Environmental study gives proposed poultry plant all clear in Nash County

The company has expressed interest in building a plant on 150 acres of land near the intersection of N.C. Highway 97 and Interstate 195 in Nash County that would bring an estimated 1,000 jobs to the struggling area.

The proposal has drawn concerns from residents in Nash and Wilson counties, as well as the city of Wilson, about how the plant would affect property values and the environment.

The study, which conducted by experts commissioned by Nash County, said the plant would have no long-term negative results on the site.

New NC Jobs, a nonprofit group which supports the proposed plant, presented the study during a press conference on Wednesday. 

The study drew criticism from Wilson officials. 

“If the study was produced by the same new jobs group that is using paid actors in political attack ads and sending out political mailers, then I believe we would have to be suspicious about what they say," Wilson Mayor Bruce Rose said. 

Wilson City Manager Grant Goings, who admitted to not having seen the study, remains critical of the project. 

"If the study suggests that spreading hundreds of millions of pounds per year of chicken manure on the ground will have no harmful impacts, then I’m not sure how they are going to reconcile their study with the findings of the international science community, or just the laws of common sense, for that matter," he said.