Bill blocking local government regulation of poultry farms is law

By JIM DAVENPORT
Associated Press Writer
Published May 30, 2006

A bill stripping local governments of power to regulate poultry operations became law Tuesday morning without Gov. Mark Sanford's signature.

Farmers gathered at the Statehouse Tuesday cheered the new law.

"I think he did a good thing," said Dayton Shealy, a Saluda county poultry operator. "My prayer was answered."

Sanford had until midnight Monday to sign the legislation, veto it or let it hit the law books without his signature.

The Legislature said the Department of Health and Environmental Control should be the only agency responsible for regulating issues such as how close the operations can be to neighboring homes. About a dozen counties have implemented tougher regulations or were adopting them, including Berkeley, Chesterfield, Clarendon, Horry, Kershaw, Lancaster, Lee and Williamsburg.

Sanford sent the Legislature a five-page letter Tuesday outlining his concerns. In it, he said he was conflicted about the local governments having control and that he didn't want them to duplicate the state Department of Health and Environmental Control's regulatory role.

If the state has "a statewide system - adhere to it or toss it - but don't have a variety of governments attempting to respond to the same issue," Sanford wrote.

"We only need one set of rules," Shealy said. "Counties don't really have the expertise."

DHEC already has some of the toughest regulations in the country, said Paul Potts, a retired poultry operator.

Under DHEC's rules, a poultry house can't be within 1,000 feet of a neighboring home and can't be within 200 feet of a property line.

Opponents have said that's not fair to neighboring homeowners because much of their land on other side of the property could be used to satisfy the setback requirement. They also said the legislation was yet another strike at local government authority to respond to their citizens' needs.

But supporters said counties didn't lose the authority to change zoning laws and exclude poultry operations from areas. They said local governments were going too far and threatening farming operations.

Poultry business is big in South Carolina, with 1,107 egg-laying farms, 426 broiler farms, and 331 turkey farms, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

That weighed in Sanford's decision. The industry provides jobs in some of the state's poorest areas, he said.

Those operations account for three of the state's 10 largest cash crops, with chickens raised for dinner tables at the top of the list followed by turkeys at No. 3, and laying chickens at No. 9, according to USDA statistics.

"It's a good thing not just for poultry but all farmers," said Thad Wimberly, a Bowman farmer, whose corn ends up as feed used by poultry operators. "It's a good day for South Carolina."