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Elloree fights state hog farm permit

Web posted May 2, 1998

Associated Press

ELLOREE, S.C. -- This town of 800 people does not want 8,400 pigs as neighbors and has hired a lawyer to fight a state permit for the large-scale hog farm.

The state parks department also opposes the farm and in a letter last week warned that odors from waste lagoons could foul the air and seepage could ruin creeks that flow through Santee State Park, about a mile away along South Carolina Highway 6.

Eloree Mayor Vernon Shirer said Thursday he has hired Pawleys Island lawyer Jimmy Chandler to fight a permit for the farm approved by the Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Mr. Chandler heads the South Carolina Environmental Law project.

DHEC issued the permit April 2, but state law bars any construction until an appeal is heard.

``We're so opposed to it because of its effect on economic development and because of possible water contamination,'' Mr. Shirer said.

The stench is another worry. ``I've never been around a pig farm without odors,'' he said.

Factory-style hog farms, which house hundreds of pigs in rows of barns, have been controversial in the Carolinas because of their smell and cases where pollution fouled nearby creeks and rivers.

But this opposition is in South Carolina's top hog-producing county. The latest statistics show Orangeburg County produced 37,400 pigs in 1996.

``This is not a new venture for the county,'' said Roland Moorer IV, who wants to open the hog farm.

``It is very comparable to existing facilities and much smaller than some.''

Mr. Moorer wants to build two pig barns initially and plans a third later, records show.

He said last week he is contracting with a major farm corporation out of North Carolina to supply baby pigs, but would not name the company.

Mr. Moorer would oversee the piglets until they reach 40 pounds, then ship them to other South Carolina farms. When grown, the pigs will be slaughtered and processed.