LAURENS, SC – A group of concerned residents and property owners in Mountville are challenging the state environmental agency’s authorization of new poultry farms along Lisbon Road. These concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) would bring sixteen new poultry barns to the area, which is already overburdened with 57 existing industrial poultry barns. These new barns would in total hold 528,000 broiler chickens and result in an annual litter production of 3,220 tons of manure.

On Friday, July 19, on behalf of South Carolinians for Responsible Agricultural Practices (SCRAP), the South Carolina Environmental Law Project (SCELP) filed Requests for a Contested Case Hearing with the South Carolina Administrative Law Court, asking the court to reverse the South Carolina Department of Environmental Services’ (DES) decision to issue agricultural animal facility operating permits for these new poultry farms.

The permitting of additional poultry barns in the Mountville area means that the odor, air pollution, and water pollution associated with such facilities will only be further exacerbated in the surrounding environment and community. Treasures like the Little River and its tributaries, which run through the same parcel where these new CAFOs are proposed, are extremely susceptible to irreversible harm should these permits stand. The threat to the Little River is all the more serious considering that this water body is already overburdened with fecal coliform bacteria, which is caused in no small part by the poultry farms of this area. Allowing new poultry farms to be built along the Little River will further degrade it and further reduce the community’s ability to recreate, use, and enjoy the natural resources around them.

“These new facilities will increase the potential to further reduce the quality of life in our community and bring further potential risks to the soils, aquifers, waters, and air that are already in jeopardy given the 57 other poultry buildings all located within the watershed of the Little River, impacting the Saluda River, Lake Murray, and points beyond,” said Charles Blackmon, founder of South Carolinians for Responsible Agricultural Practices. “Our group hopes to bring awareness to the detrimental impact upon a community’s quality of life and environment when concentrated animal feeding operations of this magnitude are continuously permitted without due consideration given to density within a community or environmental impact to a watershed.”

This is not the first time SCRAP has had to challenge permit applications for poultry barns. A previous challenge involving these same applicants and property led to a 2022 ruling from the South Carolina Court of Appeals on the specific grounds that the environmental agency did not properly consider water quality impacts to the Little River when issuing the permits. However, Department of Environmental Services is now repeating the same mistakes from before by authorizing these detrimental CAFO permits despite their non-compliance with the Court of Appeals’ mandates and other applicable law.

“For far too many years, the Mountville community and its natural environment have perished because of the over-proliferation of poultry farms in this area,” said Emily Poole, Staff Attorney at SCELP.  “SCRAP and its members understand the value of agricultural operations and their presence in this rural community, but poultry farming practices and permitting need to be compatible with the surrounding residential community and must not impair the natural resources that make this place so special. Challenging the permits at issue here allows SCRAP to continue fighting for the community they know, love, cherish, and want to live in for generations to come.”

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The South Carolina Environmental Law Project is a nonprofit public interest law firm. We use our legal expertise to protect land, water and communities across South Carolina. Learn more at www.scelp.org.

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