News

When the North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper released his budget in May, Sound Rivers was excited to see the inclusion of $18 million in funding for the voluntary swine buyout program. The current draft budget in the legislature does not include any funding for the buyout program.

“This is a missed opportunity to provide funding to a voluntary program that removed the most vulnerable lagoons out of the way of future storms, prevented lagoon flooding, and pollution of our waterways while compensating CAFO operators,” said Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Jill Howell.

In the current version of the budget, the legislature has allocated $1.5 million for cost-share assistance to swine CAFO operations for installation of anaerobic digesters for production of biogas. Providing funding for installation of a technology that fails to address existing environmental harms from the lagoon and sprayfield system, while also creating new problems associated with pipelines and biogas processing facilities is a problem. Watch the Sound Rivers PSA to find out why this program is so important.

We thank everyone who reached out to legislators to encourage them to keep the funding in, using our Action Alert. Your efforts are appreciated!