In politics, people often attempt to “twist the facts” in hopes of persuading others to support their views. Other times, they just flat out tell mistruths.
That’s exactly what we saw in a recent WRAL opinion column about the NC Farm Act, which was signed into law this week. The article, written by a Duke law professor who is a frequent critic of North Carolina’s pork industry, falsely claimed that the legislation would allow pig farms “to expand for the first time since 1997.”
That’s simply not true.
Let’s start with some background. The legislature imposed a moratorium on new or expanded pig farms in 1997. That moratorium became permanent in 2007. As a result, no new hog farms have been built in North Carolina in the past 23 years.
Nothing about this year’s Farm Act changes any of that.
What the Farm Act does do is allow pig farms to cover existing swine manure treatment lagoons or replace their lagoons with a methane digester. The purpose: to capture biogas that can be used to generate clean renewable energy.
These actions represent an advancement in manure management that should be celebrated by environmental groups.
Instead, they are trying to stoke fears with false accusations.
The legislation is clear. It specifically prohibits the construction of new farms or the expansion of existing pig farms that don’t meet strict environmental performance standards.
This legislation simply codifies into law what the NC Department of Environmental Quality has already been doing. Since 2011, the department has issued more than 20 permits for pig farms to cover their treatment lagoons or install methane digesters.
These new technologies are being adopted by more farmers across the state, representing an innovative step in how pig manure is managed. It is an advancement that should be encouraged.(The professor also tried to attach pig farms to an issue reporters care deeply about: public records. A separate provision in the bill aligns local and state privacy concerns with existing federal law. It has very little to do with pig farms, which account for only about 3% of the records at issue.)Sadly, some folks just can’t acknowledge there are positive steps being taken by family farmers and pork producers. They contort themselves into odd positions just to oppose progress — because they oppose modern agriculture.
Sadly, too, they toss aside facts and disregard the truth.
