UPDATE - Governor Cooper has vetoed SB711, but we expect an override vote this week. Please find your NC General Assembly members here, call them and ask them to oppose SB711 and protect the property rights and health of your fellow North Carolinians.

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Last year, in response to lawsuits filed by hundreds of North Carolina residents seeking to protect their property and health from hog waste sprayed onto them by neighboring swine farms, North Carolina passed a law limiting the financial damages victims could be awarded in future cases.

In April, ten of these residents won a $50 million judgment against a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods after a jury decided the corporation had not just caused harm but needed to be punished because it had “committed egregiously wrongful acts.” Under state law that limits punitive damages, a judge reduced the judgment to $3.25 million.

This month, the NC General Assembly passed this year’s Farm Act, SB711, which takes the entirely unnecessary step of further limiting these types of lawsuits. Under this new bill, it is difficult to see how any injured neighbor will be able to sue an operation to end a nuisance or recover damages for real and lasting injuries, like water contamination and health problems. In practice, this would create a “sacrifice zone” around industrial agricultural operations in which homeowners would not be able to protect their family’s health or the use and enjoyment of their property.

Essentially, SB711 converts the Right to Farm law into a Right to Harm.

Please contact your NC General Assembly members today and ask them to oppose SB711 and protect the property rights and health of your fellow North Carolinians.