Source:  Chris Scott, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 1/3/11

The newly formed Nash County Landowners Assn. plans to petition the board of directors of Sanderson Farms in an effort to stymie plans to build a poultry processing plant in North Carolina.

Residents of Nash and Wilson counties also are expected to become Sanderson Farms shareholders and raise their objections to the plant at the annual meeting next month. The coalition also plans to review company files to determine how the site in North Carolina was selected.

The group is among several local residents seeking to block the proposed plant because of concerns about its effect on drinking water supplies and other industrial waste concerns. Last month, Sanderson Farms announced that the plant will be delayed by at least two months while Nash County officials remedy a technical error stemming from the zoning change that cleared the way for the plant to be built. 

The plant is also at the center of at least one lawsuit seeking to block its construction.  Laurel, Miss.-based Sanderson Farms said it still expects the plant to be operational in 2012.   

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