Summary
This article is a collaboration between the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and the Waterkeeper Alliance. It details the expansion of factory farms over the eight years preceding its publication in three North Carolina counties already burdened with the highest percentage of hog factory farms in the state, and whose residents are predominantly Black, Native American, and Latino. More specifically, the article illuminates the rapid expansion of chicken and turkey factory farms and how the animals in these facilities produce an unprecedented amount of waste, in addition to the waste already coming from the numerous hog facilities, which pollute the air, soil, and waterways. Interactive maps, info-graphs, and before and after pictures of land show the proliferation of factory farms in these counties and highlight how the environmental and public health risks of living nearby factory farms disproportionately affect communities of color. The article also reports on how the state’s lack of regulatory oversight has allowed continued expansion of factory farms in these communities, and how poor enforcement of environmental protections, especially when it comes to waste management, has let these facilities pollute the surrounding environment with impunity. The article concludes with a call for North Carolina state officials to address the expansion and growth of poultry factory farms in these counties and to rectify and mediate the environmental and public health risks factory farms pose to residents by bolstering waste management regulations.