Pure Farms, Pure Waters - Waterkeeper - Page 2

Pure Farms, Pure Waters

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,...

Two Inches Of Rain Was All It Took


Two inches of rain was all it took to send three million gallons of hog feces and urine coursing from Sampson County’s B&L Farms to Starlins Swamp,...

Yadkin Riverkeeper on the Clean-Water Reasons to Support Sustainable Farms


By Edgar Miller, Executive Director of Yadkin Riverkeeper The early days of the pandemic brought disturbing, hard-to reconcile, news:  On the one hand,...

Hog and Poultry Waste Threat in N.C. Has Gotten Worse Since Hurricane Florence


North Carolina’s industrial meat operations pose a greater environmental threat today than they did when Hurricane Florence hit the state in 2018. And...

A Chilling Message: Keep Away from Water’s Edge


By Brian Fannon, Yadkin Riverkeeper The message from local officials about a pond near Lake Norman last summer was chilling: “Keep away from the water’s...

EWG and Waterkeeper Alliance: Poultry Factory Farms Disproportionately Threaten Black, Native American, and Latino People in North Carolina


113 Million Chickens and Turkeys in Three Eastern Counties Alone The predominantly Black, Native American, and Latino residents of three eastern North...

UPDATE: Exposing Fields of Filth: Factory Farms Disproportionately Threaten Black, Latino, and Native American North Carolinians


By Sarah Graddy, EWG Communications Director; Ellen Simon, Waterkeeper Alliance Advocacy Writer; and Soren Rundquist, EWG Director of Spatial Analysis1...

What’s in your water: check before you swim


By Will Hendrick, Waterkeeper Alliance senior attorney and manager, and Gray Jernigan, Green Riverkeeper. Photos by MountainTrue. What’s in the water...

“Biogas” Won’t Lead to a Cleaner, Greener North Carolina


By Kemp Burdette, the Cape Fear Riverkeeper at Cape Fear River Watch Smithfield Foods, a $15 billion company, has a plan to profit from hog waste. That...

Small Farmers are supporting our communities, let’s return the favor


By Haw Riverkeeper, Emily Sutton. Originally published by Haw River Assembly, republished with permission. Sustainable farmers are not taking days off...

DEQ Report Shows N.C. Must Do More to Protect Communities Near Industrial Hog Operations


Civil Rights Complainants Say New Report Shows Where State Protections Continue to Fall Short North Carolina acknowledges it must do more to remedy the...

Court Allows Slaughterhouse Pollution Lawsuit to Move Forward


The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled on Wednesday that a lawsuit can proceed challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s failure...

Your grocery store may be crowded, but your local farm has plenty of room for you


At a time when grocery shopping may seem daunting, supporting your local farmers by buying directly from their farms, or shopping at farmers markets, can...

Gas from hog waste isn’t clean energy


The “fix” $15 billion Smithfield Foods is proposing for its hog waste pollution problem — turning hog waste into biogas — isn’t a fix at all. ...

Tell NC’s Environmental Justice and Equity Advisory Board: Waste from Industrial Pork and Poultry Hurts People


The nearly 10 billion gallons of waste hogs in North Carolina produce each year taints our clean water, stinks up our fresh air, and hurts our people —...

Would N.C.’s Hog Operations Treat Neighbors Better if there were McMansions Next Door?


J. Harvie Wilkinson III, a judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, looked at his crowded courtroom, and spoke from the heart. “If...

North Carolina is No. 1 in a Dangerous Pollution Category


North Carolina is the top state in a category that poses a hazard to our soil, our air, and our water. Thanks to the expansion of intensive hog, chicken,...

Smithfield’s biogas plans won’t solve swine waste pollution problems


North Carolina is jumping in — quickly — and with a blessing from the state utilities agency, to a mass experiment of capturing gas from swine waste...

How Big Poultry in North Carolina Became a Pollution Threat


Chickens used to peck around the farm, but most now live in crowded barns where they never see the light of day—let alone a grub scratched from the dirt. ...

Old MacDonald Doesn’t Have a Farm Anymore


Your bacon most likely comes from a pig who lived in more crowded conditions than a broke 22-year-old in New York City. The reasons why tell a story that’s...

Public Interest Groups Sue EPA to Curb Slaughterhouse Pollution


EPA’s Decision Not to Update Pollution Standards Allows Slaughterhouses to Continue Discharging Unhealthy Amounts of Pollution into the Nation’s Waterways...