Industry giants (Dominion Energy and Smithfield Foods) want to ignore longtime promises to adopt clean technology to protect communities from the harmful impacts of large hog facilities. Instead they plan to capture, transport and sell methane produced by hog waste (through what is called a "directed biogas" project). This project – which includes 30+ miles of gas pipelines and a gas processing facility – will pollute our rivers, streams, and air.
Even worse, it will have a disproportionate impact on low-income communities and communities of color, which are exposed to pollution from industrial hog operations, landfills, and other polluting industries at higher rates.
In order to complete this project, Smithfield and Dominion need a permit from the Department of Air Quality within NC DEQ and that's why we need your help.
Sign the petition today and tell DEQ to deny the draft permit for the industry's biogas project and to take steps to ensure future permits are transparent, embrace cleaner technologies, and consider the other pollution burdens affected communities already carry.
We, the undersigned, urge the NC Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), including in particular the NC Division of Air Quality (DAQ), to deny the Draft Air Permit Number 10644R00, Align RNG, Duplin County, NC.
The Grady Road directed biogas project proposed by Smithfield Foods and Dominion Energy (under the name Align RNG) will pollute our rivers, streams, and air. It will harm communities and will have discriminatory impacts on Black, Indigenous, Latinx and low-income communities.
When drafting this or similar permits, DEQ should consider the full breadth of pollution impacts and cumulative impacts to nearby communities, require industry to adopt cleaner technology, and ensure transparency throughout all permitting processes for the Align biogas project.
Thank you.
[Your name here]
