Dove said that violators will be cited under the citizen-suit provisions of the federal Clean Water Act. A joint federal-state research project is getting under way to determine whether hog wastes from leaking lagoons may be threatening drinking water supplies. Steve Levitas, deputy secretary for the state Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources, says the agency plans to begin actively searching for violators, rather than relying on citizen complaints. Contract farming Farmers' groups say they hope to introduce legislation this month calling for increased legal protection for farmers who raise livestock under contract for corporations. A similar bill introduced in 1993 died in the House Agriculture Committee.
Any legislation is likely to meet stiff opposition.
Gov. Jim Hunt, Agriculture Commissioner Jim Graham and numerous industry officials say they oppose government interference in how livestock companies do business with contract growers. State Rep. Howard Hunter, a Murfreesboro Democrat, says he plans to introduce a bill this year that would give counties authority to regulate large hog farms through zoning. Several counties have attempted to get around the zoning exemption by regulating large farms through health department ordinances. Swine industry officials have hinted that they may challenge these efforts in court. The Midwestern packing giant IBP Inc. is considering building a new hog slaughterhouse in the Southeast, and is said to be actively looking at sites in Duplin County and in Tidewater Virginia, just across the North Carolina line.