Photos by Colfax Creek Farm. As we approach the holiday season,...

Two large piles of brown poultry litter behind two poultry barns at an industrial poultry operation.

It’s long past time NC takes action on pollution from poultry


By Emily Sutton, Haw Riverkeeper The unregulated poultry industry in North Carolina is burgeoning, with the number of chickens and turkeys increasing 17...

Pipelines for Hog Waste Gas are Dirty Energy


By Jill Howell, Pamlico Tar Riverkeeper, Sound Rivers Our nation is moving away from dangerous pipelines — and it’s a move for the better.  In July,...

Feature image: Aerial shot of an industrial animal operation during Hurricane Matthew.

Protecting, Preserving, and Restoring the Floodplain


By Matthew Starr, Upper Neuse Riverkeeper. Originally published by Sound Rivers. We still have more than a month left in the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season,...

Show your appreciation for environmentally conscious farmers


A lot of folks in North Carolina produce meat. The state ranks second nationally in pork production and is among the nation’s leaders in poultry production....

Lawsuit Challenges New NEPA Regulations that Shield CAFOs from Environmental Review


Extreme changes to the regulations have widespread consequences for animals, surrounding communities, and the environment Today a coalition of rural advocacy,...

Act Now for Factory Farm Reform


From sick workers in slaughterhouses to empty shelves at grocery stores, the coronavirus pandemic further exposed a food system in crisis. We deserve farm...

300 Diverse Advocacy Groups Endorse the Farm System Reform Act and Urge Quick Passage in Congress


With food and farm systems in crisis, leading food, agriculture, animal welfare, and environmental groups call for a halt to new factory farms and smart...

Hogs in a CAFO by the Federal District Court for Eastern NC.

Asthma, flies, and the stench; what hog operations do to Eastern North Carolinians


Neighbors of industrial swine operations have repeatedly — and successfully — made the case that the stench, flies, and day-and-night rumbling of trucks...

Weaving Together a Community Through Sustainable Farming


By Emily Sutton, Haw Riverkeeper The way Isaiah Allen tells the story, the man at The Eddy’s bar had a deep farmer’s tan, sweat dried around his collar,...