Permit denial for Arkansas hog farm to get hearing

Owners, state to weigh in ahead of full trial in August

By Emily Walkenhorst

Posted: April 30, 2018 at 4:30 a.m.

NWAOnline 

A hearing this morning will give parties a chance to make their arguments about whether C&H Hog Farms was improperly denied a new operating permit by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality.

A full trial on C&H Hog Farms' appeal of its permit denial is set for August, but today's hearing will allow the department and the farm's owners to argue their separate motions for dismissal and partial judgment, respectively, in the case.

C&H Hog Farms sits on Big Creek, about 6 miles from where the creek drains into the Buffalo National River. The farm has more than 6,500 pigs, and is the only federally classified medium or large hog farm in the area.

The Department of Environmental Quality has filed a motion to dismiss the appeal, and C&H Hog Farms has filed a motion for partial summary judgment declaring that the farm still has an active federal permit. C&H Farms also asked the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission, which is the Environmental Quality Department's appellate body, to dismiss the department's motion.

C&H's appeal, upon which the rest of the motions are based, asks that the commission find that the department's denial of its permit was improper.

The department filed its motion to dismiss the company's appeal at the end of March, arguing that it has the legal authority to deny a permit and that it went through the proper procedure for public participation and issuance of a decision as set out in state environmental regulations.

C&H contended in its February appeal that the department did not follow procedures because the department did not issue notice that it would terminate the type of permit under which C&H had been operating. The department argued that the permit type had expired and was not terminated.

In its motion for partial summary judgment filed in March, C&H contended that its permit remains active because the department's decision to deny a different type of permit did not end its coverage, and because the department did not properly terminate that type of permit or notify the company of that decision.

C&H responded April 18 to the department's motion to dismiss and repeated its argument that the department had not ended the company's coverage under its current permit because the department did not properly notify the company of its termination of the permit type. The company also argued that the department's motion to dismiss did not identify which "permitting" decision it believed was subject to C&H's appeal.

Administrative Law Judge Charles Moulton ordered April 20 that the groups argue their points at today's hearing, noting that "the parties have filed a number of motions that are presently pending" in the appeal case.

The hearing is at 10 a.m. at the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality's headquarters at 5301 Northshore Drive in North Little Rock.