FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 10, 2017
Contact: Dan Crawford; dan@nclcv.org; 919.539.1422
North Carolina House must reject H467, a corporate bail-out for Big Pork
Legislation that puts profits ahead of legal rights & health of NC citizens
RALEIGH – When the Speaker of the North Carolina House plucks a bill out of calendar order and rushes it to the floor without providing opportunity for debate, red flags should fly. This is exactly what happened last Thursday with House Bill 467, “Agriculture and Forestry Nuisance Remedies.”
With zero warning, Speaker Moore called for the second reading of H467 despite it not being the next bill on the House calendar. This created confusion among legislators, leaving many lawmakers without the opportunity to review and discuss a bill that will have serious consequences for families who live near hog lagoons, particularly those involved in pending litigation against Murphy-Brown, LLC, the hog-growing subsidiary of Smithfield Foods.
H467 would limit the compensatory damages that a court could award to a property owner in “nuisance” lawsuits. This would mean that people who have been living next to massive hog operations couldn’t seek fair compensation for their years of negative health and property impacts.
The entire process during Thursday’s floor session took 73 seconds. Some legislators even had to request that their votes be changed once they learned more about the bill details.
Kathryn Byer, who identifies as a farmer’s daughter and hog-lover who wishes she could have a Hampshire or a Duroc living in her backyard in Cullowhee, sent a clear message to her representative regarding H467: “What an insult my farmer father would find this bill! He’d pick up his pitchfork and head to Raleigh if he were still alive. He’d agree with me that our legislators should not be passing – or even considering – legislation that bails out corporate polluters. I’d really hate to know that dollar signs mean more to you than keeping our ground water and air quality safe, to name a few environmental concerns.”
.
“H467 isn’t an anti-farmer bill as some of its sponsors claim,” noted Dan Crawford, director of governmental relations with the NC League of Conservation Voters. “Instead, it’s legislation written to help a company shirk its responsibilities to care for its neighbors; neighbors who have often been poisoned with toxic fumes for decades. When the quality of life for North Carolina families suffer, lawmakers should be up in arms to protect the rights of their constituents, not selling them out for campaign contributions. It shouldn’t even be up for debate whether North Carolina citizens deserve access to healthy air and clean water. The premise of H467 is a bunch of hogwash. We believe that lawmakers will come to their senses and vote to reject this corporate bailout.”
###
NC League of Conservation Voters is a nonpartisan advocacy organization dedicated to protecting, preserving, and enhancing North Carolina’s natural environment. NCLCV has been working to protect North Carolina’s environment and our citizen’s health for nearly 50 years, turning environmental values into North Carolina priorities. NCLCV’s vision for the future of North Carolina is that all citizens and our elected decision-makers will better understand and appreciate North Carolina’s unique natural environment, and the integral role it plays in North Carolina’s economy and quality of life. Visit nclcv.org for more information.
