North Carolina officials are resolving a complaint of environmental racism by promising tougher oversight of industrial swine operations blamed for polluting the air and water. Environmental groups had filed two civil rights complaints against the NC Department of Environmental Quality. They said the hog operations in the eastern part of the state were harming the health of minority communities.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last year told the state agency it was concerned that minorities might have suffered outsized effects as concentrated animal feeding operations multiplied near their homes.
State environmental officials say they'll now launch an air quality study in Duplin County and expand existing water monitoring efforts in Sampson and Duplin counties.