Opponents of a large hog farm near the Buffalo National River have filed a federal lawsuit against the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality and the hog farm, asking a judge to allow a scientist consulting for the opponents to be present during research at the farm.
The research, which is to be conducted on C&H Hog Farms' private land in Mount Judea, was requested by opponents of the hog farm -- including the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, which filed the lawsuit -- earlier this year after they learned of research done in 2015 that showed what they said was an unexpectedly high amount of moisture beneath one of C&H's manure ponds.
C&H owners agreed to allow the Department of Environmental Quality to conduct the research, which consists of extracting samples from the ground through drilling to assess the integrity of the liners under the hog manure ponds.
The department hired Harbor Environmental of Little Rock to do the drilling, consulted with the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance about what it would like to see done during the project, and allowed up to two members of the state-hired Big Creek Research and Extension Team to be present during the drilling. The department rejected a request from the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance to have present its consultant, Bert Fischer, a University of Tulsa geology professor.
In the lawsuit filed Wednesday, the alliance alleges that the Department of Environmental Quality, by allowing other stakeholders to be present at the drilling but not the representative for the alliance, has violated the rights of the alliance and its members to "due process and equal protection of the laws under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution" that the alliance is entitled to as a stakeholder in the Buffalo River.
The drilling might be done only once, alliance attorney Richard Mays said in an interview Wednesday.
"So we want to make sure that it's done the right way," he said.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr. of Little Rock.
Mays said he decided to sue when he didn't hear from the department after his Aug. 4 letter and an email sent Tuesday.
Department spokesman Kelly Robinson said Mays' letter was considered a "comment" on the project that the department would respond to later. She said department officials, including Director Becky Keogh and Caleb Osborne, associate director of water quality, were traveling Tuesday from meeting with natural resources officials in Missouri on an unrelated project.
"Director Keogh has taken into consideration Mr. Mays' request to go on site at C&H Hog Farms in the Mt. Judea area as well as any requests," Robinson said in an emailed statement. "All requests to go onto the site will be considered.
"The activity will begin as soon as a driller becomes available. ADEQ anticipates this as soon as possible, with the understanding that there are many variables that will impact our time frame."
Those variables could include rainy weather and scheduling conflicts, Robinson said.
The drilling was originally scheduled to start Aug. 8 but has been postponed indefinitely.
The Department of Environmental Quality signed a contract with Harbor Environmental for $75,000 to do the drilling and lab work.
C&H Hog Farms first opened in May 2013 after having its permit approved by the department in late 2012. It has been under fire from environmental groups and others for more than three years for what they say is the risk it poses to the Buffalo River.
The facility sits on Big Creek about 6 miles from where it converges with the Buffalo River. It is the only large hog farm in the river's watershed and is permitted to house up to 6,000 piglets and 2,503 sows.
Research conducted by the Big Creek Research and Extension Team, which operates out of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, has not found the facility to be polluting into the river. Research will continue for at least another two years on the site.
The Buffalo River, the first national river, had 1.46 million visitors last year, the third-highest total since it became a national river in 1972 and the highest since a record visitors count of 1.55 million was set in 2009. That year, visitors spent an estimated $62.2 million at local businesses, directly supporting 750 jobs and secondarily supporting 219 others.
Metro on 08/25/2016