Sacred Waters and Sacrifice Zones: The documented effects of industrial hog and poultry operations on the Lumbee Tribe in southeastern North Carolina Open Access
Schach, Michelina (Spring 2026)
Abstract
Having sustained themselves since time immemorial in the lands presently known as North Carolina, the Lumbee Tribe is the largest Tribal Nation east of the Mississippi River. Over the past three decades, the Tribe’s homelands have been transformed in significant part by the rapid expansion of industrial hog and poultry operations. While the impacts of these operations in North Carolina’s eastern Coastal Plain region are well-documented, the existing bodies of research and literature addressing the specific effects of industrial animal agriculture (IAA) on the Lumbee Tribe remain fragmented and underdeveloped. To address these gaps, scoping review and qualitative thematic analysis methodologies were used to analyze a diverse array of available literature, including peer-reviewed studies, government reports, legal complaints, Tribal governance documents, ethnographic scholarship, geospatial data, and media. Emerging evidence was then synthesized across environmental, health, sociocultural, economic, and political domains to identify and assess what the public archive documents, what remains absent, and how these patterns both shape the evidence available for Tribal advocacy and governance, and reflect broader hierarchies of knowledge production. Through these analyses, consistent patterns emerged in documentations of regional effects combined with a persistent lack of Lumbee-specific, disaggregated data. Environmental impacts include the contamination of the culturally-central Lumbee River with excessive nutrients and pathogens, atmospheric emissions including ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, and the siting of hundreds of facilities within flood-prone zones. While not disaggregated by Tribal enrollment, health research conducted in rural eastern North Carolina broadly identified elevated rates of chronic and respiratory illness, gastrointestinal disease, and adverse mental health outcomes among residents near IAA operations. Economic analyses documented dramatic property value decreases for households near hog operations. Cultural effects, including the disruption of river-based practices, the curtailment of subsistence fishing and gardening, and the disruption of knowledge transmission, were primarily represented in Lumbee-authored scholarship and anecdotal accounts but were lacking in the types of research that typically inform environmental regulation. Rather than being neutral, this absence of Lumbee specific data is understood to reflect structural exclusion from environmental decision-making, and the prioritization of certain forms of evidence over others. The Lumbee Tribe’s receipt of federal recognition in December 2025 opens new pathways for Tribally-led research and consultation rights, though the capacity of these tools to translate into meaningful environmental governance remains to be documented. This thesis concludes with recommendations for future Lumbee-led research, governance, and resilience strategies.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Positionality Statement................................................................................................... 1
Preface: A Word on Framing, Terminology, and Analytical Disclaimers................... 3
Chapter 1. Background: Colonization, Animal Agriculture, & Indigeneity…………6
1.1 Defining Industrial Animal Agriculture (IAA): Scope and Structure................... 6
1.2 The Introduction of Post-Contact Human-Animal Relations............................... 8
1.3 Domesticated Animals and Colonial Dispossession............................................ 10
1.4 Industrial Animal Agriculture as a Continuation of Colonial Structures……...... 11
1.5 Kinship versus Commodification and Divergent Value Systems......................... 13
1.6 Land Use, Dispossession, and Restitution............................................................ 16
1.7 Indigenous Resistance and the Reclamation of Food Sovereignty.......................18
Chapter 2. Introduction: The Rise of Industrial Animal Agriculture in Lumbee Territory ............................................................................................................................................ 21
2.1 Regulatory History and Frameworks Governing IAA in North Carolina..............21
2.2 The Lumbee Tribe: People, Place, and Culture................................................... 24
2.3 The Expansion of Industrial Animal Agriculture on Lumbee Homelands……... 29
Chapter 3. Methods........................................................................................................ 38
3.1 Question Framing and Methodological Approach Rationale.............................. 38
3.2 Data Sources and Search Strategies..................................................................... 41
3.3 Analysis Process.................................................................................................. 43
Chapter 4. Results: Political, Legal, and Regulatory Dimensions................................ 46
4.1 Environmental Injustice and the Disproportionate Siting of Industrial Operations....46
4.2 Regulatory Frameworks and Systemic Gaps........................................................ 50
4.3 Exclusion from Governance, Federal Non-Recognition, and Jurisdictional Constraints ........................................................................................................................................53
4.4 Structural Barriers to Reform: Historical, Economic, and Political Dimensions.... 55
4.5 Implications and Emerging Directions of Lumbee Federal Recognition............. 57
4.6 The Legal Architecture of Environmental Effects and the "Right to Harm"........ 59
Chapter 5. Results: Environmental Effects of Industrial Animal Agriculture on Lumbee
Territory........................................................................................................................... 61
5.1 Spatial Concentration and Proximity of Operations to Lumbee Communities.... 62
5.2 Water Contamination Pathways............................................................................ 66
5.3 Atmospheric Pollution and Odor Burden............................................................. 72
5.4 Land Degradation and Ecosystem Disruption...................................................... 74
Chapter 6. Results: Health Effects of IAA on Lumbee Communities...................... 76
6.1 Respiratory Disease and Airborne Illness............................................................ 77
6.2 Waterborne Illness and Gastrointestinal Health................................................... 78
6.3 Chronic Disease, Mortality, and Antibiotic Resistance........................................ 80
6.4 Mental Health and Psychosocial Impacts............................................................. 82
Chapter 7. Results: Cultural, Social, & Community Effects on the Lumbee Tribe… 84
7.1 The Lumbee River as Sacred Space and Cultural Anchor................................... 85
7.2 Food Sovereignty, Subsistence Practices, and Agricultural Traditions............... 87
7.3 Community Cohesion and Disruption of Daily Life............................................ 91
7.4 Place, Identity, and the Transformation of Homeplace........................................ 93
Chapter 8. Results: Economic & Property Effects on Lumbee Communities........... 95
8.1 Industry Employment Narratives and Economic Claims..................................... 95
8.2 Property Devaluation and Housing Effects......................................................... 98
8.3 Lumbee Contract Grower Participation and Vertical Integration Economics...... 102
8.4 Comparative Economic Analysis: Weighing Costs Against Claimed Benefits... 104
Chapter 9. Results: Resistance, Advocacy, & the New Landscape of Tribal Sovereignty.... 105
9.1 Lumbee Advocacy, Resistance Movements, and Community Agency............... 105
9.2 Proposed and Existing Solutions to Industrial Agriculture Effects..................... 110
9.3 Tribal Governance as a Framework for Remedy................................................. 116
9.4 Federal Recognition and a New Landscape of Sovereignty................................ 118
Chapter 10. Discussion, Limitations, and Recommendations..................................... 121
10.1 Key Findings and Their Significance................................................................. 121
10.2 Research Gaps, Knowledge Production, and Implications for Epistemic Justice 125
10.3 Limitations and Methodological Considerations for Future Research............... 126
10.4 Recommendations for Future Lumbee-Led Research & Strategy....................... 128
10.5 Broader Implications for Environmental Justice and Indigenous Sovereignty.... 134
Chapter 11. Conclusion................................................................................................... 135
References........................................................................................................................ 140
List of Figures
Figure 1. Native American Population by Census Tract in Lumbee Territory.................. 32
Figure 2. Animal Feed Operation Permits and Community Resilience Challenges Index by
Census Tract ........................................................................................................................ 33
Figure 3. FEMA Community Resilience Challenges Index (CRCI) By Census Tract….... 48
Figure 4. Effective Flood Zones and Community Resilience Challenges Index by Census Tract
............................................................................................................................................... 70
Figure 5. Animal Feed Operation Permits and Effective Flood Zones in Lumbee Territory ...............................................................................................................................................71
List of Tables
Table 1. IAA Infrastructure, Proximity, & Outputs by County in Lumbee Territory............ 34
Table 2. Chicken Density & Outputs by County in Lumbee Territory.................................. 35
Table 3. Hog Density & Outputs by County in Lumbee Territory................................. 36
Table 4. Thematic Codes Identified from Qualitative Analysis with Descriptions…….... 44
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