KOLR 10 TV News, Springfield, MO

A proposed bill in Arkansas is raising questions.

Opponents of C& H Hog Farm in Newton County, believe the bill is designed to reverse a decision by the ADEQ, to deny the farm's permit. There are concerns the operation is causing hog waste to contaminate the nearby Buffalo River.

It's the emergency clause in the proposed bill that concerns Gordon Watkins, President of "The Buffalo River Watershed Alliance." 

"It refers to facilities permitted by the Department of Environmental Quality. having their authority to continue operations jeopardized by confusion over the requirements for transferring authority to operate from a general permit to an individual permit. Well, C & H is the only permitted facility in the state of Arkansas that has a general permit and is trying to transfer to an individual permit."

Arkansas legislator Dan Douglas says, the proposed bill is to ease the fears of other farmers. 

"This bill is just a means of reassuring the lenders and the producers that if they have been issued a permit and are good players and currently have no enforcement actions against them .. and they need to change permits, or modify their permits, they will be allowed to do so, and will be grandfathered in."

Douglas denies that the proposed bill is about C & H.

"What the bill does not do, it does not have a retroactive time period to allow anyone that currently has.. that's in an enforcement action or denial, to be grandfathered in. So therefore it does not apply to the C & H Hog Farm."

Watkins is not quite convinced that's true.

"This emergency clause would end up in effect grant C & H a permit, in spite of the fact that there's an ongoing appeal." 

C & H has appealed the case. They're expected back in court this August.