Arkansasonline

Court date sought in hog-waste case

Two of the three women who appealed the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality’s decision to issue a permit to EC Farms in the Buffalo River watershed have taken their case to circuit court.

Carol Bitting and Lynn Wellford filed an appeal in Newton County Circuit Court of the decision of the department’s administrative law judge, Charles Moulton, to side with Bitting’s argument but allow the department to issue EC Farms a new permit without reopening the application process.

The permit allows EC Farms to spread more than 6 million gallons of hog manure on its land, but the manure would only come from C&H Hog Farms, which produces about 2.3 million gallons of hog manure and already spreads much of that on its property.

Bitting, Wellford and Nancy Haller appealed the permit’s issuance, but Moulton dismissed Wellford’s and Haller’s complaints and upheld only Bitting’s for a hearing.

Bitting had claimed regulations required the department to issue a separate permit for spreading the hog manure on EC Farms, rather than allowing EC Farms to simply modify it to accept C&H manure. Moulton agreed but did not reopen the application process.

Bitting and Wellford appealed Moulton’s decision Feb. 24. Haller died of cancer March 8.

Opponents of the hog farm have expressed concerns about the potential for hog manure ending up in the nearby Buffalo River and ruining the area’s scenic qualities.