On September 5, a legislative subcommittee in Little Rock recommended funding a $340,000 proposal by the University of Arkansas to “Demonstrate and Monitor the Sustainable Management of Nutrients on C & H Farm in Big Creek Watershed.” The proposal requests an additional $400,000 over the following four years. In short, three-quarters of a million dollars of tax-payer money will be used to monitor the impact this 6,500-head factory hog operation will have on the fragile ecology of Big Creek and, more importantly, on the Buffalo National River a short distance downstream.
Why are Arkansas taxpayers asked to foot the bill to keep tabs on a privately owned operation (whose $3.4 million loans are also guaranteed by US taxpayers) under contract with Cargill, a private multi-national conglomerate? Could it be because the state and its Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) realize they made a mistake by allowing this factory farm, the first and largest of its kind in Arkansas, to be located in such a sensitive area where it threatens the Natural State’s crown jewel?
Neither neighbors, Newton county residents, nor anyone in the state received notice of this project except for a brief posting buried deep in the ADEQ website. As a result, the public did not become aware of the facility until months after the permit was issued and construction was nearly complete. If proper public notice was given when the permit application was received, and public opposition was equally strong (now reaching the national level), would the state respond the same way and agree to spend $750,000 to monitor a $3.4 million private operation? Or would the state see that such a high impact facility obviously does not belong in the fragile karst terrain of the Ozarks and deny the permit? It seems the state is covering its ham-hocks for allowing itself to be steamrolled by Cargill and Farm Bureau and for its lack of oversight, foresight and due diligence in allowing this permit to be issued without public notice.
Ironically, the state, including the Governor, ADEQ and the legislature, refused to consider an alternative proposal by nationally-renowned hydrogeologist and retired University of Arkansas professor Dr. John Brahana. His proposal carries a price tag of $69,000, less than 1/10th the cost of the U of A proposal. Most importantly, Dr Brahana’s techniques will find waste leakage more reliably and quicker than will the U of A’s monitoring wells. He will monitor existing springs and Big Creek and will use critical dye tracing studies to identify subsurface water flow. For example, if dye was placed in one of the waste storage ponds (which are expected to leak up to 5,000 gallons per acre per day) and then appeared in one of the many springs bubbling up in nearby Big Creek, or a neighbor’s private well, or even in the Buffalo River, that would be proof positive, before damage was done, that contamination would occur.
Under the state’s plan, a monitoring well may be drilled in an area where little or no karst is present and waste may bypass the well or may show up very slowly, after significant impairment of Big Creek and the Buffalo has taken place.
Why would the state not even consider a lower cost study which would show damage rather than one which may not show damage at all or not until after the Buffalo has been seriously contaminated?
Dr Brahana’s work, ongoing for several months, has already provided important baseline data on water quality in Big Creek. It’s a shame the state wasted a golden opportunity to gather important water data and opted instead for an inflated study which will only provide a partial and incomplete picture of the risks to the region. Perhaps this study is intended to kill public outrage over the factory farm – not actually monitor and prevent a major catastrophe for the region.
Visit the Documents page on the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance website http://buffaloriveralliance.org/ where you can read both the U of A proposal as well as Dr Brahana’s and judge for yourself.