Muscogee Phoenix

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Reader concerned about protection of aquifers

Pam Kingfisher

Rose

As we watch the Arkansas Hog Farm permitting boondoggle play out in the press this week, it’s heartbreaking to know that our OK agencies have no care for the citizens nor the environment of our region. Many neighbors protested well applications, as we know that our aquifers are porous. We also know that OWRB and ODAFF doesn’t include a detailed geological investigation prior to permitting new poultry feeding operations.

In admitting their permitting errors, the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality states that “…water-quality issues and insufficient geological investigations into the karst terrain underneath the facility." The hog farm should have conducted a “detailed geological investigation” of the karst topography where manure might be kept or applied as fertilizer, the ADEQ writes in its 10-page “Statement of Basis” for denying the operating permit.

In this weeks’ announcement, the State of Arkansas will buy out the hog farm for $6.2 million and then pay for and conduct the clean-up. The good citizens of Arkansas will be paying for ADEQ’s mistakes for many years. Just as the good citizens of Northeast Oklahoma will be paying for ODEQ and ODAFF’s lack of regulations for the rest of our lives.

We are calling for Governor Stitt to follow the prudent lead of Arkansas Governor Hutchinson’s temporary ban on poultry and hog farms in the karst watershed of Northeast Oklahoma. Please stop the rubber stamping of permits. We must protect our Aquifers for the future.