A new lawsuit filed on behalf of several environmental groups challenges the constitutionality of two state laws which attempt to strip neighbors of their rights to sue industrial hog farms for pollution. Plaintiffs include the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network.

The complaint was filed last week in state court, asking that the relevant sections of the Farm Acts of 2017 and 2018 be struck down. The challenged laws were adopted in response to a growing number of large jury awards to neighbors of Smithfield Foods’ industrial hog farms. The way these farms dispose of hog waste creates serious health and quality of life issues for those neighbors.

These bills would make certain reports confidential and inaccessible to the public which are crucial to public health protections and lawsuits such as the ones Smithfield keeps losing. The solution is not to cover up the problem, but to improve farm operations and implement new technologies to protect our air and water quality.

Read the details in environmental reporter Lisa Sorg’s story for NC Policy Watch here.  

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