Press Contact: Rania Masri, PhD; Co-Director, NCEJN rania@ncejn.org
September 4, 2025
NC Environmental Justice Network formally requests public records related to animal feeding operations’ role in highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks
Yesterday, the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network (NCEJN), a registered 501(c)(3) organization, sent a public records request to the North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services under the state’s Public Records Act (PRA). Today, September 4, the Department confirmed receipt of the request via certified mail. The request was also sent via email. The request seeks records related to Poultry Animal Feeding Operations and their role in spreading Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) across North Carolina. This effort is supported by the following organizations: Center for Biological Diversity, CleanAIRE NC, Clean Water for North Carolina, Lumber Riverkeeper, North Carolina Conservation Network, Socially Responsible Agriculture Project, Waccamaw Riverkeeper, and Waterkeeper Alliance.
Bird flu has swept through the nation’s poultry farms since this outbreak began in 2022, affecting over 174 million birds nationwide. North Carolina was hit especially hard this January when over 3.3 million birds were infected in a Hyde County facility. Concerningly, this strain of flu has spread into industrial dairy herds, a growing number of wild mammal species, and even humans, raising concern for future human-to-human transmission. Due to the quantity of livestock kept in animal feeding operations (“AFOs”) in North Carolina, the proximity of those operations to human communities, and the amount of infected waste generated when large outbreaks occur, further spread of bird flu in North Carolina risks serious impacts to the State’s economy, public health, and environment.
To improve public understanding of the risk of bird flu in North Carolina, NCEJN is requesting the following records from the North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services (“NCDA&CS”): records documenting the activities of NCDA&CS to prevent and respond to HPAI in North Carolina AFOs, including but not limited the records documenting or sufficient to show prevention measures, protocols for testing for avian influenza, confirmed cases of avian influenza and the actions taken in response, what methods/data were used to declare North Carolina as “HPAI-free” and the measures being taken to verify that status, how NCDA&CS is preparing for a possible increase in bird flu during the upcoming flu season, and the economic impact of avian influenza in North Carolina so far. NCEJN also requested all documents regarding the locations of poultry AFOs, wet and dry, in North Carolina and the pollution discharge permits and waste management, biosecurity, or other operational plans related to poultry AFOs in North Carolina.
The residents of North Carolina have been kept uninformed as to the degree of impact from HPAI and the overall impact of poultry and poultry waste to our streams, rivers, and communities. It is time for the NCDA&CS to be transparent with this information. A full copy of the PRA Request is available here.
