More small towns and companies in North Carolina have joined with Wilson and Raleigh to oppose Sanderson Farms building a poultry processing plant in Nash County, reports the Rocky Mount Telegram.

The Neuse River Compliance Association recently reached a near unanimous decision to ask the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources to deny the plant a permit because of its potential environmental impact on the Neuse River. In a nine-page resolution drafted by the association, it states that the proposed chicken plant — along with broiler and feeder houses needed from an eight-county region to supply the plant — could increase the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus entering the river.