A points system for assessing hog farm pollution violations, an anonymous public comment tool, and a new clean energy plan are among the items expected to be reviewed at the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Secretary’s Environmental Justice and Equity Advisory Board quarterly meeting (PDF) today, May 18. Because of the COVID-19 crisis, the meeting was held virtually rather than in-person.  

Changes to the system for regulating hog farm waste were among the key environmental justice developments in North Carolina over the past three months. These included an anonymous public comment reporting tool and a draft point system for evaluating the severity of hog farm pollution control violations. Under the draft system, accumulation of excessive penalty points would trigger the revocation process for a farm’s operating permit. These and other relevant recent environmental justice developments were discussed in an NC Policy Watch blog post last week.