http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2013/sep/07/hutchinson-more-notice-needed-hog-farm-other-proje/

Hutchinson: More Notice Needed On Hog Farm, Other Projects
By Doug Thompson


FAYETTEVILLE undefined The state should require more public notice for construction of ventures like a large-scale hog farm in the watershed of the Buffalo National River, Asa Hutchinson, a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor, said Friday.

“There needs to be better notification when such a large operation is being planned,” Hutchinson said after the issue came up at a noon question-and-answer session sponsored by the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce. Hutchinson is running for the Republican nomination against Curtis Coleman of Little Rock and Rep. Debra Hobbs of Rogers. The only declared Democratic candidate is former U.S. Rep. Mike Ross of Prescott.

Hutchinson is a former representative of Arkansas’ 3rd Congressional District, which includes Fayetteville and the area near Mount Judea where C&H Hog Farms is located. The farm received all required permits and permissions to house about 2,500 full-grown sows and as many as 4,000 piglets at a time. It's the first such facility in Arkansas to receive a general water discharge permit required through the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System.

Federal agencies that signed off on the project by granting the required loan guarantees and other approval are subject to a federal lawsuit filed by environmental groups. The lack of state requirements for more public notice also came under criticism by neighbors and environmental groups after the project’s permits went through.

“That’s good to hear. This whole thing was kept under the radar,” said Gordon Watkins of Jasper, president of the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, which opposes the hog farm, when told of Hutchinson’s comment.

At the chamber’s meeting, Hutchinson said the state has lagged behind other states in the region in job growth in the last year. The state has a “noncompetitive” state income tax rate that needs to be reduced, he said. The state also needs to do more to bring education up to date. “The ability to write computer code is the language of the workplace in the future,” he said.

Hutchinson also said the importance of governors increase the longer the federal government remains deadlocked.

“Governors solve the problems and find the solutions when the federal government is broken and unable to lead,” he said.

The state should also adopt a policy that state government growth shouldn't exceed revenue growth, Hutchinson said.

Tyler Clark, Democratic Party chairman of Washington County, attended the chamber event. He asked Hutchinson how much he expected to cut the income tax. Hutchinson said his specific plans would be announced at a later date.

“There was no policy outlined in that talk,” Clark said after the event. “Even though he’s from Northwest Arkansas, he doesn’t resonate here.”

In the governor’s campaign, Hutchinson said he has 13 fundraisers planned in September alone. The campaign for the November 2014 election is already in full swing, he said.