The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) will hold multiple public hearings as part of its ongoing 90-day comment period on six draft Animal Feeding Operations general permits. These general permits are for eligible non-discharge swine, cattle and poultry facilities with liquid waste management systems and animal feeding operations with farm digester systems. Public input received at the events and through Nov. 3, 2023, will be considered in the development of the general permits which will become effective in Fall 2024.
The public hearings will be held by Division of Water Resources staff at the following dates and locations. Meetings will begin at 6 p.m., with registration of speakers and attendees for the in-person hearings beginning at 5:30 p.m.
WHEN: October 5, 2023
WHERE: James Sprunt Community College, 133 James Sprunt Drive, Kenansville, NC 28349
WHEN: October 10, 2023
WHERE: Wayne Community College, 3000 Wayne Memorial Drive, Goldsboro, NC 27534
WHEN: October 24, 2023
WHERE: Statesville Civic Center, 300 S. Center Street, Statesville, NC 28677
WHEN: October 26, 2023, (Registration will be done virtually)
WHERE: Virtually via Webex – Speaker registration and meeting links here: https://www.deq.nc.gov/animalpermits2024
In the event of weather conditions preventing a public meeting on October 5 or October 10, a backup in-person hearing will be held at the following date and location:
WHEN: October 19, 2023
WHERE: Canceled
Copies of the draft permits, draft annual report forms and related fact sheets are available at https://www.deq.nc.gov/animalpermits2024. Documents translated into Spanish can also be found at this location.
The public is invited to send comments on any aspect of the existing general permits for swine, cattle or poultry with a liquid waste management system, as well as the permits for farm digester systems at each of these types of facilities.
In addition to the hearings, comments can be sent through the following means:
By mail: Ramesh Ravella
Animal Feeding Operations
N.C. Division of Water Resources
1636 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1636
By voicemail: 919-707-3705
By email: publiccommentsDWR@deq.nc.gov
Copies of the 3 state general permits for animal operations and three existing state general permits for animal farm digester systems can be found online.
DEQ is conducting these hearings as part of its commitment to a transparent public engagement process during the development of these general permits. In addition to the scheduled hearings, the Department held two technical stakeholder workgroup meetings in April and May 2023 as well as a public input session in May. Stakeholders for the technical workgroups represented community groups, environmental justice organizations, environmental advocacy organizations, state and federal agencies, academia and industry. Summaries of these meetings are available on the DEQ website.
More information and updates on the stakeholder process are available online.