Buffalo River Watershed Alliance
By Mike Masterson
This article was published today at 2:29 a.m.
The year's most significant meeting of the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission occurred last Friday in Little Rock.
Most Arkansans would agree as they learn the alarming news Richard Mays presented there. Mays was representing the Buffalo River Coalition opposed to the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (cough) issuing the permit that allowed C&H Hog Farms to begin spreading millions of gallons of raw waste into the Buffalo National River watershed at Mount Judea.
The coalition was there to alert commissioners and the state of evidence collected over a year ago by Dr. Todd Halihan of Oklahoma State University.
Working under contract with the Big Creek Research and Extension Team and the Cooperative Extension Service, Halihan used electrical resistivity imaging in March 2015 to show what Mays said is "evidence that there has been and continues to be a possible release of contamination beneath the C&H hog farm."
Using slides from Halihan's study, Mays explained how hog waste could be shown through technology. The waste reflects a particular level of electrical conductive signature, which can be charted in colors. Halihan's studies were conducted on waste-spray fields and beneath the facility.
The slides used at Mays' presentation, which appear to reveal contamination as deep as 120 feet beneath the factory, should have been enough to upset any commissioner learning of it for the first time.
Halihan's slides indicating contamination reportedly show high conductivity signals extending 40 feet beneath the surface on the east side of the waste holding ponds and 60 feet deep (along with a possible flow channel) on their southern end. On the west side, between the ponds and barns, the signals measure to 90 feet, and reveal a possible "major fracture and movement of waste," in a quote attributed to Dr. Halihan.
In October, Tim Kresse, with the U.S. Geological Survey and member of the Big Creek team, sent an email to team leader Dr. Andrew Sharpley, saying in part: "... it would be nice to put a well on the west side in the vicinity of where Todd believed he saw a major fracture and movement of waste. This could be critical to resolving the interpretation of the resistivity data. Todd would be willing to assist in getting the drilling done for free. ... Todd is fairly confident of his interpretation."
Mays told commissioners that because neither OSU nor the Big Creek team "offered any further explanation of this concerning information, the Alliance sought independent expert opinions. One was Dr. Christopher Liner, a University of Arkansas geophysicist."
Liner said: "In my opinion, interpretation of the holding pond data implies groundwater contamination to a depth of at least 120 feet, most logically from leakage of the hog manure storage pond. According to the Arkansas state geology map, the Mount Judea area is underlain by the Mississippian Boone limestone formation. This introduces the possibility of rapid and distant groundwater transport through weathered limestone pathways."
The coalition also turned to respected geologist Tom Aley, who said the data "are a matter of significant concern. The data strongly suggest that there is appreciable leakage downward out of the manure ponds. Such leakage not only introduces pollutants into the groundwater system but in this karst setting may also lead to subsidence or collapse of the ponds. At a minimum the data indicate that an adequate drilling program is needed prior to the installation of a liner in the ponds. Such a program is in the interest of C&H Hog Farm, various state and federal agencies and those people and groups concerned with the protection of the Buffalo National River."
This information only reinforces the concerns of many Arkansans who treasure the Buffalo that all relevant facts have not been made public. It certainly further shakes whatever lingering remnants of faith I had that our state government has the best interest of our national river's well-being at heart.
Former Second District Rep. Ed Bethune also spoke. He said former Gov. Mike Beebe and the Legislature approved monies to create the Big Creek team project that supposedly would objectively monitor the hog factory.
"Taxpayers were assured that the research would be independent and that the goal was to protect the public interest," he stated. "Now we learn OSU did a study over a year ago that raises important questions. And we learn that the director of [the Department of Environmental Quality] and you, the PC&E Commission, were not told about the OSU findings. OSU gave the information to the Big Creek Research group, but they did not tell you about it. Why?
"In my experience, bureaucracies are unwilling to divulge findings and information that is contrary to the outcome they prefer. ... [You] should be outraged. There should be an effort to find out 'who knew what and when did they know it.'"
The governor also needs answers.
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By Emily Walkenhorst
The Florida company planning to vaporize manure at a Mount Judea hog farm will test the equipment but will not permanently install it, the company president said last week.
Plasma Energy Group will test the technology at C&H Hog Farms over a 60-day period later this year to gather data on air emissions related to the plasma arc pyrolysis vaporizing technology, company President Murry Vance said. The company could then use that data if it tried to sell its product to another hog facility that might need an air permit to install it, Vance said.
The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality would oversee the testing, he said.
C&H Hog Farms doesn't have enough hogs to produce enough waste to break even if it invested in the technology, Vance said.
"We thought it was marginal, probably, from the beginning," Vance said. "They were willing to use it even though it wasn't economical."
For the technology to make economic sense, Vance said, a facility would need to house about 5,000 sows and already be spending about $200,000 annually on hog waste.
C&H, a large, concentrated animal-feeding operation, is permitted to house up to 2,500 sows and 4,000 piglets at a time on its land on Big Creek, 6 miles from where it meets the Buffalo National River.
Plasma arc pyrolysis typically involves the conversion of material into synthetic gas. In the case of C&H, Vance has said the waste won't be turned into synthetic gas because the quantity of material won't be large enough. The method proposed for the C&H farm would break down the hog waste and vaporize it using an electron discharge and some heat, then condense the water vapor into "semi-pure" water that is put back into the plant.
An official with C&H Hog Farms did not return voice mails left for him. An official with JBS, which supplies hogs to C&H Hog Farms, did not return voice mails left for him.
Jason Henson, one of three owners of C&H Hog Farms, had previously told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that the owners were pursuing the technology because of its potential to reduce hog waste on the facility's property, which might appeal to environmental groups concerned about the hog waste at C&H.
Environmental groups were not happy with the proposal, which they called "experimental" and "risky," posing a threat to the Buffalo National River.
Gordon Watkins, president of the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, said he wasn't surprised to hear that the technology would not be installed permanently at C&H.
"One of our first reactions was that it was not economically feasible," he said.
C&H Hog Farms, which environmental groups say poses a threat to the water quality of the Buffalo River with the amount of hog waste stored on-site and applied to land, has proposed various changes to its facility to assuage the groups' concerns.
C&H started talking to Plasma Energy Group about plasma arc pyrolysis technology in 2014. The Department of Environmental Quality warned Plasma Energy Group in October 2014 that testing the technology could result in enforcement action if the technology resulted in gas discharges that would require an air permit.
The department had been unable to determine whether Plasma Energy Group needed an air permit because it did not receive enough data from the company on projected gas discharges from vaporizing hog waste. The company had vaporized some materials before but hadn't done so with hog waste until it did some testing last summer at Sandy River Farm in Conway County.
About a year ago, C&H officials applied to the Department of Environmental Quality to add covers on the hog waste lagoons that would capture gas emitted from them and then send it through an upward pipe to flare and burn it.
Earlier this year, Ellis Campbell, a farmer in Newton County, asked the Department of Environmental Quality for permission to apply up to 6.6 million gallons of hog manure from C&H on nearly 600 acres of his farm fields in the county. That would allow C&H to reduce the volume of hog waste on its site and stay within its permit.
The Buffalo National River -- the country's first national river -- is a popular tourist spot, with more than 1.3 million visitors in 2014 who spent about $56.5 million at area businesses, according to National Park Service data.
Small hog farms have existed in the Buffalo River watershed for years, but C&H is the first large-scale hog facility in the watershed.
Last summer, the state imposed a five-year ban on new medium or large hog farms in the watershed.
Arkansasonline
Pollution board: End permits how?
The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality will look into how it can discontinue the farm permitting program that it announced Thursday it would no longer offer, department Director Becky Keogh said Friday.
Administrative Law Judge Charles Moulton of the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission asked Keogh at the commission's monthly meeting Friday whether the department would pursue a rule-making effort to remove the permit from its established regulations.
Currently, Moulton said, Regulation 6 provides for the statewide general permit for concentrated animal feeding operations.
Changing regulations requires the initiation of rule-making by the commission, which then sends the change out for public comment and review by the governor's office and the Legislature, and then it must vote on final adoption of the regulation change.
The department announced Thursday that it would no longer offer the statewide general permit under Regulation 6, which refers to the federal pollutant discharge program, after receiving only one application for it since its creation in 2011. That application came from C&H Hog Farms in Mount Judea, which received approval.
Moulton said that in 2011 the commission was told that the permit would be necessary to get the state on par with the federal government's less strict permitting process. The permit was designed to mirror a proposed similar permit by the federal government that would be less stringent and would cut down on paperwork and make the permitting process easier.
But the federal government never implemented that type of permit, Keogh said, which made the state's version unnecessary.
Keogh's and Moulton's exchange was a small part of a more than two-hour meeting Friday that consisted of comments denouncing the department's approval of C&H Hog Farms' permit application in 2012, which many argued at the time was done without adequate public input.
Several who commented urged the department on Friday to look into whether the hog waste ponds at C&H Hog Farms are leaking into the terrain in the Buffalo National River watershed. Newly obtained research has caused them to suspect that the ponds are leaking.
Listen: KUAF Radio - Ozarks At Large
Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality To End Federal CAFO Permits
By JACQUELINE FROELICH • APR 29, 2016
The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality will no longer issue federal Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation permits in Arkansas. The agency cites a lack of applicants as the reason for its decision. State-enforced CAFO permitting rules, however, will remain in place.
The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality will discontinue the type of general permit that allowed a large hog farm to open in the Buffalo River watershed, the department announced Thursday.
After receiving only one application for the Regulation 6 general permit for concentrated animal feeding operations in more than four years, the department decided not to renew that type of permit.
C&H Hog Farms in Mount Judea is the only concentrated animal feeding operation with such a permit in the state and the only one to have ever applied for it.
The lack of interest in the permitting program was the primary reason department director Becky Keogh decided not to renew it.
"In this case, we don't see that it's [renewal is] necessary, because we haven't had the use that we ... expected," Keogh said.
The general permit was created in 2011 to mirror a federal permitting program that speeds the permitting process for such operations, she said.
Keogh said public comments questioning the necessity of the program were "critical" to her decision to close the program.
The department initially recommended renewal of the permit and held a public hearing in Jasper earlier this month, where the National Park Service opposed the plan. Chuck Bitting, the service's manager of the natural resource program for the Buffalo National River, argued the permit had been changed to allow for less public notice than before and would be detrimental to water quality.
The department received more than 100 comments on the issue, many in opposition to renewal.
C&H's operating permit expires Oct. 31. The owners applied last week for an individual permit under Regulation 5 and for a renewal of their current permit under Regulation 6. Both regulations concern discharge of pollutants from facilities, but Regulation 5 concerns a statewide program and Regulation 6 concerns a federal one. Regulation 6 includes an individual and general permit.
The decision not to renew the general permit will not have any immediate impact on C&H, and law allows for a facility to continue operating under an expired permit if the department decides not to renew that type of permit.
Because the facility only just applied for the permits and department staff haven't fully reviewed the documents or any requested modifications yet, Keogh said, it's difficult to say what will happen to C&H's applications later this year.
General permits are meant to cut down on paperwork and make the permitting process easier. But environmentalists argue they made the process too easy for C&H, which they fear may pollute the Big Creek tributary to the Buffalo National River. The facility abuts Big Creek six miles from where it meets the river.
There is a short waiting period for a general permit compared with "individual permits," which can take six months or longer, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The Clean Water Act prohibits anybody from discharging "pollutants" through a "point source" into a "water of the United States" unless such a "discharger" has a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit.
An individual permit is unique to a specific discharger. The individual permit is normally written to reflect site-specific conditions of a single discharger based on information submitted by that entity, according to the EPA.
A general permit is written to cover multiple dischargers with similar operations and types of discharges based on the permit writer's professional knowledge of those types of activities and discharges, according to the EPA.
Rob Anderson, spokesman for the Arkansas Farm Bureau, said the organization was reviewing the situation and did not have a comment Thursday.
The decision not to renew the permit was "a good first step" in changing the permitting process, said Gordon Watkins, president of the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, which was created in opposition to C&H's establishment.
Metro on 04/29/2016
By Fran Alexander
Posted: April 26, 2016 at 1 a.m.
When diverse backgrounds meet over a shared issue, especially in a microcosm the size of our state, gatherings can run hot and cold, but are important for figuring out what our values really are. Farmers and professors, children and elders, folks of different ethnicities and skin color, and rural and urban residents have all been touched by the plight of our country's first national river that runs through us, the "us" that is Arkansas.
As all who have followed assaults on the Buffalo National River know, the location and operation of a confined animal feeding operation on one of its tributaries, Big Creek, has brought defenders together to delve into the process, the politics, and the pollution of pigs near our river. When the state approved a permit for this feeding operation in 2012, few citizens in the county, region or state were aware such a thing was being planned because public notification was virtually nil and public reaction time was closed. Then the process began for people to sort out just what was happening, who the owners and financial backers were, what their permit restricted or required, and why the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality would approve such a thing?
Common sense told people without a financial stake in the farm that hog manure slurry spread on hilly fields with thin topsoil would not be a good thing for the water downstream. The battle lines were perceived to be between local farmers' rights to do what they wanted to manage their farming business and recreational visitors, who did not relish the idea of floating down or swimming in a contaminated river. But it is really the huge economic investment and loan entities that have the power to wave their state permit in the faces of increasingly concerned advocates for the river's protection. Lawsuits have been filed, an agricultural agency team has studied the situation and sort of gathered data, hearings have been held at numerous stages, but the hog farm remains operational with 6,500 pigs in residence. Now the owners are applying to expand their manure spreading over what will eventually amount to almost 25 percent of the river's watershed.
Activists trying to get the powers-that-be to listen to the science they have been analyzing in the Buffalo watershed have been ignored. In a science and music program last week sponsored by the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance (http://buffaloriveralliance.org), Dr. Van Brahana, retired professor of hydrogeology at the University of Arkansas and a past research scientist for the U.S. Geological Survey, said, "I have written a significant number of letters and voluntary offerings to governors (Beebe and Hutchinson), to heads of ADEQ, and to legislators. I have had zero -- zero -- responses the entire time."
It's not like the team of volunteers of the "Karst Hydrogeology of the Buffalo National River Project" are just a bunch of random bystanders. Besides Brahana, the team has members with professions or studies in chemistry, hazardous waste, agriculture, fishery science, karstology and waterborne health impacts.
While the government folks have refused to even acknowledge that the manure fields sit atop Swiss cheese-like rock formations called "karst" underneath the shallow soil, these scientists have gone about doing dye, dissolved oxygen, nutrient, E. coli bacteria, and trace metal tests and data analysis. Non-toxic dye has shown water to be moving 2,500 feet per day instead of the 10-15 feet per year most groundwater moves because karst limestone caves and crevices are open pathways for rapid water movement. The team's findings also indicate water is becoming impaired.
On a happier note, to emphasize the beauty, history and special wonder of Buffalo River country, Fayetteville's musical treasure, "Still On the Hill," plans to perform free concerts (with free CD's) in communities and schools, etc., across the state. "Still A River" songs are stories and poetry from the heart that express love and respect for the river and for the people who have lived and worked along side it throughout history.
The duo is raising money (tax deductible) to fund this collaborative project and currently there is a $5,000 match challenge to help toward their goal of sharing the music with as many people as possible. Go to: www.stillonthehill.com to help out.
"A lacework of branches crisscrossed overhead
Dropping Dogwood blossoms on the riverbed
A twisted juniper high on a bluff
In a craggy old voice, whispered to us
Buffalo River ... Flow River
Across ... this wild land
Unspoiled ... by the hand of man."
-- "From Ponca to Pruitt" -- A Tribute to Ken Smith
Commentary on 04/26/2016
Haven't given up fight
Mike Masterson wrote an open letter to Gov. Asa Hutchinson in regard to the risks posed by this farm to our state's one and only national river.
Many of us have been working to understand and cooperate with Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality over these past two years. Sadly, the conclusion that I have come to is that the department seems to be working against the Buffalo National River's best interests, seemingly at every turn. They cite regulation after regulation in regard to their pursuit of proper procedure, yet when there is hard data from the U.S. Geological Study delivered to them by the National Park Service with a recommendation to find three tributaries as "impaired" (polluted), they decide that those rules need not be followed. These three tributaries contribute about one third of the flow of the Buffalo National River.
I can only conclude that there is a political agenda at work within this agency. However, please don't get the impression that any of us have given up. We are in this for the long haul and we are gaining a great deal of expertise in regard to environmental policy. That being said, please know that I stand firmly with Mike Masterson's letter.
BRIAN THOMPSON
Fayetteville
How to handle waste
In regard to the likely pollution of the Buffalo River by C&H Hog Farms--although the owners followed all the state rules for approval, the only two options presented thus far are to allow it to continue operation as approved or to force it to cease operations.
Perhaps a third option would be to install a sewage-treatment plant like those made for cities. If large cities can build effective sewage-treatment plants, surely one could be built for one hog farm. Since the state approved the facility and it was built in good faith by the farmers and at their expense, I think the state should share in the expense if such a plant could be built. Grant money could also be sought in the effort to protect the river. The state's share of the money should come out of the Department of Environmental Quality budget as an incentive to be more vigilant in their responsibilities.
LARRY McNEAL
For Immediate Release
Contact: Caven Clark, Public Information Officer, 870-365-2790
Tourism to Buffalo National River creates $62,243,200 in Economic Benefits
Report shows visitor spending supports 969 jobs in local economy
Harrison, Arkansas – A new National Park Service (NPS) report shows that 1,463,304 visitors to Buffalo National River in 2015 spent $62,243,200 in communities near the park. That spending supported 969 jobs in the local area and had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $72,009,000.
“Buffalo National River welcomes visitors from across the country and around the world,” said Superintendent Kevin Cheri. “We are delighted to share the story of this place and the experiences it provides. We also feature the park as a way to introduce our visitors to this part of the country and all that it offers. National park tourism is a significant driver in the national economy, returning $10 for every $1 invested in the National Park Service, and it’s a big factor in our local economy as well. We appreciate the partnership and support of our neighbors and are glad to be able to give back by helping to sustain local communities.”
The peer-reviewed visitor spending analysis was conducted by economists Catherine Cullinane Thomas of the U.S. Geological Survey and Lynne Koontz of the National Park Service. The report shows $16.9 billion of direct spending by 307.2 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a national park. This spending supported 295,000 jobs nationally; 252,000 of those jobs are found in these gateway communities. The cumulative benefit to the U.S. economy was $32 billion.
According to the 2015 report, most park visitor spending was for lodging (31.1 percent) followed by food and beverages (20.2 percent), gas and oil (11.8 percent), admissions and fees (10.2 percent) and souvenirs and other expenses (9.8 percent).
To download the report visit go.nps.gov/vse.
The report includes information for visitor spending at individual parks and by state.
To learn more about national parks in Arkansas and how the National Park Service works with Arkansas communities to help preserve local history, conserve the environment, and provide outdoor recreation, go to www.nps.gov/Arkansas.
For more information on all events and programs at Buffalo National River please go to www.nps.gov/buff.
www.nps.gov
More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America’s 401 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.nps.gov.
April 20, 2016
Intrigue surrounding the 6,500 hog factory farm permitted by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) in the Buffalo River Watershed continues. The plot thickens as Mr. Ellis Campbell (EC FARM) has requested a permit to receive up to 6.5 million gallons per year of hog urine and feces from the Campbell and Henson (C&H) 6,500-hog factory farm. This waste will be applied to approximately 600 acres, some of which is in the Little Buffalo watershed, at the head of Shop Creek and the head of the East Fork of the Little Buffalo River.
On the surface one might think that spreading the waste around on more acreage further up from the Buffalo River is at least better than applying it to less acreage. Looks can be deceiving in the sensitive karst terrain of this region where groundwater can flow as far as 2,500 ft. a day.
At a public meeting on April 11 in Jasper by the ADEQ public concerns on this transfer of waste from C&H to EC Farms were voiced. A list of concerns is readily viewed on the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance’s website.
Why C& H, that will have to bear the expense of trucking the waste and expense and responsibility for any spills over the rocky circuitous transport route, wants to pursue this avenue might best be answered by looking at a timeline:
Now back around to 2012: The public was assured by the ADEQ that the C&H spray field acreage would be sufficient to handle at least three million gallons of waste a year.
Maybe things “ain’t a-working” as well as we were guaranteed. How long before these new fields reach saturation and once again the ADEQ appears to be giving no consideration to karst terrain?
Spreading waste on more fields simply exchanges one set of problems for another. The ADEQ has a responsibility to the people of Arkansas and to C&H, which appears to have been poorly advised by the ADEQ.
Such a facility should never have been permitted in this sensitive and unpredictable karst terrain. ADEQ needs to admit its mistake of permitting this facility under any regulation.
Ginny Masullo
“In a democracy, people get the leaders they deserve.” – Abraham Lincoln
Dr. Luis Contreras – On April 12, 2016, life in Crossett, Ark., made the news. Georgia-Pacific had great things to say about their bond with the community: “Our view is that we don’t just employ local citizens. We work and live in the Crossett community, and we take our commitment to the communities around us very seriously. Many of our employees own property near our operations, and many of our future employees are being educated in nearby schools. It is imperative that we don’t stop at merely being a good local citizen or an economic boost – we also must invest in our communities.”
On the same day, Newsweek had a different tale: “How a paper plant in Arkansas is allegedly poisoning the people of Crossett.” According to Leroy Patton: “The Lawson couple used to live here, Patton says; the street was named for them. “They’re dead from cancer and stroke.” He pointed to another property. “Down here is Pat. Her parents died from cancer back there, and now her husband is sick, too.” He turned to a long driveway lined with trees and junk cars. “And this here is my place. Ain’t nobody but me and my old lady left. Everybody dead in my family but me. All of ’em from cancer.” People in Crossett need jobs and are afraid to speak up.
This story is not going away. Koch Industries owns Georgia Pacific. Their attacks on scientific evidence that formaldehyde causes cancer, after 15 deaths in Crossett, were reported in The Nation, October 12, 2011, “The Kochs and Cancer in a Small Town.”
At the heart of this tragedy is a “generous” permit granted by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality allowing emissions of 1.5 million pounds of toxic chemicals including formaldehyde, dioxin, acetaldehyde and chloroform. GP is not in violation of the ADEQ permit!
ADEQ logic explains why the C&H hogs continue on the Buffalo National River watershed. The National Park Service sent ADEQ a request to declare Big Creek and two other tributaries impaired. In the ADEQ “Draft 2016 Impaired Waterbodies List” the streams recommended by NPS were not included. With this omission, C&H is not in violation, and all the pigs get to stay!
Environmental compliance is smart, sustainable business, a strategic choice made by the board of directors. This is what Tranlin, a new $2 billion paper mill in Virginia, says they are doing to preserve the environment:
GP has no excuse for irresponsible, immoral and abusive behavior. Advanced, sustainable technology is available. Environmental discrimination enabled by ADEQ processes is a dumb business practice.
ADEQ and the Arkansas Economic Development Council decide our future with permits and public funds, selling Arkansas to energy-intensive, high-carbon, low-tech, high-pollution, heavy industries. AEDC is doing all it can to host the Chinese pulp mill, using all available public funds. There is a bidding war for deforestation, traffic congestion, air and water pollution. Foresters can’t wait to sell “forest products” ignoring the destruction of the forest soil.
We elect the people in charge and we can choose a better future. Arkansas has many geographical advantages; it can be the top eco-tourist destination with protected forests, cover crops and no-till farming, solar power, clean air and clean water. We deserve better, vote!
Pollution is created when a business fails to pay the total cost of creating its product in order to pump up profits by dumping, rather than treating, toxic manufacturing byproducts. The cost is passed on to the public at large while the enhanced profits are reserved for the few who own the business. Lead in drinking water, round-the-clock noise from illegal vehicle exhaust pipes and late-night music blaring from downtown bar speakers all have one thing in common. They are pollution. The difference is, drinking lead-laced tap water will drive you crazy faster than memorizing the lyrics to Lynard Skynard’s greatest hits while you’re trying to sleep.
Buffalo River Watershed Alliance is a non profit 501(c)(3) organization
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