Facts Contradict Elsie Herring's Story

She’s an internet star for Earth Justice, Environmental Justice, Environmental Working Group, the Waterkeeper’s and operation R.E.A.C.H. She’s told her story on websites for Mother Jones, Policy Watch, Indy Week, Democracy Now, Raw Story, and in the film Right to Harm. She’s the voice of ‘environmental justice’ groups. The unofficial spokeswoman for lawyers suing hog farmers. She’s Mrs. Elsie Herring.

Elsie Herring’s Story

The story she tells goes like this: The hog farmer next door to her home sprays his field “three or four days on a slow week” – and sometimes “daily.” And occasionally “at night.” The odor is so bad she can’t go outside. She can’t sit on her porch. She’s trapped, a captive in her own home.It’s the dramatic tale of ‘the captive lady and a cruel farmer’ and Elsie Herring’s told it over and over for years.

The Truth About Hog Farmers

But there’s a problem.Every time the hog farmer sprays his field he has – by law – to keep a record for state inspectors to review. Here’s a photo of the farmer’s ledger:

Did he occasionally spray at night? No.Did he sometimes spray daily? No. Did he spray 3 or 4 times a week? No.In fact, over the last 6 months the farmer only sprayed on 2 days and, then, he only sprayed an average of 2 hours and 8 minutes each day.Recently, Mrs. Herring was back on the Internet.  She’s told her story many times. A lot of people have heard it. But look at the facts. Look at the farmer’s ledger. Look at this video:

Go down to her home and look at the grove of trees between her house and the farmer’s field. The facts contradict her story. Why does she continue to tell it? We don’t know. But we do know the facts tell a different story.

Update: For the past 3 years, the field closest to Ms. Herring’s house has not been used. This increases the spray field distance to 900 feet—not 8 feet.

Fake News?--Reported Flooded Hog Farm is Actually Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant

Last fall the day after the hurricane the Waterkeepers Alliance spun a tale to the Washington Post and the Post published this photograph (below) to prove hog farms swamped by the hurricane were spreading pollution:Two days later Deborah Johnson of the Pork Council emailed the Post: This isn’t a photograph of a hog farm. It’s a municipal wastewater treatment plant.When the Post didn’t reply Johnson wrote a letter to the editor – but the Post didn’t publish the letter.Then Angela Fritz of the Post wrote her: “It’s been a busy week for us but I just wanted you to know that we received your email and we’ll get back to you soon.”No one heard from the Post for the next four months.Then, in February, Mrs. Fritz responded to another email by saying, Let me talk to my co-authors…and I’ll get back to you soon.March, April and part of May passed with the Pork Council asking over and over for a correction but the photo remained on the Post’s website. Then, almost seven months after the story ran, the Post published a correction – sort of. It added one line to the story on its website: “Correction: A previous version of this story included before-and-after photos of a flooded hog farm that was inactive. We have removed that photo.”With the stroke of a pen the Post had turned the Hookerton municipal waste treatment plant from a hog farm into an ‘inactive’ hog farm. At best, that’s a half-apology. But, at least, the newspaper removed the photo. 

Esquire, stick to the subjects you know best

The latest attack on North Carolina hog farms comes from an unlikely source: Esquire magazine.

Now, Esquire is a perfect resource for celebrity interviews, men’s fashion advice, and things like that. Just this past week, they posted helpful articles such as How to Take the Stress Out of Wearing Suede Shoes and How to Pick a Haircut Like Your Celebrity Hair Doppelgänger.

When it comes to those important issues, Esquire is a “go to” resource. But an article this week about HB 467 and North Carolina hog farms (I love the smell of pig sh*t in the morning!) proves that they don’t know sh*t about farming.

The article repeats the same tired, untrue claims that have been made for years by the Waterkeeper Alliance and others who want to put North Carolina family farmers out of business. The writer claims that, “wind being what it is, sometimes the spray takes wing and people's houses get a primer coat of pig shit.”

To further illustrate the point, Esquire quotes Cape Fear Riverkeeper Kemp Burdette: “You could be sitting on your back porch, and depending on the wind, have hog (expletive) sprayed on your kids."

Clearly, this reporter didn’t bother to learn anything about our industry or the strict regulations that all North Carolina farmers must follow, including a mandatory 200-foot setback from their neighbors.

Esquire should stick to the subjects they know best, like this one: You Don't Have to Be on Vacation to Drink a Piña Colada.