Rose Acre Farms (NC)
SELC secures NC's strongest poultry permit, protecting state's water and air
In 2004, a proposal surfaced in coastal North Carolina for an egg farm of mammoth proportions. Rose Acre Farms, the country's second largest poultry producer, sought permits to operate in Hyde County in northeastern North Carolina, one of the poorest counties in the state. This operation would house 4 million hens and produce more than 7 million eggs per day. It would lie within one mile of the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge and five miles of the Lake Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge.
Such an operation would pose significant threats to groundwater, coastal water quality and the health of migratory waterfowl. And the noise and odor from the facilily could have significant impact on the wildlife refuges.
One of the biggest environmental threats from a livestock operation such as Rose Acre is ammonia generated by animal manure. When released into the air, ammonia quickly converts into nitrogen compounds that return to land and water, often overloading the ecosystem with excessive nutrients and causing severe environmental disruption. Waters surrounding the Albemarle peninsula, where the Rose Acre farm would locate, are already rated as "nutrient-sensitive" by the state.
In conjunction with the Sierra Club and local groups, the Southern Environmental Law Center challenged the state's approval of this facility. As a result of our involvement, we secured a strong pollution-discharge permit that includes water quality monitoring, and the state's first ever air quality monitoring program for a livestock operation.
The permit also requires Rose Acre to submit a "best management practices" plan for reducing ammonia - but its recent plan did not include proven methods for cutting ammonia. Due to the continuing concerns of SELC and others, the state has not approved the plan and is working to get the company to take meaningful steps to cut ammonia emissions.
We will continue to hold the Rose Acre farm to its pledge to "lead the industry in developing and implementing techniques to minimize emissions" and utilize the best techniques to manage its ammonia emissions. For instance, when the company submitted its plan in 2005 for cutting ammonia, we urged the state to reject the plan because it did not include proven, reliable methods for cutting ammonia.
