Closure is only victory in fight against hog farm

NWAOnline

Thousands of letters have been sent to the governor of Arkansas and the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality asking that the C&H hog factory farm in the Buffalo River watershed be denied their permit for operation.

Now the State Regulation 5 permit to C&H has been denied by the Department of Arkansas Environmental Quality.

Is this a victory? Only if the hog factory farm ceases operation in the watershed.

Was this a victory? Only if the hog factory farm ceases operation in the watershed.

The hog factory farm requested a stay before they had even appealed, which is a questionable order of procedure. The current granted stay is until Feb. 10 and will likely be extended when C&H appeals the ADEQ decision. This means they will continue operation in the Buffalo River’s watershed while the legal morass of the anticipated appeal process unfolds, which could take months, even years.

This raises many questions and concerns. Not small among them are the following:

• Aren’t many of C&H Hog factory farm fields at or above optimum levels of phosphorus?

• What about the likelihood of “legacy” phosphorus continuing to build and ultimately impacting the Buffalo National River?

• What about the hundreds of small businesses that are dependent upon the health and quality of the Buffalo River to continue their livelihoods?

• Will Gov. Hutchinson support a permanent moratorium (the current moratorium is temporary) of hog factory farms and the spreading of hog waste in the Buffalo River watershed?

We the people of Arkansas need to require no less than closure of C&H and a permanent moratorium of medium- and large-scale hog operations, including the spreading of hog waste from such facilities, in the Buffalo National River watershed.

GINNY MASULLO