Restore Essential Protections to North Carolina’s Swine Waste Permit
North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and Environmental Management Commission
North Carolina’s coastal plain is already one of the most flood-prone and environmentally burdened regions in the country. Removing groundwater monitoring, phosphorus controls, and public reporting means communities lose the only tools they had to detect contamination, prevent pollution, and hold polluters accountable. Without these safeguards, waste from industrial hog operations can reach wells, rivers, and drinking-water sources long before anyone knows there’s a problem. Families who rely on private wells — especially in rural, low-income, and historically marginalized areas — are left unprotected. These rules were basic, science-backed protections that kept people safe. Delaying their reinstatement until 2028 puts real families, real water, and real health at risk right now.
Sponsored by
To:
North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and Environmental Management Commission
From:
[Your Name]
We, the undersigned North Carolina residents, write as private citizens and neighbors — people who depend on clean water, safe communities, and breathable air just like you.
We are deeply concerned about the North Carolina Supreme Court’s recent decision to strike down vital safeguards in the state’s swine waste permit. These protections were not political; they were practical, science-based measures designed to reduce pollution, prevent contamination, and provide the transparency every community deserves.
With this ruling, three essential requirements were eliminated:
-Groundwater monitoring for facilities located in flood-prone areas.
-Phosphorus-loss controls needed to protect our rivers, wells, and drinking water.
-Annual public reporting to ensure accountability, oversight, and transparency.
None of these safeguards are extreme or burdensome. They are basic public-health protections already deemed necessary by environmental experts and approved by state regulators. The Court’s procedural objection does nothing to change the underlying science or the reality of the risks our communities face.
We understand the Environmental Management Commission has until 2028 to re-establish these protections through formal rulemaking — but our families, our water, and our health cannot wait that long.
We hereby petition the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission to immediately begin the rulemaking process — on an expedited timeline — to restore these essential permit conditions without delay.
Our communities deserve transparency.
Our waterways deserve protection.
And our state agencies deserve the tools to enforce safeguards already proven to be necessary.
We call on DEQ and the EMC: Act now. Restore these protections. Put North Carolina’s people first.
This petition is a voluntary expression of support by private individuals. Signers affirm they are participating as private citizens.