Statement by North Carolina Farm Families on Veto of House Bill 467

Governor Cooper’s veto is a hard-blow to farmers. The pork industry invests billions of dollars in North Carolina. Farmers and integrators support their communities and give generously to charitable causes. They strive every day to be good environmental stewards and, above all, good neighbors. The hard-working family farmers who raise hogs in North Carolina deserve better than this.If Governor Cooper’s veto stands, it will jeopardize tens of thousands of jobs in our state. It will jeopardize the incomes and economic survival of thousands of farm families. The economic losses could be devastating to rural communities. The only winners will be predatory lawyers who swoop into rural communities, turn neighbor against neighbor for one purpose – to generate huge financial windfalls for themselves.HB467 passed both the House and Senate with support from Democrats and Republicans. We call on the North Carolina General Assembly to quickly override Governor Cooper’s ill-advised veto. 

Lawyers, Hog Farmers, & Elsie Herring's Story

Stepping to the microphone, Mrs. Elsie Herring – a Community Organizer for the Environmental Justice Network in Duplin County – explained to the reporters at the press conference why she opposed House Bill 467. Mrs. Herring repeated the same charges she’d made for years: She said a farmer sprays hog waste eight feet from her house. She’s also said, in interviews, she lives as a prisoner in her own home – that she can’t go outside because of the smell.

It’s a horror story. But is it true?

Is a hog farmer actually spraying waste eight feet from Elsie Herring’s house?

Details of Elsie Herring’s Story

Here’s a photo of Mrs. Herring’s house:

Elsie Herring’s House

From her house, you can’t even see the farmer’s field. It’s on the far side of the trees.

Here’s another photo – an aerial photo – of Mrs. Herring’s house, the trees, and the farmer’s field on the far side of the trees. The farmer’s field where he sprays is 900 feet* – not eight feet – from Mrs. Herring’s house. The field closest to Ms. Herring’s house is 200 feet from her house, but has not been sprayed in 3 years. State law says no farmer can spray within 200 feet of a neighbor’s house.

Aerial photo

And here’s a photo Mrs. Herring, interviewing with another reporter, saying she’s a prisoner in her own house – while sitting on her front porch. Outside.

Elsie Herring interview

The Truth About NC Hog Farmers

By law, every hog farmer must file a record with the state every time he sprays.Four years ago, out-of-state lawyers – who saw hog farms as ripe targets for an unusual type of lawsuit – came to eastern North Carolina and went to work, going door to door, signing up clients.

They said: We’ll bring the suits, we’ll pay the bills, and, if we win, we’ll split the money. Elsie Herring was one of the people who signed up.

On the internet, the debate over House Bill 467 has turned into a political brawl with half-true and untrue charges flying. What House Bill 467 actually does is simple – and here’s why it will make a difference: This legislation will protect family farmers from lawsuits by predatory lawyers.

*This distance has been updated to reflect a more current situation.