THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 21, 1996 TAG: 9607190010
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 30 lines
A factory-size hog operation is under construction near U.S. 17, a half-mile south of the Virginia-North Carolina state line.
Those familiar with the area will recognize that this operation will be a half-mile from the Dismal Swamp Canal and the Dismal Swamp Wildlife refuge.
Many Virginians and others take canoe tours and other guided tours through the refuge. Thousands of boaters annually transit the Dismal Swamp Canal from Deep Creek in Chesapeake, to South Mills in Camden County, N.C.
Your newspaper recently reported on the economic importance of the canal and the intra-coastal waterway to the maritime communities of Hampton Roads. The operator of the hog farm reportedly has told our representative to the North Carolina House of Delegates, Bill Owens, that he intends to put 23 buildings on the site. The operator won't give numbers, but we estimate he intends eventually to have 20,000 hogs on the site.
This operation, if it comes to pass, will be a potential threat to the existence of the wildlife refuge and the wetlands. It threatens a National Historic Landmark (the canal) and will make both the refuge and the canal unusable because of the odors. I encourage your readers to contact their representatives and have them talk to their N.C. counterparts. The first five buildings are under construction. Please act now.
BOB FRASER
South Mills, N.C., July 9, 1996 by CNB