THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 1, 1995 TAG: 9503010443
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WILMINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
A hog-slaughtering company with a questionable environmental record in the Midwest says it will follow state environmental laws if it moves to the Tar Heel State.
If that's true - and Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. says he believes it is - the world's largest producer of fresh beef and pork would be a welcome addition to North Carolina's economy, the governor says.
IBP Inc. might invest as much as $65 million in a plant, hire as many as 2,000 workers and give the state the additional slaughtering capacity it needs to expand its lucrative hog industry, the Wilmington Morning Star reported Tuesday.
IBP, based in Dakota City, Neb., is considering several North Carolina sites, including at least one in northern Duplin County.
Gary Mickelson, manager of communications for IBP, said Tuesday that the company has been planning to build a plant in either North or South Carolina, or Virginia to be near hog producers in the region.
But he said the company has not determined the size or location of the plant.
Environmental advocates and some neighbors are concerned about the plant's stench, its pollutants and its effect on the quality of life in neighboring communities. Across the Midwest, environmental regulators have tangled with the company, accusing IBP of illegally dumping blood and sludge and polluting streams and air with toxic waste-water and fumes.
In a breakfast meeting last month, however, IBP executives told Hunt they are committed to being environmentally responsible.
``You won't have to worry about them,'' the governor said Monday.
Mickelson said IBP's environmental record would not be a problem.
``We as a company take our obligation to the environment very seriously,'' he said.
Still, IBP's environmental track record will be considered if the company applies for permits to operate here, said Steve Levitas, deputy secretary of the state's Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources.
Levitas also attended the meeting with IBP executives.
``If they were prepared to follow all the rules and regulations, I told them that North Carolina was a good place to do business,'' Levitas said. ``But if they had any idea that environmental regulations were some type of burden to be avoided, or if they had any interest in cutting corners to save cost, I told them it is not a good place to come.''
Hunt said the state needs to look at three environmental issues that circle hog farms: Odor, contaminants poured into rivers or sprayed over fields and new research that shows some hog waste lagoons are leaking. by CNB