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Arkansas Democrat Gazette

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The Buffalo in fall
By Mike Masterson

Did you see that an article published by USA Today lists our Buffalo National River as America's second most spectacular national park for autumn scenery? The magnificent Buffalo was rated only behind North Carolina and Virginia's Blue Ridge Parkway.
Sure hope Cargill Inc. of Minnesota appreciated the story which said the Buffalo region offers "one of America's most scenic rivers ... lined with breathtaking oak and hickory trees."
Arkansans, and growing numbers across the nation, know multinational Cargill sponsors and supports the controversial large hog factory called C&H Hog Farms at Mount Judea. That factory regularly sprays raw hog waste from as many as 6,500 swine across pastures along or around the Big Creek tributary of the Buffalo, which flows six miles downstream.
I asked Gordon Watkins, who heads the always-active Buffalo Watershed Alliance, for his thoughts on the latest honor for the river, which became the first national river in 1972 thanks in largest measure to legislation by former 3rd District Congressman John Paul Hammerschmidt of Harrison.
Watkins said the newspaper's second-place national rating "is a feather in the cap of the Natural State and serves to reinforce the importance of the Buffalo not only to the Ozarks and Arkansas, but to the nation as a whole."
"It also points to the serious mistake made by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality when it allowed a 6,500-head swine CAFO to be placed where it poses a very real threat to that national jewel. Dr. Van Brahana's recent dye-trace studies have shown multiple direct underground pathways from the waste-application area to the Buffalo, so this is not a hypothetical, what-if contention.
"The risk is real. I'm sure if sections of the river were to be closed for human contact due to elevated E. coli levels, our second-place ranking would change. Maybe then we would rank high on the Top 10 list of 'Most Needlessly Damaged National Treasures.'
"Surely there are plenty more appropriate locations for such an industrial facility that would not threaten what is an economic engine for our poor corner of the state and a recreational attraction for people across the nation," he said.
To that I'd add: Surely.

National Hog Farmer

Arkansas Imposes Moratorium on Hog Farm Permits
Time allows review by Arkansas State Legislature on future animal feeding operations in Buffalo River Watershed

Oct 30, 2014

Source: The Baxter Bulletin, Mountain Home, AR
 

A moratorium on permits for hog farms in Arkansas gives that state’s legislature time to review future livestock operations. This is a second moratorium that has been issued on new permits for large or medium hog farms in the Buffalo River Watershed.

This moratorium may remain in force up to 180 days and it stems from a permit issued by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality for the C&H Hog Farm near Mount Judea, AR. The moratorium was enacted to allow for the initiation and potential adoption of rule changes that would prohibit future medium- and large-confined animal operations, as well as concentrated animal feeding operations for swine.

According to Administrative Law Judge Charles Moulton, of the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission (APCEC), the moratorium extends the previous one put in place on May 6. That moratorium was set to expire Oct. 22.

Moulton said the moratorium deals with reviews of APCEC regulations that deal with liquid animal waste and control systems, and animal feeding operations.

Jerry Masters, executive vice president of the Arkansas Pork Producers Association, says that Minnetonka, Minn.-based Cargill undefined which holds the contract on the C&H Hog Farm undefined had put its own moratorium on more facilities in the Buffalo River Watershed within the last six weeks.

The delay is to give the amendments to the regulation undefined intended to prevent future large-scale hog farms from opening in the watershed undefined time to go through review. The review would be done jointly by the Arkansas Legislature and House Agriculture and Health Committee, which currently is scheduled for Dec. 5. After that, the changes would go to the rules committee.

Masters says the C&H Hog Farm is well above permit standards, adding the Environmental Protection Agency has visited the site recently and found no violations.

Moulton says the joint committee meeting on the amendments takes place after the rules committee, set for the last meeting before the Legislature ends regular session for the year, and in order for the joint committee to review the rules before the end of the regular session, there would probably have to be a special meeting called of the state Legislature. After those two reviews, third parties would be asked for input.

C&H Hog Farm is situated about 6 miles from the Buffalo National River in Newton County. The farm was designed for a capacity of 2,500 sows and not more than 6,500 swine undefined a combination of sows and piglets  under roof at one time.

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/experience/weekend/lifestyle/2014/10/29/10best-national-parks-in-fall/17995483/

10Best: National parks in fall

David and Kay Scott, 10Best.com 10:17 a.m. EDT October 29, 2014

America's national parks offer stunning autumn scenery from coast to coast.

 
1. Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina and Virginia. Changes in elevation produce beautiful colors.

2. Buffalo National River, Arkansas. One of America's most scenic rivers is lined with breathtaking oak and hickory trees.

3. Cuyahoga Valley, Ohio. Oak, hickory, maple and poplar trees fill this park with color.

4. Grand Teton, Wyoming. See the aspens and cottonwoods of this spectacular Western park.

5. Great Smoky Mountains, North Carolina and Tennessee. Trees at various elevations show peak colors at different times.

6. Mammoth Cave, Kentucky. Dense forests become a painted wonderland with reds, golds and purples.

7. Mount Rainier, Washington. Bushes and shrubs in the park's sub-alpine region produce beautiful colors.

8. Rocky Mountains, Colorado. This rugged park's trees are striking.

9. Shenandoah, Virginia. See fall colors on the 105-mile-long Skyline Drive.

10. Zion, Utah. Zion Canyon becomes a ribbon of gold in autumn.

A team of outside experts was hired by the Big Creek Research and Extension Team (BCRET) to take a critical look at the research protocols and methods being implemented on C&H Farm. 

This Peer Review team submitted their report on May 19, 2014. This report pointed out certain weaknesses and included specific recommendations for improving the monitoring study. 

The Peer Review Report is followed by the BCRET response which includes explanations for why they chose not to implement some of those recommendations. 

The Report and Response may be found on the Documents and Videos page under the University of Arkansas Big Creek Research Team Documents section.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/10/141028-hog-farms-waste-pollution-methane-north-carolina-environment/

Arkansas Online, October 26, 2014

Intimidation tactics

Threats reported

Mike Masterson



Threats fueled by heated emotions over the hog factory in Newton County have increased of late along Big Creek at Mount Judea. Two volunteer water-quality monitors, one of whom was with two members of the press, reported being harassed in separate instances while stopped along public roads near C&H Hog Farms in the Buffalo National River watershed.
University of Arkansas emeritus geoscience professor John Van Brahana has been working independently with a team of diligent volunteers for more than a year to measure water flow and quality around Big Creek, a major tributary of the Buffalo. The creek runs adjacent or very near fields at Mount Judea that are being regularly sprayed with raw hog waste from the factory our state has permitted to keep up to 6,500 swine.
Brahana’s dye testing has proven that groundwater from this area rapidly flows through the fractures created by karst limestone formations just beneath the surface. And that dye already has been discovered in some private local wells.
And now, the respected former professor (who recently had his own car tire slashed while it was parked in Newton County) said he’s been told that two volunteers were recently accosted on public roads by angry men. As a result, he’s reminded those in his group never to travel alone in the area.
“Here’s the story as I perceived it,” he said. “A local, apparently unbalanced and extremely agitated supporter of the hog factory followed a team member (along with a two-person TV crew), blocked their passage in several instances on public roads, screamed, yelled, and demanded they cease photographing.
“The story is similar in style to other confrontations that occurred previously, except this man is reported to be more than just a ‘mouthy’ individual, and based on the perception in the local community, willing to inflict a beating on any who he perceives to have done something he doesn’t like,” Brahana said.
Included in his diatribe, Brahana said, the agitated man warned the volunteer he knew who she was “and where she lived.”
“The threat, ‘we know who you are, and where you live’ reminds us that the ‘burn ’em out’ mentality of those whipped into a frenzy … should be viewed as dangerous, unstable, and are to be politely avoided.” I’m told burning down homes is not a new approach to controlling those neighbors you don’t like in parts of Newton County, and reflects the fear that generates reluctance on the part of the canoe outfitters, other tourist-related groups, and small-operation real farmers have in speaking out about the pig factory.
Brahana implored his team: “No matter what our emotions, we should be nonconfrontational, which we have always been. I encourage all who spend time in the field to fully document these adversarial encounters so we can share these in letters to Cargill and their suppliers along with the local sheriff and the county judge, who, by the way, is a relative of the owners of the factory and directed his staff to [continuously mow around] protesters’ feet as they gathered last year near the Newton County Courthouse.”
Another volunteer was in the process of filing a complaint with Sheriff Keith Slape at midweek after reporting that she, too, was accosted by a man on a county road near Mount Judea.
“I’d just passed an older red pickup truck and then met a spray truck in the road,” she said. “I turned around and started following the spray truck, which then stopped. I also stopped and the red truck sped up and pulled in front of me, blocking my access forward.
“The guy in the pickup got out, screaming at me to not take any photos. I locked the doors, rolled up the windows and backed out. He ran to his truck, turned around, and tried to block me from leaving,” she continued. ” I was barely able to turn around in the road between the barbed-wire fence and his car. He started pounding his fist on my car! It happened so fast, I didn’t have time to be scared or angry.”
Sounds as if Sheriff Slape could well find himself a bit busier than normal if these kinds of needless threats and intimidation continues against law-abiding citizens.
Meanwhile, Brahana urged his volunteers to stand united. “I encourage all of you to keep the faith, and to obey all laws and property considerations. We likely will see more bullying. But what we are striving for is a noble goal.
“Facts are facts,” he added. “Truth … needs to be shared openly with an informed community. Intimidation, fear, and the manipulation of politics for special interests need to be openly discussed.”
Does it ever, professor. Sure hope this factory’s sponsor, Cargill Inc. of Minnesota (and its PR department), is paying attention to what’s unfolding here since it is inexorably linked in the court of public opinion to any consequences.

Buffalo brouhaha

Gone whole-hog


By Mike Masterson

This article was published today at 3:14 a.m.

Legal and political aromas from that misplaced hog factory in the Buffalo National River watershed at Mount Judea continue to waft across Arkansas.

U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. ruled the other day that he'll file an injunction against the questionable and cursory manner in which loan guarantees were awarded to C&H Hog Farms.

I'd say the judge is not only insightful but right on the money with his findings in the civil suit. The word hamstringing leaps to mind.

The judge wants the U.S. Farm Service Agency to finally complete the detailed environmental assessment of this factory it should have done initially. The hog factory, supported by Cargill Inc., now must specifically describe potential negative effects on surrounding wildlife habitats including the country's first national river.

Dr. John Van Brahana and his team of volunteers, along with the National Park Service, the National Parks Conservation Association, and other interested parties such as the Ozark Society, the Arkansas Canoe Club and the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, have been learning a lot of late about water flow and quality around and below this factory at Mount Judea.

I'd say this injunction means folks at the Farm Service Agency have one heck of a whole-hog task ahead.

Contained in the suit from some of those groups is the allegation that the agency (a key official of which is married to a relative of the factory's owners) ignored several federal laws when it deemed the hog factory would have "no significant impact" to the environment and national river.

Perhaps it made that assessment from its offices in the federal building at Harrison, located just down the hallway from the National Park Service, whom the Farm Service Agency failed to notify of this farm's proposed existence as it approved the loan.

All part of the unbelievable way all our supposedly responsible bureaucratic gatekeepers quietly pushed this factory through in the state's worst possible location without adequate public notice or hearings. They even failed to notify, or seek input from, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The agency's staff apparently had no problem (alongside the Small Business Administration) issuing $3.4 million in federal loan guarantees so the family that owns the factory could purchase property and equipment in this watershed that draws a million visitors each year who spend more than $44 million.

Judge Marshall found it was abundantly evident that the agency's environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact are defective, according to a news account by reporter Ryan McGeeney. "They're too brief, and there's no chain of reasoning. There's a 'cursoriness' about them," said Marshall.

The environmental assessment featured 600 pages of pre-existing documents, which included the hog factory's nutrient management plan and copies of other existing permits. It's an impressively thick stack that reveals little, if nothing, about potential impact from millions of gallons of raw hog waste routinely applied to land fractured by limestone and chert just beneath its surface.

Hannah Chang of Earthjustice, the plaintiffs' lead attorney, called this factory permitted by our state's Department of Environmental Quality (cough) to raise and nurture as many as 6,500 swine "unprecedented" in the Buffalo National River watershed.

She emphasized that the unprecedented size of this hog factory in the karst-laden environment meant every agency connected with it should have been more diligent in their scrutiny and calculation of possible effects to the watershed.

In McGeeney's story, Chang said: "All [the defendants'] arguments rely on the central idea that they have no discretion, no control and no redress. We will show that's simply not true."

Lawyers for each side were given 21 days to submit final briefs recommending what should be included in the injunction order. It's unclear what effect, if any, the judicial injunction could have on the factory itself, as the owners have been in full operation for about a year in this deeply controversial location.

Then there is the letter sent last week by GOP former Arkansas congressmen Ed Bethune of Little Rock and John Paul Hammerschmidt to leaders in the state legislature.

Both men asked the legislature to review and support proposed reforms to state regulations to allow the Pollution Control and Ecology Commission to extend a temporary moratorium on any new large-scale corporate hog operations in the Buffalo River watershed. The commission is to consider extending the ban at its Friday meeting.

As a 13-term congressman, Hammerschmidt, of Harrison, shaped and introduced the legislation that made the Buffalo the country's first national river in 1972.

Meanwhile, I've heard from a French documentarian in Arkansas to produce a special on the effects of big, corporate agriculture on America's politics and environment (including Cargill's involvement in the Buffalo's watershed).

Good to see the French paying attention to the now internationally newsworthy threats to preserving the purity of our country's first national river.

http://kuaf.com/post/new-swine-factory-farm-faces-scientific-scrutiny

Three different teams of scientists are monitoring Big Creek, a tributary to the Buffalo National River, to assess if a new industrial swine farm situated upstream is polluting the watershed. One team, led by noted UA Geoscientist Emeritus Dr. Van Brahana, has released a second round of findings. Jacqueline Froelich visits with him in her studio.

Panel looks at pig-farm ban
 
Plan to extend permit freeze as legislators review rules
By Ryan McGeeney
 

 
Members of Arkansas' environmental rule-making body will consider next week whether to extend a six-month ban on certain concentrated animal feeding operations near the Buffalo National River.

The announcement came on the same day that two former U.S. representatives from Arkansas publicly urged the state Legislature to move ahead with their review of the proposed changes.

The Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission will discuss whether to extend the moratorium on medium- and large-scale swine concentrated animal feeding operations within the Buffalo National River watershed for another 180 days, according to a commission agenda published Friday.

The original six-month moratorium, drafted and signed by the commission's administrative law judge, Charles Moulton, was approved in April and expires Wednesday. The moratorium accompanied a petition by lawyers representing the Ozark Society and the Arkansas Public Policy Panel to permanently amend Arkansas environmental regulations 5 and 6, which govern permits for concentrated animal feeding operations and the management of liquid animal waste. The changes would only apply to the Buffalo National River watershed, a geographic area that includes about three-quarters of Newton and Searcy counties and about one-quarter of Marion County.

The moratorium would not affect small-scale swine concentrated animal feeding operations or poultry, cattle or other feeding operations of any size. It also could not be applied retroactively to C&H Hog Farms, the controversial large-scale concentrated animal feeding operation built in Mount Judea in early 2013, about 6 miles upriver from the Buffalo National River along the Big Creek tributary.

According to the text of the proposed moratorium extension, the moratorium passed in April was intended to maintain the status quo regarding hog farming near the river while state legislators had the opportunity to review the proposed rule changes and voice any concerns to commissioners.

But because the various committees charged with reviewing the proposed changes never managed to do so, Moulton is prepared to extend the moratorium. After the proposed rules were submitted to the Bureau of Legislative Review, they were assigned to the House and Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor committees. In September, the committees declined to review the proposed changes, instead referring them to joint meetings of the House and Senate's Agriculture and Public Health committees.

Although members of the Pollution Control and Ecology Commission aren't required to seek legislative approval to make or approve rule changes within existing law, commissioners risk drawing the ire of lawmakers when they disregard their input, said former U.S. Rep. Ed Bethune.

"Any commission or bureaucratic agency is always interested in what the legislators think on something," Bethune said Friday. "If they do something that's politically unpopular or just nonsense, the legislators are sure to come in and try to undo that. That's why I think it's a wise thing to circulate these rules through legislative bodies and sort of take their temperature."

Bethune, a Republican who represented Arkansas' 2nd District from 1979 to 1985, co-authored a letter to Arkansas Senate President Pro Tempore Michael Lamoureux, R-Russellville, and other legislators, urging them to quickly convene the relevant committees and review the proposed regulatory changes. He also urges the congressional members to support the changes.

Calls to Lamoureux were not immediately returned Friday.

Bethune's letter was co-authored by former U.S. Rep. John Paul Hammerschmidt, a Republican who represented Arkansas' 3rd District from 1967-93.

Bethune, who sponsored legislation that ultimately became the Arkansas Wilderness Act of 1984, said that the presence of large-scale concentrated animal feeding operations within the Buffalo National River watershed represented a looming threat to one of the "crown jewels of the Natural State."

"It just pains me to see an operation such as [C&H Hog Farms] go in," Bethune said. "I know they're monitoring it; all that means is that if we have an incident, Arkansas will be the first ones to tell the world of it. It would be a disaster."

Arkansas Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Beebe, another of the legislators to whom Bethune and Hammerschmidt's letter was addressed, said he found the proposed changes to regulations 5 and 6 a reasonable step toward protecting the Buffalo National River without retroactively punishing the owners of C&H Hog Farm.

"I'm not sure where the hang­up is in the legislative process, but I expect review before the end of year," Dismang said. "The only problem we have is we're in the middle of budget session right now."

The Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission will meet at 9 a.m. Friday at the headquarters of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, 5301 Northshore Drive in North Little Rock.

Prescience revisited
 
30 years ago, wilderness protected
By Ed Bethune Special to the Democrat-Gazette
 
 
There are two types of wilderness. One is in our minds. This inner wilderness--a place of testing--is as old as Moses and we have all been there, for a variety of reasons.

Lately, however, we are driven to this wilderness by images of beheadings, bombings, men in hazmat suits searching for the dreaded Ebola, inexplicable murders, culture clashes, and political ugliness. The cacophony worsens daily, brought to us nonstop via the latest electronic gadget.

Fortunately, there is another kind of wilderness.

In a prescient moment 30 years ago, the Arkansas Conservation Coalition encouraged those of us in Congress to designate 117,500 acres of pristine forestland in the Ouachita and Ozark National Forests as "wilderness." The coalition (The Ozark Society, Wildlife Federation, and seven similar groups) carefully selected 11 areas for protection. The beautiful forests, streams, hills and valleys were to be left alone in perpetuity, just as God designed them.

Their proposal struck me as a good idea because man's incessant urge to develop--generally a good thing--often goes too far. George Fisher, the prodigious cartoonist, used to chide the U.S. Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Forest Service for caring too much about "keeping busy," and too little about preserving nature. He ridiculed their overzealous projects with his famous line, "God would have done it if he'd had the money."

Good wilderness is entirely different from our troublesome inner wilderness, but the two are related in an important way: As the racket of the world gets louder and uglier, driving us to despair and distraction, humankind has a high need for the beauty and constancy of nature. We need it to clear our heads, and we need it to know how things were supposed to be.

Here is how the coalition's good idea became law. On May 5, 1983, I introduced a bill in the United States House of Representatives to create 117,500 acres of wilderness in Arkansas. A hearing was scheduled and many responsible business and civic organizations registered their strong support.

We were off and running, but opposition quickly developed. The usual suspects, the U.S. Forest Service and powerful forest-industry groups, tried to gut my bill. It might have died on the vine, but on Nov. 14, 1983, Sen. Dale Bumpers introduced an identical bill in the Senate, and Sen. David Pryor signed on as co-sponsor. Nothing could stop us after that.

We gathered support with every passing day. Senator Bumpers set up an official Senate hearing in Little Rock and on Feb. 15, 1984, we spent a full day listening to testimony and receiving statements from over 100 people; a few were against our bills, but most were very supportive.

On Oct. 4, 1984, the Arkansas Wilderness Act of 1984 cleared both houses of Congress, and President Ronald Reagan signed it on Oct. 19, 1984. The bipartisan success story deserves a celebration, but there are more important reasons to remember what happened 30 years ago.

We love our nickname, The Natural State, and when challenged to say what we mean by it we proudly point to the Buffalo River, our caves, our rivers and streams, our parks, and our magnificent wilderness areas.

But what would we say to outsiders if we had no proof that we are a "natural?" What if there were no wilderness areas, or what if we fail to protect them? What will we say if the Buffalo River is polluted by runoff from the ill-placed commercial hog farm near Mount Judea?

On this 30th anniversary of the Arkansas Wilderness Act, let us resolve to keep our guard up, forever. Arkansas is a natural--if we can keep it.