We need your help to let the NC Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) know that you support their proposed permit that adds protections for communities and waterways near large scale hog industry operations.

Below is some language that you can copy and email to NCDEQ's Program Manager, Christine Lawson at swinepermit.comments@ncdenr.gov. Please send your comments BEFORE FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21.

Thank you to the North Carolina Conservation Network and Waterkeeper Alliance for their assistance with this effort.

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Dear Ms. Lawson:

I support many of the changes made to the draft swine general permit. Specifically, I support the additional groundwater monitoring requirements, additional reporting requirements, and increased transparency. This draft is a needed step forward to protect the communities that surround these facilities and our air and water.

It is essential that NC DEQ fulfill its commitment to achieving and maintaining the fair and equal treatment of North Carolinians regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of the Permit.

With that commitment in mind, I encourage NC DEQ to move forward with this draft permit and ask that they go even further by:

-   Requiring regular submission of waste management records detailing what is sprayed, when it is sprayed, and what it is sprayed onto.
-   Requiring the submission of records that permittees are already obligated to create and maintain. This increased reporting will make it easier for department staff to cross-check data with community observations, enable more rapid identification of compliance issues, and better assess seasonality of practices.
-   Require electronic filing of records made under the permit for ease of access for department staff.
-   Require the use of technology that will automatically prevent prohibited practices like spraying waste in the rain or spraying when it is too windy.

It's critical that NC DEQ continues to put impacted communities and our waterways first.

Thank you.