HOG-WASTE HURRICANES: EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS AND THE NEED FOR - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

HOG-WASTE HURRICANES: EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS AND THE NEED FOR STRONGER REGULATIONS IN NORTH CAROLINA CAFOS

Kelly Hanna

OVERVIEW

• IA. WHAT ARE CAFOS?
• Qualifications
• CAFOs in North Carolina
• Threats to water security
• IB. HURRICANES IN NORTH CAROLINA
• Previous destruction
• Recent destruction from Hurricane Florence
• Threat of increased hurricanes thanks to climate

change

• II. CURRENT CAFO REGULATIONS
• III. PROPOSED REGULATIONS

CAFO:

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation

Provide 99% of animal products to Americans Facility housing the following

• 2,500 hogs
• 1,000 cattle
• 700 dairy cows
• Or 125,000 chickens

NORTH CAROLINA: CAFOS ARE THE NORM.

Second-largest hog-farming industry in the U.S. Generates $3 billion annually To be exact:

• With 2,300 hog CAFOs throughout the state, NC has

more than 9 million hogs

• Almost 4,000 hogs per farm

WHERE DOES ALL OF THE WASTE GO?

Waste-Water Lagoons: A Threat to Water Security

NC utilizes over 4,000 lagoons

• 170 are located within the

state’s 100-year floodplain

• 136 are located within a

half mile of public water wells

10 billion gallons of wet waste is produced annually

MOST CAFOS FALL WITHIN STATE’S LARGEST RIVER BASIN

○

Overtopping and Breaching

○

Contaminants and volatile compounds released when overtopping occurs:

• Phosphorus, ammonia, nitrogen, pathogens,

sulfides, methane, hormones, and antibiotics

What happens to lagoons during flooding?

Studies show that flooding events are going to increase as a consequence of climate change.

NOAA predicts a 20% increase of category 3, 4, and 5 storms by the end of the century.

Hurricanes in North Carolina 1950-1979:

79 tropical or subtropical cyclones; 37 deaths; $3 billion worth of damage

1980-2017:

120 tropical or subtropical cyclones; 77 direct casualties; $10 billion worth of damage

Hurricane Florence: a new level of destruction

• Category 4
• Over $22 billion in

damages thus far

• CPF was 25 feet

above flood level

• Over 110 overtopped

lagoons

• 2.2 million gallons
• f waste water

released into surrounding ecosystems

15

The Role of Climate Change

Increased global temperatures leads to:

• Higher evaporation rates
• Increased surface water

temperature Hurricanes draw energy from atmospheric moisture and surface water. Weakened jet stream changes atmospheric blocking patters, allowing for longer storm duration.

EXISTING REGULATIONS

• A. 1. Clean Water Act
• B. 2. Relocation of CAFOs
• C. 3. Clean Air Act

Clean Water Act (CWA)

• Required to receive a permit under NPDES system
• Sets standard for TMDL into water bodies
• Only for large CAFOs
• Broad exemption for storm water runoff

Statewide initiative for a program that buys CAFOs and relocates them away from the floodplain

Clean Air Act (CAA)

• Regulates major sources of air emissions only
• Pushback from the industry has allowed leniency
• Agricultural exemption from Title V

Combatting air emissions does not necessarily equate to combating lagoons.

PROPOSED REGULATIONS

• A. 1. Nuisance Cases
• B. 2. Amend the Clean Water Act
• C. 3. Incentivize Anaerobic Digesters

• Some nuisance claims regarding spray-fields have seen

success ■ McKiver, et al. v. Murphy-Brown LLC ■ Jacobs, et al. v. Murphy-Brown LLC ($473mil to 500 plaintiffs) Eliminate or amend right-to-farm laws so corporations are not so heavily favored.

Eliminate the storm water exemption in the CWA.

• CAFOs could be held liable for damage

comparable to municipality liability for sewage backup

• Would achieve same nuisance claim success
• f monetary reward and negative publicity
• Could inspire CAFOs to turn to alternative

waste disposal…

• State government should incentivize anaerobic digesters for

existing facilities and require them in future facilities.

Prevents emission of 73,000 tons

• f methane

annually

Eliminates need for

• ver 14

lagoons Accounts for 14 CAFOs and 13,500 cows Powers

• ver 3,000

homes

Thank you!