Hog issue complex?
By Mike Masterson
Posted: January 21, 2014 at 2:45 a.m.

Two avid supporters of the Buffalo National River in Newton County recently sent their concerns to state legislators.


They asked the representatives to do everything possible to prevent the potential pollution of the treasured stream by C&H Hog Farms. That’s the deeply controversial hog factory that the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (cough) wrongheadedly permitted along a major tributary of the Buffalo.

Patti Kent, a Newton County property owner, and Pam Fowler of Jasper also were asking what can be done legislatively to stop the possibility of hog waste polluting our river as it has in water bodies in other states such as North Carolina. The hog factory (supplied and supported by Cargill Inc. at the hamlet of Mount Judea) is spread across 600 acres, much of which is widely underlain by fractured subsurface terrain called karst.

This mountainous limestone topography allows subterranean groundwater to rapidly flow through cracks and caves for miles into nearby streams. That means Big Creek, which is adjacent to or near the fields to be sprayed with C&H waste routinely drawn from two large lagoons, could well be threatened by contamination. Big Creek flows into the Buffalo National River about six miles downstream.

Two legislators’ responses cite a need for balance in resolving what they contend is a complex matter. Fowler included a photograph with her message to one legislator that shows a large highway billboard on U.S. 65 near Western Grove which shouts: “Come Enjoy the Buffalo River. It’s Not Polluted … Yet!”

Here (edited for space) are responses the women say they received: From Rep. Kelley Linck, R-Yellville: ”If I understand your thoughts correctly … you don’t believe this is a complicated issue at all. You believe that the only right solution is to do away with C&H Farm. There’s no possible way to pass legislation that makes C&H Farm illegal and mandate its removal. I’d be shocked if that legislation were to receive better than 2 votes out of the 135 legislators. Truthfully, I’d be shocked to see it receive a single vote.Do you think [you] can muster enough lobby support to move 50 percent of the Legislature to do something that currently zero percent supports? It cannot … happen. We will all continue to work for the best possible outcome in a situation none of us wanted to be in. … We will also work to not get caught in the same or similar situations in the future.” From Rep. Greg Leding, D-Fayetteville: “I can assure you we’re working to do what we can to ensure the continued protection of the Buffalo River and other extraordinary watershed resources. The current situation involving C&H is a complex one that, unfortunately, we learned about too late. It’s my sincere hope that the issue is settled in a way that’s fair to all parties and safe for our state’s water and air quality. Looking ahead, I believe there must be a balance between our ecological and agricultural concerns. We’ve got a beautiful state, and tourism is vital to our economy. But our state also plays a key role in feeding millions of people and agriculture’s just as critical to our state’s economic health. Making sure we find that fair balance is no easy task but one to which I’m committed. As to current efforts, I spoke with ADEQ this week. We should learn within days the full recommendations made by a panel we put together through the legislation passed at the end of last year’s legislative session. These recommendations should increase public notification requirements for future projects, allowing concerned parties to voice their concerns much earlier in the process. It’s a small step, but a step forward.”

I emailed the legislators about their responses but didn’t hear so much as an oink in reply by my deadline.

My response is that while there’s certainly no question that we humans need food to survive, unelected me sees nothing complex in legislating that hogs be mass-produced only in areas of Arkansas that don’t pose what scientists and others contend presents a clear danger to our state’s only national river. As to seeking “balance,” even I could not have found a more inappropriate and controversial place to embed up to 6,500 hogs. Where does anyone other than lobbyists for agriculture find balance in this worst possible location?

Matters became even less balanced after I learned the director of our state’s Department of Environmental Quality admitted to not realizing her agency had issued the factory’s permit in this hypersensitive watershed until it was approved. Neither the agency’s local office in nearby Jasper nor the National Park Service in Harrison were informed this factory was being permitted.

Simply put, this supposedly “complex” factory should never have been allowed in such a sensitive location, especially by the alleged guardians of our environmental quality. In fact, count me among those who remain surprised that the agency director still holds her political position, considering the way her agency so badly mishandled what amounted to an accommodation that (all complexities and balance aside) benefited Cargill and one family contrasted with a flagrantly unacceptable risk to a state’s national treasure.


Mike Masterson’s column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him atmikemasterson10@hotmail.com. Read his blog at mikemastersonsmessenger.com.

Editorial, Pages 11 on 01/21/2014