North Carolina egg farm Rose Acre Farms is challenging the state's authority to regulate its air emissions under federal clean-water laws, prompting changes in proposed environmental regulations moving through North Carolina's Senate.
A declaration that airborne discharges from industrial or agricultural operations can’t be considered waste discharges into water is part of the Regulatory Reform Act of 2012, SB810, which is currently going through rewrites in the state's government. Rose Acre has also sued over the issue, after inspectors said they found ammonia in the waterways near the company and contended that the emissions are from the farm's ventilation system.
