Lawmakers are still hunting for regulations that need to be reformed. This afternoon they heard from a handful of interests that would like to see less regulation, including the poultry industry and landfill concerns.
The Joint Legislative Regulatory Reform Committee didn’t take any action, but heard from those representatives of private industry without inviting comments from the public at this meeting.
Henry Jones, general counsel for the N.C. Poultry Federation, described for legislators the situation in which a massive egg farming operation in Hyde County finds itself: It was authorized to operate under a clean water permit, but subsequent tests detected ammonia in nearby waterways. The state Division of Water Quality wants the company, Rose Acre Farms, to monitor ammonia from its ventilation system, but the company has gone to court to challenge the state’s authority.
Jones said a change in state law defining discharges as only those going directly into waterways, rather than polluting the water from the air or through storm water runoff, would be helpful.
