Judge Rejects Attack on Clean Energy: Victory for Hog Farmers, Smithfield Says

"This is a huge victory for hog farmers who are adopting innovative technologies to protect the environment," says Stewart Leeth, chief sustainability officer for Smithfield Foods.
"This is a huge victory for hog farmers who are adopting innovative technologies to protect the environment," says Stewart Leeth, chief sustainability officer for Smithfield Foods.
(Smithfield)

A North Carolina administrative law judge rejected a challenge to a general permit issued by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) authorizing the construction and operation of methane digesters for animal waste management, Smithfield Foods said in a release. 

On March 20, the judge held that the permit was lawfully issued in accordance with specific directives from the North Carolina General Assembly.

"This is a huge victory for hog farmers who are adopting innovative technologies to protect the environment," Stewart Leeth, chief sustainability officer for Smithfield Foods, said in the release.

The Environmental Justice Community Action Network and Cape Fear River Watch brought the legal action, which sought to require DEQ to consider alternative technologies in issuing the permit for anaerobic digesters, Smithfield explained.

The company explained that its digesters produce clean, low-carbon, renewable natural gas (RNG) by capturing methane emissions from hog lagoons. These projects reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), reduce flooding and provide diversified income streams. The North Carolina General Assembly and Governor Roy Cooper called for such biogas projects in the state's Clean Energy Plan, Smithfield noted in the release.

"Our biogas projects produce low-carbon RNG and represent a substantial financial commitment to transform the future of clean energy and sustainable agriculture and improve the quality of life in surrounding communities," Leeth added. "It defies logic that these environmental groups, which initially supported and encouraged digesters and covered lagoons, would attack Smithfield's voluntary efforts to produce clean, renewable energy and enhance water and air quality in North Carolina."

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