Environment notebook
By Emily Walkenhorst
Agency sets hearing on manure permit
The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality will hold a public hearing April 11 in Jasper on a request by Ellis Campbell, a farmer in Newton County, to apply up to 6.6 million gallons of hog manure from C&H Hog Farms on nearly 600 acres of his farm fields in the county.
Campbell has an existing permit for a former facility on his property to store hog manure and apply hog manure on the land. Campbell is requesting that his permit be changed for only applying hog manure to the land, which he would do with manure from C&H, which is owned by Richard and Phillip Campbell and Jason Henson.
The hearing will be at 6 p.m. in the Jasper School District Cafetorium on 600 School St.
The department also will host a public hearing April 14 in the same location, also at 6 p.m., regarding the department's proposed renewal of the Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations general permit.
That type of permit is what C&H Hog Farms in Newton County used to establish its facility on Big Creek, 6 miles from where it meets the Buffalo National River. The department intends to keep that type of permit as a part of its operations.
"Coverage under the general permit authorizes the storage and land application of manure, litter, or process wastewater, and mortality management in accordance with a nutrient management plan," according to a news release from the department.
The permit category is scheduled to expire Oct. 31 if it is not renewed, the release states.