Gary Grant of Concerned Citizens of Tillery fires up a rally as residents concerned about pollution from a hog farm operation gathered at the Halifax Mall today. They called for the ban on new hog lagoons and spray fields.

"These are open cesspools," said Rick Dove, of the N.C. Riverkeepers Alliance. "Folks all over Eastern North Carolina have it sprayed on their houses, their cars their clothes. It's toxic waste."

To prove their point, they set up a mini-lagoon of their own on Halifax Mall just behind the legislative building — a child's wading pool full of hog waste.

The rally, billed as the largest collection of environmental grass roots organizations ever assembled in North Carolina, was part of a 51-hour vigil.

The group hoped to pressure legislators to pass a ban on new construction of lagoons and sprayfields and to vote down an amendment that would allow pork companies to profit from the sale of methane emitted by lagoons.

The bill had been slated for a vote in the House agriculture committee today afternoon, but it was pulled off the calendar late Tuesday. Dove said many of the protesters will return when the bill comes up again.

Source: The News&Observer