Buffalo River Watershed Alliance
Posted: Friday, May 1, 2015 7:15 am |
Staff Report news@harrisondaily.com |
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has dedicated more than 1,900 miles of river in 12 states as critical habitat for two types of freshwater mussels, but the area is smaller than originally proposed and the impact on people in the Daily Times’ coverage area was reduced to a small part of the Buffalo National River.
The Service reported Wednesday that habitat for Noesho mucket and rabbitsfoot mussels has been degrading, and they were designated as endangered and threatened, respectively, under the Endangered Species Act on September 2013.
Chris Davidson with the Endangered Species Program of the Arkansas Ecological Services Field Office said in a Wednesday conference call that the mussels are in peril, having lost some 60 percent of habitat.
Only a small portion of the Buffalo National River was designated Wednesday as critical habitat for rabbitsfoot mussels. Davidson said Neosho muckets’ designation is limited in Arkansas to the Illinois River in far northwest Arkansas.
He said the designation for the Buffalo covers only that part of the river below the high water mark and not the entire watershed.
In addition, the designation means that only activity funded by the federal government would require consultation with the Service for those activities, such as building a dam or bridge, according to Rob Tawes, the Service’s acting chief of the Division of Conservation and Classification Southeast Region.
In the case of the Buffalo, the National Park Service would be the action agency required to consult with the Service because it owns and regulates the river.
Tawes estimated the economic impact for the Buffalo could be as much about $280,00 a year, but the average person shouldn’t encounter any financial impact beyond the initial designation.
He went on to say that there were some misconceptions realized during the comment period on the proposed critical habitat designation: People feared there would be an impact on property owners or that “no-touch” zones could be created.
The designations do not affect land ownership nor do they allow government or public access to private land, Tawes said. Designating critical habitat has no impact on landowner activities that do not require federal funding or federal permits.
When asked why the actual designated area was smaller than the area originally proposed, Tawes said comments from the Arkansas Farm Bureau and the Association of Arkansas Counties came into play for the decision.
“We are pleased with the Service’s reduction in proposed critical habitat designations for the Neosho mucket and rabbitsfoot mussels in the state of Arkansas,” said Chris Villines, Association of Arkansas Counties executive director. “The final decision on critical habitat areas for these two fresh water species will now be less broad and more appropriate. However, we still have concerns and support the modernization of the Endangered Species Act.”
By Dr. Mercola
Did you know that over the past year, nearly 10 percent of the entire swine population in the US has been wiped out by a highly lethal virus? The virus, called Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDv), has been—at least in part—traced back to pig’s blood used in piglet feed.
On June 5, US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced that a federal order has been issued, requiring swine farmers to notify the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) if they suspect PEDv on their farm. The USDA is also allocating $4 million for research, and the development of a vaccine against the disease.
Dried blood plasma is a relatively new pig feed ingredient, described as a “unique protein source for early-weaned pigs” in a paper on swine nutrition by Professor Gary Cromwell.
In recent years, it’s been employed as an immune booster, and to enhance the growth rate and feed intake during the postweaning phase. In his paper, Professor Cromwell explains the process as follows:
“Most of the dried plasma is produced by American Protein Corporation, whose headquarters are in Ames, Iowa. This company collects and processes blood from a number of large hog slaughter plants throughout the country. At these plants, blood is collected in chilled vats and transported by insulated trucks to processing plants where the plasma is separated from the red blood cells. The plasma is then carefully spray dried. It is then shipped to ingredient suppliers and feed manufacturers throughout the feed industry for use in pig starter feeds. The red blood cells are also dried and shipped to ingredient suppliers and feed manufacturers.”
“Most of the dried plasma is produced by American Protein Corporation, whose headquarters are in Ames, Iowa. This company collects and processes blood from a number of large hog slaughter plants throughout the country.
At these plants, blood is collected in chilled vats and transported by insulated trucks to processing plants where the plasma is separated from the red blood cells. The plasma is then carefully spray dried.
It is then shipped to ingredient suppliers and feed manufacturers throughout the feed industry for use in pig starter feeds. The red blood cells are also dried and shipped to ingredient suppliers and feed manufacturers.”
It appears this may be yet another example of the inherent dangers of the factory farm model, and why the “cannibal” solution, i.e. feeding animal parts back to the same species of animal tends to be a bad idea.
As you can see, the factory feeding model involves the mixing of animal parts (in this case, blood) from a large number of animals, which is then fed to large numbers of animals—the meat from which in turn are again mixed together in large processing plants, before it’s ultimately sold in grocery stores across the nation.
All this mixing and cross-contamination allows for pathogens to contaminate huge amounts of food products, and is the reason why a single food contamination can affect people across multiple states—or in this case, animals across multiple states, even without direct contact between affected farms.
The lethal swine disease first emerged last spring. The first US cases were confirmed in April 2013. As reported by Reuters:
“Swine veterinarian Bill Minton thought the baby pigs dying at a farm in western Ohio had a bad case of gastro-enteritis and was stumped when lab results came back with no indication of what had killed them. It took nearly 30 days – and hundreds more pigs dying in five other states – for Minton to learn the farm was ground zero for a virulent, fast-spreading virus that had never been seen before in the United States.”
“Swine veterinarian Bill Minton thought the baby pigs dying at a farm in western Ohio had a bad case of gastro-enteritis and was stumped when lab results came back with no indication of what had killed them.
It took nearly 30 days – and hundreds more pigs dying in five other states – for Minton to learn the farm was ground zero for a virulent, fast-spreading virus that had never been seen before in the United States.”
At this point, the pig disease, which causes diarrhea and vomiting, has spread to 30 states. Cases of PEDv were also reported in Mexico during the latter part of 2013, and Canada had its first confirmed case in mid-January.
Since then, the disease has spread to Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, and Quebec as well. The PED virus can be transmitted in a number of different ways, including:
Since initial outbreaks occurred between farms that had no contact or interaction with each other, investigators were led to look to animal feed as a potential disease vector. In a February 18 statement issued by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, its investigation into the matter revealed that:
“…PED virus was present in samples of US-origin plasma obtained at the third-party manufacturer for Grand Valley Fortifiers.This plasma was used as an ingredient in feed pellets produced by the company. Testing with a swine bioassay has determined that the plasma ingredient contains PED virus capable of causing disease in pigs.” [Emphasis mine]
It’s worth noting that there are no interstate or trade restrictions in place within the US pertaining to PEDv. It’s also not considered a food safety concern, for the fact that it is not transmissible to humans. Still, the fact of the matter is that agricultural overuse of antibiotics have rendered a whole host of pathogens immune to these lifesaving drugs, and continuously promote the mutation of pathogens into ever more virulent strains. Disease promulgation is a major problem inherent of the factory farm model, period.
And, as noted by Dr. Dick Hesse in the following video, the PED virus has traditionally been a relatively mild pathogen. Only recently did it suddenly evolve into a far more aggressive version—with a mortality rate of nearly 100 percent among affected animals!
Besides antibiotic overuse, which now poses a MAJOR human health threat, confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) also promote diseases that simply would not occur in the organic model, through the wholly unnatural diets used in the CAFO setting. Using pig plasma and pork meal in CAFO pig feed effectively turns these pigs into cannibals—a practice that has a tendency to create problems.
Mad cow disease is another perfect example of this. One of the primary ways mad cow disease is transmitted is when cows are fed bone meal and waste products from other cattle infected with the disease. As a result, it’s now illegal to feed beef-based products to cows.
Alas, the beef industry circumvents this rule by using a feed product known as “chicken litter,” and that too can introduce this devastating disease into our food system. How’s that, you ask? Mad cow disease is still a factor when using chicken litter because this rendered down mix of chicken manure, dead chickens and feathers, is also comprised of nearly one-third spilled chicken feed, which includes cow meat and bone meal used to feed the chickens—the very ingredients that are supposed to be off limits for cows.
So, any cow that eats chicken litter may also be consuming various cow byproducts–the very same feed products that spurred mad cow disease in the first place. Mad cow is now rearing its ugly head again, as a Texas man recently became the fourth victim of the disease. According to a report by ABC News:
“A Texas man has died after eating meat from a ‘mad cow,’ making him the fourth person in the United States known to have contracted the ultra-rare form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease… Mad cow is considered an infectious disease, but it’s not caused by a virus or bacterium. Rather, it’s thought to be caused by an abnormal protein. The wayward protein, known as a prion, causes sponge-like holes in the cow’s nervous tissue – a condition formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy. If a human eats beef containing the rogue protein – likely contaminated with parts of the cow’s nervous system – the human’s prion proteins take on the same harmful properties, causing a degenerative, fatal brain disorder known as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or vCJD.”
“A Texas man has died after eating meat from a ‘mad cow,’ making him the fourth person in the United States known to have contracted the ultra-rare form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease… Mad cow is considered an infectious disease, but it’s not caused by a virus or bacterium. Rather, it’s thought to be caused by an abnormal protein. The wayward protein, known as a prion, causes sponge-like holes in the cow’s nervous tissue – a condition formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
If a human eats beef containing the rogue protein – likely contaminated with parts of the cow’s nervous system – the human’s prion proteins take on the same harmful properties, causing a degenerative, fatal brain disorder known as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or vCJD.”
It’s important to consider the source of any meat you buy. Virtually all of the meat and poultry (beef, pork, chicken, turkey, etc.) found in your local grocery store comes from animals raised in confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs). If it wasn’t raised in a factory farm, it will typically bear a clear label stating it’s “grass-fed” or “USDA 100% organic.”
Large-scale factory farming is the cheapest way to raise meat, thereby allowing for the largest profits. But the ultimate price is high, as there’s a complete disregard for human health, the environment, and the ethical treatment of animals in this model. I’ve briefly mentioned that the routine use of antibiotics has led to the rapid rise of antibiotic-resistant superbugs that now threaten human life. Indeed, this is not to be taken lightly. According to a landmark “Antibiotic Resistance Threat Report” published by the CDC, 2 million Americans become infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria each year, and at least 23,000 of them die as a direct result of those infections.
Research suggests you have a 50/50 chance of buying meat tainted with drug-resistant bacteria when you buy meat from your local grocery store. In some cases, the risk is even greater than that. Last year, using data collected by the federal agency called NARMS (National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System), the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found antibiotic-resistant bacteria in 81 percent of ground turkey, 69 percent of pork chops, 55 percent of ground beef, and 39 percent of raw chicken parts. EWG nutritionist and the report’s lead researcher, Dawn Undurraga, issued the following warning to the public:
“Consumers should be very concerned that antibiotic-resistant bacteria are now common in the meat aisles of most American supermarkets… These organisms can cause foodborne illnesses and other infections. Worse, they spread antibiotic-resistance, which threatens to bring on a post-antibiotic era where important medicines critical to treating people could become ineffective.”
For a quick review of the hazards of CAFO’s, please take a few minutes to watch the video above. It’s important to realize that the factory farm system is NOT a system that ensures food safety and protects human health. On the contrary, it makes the food system far more vulnerable to pathogenic contaminations that have the capacity to kill. Processing plant (i.e. plants where meat is cut or milk is pasteurized, for example) are primary culprits when it comes to the spread of pathogens.
Additionally, many of these plants are owned by a small number of companies, and in many cases, larger processors are vertically integrated and also serve as the retailer or brand-name wholesaler. Due to regulations, traditional farmer-to-consumer practices have been outlawed. Now processors run the show and cut out the farmer’s share, which has decimated small farmers and created this industrialized mess. According to US Department of Agriculture data:
Read the full article here.
- See more at: http://healthimpactnews.com/2014/factory-farm-model-fails-again-10-percent-of-us-pig-population-in-wiped-out-in-one-year/#sthash.ktp7rNZV.dpuf
by Ed Bethune and Vic Snyder on Monday, Apr. 27, 2015 12:00 am
What is the economic value of a public image? Paying $1.4 million for a 30-second 2015 Super Bowl commercial seems outrageous, but it is not exorbitant for a multibillion-dollar corporation. The money spent burnishes an image and induces consumers to buy more product.
What is the economic cost of a disaster? How many advertising dollars does it take to erase the lingering images of a product recall, an oil spill or other environmental disasters? BP, Exxon and General Motors have learned how such events can impact the bottom line. It makes no sense to waste money and hard-earned goodwill when such disasters can be avoided.
Recently, food giant Cargill placed a hog factory in the watershed of America’s first National River. The Buffalo River in the Arkansas Ozarks was deemed to be of such unique ecological value that congressional Republicans and Democrats joined together to preserve it. In 1972, the bill was signed into law by President Richard Nixon placing 135 miles of pristine waters under the stewardship of the National Park Service.
Now sitting just upstream from the Buffalo is a feces-generating concentrated animal feeding operation, known as a CAFO. The hog factory is owned by three local people, but the 6,500 caged pigs belong to Cargill.
Cargill argues that the company and local owners did everything right by state standards, but local landowners were not notified and neither was the National Park Service. There was no public notice in newspapers or public hearing. Indifferent state officials, with little consideration for the environment, issued a permit. Sadly and inexplicably, the Arkansas authorities turned a blind eye to the porous karst geology of the area and the proximity of a public school.
The hog factory is now causing concern at the federal level. Local and national conservation groups filed suit challenging a $3.5 million taxpayer-guaranteed loan for the factory. A federal judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas recently ruled that the environmental assessment — a requirement for such loans — was “cursory, flawed, and inadequate.” He ordered the Small Business Administration and the Farm Service Agency to withdraw their financial backing until a new assessment is completed. In the meantime, however, the hog factory proceeds apace under a cloud of financial doubt.
Pollution concerns about the river are real. The hog factory generates more than 2.5 million gallons of waste each year, the equivalent of a city of 35,000 people. The untreated feces and urine are held in two lagoons before being spread over “spray fields” of shallow soil and limestone rock adjoining Big Creek, a major tributary of the Buffalo National River just a few miles away. The threat of toxic sludge seeping into the water table or polluting the watershed is real.
Recently, the National Park Service and an independent hydrogeologist released test results showing that E. coli readings have been climbing at the confluence of the two streams, as much as 37 percent more than a few years ago. Water oxygen levels are decreasing and algae levels increasing. The findings are consistent with a study published last year by the University of North Carolina and Johns Hopkins University. In North Carolina, scientists found, “Fecal indicator bacteria were detected at concentrations that exceeded federal and state recreational water quality guideline values, with the highest concentrations observed immediately downstream of swine CAFO spray fields.”
If this trend continues, the pristine Buffalo River will be tainted. How might that affect the million-plus visitors who fish, canoe, swim and camp on the river each year? Buffalo River tourism generates $50 million in annual revenue and 500 local jobs.
Industrial animal factories should be placed in areas that will not threaten the environment. Business development is a good thing, but responsibility comes with profit. The previous director of the Arkansas agency that approved the permit acknowledged that pollution will happen. As a result the state of Arkansas has been forced to spend almost $500,000 in taxpayer money to monitor water quality.
We worry that the state of Arkansas will one day be forced to tell the world that our precious Buffalo River is contaminated. That has been the story in other states across the country: For example in 2009, a ruptured holding pond in Illinois caused a fish kill 20 miles downstream from a hog factory; in 2010, rain washed 200,000 gallons of recently sprayed manure into two nearby Indiana rivers, causing another massive fish kill.
The potential damage from such an announcement is incalculable, and that leads us back to our original question: What is the economic value of a public image? How much does it cost to repair damage caused by a disaster? Why does Cargill want to take that risk? Why do Arkansas bureaucrats and politicians want to take the risk? The price tag for doing the right thing and moving the hog factory would be much cheaper than a few Super Bowl commercials.
Ed Bethune, a Republican, represented Arkansas’ 2nd Congressional District from 1979-85, and Vic Snyder, a Democrat, represented the district from 1997-2011.
A decision by the Department of Justice to drop its appeal in a case involving a hog farm upstream of the Buffalo National River means the Farm Service Agency and Small Business Administration will have review the project's potential environmental impacts.
A federal judge back in December had ruled that the two agencies failed to do such a review before issuing more than $3 million in loan guarantees for the C&H Hog Farms operation. Last week the Justice Department decided to drop its appeal of that ruling, according to a release from Earthjustice, which represented a number of environmental and conservation groups in the matter.
The C&H facility is located on the banks of Big Creek in Mount Judea, Arkansas. Under a contract with Cargill, Inc., an international agricultural and food conglomerate, C&H confines approximately 6,500 pigs at a time, making the operation the first of its size and scale in the Buffalo River watershed.
The hog farm is located in a region of karst geology, which is is composed of easily dissolved rocks, such as limestone and dolomite. Via sinkholes and underground caves in the geology, groundwater can flow miles very quickly. In the National Park System, karst geology is perhaps mostly visibly connected to Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky, but it can also be found along the Buffalo National River and at Ozark National Scenic Riverways in Missouri.
When the groups -- the Arkansas Canoe Club, Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, National Parks Conservation Association, and The Ozark Society - brought their lawsuit last year, they argued that the loan guarantees to the hog facility hinged on a flawed environmental review process that violated the law and did not follow the U.S. Department of Agriculture's own regulations.
“This outcome sends a strong message that federal agencies that are subsidizing and supporting industrial-sized concentrated animal feeding operations through loans and guarantees will have to follow NEPA and the ESA in the future,” said Earthjustice attorney Marianne Engelman Lado. “This is a truly significant victory, but the fight to remove C & H Hog Farms from the Buffalo River watershed goes on,” said Dane Schumacher, Buffalo River Watershed Alliance Board member. “We continue to monitor signs for bacterial content that filters into Big Creek and ultimately the Buffalo National River. Much damage could be done if C & H continues to operate in the watershed, and we intend to keep up the pressure to ensure that this ill-placed industrial hog facility never has the chance to foul Arkansas’ crown jewel and America’s first national river.”
Tiffany Stecker, E&E reporter
Published: Monday, April 27, 2015
The Department of Justice won't challenge a federal court ruling that the Department of Agriculture and the Small Business Administration violated environmental laws in providing loans to a large hog farm in northwest Arkansas.
The U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in Arkansas on Friday granted a motion filed by DOJ to withdraw and voluntarily dismiss the appeal.
In December, Judge D. Price Marshall in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas ruled that the agencies shouldn't have provided $3.6 million in loans to C&H Hog Farms Inc., a 6,500-hog farm located near a tributary of the Buffalo National River (Greenwire, Dec. 3, 2014).
Marshall found that the agencies violated the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. SBA and USDA's Farm Service Agency must now conduct new assessments to allow the lending.
"This outcome sends a strong message that federal agencies that are subsidizing and supporting industrial-sized concentrated animal feeding operations through loans and guarantees will have to follow NEPA and the ESA in the future," said Marianne Engelman Lado, an attorney with the environmental law group Earthjustice who represents a coalition of the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, Arkansas Canoe Club, National Parks Conservation Association and Ozark Society.
SBA guaranteed about 75 percent of a $2.3 million loan from Farm Credit Services of Western Arkansas. FSA backed 90 percent of a $1.3 million loan.
"This is a truly significant victory, but the fight to remove C&H Hog Farms from the Buffalo River watershed goes on," said Dane Schumacher, Buffalo River Watershed Alliance board member. "Much damage could be done if C&H continues to operate in the watershed, and we intend to keep up the pressure to ensure that this ill-placed industrial hog facility never has the chance to foul Arkansas' crown jewel and America's first national river."
Democrat Gazette
This article was published today at 3:02 a.m.
By Emily Walkenhorst
The federal agencies ordered by a judge to redo environmental assessments of C&H Hog Farms in Mount Judea had their subsequent appeal of the decision dismissed Friday.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion on behalf of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Small Business Administration and the Farm Service Agency in the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to dismiss the agencies' appeal filed earlier this year, according to court records.
On Friday, environmental groups called the dismissal a victory.
"This is a truly significant victory, but the fight to remove C & H Hog Farms from the Buffalo River watershed goes on," Dane Schumacher, a Buffalo River Watershed Alliance Board member, said in an Earthjustice news release. Earthjustice represents the environmental groups that filed the original lawsuit against the federal agencies.
The Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, the Arkansas Canoe Club, the National Parks Conservation Association and the Ozark Society sued the agencies in August 2013, arguing that the Small Business Administration and the Farm Service Agency failed to properly consult with other agencies, including the National Park Service, in conducting an environmental assessment of the facility while considering loan guarantees to it.
The environmental assessment carried a "finding of no significant impact."
Attorneys for the defendants had asked that the court not specify how the agencies should conduct their reviews, such as requiring an impact statement.
In October, U.S District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. ruled that the assessment was "too brief," had "no chain of reasoning" and violated the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.
An Arkansas Farm Bureau representative said after Marshall's decision that the case wouldn't change what happened to C&H Hog Farms but that it might make it harder for new farms to get loans.
The U.S. Small Business Administration and the Farm Service Agency had agreed to back $3.4 million in private loans made to C&H Hog Farms after the company was found to have insufficient collateral, meaning that the agencies would foot the bill for the company's loans if the company defaulted.
Marshall's order stops any payments from being made until the agencies have finished the new environmental assessment. The agencies had not made any payments on the loans previously.
C&H Hog Farms is on Big Creek, 6 miles from where it meets the Buffalo National River. Environmental activists and others have been concerned about the amount of animal waste generated in what they say is an environmentally sensitive area.
Metro on 04/25/2015
This article was published today at 3:26 a.m. Updated April 24, 2015 at 10:03 p.m.
The Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission approved a third 180-day ban on new medium or large hog farms in the Buffalo National River watershed with no dissent Friday at the commission's monthly meeting.
Officials also announced at the meeting that a permanent ban proposed by environmental groups -- which inspired the temporary ban -- will now be renegotiated with the governor's office.
Last April, the commission, which is the appellate body of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, passed the first 180-day ban after the Ozark Society and the Arkansas Public Policy Panel petitioned to change state regulations to permanently ban new medium or large hog farms in the watershed. A period of 180 days is the longest the commission can impose such a moratorium.
The groups were responding to an uproar after the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality approved a permit for the first large hog farm in the watershed -- the large drainage area surrounding the river -- in late 2012 for C&H Hog Farms.
C&H Hog Farms is a Mount Judea facility permitted to house about 2,500 sows and as many as 4,000 piglets at a time. The facility, established in 2013, is on Big Creek, about 6 miles upstream from where it meets the Buffalo National River.
C&H Hog Farms would not be affected by the rule-making petition or the temporary ban, but opponents of the facility fear that it will pollute the river's watershed and eventually the river.
The Buffalo National River is a popular tourist spot, with more than 1 million visitors in 2013 who spent about $46 million collectively, according to National Park Service data.
On Wednesday, Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced that he supported extending the temporary ban for five more years until a University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture study on whether C&H Hog Farms is polluting the Buffalo River is completed.
After that announcement, the governor's office, the Ozark Society and the Arkansas Public Policy Panel agreed to meet to make changes to the rule-making petition to reflect a five-year ban, although whether the renegotiation would take a permanent ban off the table is unclear.
Hutchinson spokesman J.R. Davis said he believed that the negotiation would be restricted to reflecting a five-year ban.
"Presumably the amendment would be on the timing," Ozark Society President Bob Cross said, adding that nothing is known yet given the preliminary nature of the discussions.
Ross Noland, a McMath Woods firm attorney representing the Ozark Society and Arkansas Public Policy Panel, said he and the groups are appreciative of the governor's support for an extended ban on new medium and large hog farms in the watershed.
Any renegotiated rule making for an extended ban would be sent to the public health and agriculture committees of the Arkansas Legislature. Upon approval by the committees, such rules would return to the Pollution Control and Ecology Commission for a final vote.
Before discussion on the temporary ban and rule making Friday, the commission heard public comments from seven people, all of whom supported passage of the 180-day ban.
Most expressed their dismay with C&H Hog Farms, noting the smell, the potential for pollution and existing pollution in the river as they argued that the facility is not following the conditions of its permit by applying waste where it's not allowed.
"This is probably the most inspected facility in Arkansas in the last few years," Environmental Quality Department Deputy Director Ryan Benefield told the commission. "We haven't found them in violation of their permit.
"There are a couple of fields where the line on the map says there's a small area where they can't apply, and they have not applied to those areas," he added.
Others noted the economic impact of the river and argued that more needs to be done to protect it.
"I really encourage the department to look at the whole watershed and try to balance use and protection," said Chuck Bitting of Marble Falls, who works for the National Park Service at the Buffalo National River.
No one spoke against the ban, but some agriculture advocates have called the move overkill, given major hog farm operator Cargill's self-imposed moratorium on new hog farms in the watershed.
It's been five months since the Ozark Society and the Arkansas Public Policy Panel had a hearing on the rule-making effort before the public health and agriculture committees of the Legislature. At that December hearing, the committees declined to vote on the matter, as members slowly trickled out during the hours of questioning, leaving the committees without a quorum.
The groups were originally scheduled to have a hearing before only the public health committee in September, but the committees declined to vote and instead requested that the agriculture committee be included in the discussion of the new rule. Another meeting has not been scheduled.
New Commissioner Wesley Stites, chairman of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville's chemistry and biochemistry department, asked the commission's administrative law judge, Charles Moulton, about how many extensions the temporary ban could have.
"Is there a reasonable expectation that the rule could be made before 180 days expires?" he asked about the process to implement an extended ban.
"I hope so," Moulton said.
"We hope so," Becky Keogh said in her first commission meeting as director of the Environmental Quality Department. "It's better than continuing hearings for moratoriums."
NORTH LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission voted Friday to approve a third 180-day moratorium on issuing hog farm permits in the Buffalo River watershed.
A motion to approve the moratorium carried in a voice vote with no “no” votes heard. The action came two days after Gov. Asa Hutchinson issued a statement expressing support for a new moratorium.
The previous moratorium expired earlier this week. Hutchinson said Wednesday that putting another 180-day hold on permits would allow time for the rulemaking process to be completed.
The Arkansas Public Policy Panel and the Ozark Society are pursuing a change to Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality rules that would permanently ban permits for medium and large hog farms in the watershed.
Hutchinson also said Wednesday he favors a five-year sunset on the rulemaking, to allow time for the University of Arkansas to complete a study to determine what impact C&H Hog Farms in Mount Judea has had on the watershed.
A permanent ban would not affect C&H but would bar other similarly sized hog farms from being established in the watershed.
Several people spoke in support of the moratorium during Friday’s commission meeting at ADEQ’s North Little Rock headquarters. No one spoke in opposition.
“Over the last 19 days, living 8 miles away, I have smelled C&H Hog Farms at my home,” said Carol Betting. “I live on the Little Buffalo. I live below that emergent layer that traps the odor in the valley. It’s not pleasant.”
Betting said that if she can smell the hog farm from where she lives, “you can’t even imagine what it feels like for those people in Mount Judea.”
Lin Wellford of Green Forest told the commission, “I’ve got grandkids, and I hope to have great-grandkids, and I hope someday they’ll get to enjoy the rivers that I got to enjoy. So that’s why I’m here — I’m standing up for the next generation.”
Commissioner Joseph Bates asked whether ADEQ’s staff had noticed odors in the area.
ADEQ Deputy Director Ryan Benefield answered, “Odor is a tough thing for the department to regulate, because each of us, if we went out there, would have a different odor threshold. But we haven’t found an unacceptable odor in many responses to complaints.”
Posted: Friday, April 24, 2015 4:30 pm |
Staff Report news@harrisondaily.com | 0 comments
LITTLE ROCK — The U.S. Department of Justice has decided to drop its challenge of a federal court ruling that enjoined more than $3 million in loan guarantees to an industrial hog farm in the Buffalo National River Watershed in the Arkansas Ozarks, a press release said.
On Dec. 2, 2014, U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas D. Price Marshall ruled that the guarantees by the Farm Service Agency and Small Business Administration were issued without an adequate environmental assessment and violated both the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.
On Friday, the federal 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in Arkansas today granted a motion filed by the Department of Justice to withdraw and voluntarily dismiss the department’s appeal of the judgment.
The loan guarantees were made to C&H Hog Farms in Mt. Judea. Now the two federal agencies must go back and conduct new assessments within one year.
“This outcome sends a strong message that federal agencies that are subsidizing and supporting industrial-sized concentrated animal feeding operations through loans and guarantees will have to follow NEPA and the ESA in the future,” said Earthjustice attorney Marianne Engelman Lado, who represents a coalition of the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, Arkansas Canoe Club, National Parks Conservation Association and the Ozark Society.
“This is a truly significant victory, but the fight to remove C&H Hog Farms from the Buffalo River watershed goes on,” said Dane Schumacher, Buffalo River Watershed Alliance Board member. “We continue to monitor signs for bacterial content that filters into Big Creek and ultimately the Buffalo National River. Much damage could be done if C&H continues to operate in the watershed, and we intend to keep up the pressure to ensure that this ill-placed industrial hog facility never has the chance to foul Arkansas’ crown jewel and America’s first national river.”
4/24/2015 8:00 PM By Associated Press
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Federal agencies will have a year to do a new environmental assessment of a hog farm near the Buffalo National River after a federal appeals court's ruling Friday.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted the Department of Justice's motion to withdraw its appeal of a December ruling that said the agencies did not properly assess C&H Hog Farm before guaranteeing $3.4 million in private loans.
The move follows a lawsuit brought by the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, Arkansas Canoe Club, National Parks Conservation Association and the Ozark Society. They alleged that several federal agencies guaranteed the loans without conducting a sufficient environmental assessment.
"We feel this is a significant victory," said Dane Schumacher, a board member with the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance. "In order to guarantee these loans, there are things these agencies should have done. They should have had a consultation with Fish and Wildlife, which they didn't. They should have given notice to the public, and that wasn't done."
In the December ruling, U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. said the Farm Service Agency and the U.S. Small Business Administration violated the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act in guaranteeing Farm Credit Services of Western Arkansas' loans to the C&H Hog Farm.
Under that ruling, the federal agencies have a year to complete appropriate environmental assessments of the operation.
Also Friday, the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission reinstated a temporary ban on new permits for large and medium hog farms near the Buffalo National River.
The commission's vote renewing the ban for six months comes two days after Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson's statement supporting the ban.
It's the third moratorium placed on the permits to give the Arkansas Legislature time under new rulemaking processes to review whether to allow future hog-feeding facilities in the watershed.
Buffalo River Watershed Alliance is a non profit 501(c)(3) organization
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