Hog CAFO lawsuit forces Mississippi moratorium on permits

The Mississippi, US, state Department of Environmental Quality has effected a moratorium on issuing CAFO construction and operation permits pending resolution of a lawsuit now headed for the state Supreme Court. According to The Clarion-Ledger's story, what began as an odor complaint by a neighbor about a new hog confinement facility has become a much-watched test of the legal adequacy of the state's air and water quality protections, with significant implications for the growth of vertically-integrated, industrialized hog production. An additionally interesting aspect of this case is that there has been an apparent effort by CAFO developers to locate in areas predominantly peopled by economically poor, racially black persons. Fifty-seven of the state's 63 CAFO hog farms have been built in majority African-American communities.
Livestock & Ag Waste Intelligence