Buffalo River Watershed Alliance
With its rolling hills, rivers and caves, the Ozarks is full of natural beauty. But the landscape does not come without risks. Dr. Van Brahana, a hydrogeologist and professor emeritus with the University of Arkansas, will lead a workshop at the Buffalo National River on the region’s surroundings.
Brahana’s has held many seminars about the force, beauty and capability of karst areas and aquifers which comprise much of southwest Missouri and northwest Arkansas.
“The main concern and the emphasis here is karst, which is rock that is easily dissolved by water that has picked up some carbon dioxide, so it is a weak acid,” he said. “The acid essentially dissolves or eats away the rock. First it creates small holes, Swiss cheese type patterns, and then ultimately it can create some very big conduits or features such as caves.”
He said that in karst areas there are sinkholes, sinking creeks and streams. His concern is mainly directed toward human safety and nature preservation.
“The water can get down and underground and then you can’t see it,” he said. “It pops out and it pops out quickly and we don’t have much time to alert the rest of the community that there may be some danger or hazard associated with it.”
The workshop titled “What Lies Beneath” is sponsored by a Patagonia grant, the Ponca Elk Education Center and the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance. It will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on July 16 at the Elk Education Center in Ponca, Arkansas.
“We have a grant from Patagonia and they have an arm that funds environmental studies and natural studies,” he said. “They are looking for rules that are in place in states and other locations that are not necessarily being followed by some of the people that are supposed to enforce them.”
From the grant, Brahana has conducted presentations in Eureka Springs, Fayetteville and Little Rock.
But this next workshop will be unlike the past classroom sessions. In addition to visiting and learning at the Buffalo National River, participants will be led on a field trip to the swimming hole and bluffs at Steel Creek.
“When you get out in the field and go down to Steel Creek you can start to see many of these features much more clearly, because the river has cut into the rock,” he said. “It is just like the highway department. When they cut into rock to make a highway through an area, the road needs to be fairly level. We can see a lot of things that we couldn’t see before.”
Those participating are welcome to bring proper swim attire and a lunch if they plan to stay awhile.
“It’s our natural environment, it’s a beautiful part of the country and it needs some respect and understanding,” Brahana said.
For more information on the “What Lies Beneath” hydrogeology workshop click here.
BY NATASHA GEILING JUN 30, 2016
The consolidation of animal agriculture has allowed American agribusiness to produce huge amounts of cheap meat at an astonishing rate. But that access to cheap meat comes at a cost: millions of tons of manure and toxic pollutants, which can threaten some of America’s most important waterways.
According to a new report released by Environment America, five major animal agribusinesses — Tyson, JBS, Cargill, Smithfield, and Perdue — produce a combined 162,936,695 tons of manure every year. But it’s not just the manure that is threatening America’s waterways. The report also points to the huge volumes of grain that need to be grown to feed animals in factory farms, noting that the chemical-intensive farming often associated with the production of feed like corn and soy can also create runoff that threatens rivers, lakes, streams, and bays. Moreover, factory farms are some of the largest contributors to water pollution, dumping more toxic pollutants into waterways annually from their processing plants, by volume, than companies like ExxonMobil and Dow Chemical.
“Companies like Tyson and the others are turning farms into factories and ruining our rivers and bays in the process,” John Rumpler, clean water program director for Environment America, said during a press call. “We need clean water in America for so many different reasons. It’s vital to life in America. Unfortunately, corporate agribusiness is polluting America’s waterways in an incredible volume.”
According to the EPA, agribusiness is the leading cause of pollution for more than 145,000 miles of rivers and streams, 1 million acres of lakes, and 3,000 square miles of bays and estuaries throughout the United States. Agricultural runoff — either from manure or from fertilizer used to grow animal feed — creates dead zones that stretch across the country, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico and the Chesapeake Bay.
In order to deal with the amount of waste produced by factory farms, operations often store manure in in-ground holes, called lagoons, or apply the waste to the ground as fertilizer. But because factory farms are dependent on packing the greatest number of animals into the smallest possible area, the waste that ends up spread onto fields is likely being applied to lands that are already saturated with animal waste from the operation itself or from another factory farm. In North Carolina, for instance, factory farms that produce hogs and chickens are often clustered tightly on the same watershed, making it difficult for fields to properly absorb the excess manure that is spread on the ground.
Animal manure contains nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous, which, when applied in proper amounts, can help crops grow. But when applied in excessive amounts — or when stored in unlined or improperly managed lagoons — these nutrients can leach into ground and surface water. There, they can fuel algal blooms that can release toxins into drinking water — like the algal bloom that shut down Toledo, Ohio's water supply in the summer of 2014 — or oxygen-free dead zones that can be fatal to aquatic life.
Excessive application of animal waste can also cause nitrates, another nutrient, to seep into water sources. In Washington, a court case last year found that large industrial dairy operations in the eastern part of the state had directly contaminated groundwater, placing nearby communities' health at risk. A high concentration of nitrates in drinking water can cause blue baby syndrome in infants, which reduces the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood. Nitrates have also been linked to an increased risk of certain cancers.
The Environment America report suggests a few solutions to the problem of factory farm-driven water pollution. The first calls for moving away from an industrial-style production of animals, towards a small-scale approach. Terry Spence, a farmer with the Socially Responsible Agricultural Project, spoke of raising cattle on his 400-acre farm in north central Missouri, explaining that he allows his cattle to graze the land in a rotation, which keeps the ground from becoming too saturated with animal waste.
The report also calls for a ban on the over-application of manure, or the use of leaking or unlined lagoons for storage. Some states, like Maryland, have already begun to place limits on the amount of animal manure that can be applied to fields, in an effort to reduce pollution into the Chesapeake Bay. At the same time, however, chicken farming in Maryland is undergoing rapid expansion — some 200 additional large-scale chicken farms could be operational within the state before the end of the year.
"There are three elements of all life on this planet: clean water, clean air, and a safe and healthy food supply," Spence said. "My hope is that every individual realizes where we are headed if things don’t change with regards to how these companies conduct their business."
By Mike Masterson
I've never believed anyone can effectively serve two masters.
That sets me to wondering about the mission of the Big Creek Research and Extension Team, working under auspices of the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture. How realistic is it that this appointed team with dual roles is the official watchdog to monitor possible contamination of our precious Buffalo National River?
This team was formed by then-Gov. Mike Beebe in response to widespread concerns about the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (cough) wrongheadedly permitting C&H Hog Farms with 6,500 swine in the Buffalo watershed. The factory operates around Big Creek, a major tributary flowing fewer than seven miles from its confluence with the Buffalo.
In an exit interview from office, Beebe conceded his biggest regret was that the state allowed the Cargill-supported factory into the treasured watershed. He claimed he didn't know this bad idea was approved until it had been.
Here's the Big Creek team's explanation of its allegiances and responsibilities in a Q and A section of its website:
"Q: Does the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture have a conflict of interest since it is so closely aligned with the agricultural community in the state, including the pork producers?
"A: The work of our team is science-based and can withstand scrutiny. While we do have a close relationship with the agricultural community, we also have a history of providing research and educational programs aimed at protecting the environment. Our core values are to collect the best data and provide the best interpretation possible. In this study, we want to find answers to ensure the Buffalo River Watershed and other watersheds are protected."
Sounds like a mixed sense of purpose and responsibilities, especially when big agricultural corporations are making six-figure contributions to the university's Agriculture Division but getting zip from the Buffalo River. Do the values expressed in the team's answer justify its decision to avoid drilling beneath one of two waste lagoons to acquire the "best data and provide the best interpretation possible" of suspected waste leakage and apparent "major fracture" an Oklahoma State University geologist detected last year?
Dr. Todd Halihan of OSU used electroresistivity studies of the lagoons in March 2015 when he found apparent leakage. The Big Creek team continues to speculate the stuff Halihan discovered is wet clay rather than hog waste. If so, wet from what?
It took a coalition of Arkansas environmental groups using a Freedom Of Information Act request to bring Halihan's findings to light during a meeting of the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission last month. Anyone wonder why so many upset Arkansans are untrusting of the state's role?
Last week, Department of Environmental Quality Director Becky Keogh said her agency finally will retain independent experts to assess the integrity of liners in the factory's raw waste lagoons. What's the rush?
The coalition, which includes the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, Ozark Society and Arkansas Canoe Club, has urged the agency to launch a thorough investigation to determine if waste has been leaking into the fractured karst beneath the lagoons ever since the group broke loose Halihan's findings. Responding to the announcement, the coalition called the agency's decision to drill a test well a good first step.
Perhaps I'm mistaken, yet I sense the hand of Gov. Asa Hutchinson at work in the sudden pursuit of truth here. If so, let's hope Hutchinson insists on straightforward answers in the public interest and toward protecting our precious Buffalo at whatever cost.
The coalition also emphasized that the agency has several important decisions to make in connection with its decision. Those include disclosing the identity of the independent experts who'll conduct the investigation, as well as the type and scope of their work and the protocols and technology they'll use. Full transparency is important to coalition members and many others.
"That includes being fully informed of developments and results," the coalition stated in a news release, saying the agency "has committed this investigation will be conducted in an open and transparent manner, and will provide an opportunity to collaborate with other scientific experts from [the Big Creek team] and the Buffalo River Coalition. The coalition looks forward to that opportunity."
Learning the truth about what's below the lagoon is unduly overdue considering the Big Creek team's noble-sounding statement above: "We want to find answers to ensure the Buffalo River Watershed and other watersheds are protected." It's never made sense to those with common sense for this team not to insist upon answers from the beginning, as opposed to basically surmising there's no raw waste leaking into the watershed.
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Mike Masterson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at mmasterson@arkansasonline.com.
KUAF Radio - Ozarks At Large (Click to listen)
ADEQ Calls for Independent Investigation of
By JACQUELINE FROELICH
The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality will hire independent experts to assess whether C&H Hog Farms is leaking industrial swine waste from its sewage lagoons located within the Buffalo National River Watershed. A research scientist with a University of Arkansas agricultural extension team last year detected possible leakage. ADEQ also plans to collaborate with the Buffalo River Coalition--comprised of groups of stakeholders that seek to shutter the factory swine farm.
Emily Walkenhorst
New study to require drilling at hog farm
RELATED ARTICLE Environmental agency exec goes to AG State-hired scientists continued to state Friday that research shows no evidence that C&H Hog Farms is polluting its surrounding environment in the Buffalo River watershed, and the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality announced it would commission a study of the facility as requested by opponents of the hog farm. With permission from C&H ownership, the Department of Environmental Quality will contract with a new research team within the next 60 days to assess the clay liners on hog manure storage ponds at C&H in Mount Judea after opponents of the facility expressed concern they were leaking.
Environmental agency exec goes to AG
State-hired scientists continued to state Friday that research shows no evidence that C&H Hog Farms is polluting its surrounding environment in the Buffalo River watershed, and the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality announced it would commission a study of the facility as requested by opponents of the hog farm.
With permission from C&H ownership, the Department of Environmental Quality will contract with a new research team within the next 60 days to assess the clay liners on hog manure storage ponds at C&H in Mount Judea after opponents of the facility expressed concern they were leaking.
The department set aside $50,000 for the study but expects to spend between $20,000 and $30,000 for it. The study will consist of drilling in a single spot on C&H grounds to extract samples. The money will come from environmental settlement funds received for water studies and will be used at the discretion of department Director Becky Keogh with permission from Gov. Asa Hutchinson. Keogh said Friday that the research would be conducted in an "open and transparent manner" to supplement and investigate existing research.
The department set aside $50,000 for the study but expects to spend between $20,000 and $30,000 for it. The study will consist of drilling in a single spot on C&H grounds to extract samples. The money will come from environmental settlement funds received for water studies and will be used at the discretion of department Director Becky Keogh with permission from Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
Keogh said Friday that the research would be conducted in an "open and transparent manner" to supplement and investigate existing research.
The announcement by the department comes as C&H opponents question whether researchers hired by the state are biased and as C&H ownership questions whether volunteer researchers working with opponents of the hog farm are biased. On Friday, the Big Creek Research and Extension Team presented its findings so far in its nearly three years of weekly testing and its most recent research on electroresistivity imaging, which in April prompted opponents of the hog farm to again call for the Environmental Quality Department to shut down the facility. "We don't see any scientific evidence at the moment that those ponds are leaking," said Andrew Sharpley, a University of Arkansas at Fayetteville environmental sciences professor who is the team's lead researcher. Sharpley said researchers would increase their level of monitoring.
The announcement by the department comes as C&H opponents question whether researchers hired by the state are biased and as C&H ownership questions whether volunteer researchers working with opponents of the hog farm are biased.
On Friday, the Big Creek Research and Extension Team presented its findings so far in its nearly three years of weekly testing and its most recent research on electroresistivity imaging, which in April prompted opponents of the hog farm to again call for the Environmental Quality Department to shut down the facility.
"We don't see any scientific evidence at the moment that those ponds are leaking," said Andrew Sharpley, a University of Arkansas at Fayetteville environmental sciences professor who is the team's lead researcher. Sharpley said researchers would increase their level of monitoring.
The new research team, which is yet to be selected, will study the integrity of the manure pond liners by extracting samples of the ground through drilling. Earlier this year, a contractor doing electroresistivity imaging for the Big Creek Research and Extension Team found what he believed to be higher-than-expected moisture levels below one of the ponds that could indicate a leak. He said the problem could be addressed by drilling to discover what was causing the higher moisture levels or by installing plastic liners under the hog manure.
C&H has received a permit to install plastic liners but has not installed them yet. Members of the Big Creek Research and Extension Team, which operates out of the University of Arkansas System's Division of Agriculture and will monitor C&H's affect on the environment for five years for the state, said the findings did not alarm them because no other research conducted on the site has shown any patterns of pollution. Further, they said, the moisture levels detected likely were related to the already moist layers of clay and limestone in the ground. But the Buffalo River Coalition, composed of four groups opposed to C&H, has asked the department to halt operations at the hog farm until more research can be conducted at the site. Members of the coalition expressed a desire Friday for "unbiased" researchers to drill in multiple spots and vowed to keep fighting.
C&H has received a permit to install plastic liners but has not installed them yet.
Members of the Big Creek Research and Extension Team, which operates out of the University of Arkansas System's Division of Agriculture and will monitor C&H's affect on the environment for five years for the state, said the findings did not alarm them because no other research conducted on the site has shown any patterns of pollution. Further, they said, the moisture levels detected likely were related to the already moist layers of clay and limestone in the ground.
But the Buffalo River Coalition, composed of four groups opposed to C&H, has asked the department to halt operations at the hog farm until more research can be conducted at the site. Members of the coalition expressed a desire Friday for "unbiased" researchers to drill in multiple spots and vowed to keep fighting.
Richard Mays, a Heber Springs attorney who has represented the Buffalo River Coalition as a spokesman before the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission, said the coalition was pleased by the Environmental Quality Department's decision to drill at C&H. But he stressed that "transparency," according to him and coalition members, would include stakeholder input before the research begins and to keep people informed of developments and results during the research. "Transparency is especially important in this case, because of its history, and it is to everybody's advantage that the coalition and other interested parties be given full opportunity to collaborate," he told the Pollution Control and Ecology Commission. Mays and others noted after Friday's meeting that the Big Creek Research and Extension Team conducts its work through the University of Arkansas Extension Service, which regularly provides assistance to farmers. That association would disqualify team members as independent researchers, Mays said.
Richard Mays, a Heber Springs attorney who has represented the Buffalo River Coalition as a spokesman before the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission, said the coalition was pleased by the Environmental Quality Department's decision to drill at C&H.
But he stressed that "transparency," according to him and coalition members, would include stakeholder input before the research begins and to keep people informed of developments and results during the research.
"Transparency is especially important in this case, because of its history, and it is to everybody's advantage that the coalition and other interested parties be given full opportunity to collaborate," he told the Pollution Control and Ecology Commission.
Mays and others noted after Friday's meeting that the Big Creek Research and Extension Team conducts its work through the University of Arkansas Extension Service, which regularly provides assistance to farmers. That association would disqualify team members as independent researchers, Mays said.
"That's not what we need in this particular case," he said. C&H co-owner Jason Henson said Friday that he believed that research done by the Big Creek Research and Extension Team was "sound science" and argued that its researchers had nothing to gain from the results of their testing. Henson noted that other research being conducted by retired University of Arkansas professor Van Brahana has sought to shut down the farm rather than be unbiased and has used C&H opponents to help conduct the research. Brahana's research is frequently cited by C&H's opponents.
"That's not what we need in this particular case," he said.
C&H co-owner Jason Henson said Friday that he believed that research done by the Big Creek Research and Extension Team was "sound science" and argued that its researchers had nothing to gain from the results of their testing.
Henson noted that other research being conducted by retired University of Arkansas professor Van Brahana has sought to shut down the farm rather than be unbiased and has used C&H opponents to help conduct the research. Brahana's research is frequently cited by C&H's opponents.
"It would be like me pulling the samples [for research]," Henson said. Henson said he hoped and believed the new research would continue to show that his hog farm is not harming the surrounding environment. He said research had already shown his own house water well near a manure pond to be clean, with contaminant levels far below U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's safe-drinking-water standards. Henson, a ninth-generation Mount Judea resident, co-owns C&H with his cousins Phillip and Richard Campbell. The facility is permitted to house up to 2,503 sows and 4,000 piglets at a site on Big Creek, just 6 miles from where it meets the Buffalo River. The Buffalo River, the first national river, had 1.46 million visitors last year, the third-highest total since it became a national river and the highest since a record number of 1.55 million was set in 2009. That year, visitors spent an estimated $62.2 million at local businesses, directly supporting 750 jobs and secondarily supporting 219 jobs.
"It would be like me pulling the samples [for research]," Henson said.
Henson said he hoped and believed the new research would continue to show that his hog farm is not harming the surrounding environment. He said research had already shown his own house water well near a manure pond to be clean, with contaminant levels far below U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's safe-drinking-water standards.
Henson, a ninth-generation Mount Judea resident, co-owns C&H with his cousins Phillip and Richard Campbell. The facility is permitted to house up to 2,503 sows and 4,000 piglets at a site on Big Creek, just 6 miles from where it meets the Buffalo River.
The Buffalo River, the first national river, had 1.46 million visitors last year, the third-highest total since it became a national river and the highest since a record number of 1.55 million was set in 2009. That year, visitors spent an estimated $62.2 million at local businesses, directly supporting 750 jobs and secondarily supporting 219 jobs.
During a public comment period at Friday's meeting, several people expressed a desire to further investigate the electroresistivity imaging research for the sake of the Buffalo River. If the river is at risk and pollution is occurring, the state could be squandering a natural resource, said Garry Lilley, who regularly fishes in the river with his twin brother, Larry. The two commented together at the meeting, wearing matching red button-up shirts, denim overalls and blue-and-green pins in support of the Buffalo River. "If we don't address this, it's not only a national treasure that's up in the air," Garry Lilley said. "We're going to lose a big revenue source.”
During a public comment period at Friday's meeting, several people expressed a desire to further investigate the electroresistivity imaging research for the sake of the Buffalo River.
If the river is at risk and pollution is occurring, the state could be squandering a natural resource, said Garry Lilley, who regularly fishes in the river with his twin brother, Larry. The two commented together at the meeting, wearing matching red button-up shirts, denim overalls and blue-and-green pins in support of the Buffalo River.
"If we don't address this, it's not only a national treasure that's up in the air," Garry Lilley said. "We're going to lose a big revenue source.”
In the more than three years since C&H received a permit from the Environmental Quality Department, ownership has endured criticism and proposed measures intended to assuage the fears of environmental, tourism and outdoors groups that the facility will pollute the Buffalo River. Meanwhile, Henson said, Big Creek Research and Extension Team findings haven't discovered any pollution. "I don't know what else a farmer can do to farm," he said. Metro on 06/25/2016
In the more than three years since C&H received a permit from the Environmental Quality Department, ownership has endured criticism and proposed measures intended to assuage the fears of environmental, tourism and outdoors groups that the facility will pollute the Buffalo River.
Meanwhile, Henson said, Big Creek Research and Extension Team findings haven't discovered any pollution.
"I don't know what else a farmer can do to farm," he said.
Metro on 06/25/2016
· GOOD NEWS: Richard Mays, a Heber Springs lawyer, reads statement from Buffalo River Coalition on state decision to further review how well waste ponds are preventing hog waste pollution in the Buffalo River watershed.
Tom Coulter reports from a meeting of the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission that the state WILL hire an independent analyst to check the integrity of waste ponds at the C and H Hog Farm in Mount Judea. The hog farm — a concentrated factory swine feeding operation — has been controversial since state approval for its location next to a creek that feeds theBuffalo National River. Studies to date have provided some indication that hog waste is leaking into the ground below, with potential to travel into the waterways. The Buffalo River Coalition had urged the independent tests. Resistance has been rising in the agriculture sector to the continued scrutiny of the operation. What happens on the Buffalo isn't necessarily restricted to the Buffalo, many farmers and meat producers fear. While happy about the independent testing, the coalition said it still awaits answers to who will do the testing and the scope and protocols of those tests.
Transparency is especially important in this case because of its history [approval of the farm's permit came with virtually no public notice] and it is to everybody's advantage that the coalition and other interested parties be given full opportunity to collaborate that includes being full informed of developments and results.
The coalition's statement said the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality had pledged an open and transparent process. The coalition reiterated today that electrical resonance imaging had indicated thepossible release of hog waste. This information was collected by a state-backed Big Creek Research and Extension Team, but not made public "for reasons not yet fully explained." A followup on that finding is "the first step in proving or disproving whether there is a release that could be disastrous to the Buffalo River." The statement followed a commission meeting at which researchers said they'd found no evidence of significant leakage. But environmentalists questioned the friendly relationship between agricultural extension workers at UA and farmers. They said it was one reason for an independent look.
KUAR Public Radio (Click to Listen)
Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality to Oversee New Hog Farm Testing
By ALDEN WALTERS • JUN 24, 2016
The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality announced that it will oversee new testing of an industrial hog farm near the Buffalo River. The new studies will collect data about materials lining waste storage ponds at the farm.
The C&H Hog Farm has been criticized by a number of environmental and conservation groups as a pollution threat to the Buffalo River. Efforts to collect data to back up these claims have been met with mixed feelings. State Representative David Branscum says that the University of Arkansas’ Big Creek Research and Extension Team is already studying the farm intensely.
“We have worked hard about having this… the [University of Arkansas] do this study. It’s a five-year, comprehensive study on pollution—if there is any,” says Branscum. “I’m sure it’s the most in-depth study of a CAFO [Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation] that’s ever been conducted in the United States.”
But the Big Creek research has been questioned by activists. In part because of this, the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality has decided to begin third-party supplemental studies of the farm, says Director Becky Keogh.
“It was really to seek some additional information that could hopefully address some of the questions that were raised by some of the community interest groups, and would be a natural follow-up to the study that was conducted through the work that the University of Arkansas research team is advancing,” says Keogh.
Gordon Watkins, President of the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, is hopeful that the new tests will include wider input from activists.
“It’s going to be significant where they choose to do those investigations, and how they do them, and how they’re interpreted and we—we hope that they will be open and transparent and inclusive in how they makes those decisions going forward,” says Watkins.
The new studies will be done in collaboration with university research, but they will be overseen by the Department of Environmental Quality.
By John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau jlyon@arkansasnews.com
LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality will hire independent experts to study the liner integrity of manure ponds at a hog farm in the Buffalo National River watershed, ADEQ director Becky Keogh told the state Pollution Control and Ecology Commission on Friday.
The study at C&H Hog Farms in Mount Judea will involve drilling in the watershed and is expected to be conducted within the next 60 to 90 days, Keogh said.
She said the results will add to information that already has been collected by the Big Creek Research and Extension Team, or BCRET, which operates out of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and is conducting a five-year study of C&H’s impact on the local environment.
“This evaluation will be done in an open and transparent manner and is part of our statutory authority to conduct investigations and studies needed to gather data and information in the administration or enforcement of our laws,” Keogh told the commission.
Andrew Sharpley, a UA professor and member of BCRET, told the commission that to date the team has found no consistent evidence of higher levels of E. coli bacteria downstream from C&H than upstream of it.
“We don’t see any scientific evidence at the moment that those ponds are leaking or that there’s a massive leakage of manure from them,” he said.
The Buffalo River Coalition, which includes several groups seeking to protect the Buffalo National River from pollution, applauded ADEQ’s decision to bring in independent experts to conduct further testing.
“This is the first step in proving or disproving whether there is a release that could be disastrous to the Buffalo River,” Richard Mays, attorney for the coalition, said in a news conference after the meeting.
Gordon Watkins, president of the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, one of the groups in the coalition, said the UA System’s Division of Agriculture seeks to assist farmers, but BCRET is supposed to monitor C&H’s environmental impact.
“Those two things, they’re not necessarily incompatible, but they are in conflict to some degree,” Watkins said. “You can’t assist on one hand while monitoring for potential negative impacts on the other without putting yourself in a position of some compromise. So I think that if that’s the situation here, that it’s important that there be some outside, independent, unconnected, unbiased researchers that are specialists in this particular field who are actually overseeing the testing that goes on to avoid that conflict.”
Mays said he believed the decision to bring in independent experts would not have happened if the coalition had not obtained, through Freedom of Information Act requests, emails between researchers that ADEQ had not previously seen. The emails suggested a “cozy” relationship between BCRET and the owners of C&H and included a reference to “a major fracture and movement of waste,” he said.
ADEQ spokeswoman Kelly Robinson said Friday she did not know how big a role the coalition’s involvement played in the decision, but she said, “We do try to listen to what people have to say.”
Democrat-Gazette
Feedback keeps streaming in about that hog factory at Mount Judea. I'd asked readers if they were bored with the controversy. Here are edited examples of only a few responses from across Arkansas:
Wincie says--"I've written previously about the possibility of turning our beautiful, national river into a 'Hog Wallow.' I commend you for continuing to 'stir the pot' about the C&H Hog Farm that sits so perilously close to the Buffalo River. [Many] have been aware of the findings of Todd Halihan and have been holding onto those findings ... Has this been a case of dollars changing hands? Political tradeoff? Stir harder! What a shame to ruin one of the state's gems for our citizens and tourism industry. Do those in the political arena get to act with impunity?"
Bill writes--"I fully support your efforts to preserve the Buffalo. It's a priceless Arkansas and national treasure ... This 'treasure' extends far outside the Arkansas borders and must be preserved ... Could there not be test drilling ... that could prove leakage? How can we 'prove' leakage is occurring or will occur? With proof, it would be much easier to insist on state action."
From Mary Cole--"Thanks for your columns about this atrocity in our state. For the 'powers that be' to have allowed this to happen to this beautiful river should be held accountable and fix this mess before it becomes a total catastrophe."
Dottie writes--"Thanks for the sustained effort you've put into keeping people aware of the need to shut down [C&H]. Americans have such out-of-sight, out-of-mind mentalities. I always turn to your page with hopes you haven't given up on this stinky subject ... I love your reference to Governor Beebe's quote that he regretted something wasn't done about it on his watch. Carry on ... There are many reading your articles and cheering for you and the Buffalo! Maybe like me, they just hadn't spoken up yet."
From Patti--"It's very clear neither [the Department of Environmental Quality], the governor's office nor the regional EPA office is interested in preserving the Buffalo National River. They would like you and all of the thousands of citizens in Arkansas who are passionate about saving the river from thousands of gallons of polluting hog waste to go away. We're not going away! Anyone who thinks this is a boring subject addles my brain! They apparently don't care about the environment, clean water, or big corporations (Big Ag) taking over our country for monetary gains that benefit them. [C&H] employs less than 10 people. Hundreds of jobs in Newton County are at stake when the Buffalo National River becomes too polluted for recreation. This is no anti-farm issue. Many of us came from farm backgrounds."
Grace says--"Please never give up writing on one of the worst scenarios ever to be allowed in our state. It is inevitable the waste is, or soon will be, in the waters of the Buffalo River ... Don't ever give up on something this important that you believe in."
Van writes--"Thanks sincerely from the many citizens of our state and country for continuing to write about the hog factory on Big Creek, a major tributary of the Buffalo National River. You serve as a key voice in sharing facts about this 'demonstration farm.' in an environment where lobbyists, special interests and numerous highly paid individuals manipulate information and confuse the issue for many without access to all the factual data. This is indeed a national story rife with meaningful questions of politics, economic gain at the expense of the taxpayers, open discussion of a controversial problem, environmental justice and ethical and fair treatment of most stakeholders ... Thank you for your long-range vision and eloquent way of sharing facts with readers."
Joe said--"Maybe someone out there is bored by this discussion, but it's certainly not me. In his 1992 book, The Battle for the Buffalo River, Dr. Neil Compton predicted while several battles were won--stopping the dams, creating the park--the future would hold many additional battles since most of the Buffalo watershed is privately owned and some private owners may not have ecological integrity of the river as priority. None of this is boring, unless a person thinks none of this is a potentially huge problem for our futures and all the attention to hog waste seeping into the watershed is imaginary ... I know karst and have seen many Ozark ponds that either didn't hold water or just seep and seep. Dr. Compton in his book's epilogue says: 'A protective attitude by human inhabitants for the entire watershed of the Buffalo River will be mandatory if it is to survive as a beautiful clearwater stream of national significance. That will mean restrictions on industry and certain types of agriculture in the area. Such modalities we must learn to accept and live with if there be places on this earth where our descendants can know and understand the wonders of creation.'"
The BRC will respond to BCRET’s presentation at the meeting, and comment on the importance of conducting exploratory drilling that would definitively confirm or disprove results of Electrical Resistivity Imaging (ERI) testing completed in March 2015 — results interpreted by numerous geophysical experts as possible or likely swine waste discharge and which should be further investigated. These testing results were brought to light through emails obtained by the BRC through the Freedom of Information Act.
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