UA division to study effects of hog farm on soil, water

By Sean Beherec

This article was published September 6, 2013 at 5:15 a.m.

A legislative subcommittee Thursday approved spending $340,000 in general improvement funds to study the environmental effects of a commercial pig farm on the Buffalo River watershed.

The study will be performed by the University of Arkansas’ Division of Agriculture and will test for nutrients and pollutants in the soil, groundwater and waterways around the C&H Hog Farms in Newton County.

Mark Cochran, the vice president of the division, told the committee that the funds will allow researchers to set up testing sites and perform operations for one year. Additional funds will be required as the study progresses, he said.

The preferred length of the study would be five years, Cochran said.

The actual amount requested by the division exceeded the $250,000 that Gov. Mike Beebe had requested. No member of the subcommittee voted against spending $340,000.

Matt DeCample, a spokesman for the governor, said the $250,000 was just an initial estimate for the study.

“Once we got the detailed plan on what they wanted to do to make sure they accomplished everything they wanted to with the study and the monitoring, the cost ended up higher and the governor signed off on it,” DeCample said.

Several legislators questioned whether the study would provide results that could help in other parts of the state or if they would be specific to the site and the watershed.

Cochran said the results and recommendations to the hog farm could be applied throughout the state and that the results would be shared with researchers in other parts of the country.

Cochran stressed the division would not be involved in water quality enforcement as the study progressed.

“I do want to remind you that one of our primary missions as a research extension of the university is the development and implementation of best practices so our farms can operate in compliance with state and federal laws,” rather than enforcement, Cochran said.

The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality issued a permit for the 6,500-pig operation earlier this year.The farm drew criticism from environmental groups, which expressed concerns about the facility’s effects on water quality in Big Creek, a tributary that feeds into the Buffalo National River.

The environmental groups also warned that the planned application of manure to neighboring properties could effect water quality and nutrients in the soil.

Teresa Marks, the director of the state environmental agency, said the department may “tweak” the guidelines of the permit during the course of the study if needed. But Marks said the farm would not face penalties if it is operating under the terms in the permit.

A coalition of environmental groups filed a lawsuit Aug. 6 against the federal government, arguing that it failed to conduct a proper assessment of the environmental impact of the farm before issuing loan guarantees for its construction.