Arkansasonline
Bill targets moratorium on swine farms near Buffalo River, would block future permit bans in watersheds
January 22, 2025 at 6:39 p.m.
A bill that would eliminate an existing moratorium on swine farms in the Buffalo River watershed and prohibit future watershed-specific permit moratoriums without legislative council approval was filed Tuesday in the Arkansas Senate -- something one advocacy organization called an "obvious effort" to circumvent the rulemaking process.
The filing comes after the Division of Environmental Quality moved last year to make a temporary swine farm moratorium in the watershed permanent. The rulemaking the moratorium is contained in, Regulation 6, received hundreds of public comments from supporters and opponents. It was set to be heard by the rules subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council for approval in December, before it was abruptly pulled from the agenda the day before by the agencies, who cited procedural issues that necessitated the removal.
Senate Bill 84, if passed, would prohibit state agencies from instituting "a moratorium on the issuance of permits in a watershed, including without limitation the Buffalo River Watershed, or any other body of water" unless it gets approval from the Arkansas Legislative Council first.
Additionally, SB84 would render existing moratoriums -- such as the one on medium- and large-size concentrated animal-feeding operations in the Buffalo River watershed -- "unenforceable." The bill was referred to the Senate Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development Committee.
Farm interests were staunchly opposed to the moratorium. Sen. Blake Johnson, R-Corning, who introduced the bill, did not respond to a request for comment. Johnson is a farmer, as is the House sponsor Rep. DeAnn Vaught, R-Horatio.
It is unclear whether the legislation, if passed, would result in any meaningful difference in current procedures. The current, temporary moratorium is part of the Division of Environmental Quality's rules, which already require Legislative Council review and approval for any changes.
[LEGISLATIVE CALENDAR: Catch up on this week's meetings ยป arkleg.state.ar.us/]
The most obvious impact would be the end of the animal-feeding operation moratorium in the Buffalo River watershed, which has been in place for the better part of 10 years after outcry over the issuance of permits to C&H Hog Farms.
The Division of Environmental Quality's predecessor began the process of instituting the moratorium in 2014, in response to the controversy with the C&H Hog Farm in the watershed. That moratorium, however, was temporary, with language that it had to be made permanent in five years or deleted from the rule.
The Division of Environmental Quality, which proposed the rule amendment, tried to make the moratorium permanent in 2020 in accordance with the temporary moratorium's language. It made it through the administrative process but was ultimately shot down during legislative review in the face of opposition from agricultural interests and skepticism from lawmakers.
The division brought it back to the commission last year as part of a group of amendments to Regulation 6, which governs the state's administration of the federal National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System program, with the stated purpose of preserving the status quo in the watershed.
The Arkansas Farm Bureau, in public comments last year, said the moratorium wasn't supported by science and that it could lead to further restrictions on agricultural activity within the watershed. Department of Environmental Quality staff disagreed, saying that the impact of swine farms on the Buffalo River had been "an ongoing concern in Arkansas."
Watershed advocates were against SB84, with Gordon Watkins, the president of the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, saying his organization was disappointed but not surprised by the bill, and that removing the protections against concentrated animal-feeding operations in the watershed was "a recipe for a repeat" of the C&H Hog Farms "debacle."
"It's an obvious effort to circumvent those rule makings," Watkins said. He called the idea that the moratorium was a "slippery slope" to further agricultural prohibitions in the watershed a red herring, noting that the moratorium has been in place for nearly 10 years. "We haven't seen any efforts to expand that to other types of agriculture or to other parts of the state. ... I don't think anyone is interested in trying to stop agriculture in the state of Arkansas, that's just ridiculous."
Meanwhile, Ozark Society President Brian Thompson called the potential removal of the moratorium "a betrayal" after the millions of dollars the state of Arkansas spent to shut down C&H Hog Farms. He urged Arkansans to write to their representatives about the matter.
The Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation said it was monitoring the bill.
Support journalism that digs deeper into topics that matter most to Arkansans. Donate today to preserve the quality and integrity of local journalism.