Massive South Georgia poultry farm proposal halted by judge — for now

Credit: College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences UGA Cooperative Extension

A judge in South Georgia's Coffee County has issued a stop-work order on what some residents say could become the largest chicken farm east of the Mississippi River. 

The proposed operation appears to be an attempt to rebuild a large part of the state’s poultry industry, which was devastated by last year’s Hurricane Helene. 

But its location, near the Satilla River and its wetlands, concerns environmental advocates and residents who would be living next to the chicken houses. 

Coffee County Superior Court Judge J. Kelly Brooks signed an order on July 24 temporarily halting any construction on the site until a hearing could be heard on the case’s merits. 

In their lawsuit filed on July 18, the residents claim that the proposed chicken farm would have too many negative impacts and that “catastrophic harm is reasonably certain, if not inevitable.” 

Satilla Riverkeeper Shannon Gregory said that a downstream treatment plant in Douglas has had problems with chicken waste in the past and that a major flood or spill be would devastating. 

"What’s going to happen to the wastewater that comes from this facility?” Gregory asked. “I'm worried that that might overload the system." 

Helene destroyed about 300 chicken houses in the state, mostly concentrated in South Georgia, according to the Georgia Poultry Federation. 

The lawsuit says that the Coffee County farm would build 60 chicken houses on 1,000 acres, based on land disturbance and wastewater discharge permits. 

That would make it a truly massive operation, in terms of its size and its potential impacts on the economy and the environment. The UGA Extension says the average-sized poultry farm is four houses, generating more than $160,000 annually in gross income. 

As for potential environmental impacts, the lawsuit names several, including the release of nutrients harmful to surface and groundwater, such as phosphorous. 

“A farm like the Defendants’ with 60 broiler houses of 25,000-30,000 birds will create as much phosphorus as a city of 400,000, nearly the size of the City of Atlanta,” the lawsuit states. 

The lawsuit also raises concerns about avian influenza, property values and noxious odors. 

The president of the Georgia Poultry Federation, Mike Giles, said that he did not know about the proposed farm when contacted before the lawsuit was filed. 

Many details about the operation are opaque and difficult to obtain. 

But Giles said that rebuilding from Helene will take some time. 

“We’ll probably be rebuilding houses throughout the rest of this year and into next year,” he said. “The recovery and rebuilding efforts are well underway now.” 

Giles declined to comment further when contacted Monday. 

An estimate from the University of Georgia Extension put Helene’s economic damages to the state’s poultry industry at $683 million. 

Whether the Coffee County plans materialize could depend on how the lawsuit is resolved.