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Preface: During the spurt of activity over the PCB contamination removal plans at the headwaters of Crabtree Creek near Raleigh back in April, I subscribed to an EPA news mailing list for region 4 (SE US). Average is about 1 notice per day, but comes in bursts. I'll post the ones that directly involve our waterways and fisheries.
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Subject: North Carolina Nonprofit Receives $100,000 Grant to Reduce
Residents' Exposure to Pollution from Hog Farms
For Immediate Release: June 6, 2007
Contact: Davina Marracini, (404) 562-8293,
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(ATLANTA – JUNE 6, 2007) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
today awarded $100,000 to the Rural Empowerment Association for
Community Help (REACH), a nonprofit organization in Warsaw, N.C., for
work to reduce residents’ exposure to air and water contaminants
associated with local hog operations in Duplin County.
The award is part of EPA’s Environmental Justice Collaborative
Problem-Solving program, which supports environment and public health
improvements in low-income communities around the nation. Since 1994,
the EPA has provided over $31 million in funding to more than 1,100
community-based organizations. The REACH project is one of 10 being
funded this year nationwide.
Through the grant, REACH will work to reduce the exposure of residents
to water and air pollution from local hog operations, particularly
hydrogen sulfide, in the Duplin County area. Typically, hog feces and
urine are flushed out of barns and into open-air lagoons. Solids then
settle in the bottom of the lagoons and the upper layer of liquid is
sprayed on crop fields.
Hog waste is a significant source of water pollution because heavy rain
and flooding can cause lagoons to overflow and the fields on which waste
is sprayed leak polluted runoff into streams, rivers and wells. Hog
waste also contributes to air pollution because the breakdown of the
waste produces methane, carbon dioxide, ammonia and hydrogen sulfide.
Relatively small quantities of hydrogen sulfide is released into the
atmosphere during decomposition of hog manure, however, it is the most
toxic of manure gases and has smells of rotten eggs.
According to U.S. Department of Agriculture reports, there are 3,000
swine operations in North Carolina with 9.4 million hogs and pigs. The
state produces an additional 1 million annually, making it the second
biggest swine producer in the country behind Iowa. REACH staff will
encourage Duplin County hog operations to comply with environmental laws
and will provide incentives for operations to utilize new technologies
that will eliminate the need for lagoons and spray fields.
Financial assistance under the EPA's Environmental Justice Collaborative
Problem-Solving program is available to all nonprofit organizations
designated by the IRS or recognized by the state, territory,
commonwealth or tribe in which it is located. The purpose of the funding
is to assist affected communities so that they can develop proactive,
strategic and visionary approaches to address their environmental
justice issues and to achieve community health and sustainability.
For more information, visit the Office of Environmental Justice’s Web
site at:
Collaborative Problem-Solving Cooperative Agreements Program | Environmental Justice | Compliance and Enforcement | U.S. EPA