In 2002, the permit board of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality upheld its decision to award an air-quality permit to hog farm operator Bill Cook, despite complaints about the farm's odors by nearby residents. DEQ said the odor complaints are subjective.

The Sierra Club and local resident Everett Kennard are asking the court for stricter odor control requirements.

Now, this isn't a little farm with a few hogs, but industrial hog farming, which has met with angry rural residents across the South. In this operation, there are about 7,000 hogs producing thousands of gallons of excrement kept in open ponds.

Source: Clarion Ledger