News

Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman took to the skies this week to get an aerial overview of how industrial animal facilities in the floodplains fared post-Tropical Storm Debby.

Her flight took her across the lower Tar-Pamlico and Neuse watersheds to check on CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) in the floodplain. In the Neuse, that included facilities outside of Hookerton, south of Grifton and southwest of Vanceboro. In the Tar-Pamlico, she scoped out a cluster of three located southwest of Grimesland, and two others — one east of Chicod and another near Blounts Creek.

“Fortunately, all of them were clear,” Katey said. “There was no obvious flooding or lagoon breaches, likely because there was not as much storm surge as there could have been.”

Sound Rivers has, for years, advocated for the funding of the North Carolina’s Swine Floodplain Buyout program, a program designed to purchase easements on properties within the 100-year floodplain that are currently used for swine production. The purpose of the program is to reduce the potential for pollution from active animal operations by purchasing an owner’s certification to operate a feedlot within the 100-year floodplain, according to the North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services website.

The North Carolina General Assembly, however, has opted not to fund the program.

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