在杜普林（Duplin）和桑普森（Sampson）县成为北卡罗来纳州猪养殖产业的中心之前，罗伯塔·麦卡洛普（Roberta McCalop）的家族在距县线一杆的死胡同上拥有42英亩的农田。养育少数猪是该地区大多数家庭种植烟草和棉花的副业，在业余时间，麦卡洛普斯和他们的邻居会坐在门廊上，在大片橡树的阴影中野餐，并玩游戏，并玩游戏。在院子里。
但是，自从三十年前，自工业猪场开始在北卡罗来纳州东部淹没该地区，那些日子就已经一去不复返了。
On a sweltering summer morning, McCalop leans against her car and points to the grain storage facility across the road — rising several stories above the flat fields like a mini City of Oz — as a symbol of the invasion. Behind the silos, and largely hidden by tall rows of corn, sits one of North Carolina’s 2,100 “concentrated animal feeding operations,” or CAFOS, many of them located in the eastern part of the state in low-income communities of color. Deafening noise from tractor-trailers speeding along Highway 24 night and day, to and from the hog farms, makes conversation difficult, while the smell from the hog farms just a football field away — a nauseating mix of rotten eggs and decomposition — arrives seemingly out of nowhere. During the summer months, residents are often forced to stay inside with the air conditioning on full blast to escape the stench.
现在，Duplin County Schools的媒体助理McCalop还有另一个理由关注不断入侵的农业综合企业。猪肉生产的巨人史密斯菲尔德（Smithfield）正在推进这项耗资3000万美元的Grady Road项目，该项目将猪垃圾从19个养猪场转变为沼气。从废物坑中捕获的甲烷将通过30英里的管道运输，并在新的厌氧消化酯系统中处理，然后将其注入现有的天然气管道。该设施将在麦卡洛普（McCalops）几百码内建造，并有可能将家族暴露于更多的空气污染物中，包括氨，硫化氢和各种挥发性有机化合物。
北卡罗来纳州东部的猪谷仓旁边的废物池塘。艾伦·克拉迪克（Alan Cradick）
史密斯菲尔德（Smithfield）将这种沼气计划吹捧为应受到社区欢迎的绿色能源解决方案，但批评家说，这是一个经典的绿化案例，旨在使一家公司的形象塑造多年来，该公司多年来一直是水土壤，土壤，土壤，土壤，土壤的来源和该地区的空气污染。史密斯菲尔德（Smithfield）及其在沼气风险公司（Biogas Venture）的合作伙伴The Utilition Dominion Energy表示，将在Grady Road项目中生产足够的沼气，以供第3500座房屋供电。同时，庞大的猪咖啡馆（几乎所有签约供史密斯菲尔德食品生产猪肉）仍将每年产生100亿加仑的猪浪费。粪便和尿液的这种邪恶的浆液从细菌中变成粉红色，被储存在巨大的无衬里泻湖中，并喷在饲料作物上，作为肥料，污染空气和污染的地下水。居民说，CAFO已将该州曾经Quiet的部分变成了一个工业区。
McCalop and other community residents, as well as numerous conservation groups, contend that instead of building a biogas pipeline and processing plant that will do little to reduce the hog industry’s pollution, Smithfield should instead make good on an协议2000年与州监管机构达到。根据该协议，该公司致力于设计一种新方法来治疗猪废物，该方法将取代将废物存储在未浸入泻湖中，然后将其喷在田野上的陈旧且公然污染的系统。此外，批评家说，尽管沼气倡议将有利于捕获甲烷的好处，但覆盖19个泻湖以捕获气体的计划将进一步将废物集中在这些坑中，从而加剧对地下水的影响。
“This [process] does very little to address many of the known harms … and poses a higher risk because the waste stream itself is more potent,” says Will Hendrick, environmental justice advocate at the North Carolina Conservation Network.
一位律师说，北卡罗来纳州社区“从泻湖和喷雾田系统中承担了污染的负担，”一位律师说。
“Smithfield promised North Carolinians that it would clean up its mess and install cleaner technology on its hog operations 20 years ago, and the company has failed to uphold that promise,” Southern Environmental Law Center attorney Blakely Hildebrand said in astatement今年早些时候。“北卡罗来纳州东部的社区承担了泻湖和喷雾田系统的污染负担。”
尽管与猪运动有关的问题越来越大，但现年64岁的麦卡洛普（McCalop）决心留在她家庭中三代人的土地上。她说：“这是我祖父的土地。”“我一直对旧房子有这样的事情。”
大约30年前，史密斯菲尔德（Smithfield）在北卡罗来纳州开设了世界上最大的猪屠宰场，上面是恐惧河两岸。如今，该州的CAFO饲养了约900万只猪，其中大多数是通过与农民合同运营的，这些农民将猪种植为美国最大的猪肉生产商Smithfield的子公司，该公司于2013年出售给中国巨头Shuanghui Group（Shuanghui Group（现在WH Group），价格为47.2亿美元。数以百计的猪行动被位于农村，贫穷的杜普林和桑普森县，那里的猪超过40至1。这两个县的咖啡馆绝大部分位于黑人，美洲原住民和西班牙裔社区。
Smithfield formed Align RNG (renewable natural gas) through a joint venture with Dominion Energy in 2018. The two companies announced plans to invest $500 million over 10 years to convert waste from Smithfield’s farms in North Carolina, Utah, and Missouri into biogas. In North Carolina, the biogas will be collected by covering waste lagoons at 19 “grow finish” sites, where hogs are fattened before slaughter.
Renee Miller, across from her home by a road named for her mother, was one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against a Smithfield subsidiary for spraying hog waste on this field.Alex Boerner
Align RNG拒绝接受采访，但同意通过电子邮件回答问题。Smithfield Renewables副总裁Kraig Westerbeek并没有特别回答九个问题，而是在一份声明中说：
“现代猪养殖是持续研究和创新的结果，它使农民能够为动物提供最佳护理，保护环境并确保消费者的食品安全。覆盖的泻湖和消化园的好处有据可查和清晰的。他们正在捕获原本逃避的排放，并将其转换为可再生能源，这仅对环境和当地社区有利。我们在桑普森和杜普林县的项目将每年将参与农场的年温室气体排放量减少超过150,000公吨。这与每年乘坐36,000辆汽车相同。即使对该项目的怀疑论者也不能否认这是一个重大的环境改进。”
Westerbeek noted that numerous federal agencies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, have long encouraged the use of biodigesters, and that more than 20 other hog farm operations in North Carolina “have installed the same technology without any of the harmful impacts opponents have predicted.” The biogas project, he said, will also bring new income to North Carolina farmers by providing an additional revenue source.
But Ryke Longest, clinical professor of law and director of the Environmental Law and Policy Clinic at Duke University School of Law, said the key issue is not the use of the biodigesters but the far more important matter of Smithfield’s failure to properly treat the billions of tons of hog waste. He compared the process that Align and Smithfield are using to fitting a car with a tailpipe when a catalytic converter — in this case, modern waste treatment — is widely available.
那些住在猪场附近的人抱怨窒息气味。一位妇女说，她在生产线上的洗衣干燥通常被粪便斑纹。
“他们基本上只是戴上尾管，而不是清理污染的基本来源 - 废物本身，” Long说。“从农场中删除的只是汽油，留下了需要解决的其他两个废物流。在某些情况下，这些系统是在30或40年前设计的，并被允许根据一些从未真正进行过测试的假设继续根据祖父规定进行操作。”
For those, like Roberta McCalop, who live in close proximity to the hog farms, the burden of the operations is ever present. In addition to the choking odors, minute fecal particles from the lagoons and field spraying operations pollute the air; one resident who declined to use her name complained that her laundry drying on the line is often flecked with manure. Nitrogen from the unlined pits seeps into waterways and contributes to groundwater and well pollution, increasing the frequency and intensity of algal blooms and fish kills.
Residents also experience documented health effects. A学习由杜克大学医学院环境卫生学者计划进行的，发现位于Hog Cafos附近的社区的整体和婴儿死亡率更高，以及由于贫血，肾脏疾病，结核病和败血症而导致的死亡率。这些社区还接受了更高的住院，急诊就诊和低血压婴儿。
For decades, those living with the pungent smells, flies, buzzards, truck traffic, and pollution have pleaded with state and federal regulators to remove or mediate the dangerous effects of the waste pits. Still, Smithfield has never followed through on its agreement to get rid of the lagoon and spray field system. A decade ago, the North Carolina General Assembly acknowledged the harm this method caused and said that Smithfield must employ new waste management technology to address those problems. The state has made little, if any, attempt to ensure that Smithfield meets its commitment.
CLICK TO ENLARGE. Concentrated animal feeding operations in eastern North Carolina.Environmental Working Group / Waterkeeper Alliance
2014年，北卡罗莱纳州人就史密斯菲尔德的废物管理系统提起了二十多次联邦诉讼。陪审团awarded原告将近5.5亿美元。2018年，由共和党控制的大会拒绝了库珀州长的否决权，并通过了一项限制此类损害的法律。
当时代表Duplin和Sampson县的共和党参议员布伦特·杰克逊（Brent Jackson）说：“我们的目标是确保所有农业行动都受到轻率诉讼的保护。”“由于最近的司法裁决，立法机关必须采取行动来澄清我们的意图并纠正这些误导的裁决，这已经很明显了。”
判决后来降至9800万美元。
In the past five years, Hurricanes Florence and Matthew, two “1,000-year” coastal events, not only killed dozens of people and drowned millions of hogs and poultry, but also flooded the waste lagoons, more than 500 of which are located in flood plains.
Hendrick of the North Carolina Conservation Network noted that methane is only produced when the lagoons are covered to trap gas. Areportfrom Colorado State University says capping the pits increases the levels of nitrogen in the remaining waste by up to 3.5 times, increasing the threat to nearby waterways.
“We’ve seen too many times the political clout of [the hog] industry in the North Carolina General Assembly,” says an advocate.
Sherri White-Williamson, environmental justice policy director at the North Carolina Conservation Network, was born and raised in Sampson County and has spent recent years informing residents about the many environmental burdens placed on Black citizens.
White-Williamson说：“您将有一条长时间的管道通过这些社区，如果发生某些事情，例如火灾或爆炸，紧急响应没有装备或准备回应。”“我让人们知道他们需要告诉国务院环境质量不允许那件事，因为这里只有黑人，他们会被那混乱所伤害！”
Throughout their lifecycle, pigs are moved from breeding to farrowing to nursery facilities. They then are transferred to the so-called “grow-finish” facilities until they reach market weight and are shipped to the slaughterhouse. Waste is only being collected for biogas at the finishing facilities, which generate the most waste and the potential for more revenue from biogas.
Cape Fear River管理员Kemp Burdette花了十多年的时间试图保护下开普敦的恐惧河免受污染排放from CAFOs, which contains nitrogen and phosphorus, heavy metals, and harmful gases. “We’ve been sampling streams that run off of the spray field of those facilities,” says Burdette. “One has had levels of bacteria and nutrients so high that it’s been placed on [an] EPA list of water bodies that are so polluted that they’re not able to meet their designated uses. It’s an indicator that these biogas facilities have real, negative impacts on water quality.”
2018年9月，在佛罗伦萨飓风期间，一个猪废物池塘溢出并淹没了北卡罗来纳州东南部的猪行动。艾伦·克拉迪克（Alan Cradick）
Other concerns about the biogas facilities include waste leakage during transport, processing, and storage. The biogas collection facility’s draft air permit states that it would annually发射10吨一氧化碳50吨二氧化硫是一种可以损害呼吸系统，哮喘恶化的化学化合物，并有助于与Covid-19死亡率升高相关的细颗粒物的形成。像其他北卡罗来纳州东部县一样，Duplin和Sampson已经经历了该州大流行的一些最具破坏性的影响。
Constructing the pipeline will require cutting across private land that belongs to people like McCalop. To circumvent opposition from landowners, Republicans introduced House Bill 271 to allow corporations to use eminent domain. The bill passed the House 101-17 on March 29, and it now goes to the Senate Rules Committee. Hendrick believes this new corporate eminent domain provision is already a fait accompli.
亨德里克说：“我们已经看到了北卡罗来纳州大会这个行业的政治影响力太多了，因此，如果他们想这样做，我担心他们可能能够获得投票。”
The Grady Road biogas project was initially scheduled for completion in the summer of 2021, but pushback by environmental groups and residents delayed the permitting process for almost two years. The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality issued permits for the biogas facility in April. Gov. Roy Cooper signed the North Carolina Farm Act 2021 into law on July 8 over the objections of environmental advocates. The bill includes a provision to fast-track future biogas permits with no requirement for public participation, public hearings, or public comments.
