Don Reuter (919) 715-4112
Date: December 17, 1999
Parties Agree to Extend Restraining Order on Spraying
RALEIGH – Lawyers representing the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources (DENR), hog farmers and environmental groups today mutually
requested a 30-day extension of a judge’s ruling on emergency spraying
practices. Administrative Law Judge Fred G. Morrison in the N.C. Office
of Administrative Hearings granted the request, which extends the ruling
until January 21, 2000.
“The parties involved sought the extension in the hope of resolving the
issue without further litigation,” said DENR General Counsel Dan
McLawhorn. “We look forward to working with all interested parties over
the next few weeks to conclude this conflict in a constructive fashion.”
DENR and the other parties expect to have better data on the animal
waste situation after the first of the year, when authorization to amend
certain management practices permitted under emergency guidelines
expires. Under the guidelines, certified animal waste management plans
could be amended by December 31 with the approval of a technical
specialist. Those revisions will provide important information about
the nature and extent of the requirements and risks facing the hog
lagoons through the winter rainy season.
On December 10, Judge Morrison in the N.C. Office of Administrative
Hearings issued a 10-day restraining order prohibiting operators from
spraying fields at rates greater than the agronomic rates (a level at
which nutrients are properly absorbed by growing plants and crops) set
in state Environmental Management Commission rules.
Judge Morrison’s December 10 order came in response to a motion filed by
the Southern Environmental Law Center in Chapel Hill on behalf of the
Neuse River Foundation and the Alliance for a Responsible Swine
Industry.
Based on consultation with experts at N.C. State University, the rates
were increased as part of recent emergency best management practices
(BMPs) approved November 5 by the N.C. Soil and Water Conservation
Commission to address dangerously high lagoon levels in the wake of
recent hurricanes and associated flooding. The BMPs were intended to
offer growers operating flexibility in an effort to protect lagoons from
seepage, overflows and potential failure. Lagoons at six pork facilities
in eastern North Carolina failed in the aftermath of the storm and more
than 40 other animal operations were flooded.
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