The N.C. Division of Air Quality granted Smithfield Foods and Dominion Energy one of the permits they need to move forward in completing a controversial project to create natural gas by using hog waste in Sampson and Duplin County. With the air quality permit, the two companies will build a gas-conditioning facility to trap biogas, or hog feces, and process it to inject the gas into a 30-mile-long pipeline that will run between Turkey and Warsaw. This is the first step in their joint Align RNG project. “This is great news for the environment, consumers and family farmers across North Carolina,” said Kraig Westerbeek, the senior director of Smithfield Renewables at Smithfield Foods. “Renewable natural gas is a transformational opportunity to reduce farm emissions, generate clean energy and provide economic opportunity for family farmers."