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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.

 
Judge wants new look at Buffalo River hog farm
Posted 3:16 p.m. Friday

LITTLE ROCK, ARK. undefined A federal judge wants regulators to take another look at the potential impact of a hog farm near the Buffalo National River in northern Arkansas.

Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. said Thursday a previous assessment was too brief. That review helped qualify the farm for $3.4 million in loan guarantees from the Small Business Administration. Marshall said he will file an injunction against the loan guarantees for C&H Hog Farms.

The facility is a concentrated feeding operation near Mount Judea. It is allowed to have 2,000 full-grown sows and up to 4,000 piglets at a time.

Environmentalists fear farm waste could taint the Buffalo National River, but studies have shown that hasn't happened.

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs' lawyers claim the Farm Service Agency ignored several federal laws, including the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, when it was doing its assessment and issued a "finding of no significant impact" for the hog farm.

Plaintiffs include the Ozark Society, the Arkansas Canoe Club and the National Parks Conservation Association. They also say the agency failed to consult other federal groups, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, when conducting the assessment.

"It's clear to me that the (environmental assessment) and the (finding of no significant impact) are defective," Marshall said. "They're too brief, and there's no chain of reasoning. There's a 'cursoriness' about them."

The bulk of the federal agency's 2012 environmental assessment was about 600 pages of pre-existing documents, including a C&H Hog Farms' nutrient management plan and copies of other existing permits.

Arkansas Farm Bureau spokesman Steve Eddington told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (http://bit.ly/1wj9qac ) Thursday's ruling will likely have a greater impact on future farms, not C&H which already has its loans and is operating.

"My takeaway is, we didn't do anything to change what's happened with C&H Hog Farms," Eddington said. "We probably just made it a whole lot harder for the next guy who's trying to get a farm loan, regardless of where they are."

The judge gave attorneys for both sides 21 days to submit briefs over what should be included in his injunction order. Lawyers declined to comment after the judge's ruling.


 

http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2014/oct/17/hog-farm-got-off-easy-judge-finds-20141/
 
Hog farm got off easy, judge finds
 
Environmental study in for redo
By Ryan McGeeney
This article was published today at 3:56 a.m.

 


A federal judge said Thursday that he will file an injunction against loan guarantees for a Newton County hog farm and require a federal agency to redo an environmental assessment of the farm and its potential effect on surrounding wildlife habitats, including the Buffalo National River.

U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. made the ruling in a civil suit filed in August 2013.

In the lawsuit, lawyers for the plaintiffs, which include the Ozark Society, the Arkansas Canoe Club and the National Parks Conservation Association, alleged that agents of the Farm Service Agency ignored several federal laws, including the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, when it conducted its assessment and issued a "finding of no significant impact" for C&H Hog Farms in Mount Judea.

The federal agency also failed to consult with other agencies, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service, or with the Buffalo National River park administration when conducting the assessment, according to the suit. The Farm Service Agency, along with the Small Business Administration, then issued about $3.4 million in federal loan guarantees for the purchase of property and equipment.

"It's clear to me that the [environmental assessment] and the [finding of no significant impact] are defective," Marshall said. "They're too brief, and there's no chain of reasoning. There's a 'cursoriness' about them."

Aside from a five-page "executive summary," the bulk of the Farm Service Agency's 2012 environmental assessment consisted of about 600 pages of pre-existing documents including C&H Hog Farms' nutrient management plan and copies of other existing permits.

C&H Hog Farms is a large-scale concentrated animal feeding operation in Mount Judea. The farm, which is permitted to house approximately 2,000 full-grown sows and as many as 4,000 piglets at a time, is the first facility in the state to receive a general permit for the operation of a concentrated animal feeding operation and the management of liquid animal waste.

The farm and the various agencies responsible for granting its owners operational permits have drawn the ire of environmentalists who say the enormous amount of animal waste generated at the facility poses a threat to area groundwater and the nearby Buffalo National River. The river is the nation's first national river and attracts more than 1 million visitors annually and more than $44 million in revenue in 2012, according to the National Park Service.

Hannah Chang, lead attorney for the plaintiffs, described the farm as "unprecedented" in the Buffalo National River watershed. Although there are about half a dozen other facilities that hold permits for liquid animal waste discharge, which are obtained through the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, each of those facilities is permitted to house 500 or fewer pigs.

Chang said that given the size of the facility, the agencies should have been more diligent in their environmental assessment of the then-proposed facility and its potential effects and should be willing to subsequently exercise their power to implement new requirements of the farm's operation.

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

Marshall gave Chang and Barclay Samford, lead defense attorney for the defendants, 21 days to submit final briefs recommending what should be included in his injunction order. It is unclear what effect the injunction may have on the farm itself, as the owners have been in full operation for about a year. Lawyers for plaintiffs and defendants declined to comment after the judge's ruling.

It is unclear what, if any, effect the ruling will have on the operation of the farm itself. The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, the agency that issued the farm's operational permits, has maintained that its owners have met every legal requirement and that repeated inspections of the farm have found no major permit violations.

Neither the Big Creek Research team, organized through the University of Arkansas' Agriculture Division and funded through the state Legislature, nor a separate, volunteer-funded research team led by retired university hydrologist Van Brahana has detected an overall rise in nutrients or bacteria commonly associated with animal waste in the Buffalo National River since the farm went into operation.

Arkansas Farm Bureau spokesman Steve Eddington said Thursday's ruling will likely have less of an effect on existing farms, including C&H Hog Farms, than it will on future farming in Arkansas.

"My takeaway is, we didn't do anything to change what's happened with C&H Hog Farms," Eddington said. "We probably just made it a whole lot harder for the next guy who's trying to get a farm loan, regardless of where they are. If they're in the Delta, in the Piney Woods or if they're in the Buffalo National River watershed. That's suddenly become much more difficult, at least until this is appealed."

Earlier in the week, general opposition to large-scale swine concentrated animal feeding operations in the Buffalo National River watershed moved forward elsewhere, as well. Lawyers representing the Ozark Society and the Arkansas Public Policy Panel, a liberal lobbying organization, filed responses to public comments on their proposed changes to animal waste regulations in Arkansas with the Pollution Control and Ecology Commission, the state's environmental rule-making body.

The proposed changes would include a permanent moratorium on medium- and large-scale swine concentrated animal feeding operations within the Buffalo National River watershed. The watershed covers about three-quarters of Newton and Searcy counties and about one-quarter of Marion County.

In April, Ross Noland, a lawyer representing the Ozark Society and the Arkansas Public Policy Panel, filed a petition for third-party rule-making with the commission. Charles Moulton, the commission's administrative law judge, drafted and submitted a 180-day moratorium mirroring the provisions of the proposed permanent change. The proposed moratorium would not affect poultry, cattle or other types of animal farming and could not be retroactively applied to C&H Hog Farms.

The commission held a public hearing on the proposed amendments in June and accepted public comments until July 1. Lawyers were given 90 days to respond to public comments received by the commission, after which Noland filed the responses with the Arkansas Bureau of Legislative Research for review. Noland said Wednesday that he had originally planned to wait until the proposed rule changes, comment responses and other related documents made it through the review process before filing the responses with the commission, but changed his mind after several weeks of legislative inaction and press inquiries.

The next meeting of the Pollution Control and Ecology Commission is scheduled for Oct. 24. An agenda for the meeting has not yet been published.

Metro on 10/17/2014

 

As The Water Flows

Mike Masterson

October 14, 2014

The public outcry to preserve the purity of our Buffalo National River continues to build, as evidenced by an informational event scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday in Fayetteville's St. Paul's Episcopal Church Parish Hall.

A public singalong and rally is slated for Fayetteville's Town Center the next morning. The plan is to create a YouTube video that continues to spread the word about the 6,500-swine-strong hog factory our state wrongheadedly approved in our sacred Buffalo River watershed two years ago.

Saturday's event features five experts including hydrologist and emeritus University of Arkansas geosciences Professor Dr. John Van Brahana. Brahana and his band of volunteers began regularly monitoring water quality and subsurface flow a year ago, largely at personal expense and energy.

Speakers say they'll offer updated scientific findings that validate public concerns about potential contamination of the Buffalo from enormous amounts of untreated hog waste being regularly applied to fields along Big Creek in Newton County. The creek is a major tributary of the Buffalo flowing six miles downstream.

If you've been resting on the sidelines in this important, yet shamefully politicized, matter created by our state's Department of Environmental Quality (cough), either weekend event would be well worth showing up for.

Meanwhile, the state's Farm Bureau is said to be lobbying to prevent the existing temporary moratorium against future factories placed in the Buffalo watershed from becoming permanent. The Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission is expected to make its final decision when its moratorium expires Oct. 22.

I've always admired the Farm Bureau and the many stances it has taken in support of individual family farms across our state, which only leaves me dazed and confused to see this organization so aggressively and actively championing the cause of this Cargill-supplied factory farm (or others like it) so obviously misplaced in this sacred region of our state. Seems common sense to me that mega-factory farms are a serious threat to replacing family farms as we've known and cherished them in Arkansas.

It's time to let your elected state legislators know your feelings as well as the commissioners. This river and the responsibility for preserving its purity do belong to all the people rather than one family or a multinational corporation such as Cargill.

I've lately noticed a new effort among concerned citizens who are writing Cargill's major Arkansas corporate customers such as Wal-Mart and Tyson, asking for their considerable influence (even behind the scenes) in doing their part to help protect and preserve America's first national river and all it means to our state and nation.

I asked Brahana--who told me he had a car tire slashed while in Newton County--for his top three latest discoveries.

His results steadily confirm what he feared and predicted in letters sent in 2012 to Gov. Mike Beebe and former Department of Environmental Quality director Teresa Marks. Brahana's letters, incidentally, were never answered. Mighty rude considering that Brahana is acting solely in the best interests of the national river rather than the arrogant self-interests that sadly characterize so much of politics today.

First, Brahana told me dye tracings continue to prove how rapidly groundwater beneath this hog factory travels through the Big Creek valley around Mount Judea. The water "moves under surface divides and the hills into private wells and springs" to ultimately wind up in the Buffalo, he said. Thus far the dye already has been discovered in two private drinking wells.

Secondly, present water quality is near the upper limit of what the systems can accommodate. "Adding additional animal waste from the CAFO will overload the entire system and cause long-term problems that will be expensive and take a long time to clear up. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria, pathogens, nutrients, algal blooms, excessive biofilms and low oxygen concentrations are but a few of the problems we are seeing." I'm told the untreated waste from 6,500 swine equals that of about 30,000 humans.

Third, Brahana, who is not controlled by the state or fearful of offending political contributors, said his measurements are providing clear insights into how water is stored in the watershed and the ways in which it moves through intervals of subsurface containing chert (flint) layers in the limestone. Such terrain underlies the manure-spreading fields.

"The water enters the rock as recharge from the top, either precipitation or captured streamflow into sinkholes. It gets down to the rock very quickly, a matter of several hours after the rain starts.

"It moves on top of the chert through small 'minicaves' which are major flow paths, and it spreads out downgradient," said Brahana. "This means that where the water and waste will end up are predictable after we have conducted our preliminary research, and that the flow goes to the Buffalo, and the speed of the movement is very rapid, as fast as most surface water."

------------v------------

Mike Masterson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at mikemasterson10@hotmail.com. Read his blog at mikemastersonsmessenger.com.

Editorial on 10/14/2014

Fayetteville Free Weekly

What’s Up on the Buffalo? Rolling Out the Science
By Lin Wellford | October 9, 2014


So, what is up on the Buffalo River? Many people in Arkansas are now aware that a 6500 head confined animal feeding operation (CAFO) for swine was granted a permit to operate in Mount Judea.

The news sparked a lot of controversy.

In the past year, proponents of C&H Hog Farms Inc. have repeatedly cautioned that we should “wait for the science” before concluding that the Buffalo River might be negatively impacted. A moratorium was placed on permitting additional large and medium factory facilities in the watershed in the meantime.

Yet recently it was announced that the moratorium may be allowed to expire, potentially opening the watershed to more such industrial-scale operations.

There is a lot of scientific work being done on the Buffalo River to determine the facts surrounding this issue. Andrew Sharpley, who heads up the University of Arkansas study commissioned by Governor Beebe, has stated that his study cannot be meaningful without several years of follow-up. So asserting that no degradation of the river has been detected by the UA study is not entirely accurate. There is other scientific work going on that the public needs to be informed about, say Ozark River Stewards and the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance who are sponsoring an event to do just that. These organizations point to an extensive two-year study done by the Pew Institute, a non-partisan think tank, looked at myriad aspects of industrial animal production in five states and concluded by recommending a phase-out of this kind of intense animal feeding operation due to multiple negative impacts, not the least of which is the staggering amount of waste generated.

On Saturday, Oct. 18, a free program, What’s Up on the Buffalo? Rolling Out the Science, will offer the latest information on the monitoring and research activities in the Buffalo River Watershed, as well news on the legal challenges, recent legislation and pending decisions related to the issue.

Five speakers include U of A Professor Emeritus, John Brahana, a hydro-geologist and karst consultant. Brahana will reveal the latest results of his studies of groundwater transport in the Buffalo River Watershed. Chuck Bitting, a naturalist and karst geologist, will address how endangered species may be affected by a decrease in water quality. This free educational program will take place at St. Paul’s Parish Hall, 224 N. East Avenue, Fayetteville from 7-8:30 p.m. More information is available at www.ozarkriverstewards.com.

After substantial questions were raised about the permitting process, how closely the rules were actually followed, and about the perils of spraying hog waste on pastures in the Big Creek valley, six miles from the confluence with the Buffalo River near Carver, Cargill spokesmen have promised their company will not build more facilities in the area, but also state that they have no plans to stop sending animals to C&H Hog Farms Inc.

Company executives have admitted to stakeholders that the siting of this facility was a mistake, but they are hanging tough, although conceding that they are willing to require some retrofitting and additional safeguards to what they previously characterized as being ‘state-of-the-art technology.’ In response to Cargill’s concessions the Buffalo River Coalition, comprised of the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, the Arkansas Canoe Club, the Ozark Society and the National Parks Conservation Association asserted on Sept. 8, 2014, that “While our coalition is pleased that Cargill has voluntarily committed to a moratorium on future hog facilities in the Buffalo River watershed, a Confined Animal Feeding Operation should not have been placed directly upstream from America’s first national river to begin with,” according to National Parks Conservation Association Program Manager Emily Jones. “It seems contradictory to acknowledge that expensive, experimental technologies are needed to mitigate a so-called ‘state of the art facility’s’ impacts, while having also stated that no harmful bacteria or nutrients will reach the river – which one is correct and are these technologies going to prevent contamination or create more?”

The 2012 National Water Quality Inventory indicates that agriculture is the leading contributor to water quality impairments, accounting for 60 percent of impaired river miles. Most of this is from non-point source (seepage and run off) pollution, which occurs when rainfall, snowmelt, or irrigation runs over land or through the ground, picks up pollutants such as excess nutrients and bacteria, and deposits them into rivers, or introduces them into ground water. These can ruin even the healthiest and cleanest of waterways over time. According to the EPA, the United States annually spends millions of dollars to restore and protect the areas damaged by non-point source pollutants.

If the true cost of raising animals for food in this manner were calculated to include the cost of cleaning up environmental damage, the price tag might induce sticker shock.

The Buffalo River Coalition was formed to protect the Buffalo National River from this urgent factory hog farm threat. The coalition filed a lawsuit in August of 2013 challenging the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency (FSA) and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) for their inadequate review and improper authorization of loan guarantee assistance to C&H. More recently, the coalition pointed out additional misrepresentations around the permitting of C & H Hog Farms and called on ADEQ to reopen the permitting process. Those calls have been ignored by the state.

Representatives from the Buffalo River Coalition will be on hand at the Oct. 18 meeting at St. Paul’s, and encourage the public to come and learn more about this issue. Area restaurants are contributing refreshments. This is a free event.

Ecologist says more river testing coming for hog farm’s effect on water quality
 

Harrison Daily Times 

 
Posted: Friday, October 3, 2014 6:45 am
By JAMES L. WHITE jamesw@harrisondaily.com  

Faron Usrey, an aquatic ecologist with the Buffalo National River, told about 50 river activists last week that some initial data showed higher bacterial and fecal coliform readings in the area of C&H Hog Farm at Mt. Judea, but he also said those data aren’t conclusive and more study is necessary to determine any negative impact on the river.
“I want to start by acknowledging the elephant in the room,” Usrey told the crowd.
He said BNR doesn’t hate concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), and that they produce most milk, eggs and meat consumed by Americans.
However, land managers are charged with protecting national parks so they remain safe for public contact and as places of unique beauty so the public can enjoy them.
Usrey explained that an abundance of moisture this summer meant record numbers of visitors to the river. He said the river generated an estimated $47 million in revenue over the year with the lion’s share of that undefined about $41 million undefined coming from non-residents.
Most nutrients and bacteria in the river are generated from tributaries, not visitors. The BNR began testing 10 tributaries, three springs and nine locations on the river in 1985, but added testing for E. coli in 2009 at the request of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality.
The original role of the monitoring program was to protect the river by identifying what is man-caused pollution and what is natural.
As an example, he said the 2009 ice storm damaged the sewer system at Marble Falls. Thousands of gallons of untreated human sewage was pumped into Mill Creek and it reached the river within 18 hours.
The BNR uses established limits for pollutants in the river to determine if it’s safe for human contact, Usrey said. But a lot of that monitoring had been done only quarterly due to a lack of resources.
The BNR became concerned about C&H Hog Farm’s effect on the river and began testing Big Creek more often. He said samples from 2009 - 2012 had showed normal levels of pollutants, but those readings were higher in March of this year.
But he also said the spring was wet. Flood waters contain more bacteria and fecal coliform than base flow, so those tests couldn’t prove conclusively that the hog farm was at fault.
Still, he said, tests of the river upstream from Big Creek showed normal levels of pollutants, while samples showed high levels in Big Creek and downstream from it in the river. He again cautioned that those results weren’t definitive because testing hadn’t been done as often as he would like to see.
So, monitoring will be added at the upper wilderness boundary of the river, in the Little Buffalo, in funding year 2015, which begins in October.
If the Little Buffalo tests low and the river above Big Creek tests low, and Big Creek and the river downstream test high, the results could merit serious consideration.
Usrey said that flood waters can wash pollutants downstream, and sunlight kills most bacteria but some can settle on the river bed and be released later with additional flooding.
BNR won’t be able to say the hog farm is completely to blame, but it will issue warnings if necessary and it will be up to ADEQ to actually close the river to visitors.

No more CAFOs
Hogging the spotlight
Mike Masterson


The Arkansas Legislature is in the process of deciding whether to support a petition before the state Pollution Control and Ecology Commission that would permanently prevent future medium and large swine factories from setting up in our precious Buffalo National River watershed.
Sounds to me like a no-brainer. If you believe even the single hog factory our state already allowed into this national treasure is one too many, I’d suggest contacting your state legislator and sharing your opinions.
The only folks I see who’d resist this effort to benefit our state and future generations by protecting our national river are special-interest groups such as the Farm Bureau and the Pork Producers. Their argument is to let science see how much contamination might result from C&H Hog Farms before taking any protective steps to prevent other large swine-waste factories into the region.
Huh? This apolitical and bipartisan petition is not about C&H.
Technically speaking, the revisions affected are numbers 5 and 6. If the commission does the right thing for our state, its changes unfortunately wouldn’t affect this C&H factory supplied and supported by Cargill Inc. It would only prevent other, larger swine factories from setting up in the watershed. The commission thankfully did implement a temporary moratorium against future factories in the watershed that’s set to expire before the end of the year.
Afterwards, the commissioners will hopefully be both wise and strong enough to make these protections permanent regardless of what legislators say or do.
The Legislature already has held one committee meeting to decide whether to give its blessing to the regulation changes, or side with the special interests in not supporting the idea. Meetings of four different House and Senate committees are planned for October and November to decide that question, although their decisions are nonbinding on the commission’s decision.
Meanwhile, with the temporary moratorium still in place, Arkansans’ support for making the prohibition against large swine factories permanent has been nothing short of overwhelming. I’m told the public comments on this rule have been the most ever received on a commission rule-making proposal, with over 90 percent in favor of the regulatory change.
Even Cargill publicly vows not to install another of its swine factories in the watershed, which validates what I’ve known about this wrongheaded location from the beginning. This misadventure is operating in the worst possible place. Period.
There also have been numerous comments from respected scientists with studies and data that demonstrate the proposal by the Ozark Society and Arkansas Public Policy Panel to amend the regulations is based on sound science.
As has been widely reported, the easily fractured karst limestone topography of the Buffalo River watershed allows basically uninterrupted flow from the surface to groundwater into streams and rivers. Water-quality testing by the University of Arkansas remains under way along and around Big Creek, a major tributary of the Buffalo just six miles downstream. Dye-testing by hydrologist/karst specialist Dr. John Van Brahana and his group of dedicated fellow volunteers already confirmed the nature and extent of this rapid and far-reaching subsurface runoff around the factory. Common sense tells me that any untreated liquid manure being regularly spread across fields in the watershed that doesn’t run off directly into tributaries of the Buffalo very likely seeps naturally into the subsurface and
migrates through preferential
pathways to the tributaries of the Buffalo. In fact, that process has now become established scientific fact.
Earlier studies conducted by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (cough) who quietly permitted the factory in this location unbeknownst to the National Park Service, that agency’s own local office and somehow even its nearly former director Teresa Marks, dealt with much smaller family hog farms. In other words, those studies are completely irrelevant.
Under the amended regulations, limited-size “farms” won’t be affected. Smaller swine concentrated animal feeding operations still will be allowed.
For now, though, C&H’s 6,500 swine and the enormous volumes of potent waste they emit unfortunately will continue to exist. The regulation change thankfully would simply prevent further C&H factories from being established near the Buffalo. Pretty simple and straightforward, eh?
So, valued readers, I know many of you are as concerned as I’ve been about the potential threat to our national river from hog waste. If you still feel that way, I encourage you to let your local state representatives know that. Rest assured these elected public servants are hearing plenty from special interests who’d rather not prevent additional large industrial swine producers into this hallowed ground.
 
Mike Masterson’s column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at mikemasterson10@hotmail.com. Read his blog at mikemastersonsmessenger.com.

Arkansas Times

Proposed ban on new large hog farms in Buffalo River watershed punted today in Public Health

Posted By David Ramsey on Fri, Sep 26, 2014 at 10:17 AM

A proposed ban on new controlled animal feeding operations (CAFOs) in the Buffalo River watershed was on the agenda in Public Health today, but the committee decided not to take action today, instead taking up the matter in a joint hearing with the Agriculture committee. No date has been set; it will likely be a full-day hearing with testimony from both sides.

The new rules, proposed by the Arkansas Public Policy Panel and the Ozark Society, would prohibit the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality from issuing new permits to swine operations in the watershed with 750 or more swine weighing 55 pounds or more, or 3,000 or more swine weighing less than 55 pounds. The ban would only apply to new operations, and would have no impact on C&H Hog Farm, the controversial CAFO near a major tributary of the Buffalo River.

Normally the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality initiates the rulemaking process, but it is possible for a third party to do so. The Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission granted petitions from the Panel and the Ozark Society to begin the rulemaking process back in April, which have now gone through public comment.

The rules have to go through review in the Public Health committee, the Rules and Regulations committee and finally Legislative Council. Lawmakers have previously told the Times that they believed the ban wouldn't have trouble getting through the legislature, but it looks like things got stuck in Public Health. One big factor: some thought the Farm Bureau would stay on the sidelines, but they have come out against the ban. A representative from the Farm Bureau spoke against it today.

The joint Public Health and Ag meeting will be a doozy.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/government-scientists-try-to-take-the-stink-out-of-pig-manure-1411093808 

Government Scientists Try to Take the Stink Out of Pig Manure

Efforts to Take the Stink Out of Manure Increase, but Some Say That's a Waste

By MARK PETERS  
Sept. 18, 2014 10:30 p.m. ET

 
PEORIA, Ill.  Terry Whitehead's lab here is stocked with glass boiling flasks, Bunsen burnersundefinedand cans of extra-strength air freshener.

The microbiologist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture works with pig manure in a quest for something that has largely eluded scientists and entrepreneurs: an affordable way to clear the air in farm country.

In a region where hogs can outnumber people, Mr. Whitehead's research is the ultimate icebreaker.

"First, you say, 'I work with manure,' and they say, 'What?' Then you say, 'Odor,' and they say, 'Thank God,' " says the lanky 57-year-old, who recently attended the North American Manure Expo in Missouri. ("It would be a real waste" to miss it, the event website says.)


Efforts to combat the acrid odor of swine manure, which typically is stored in giant pits, have increased as farms get bigger and suburbs creep closer. The smell can pit neighbor against neighbor, sparking complaints and court battles, not to mention environmental concerns.

Some of the research over the years has been criticized in Congress as pork-barrel spending, but farm funk remains a priority for the Agriculture Department.

An expert in bacteria that grow without oxygen, Mr. Whitehead has been researching swine manureundefinedbottles of which he keeps in his lab refrigeratorundefinedsince the mid-1990s.

He first experimented with an animal-feed additive to attack the smell but found more success with a brown powder made from the South American quebracho tree. He also has drawn on research at Michigan State University on borax, the white powder used in household cleaners.

In the world of barnyard smells, pig and chicken manure are considered top offendersundefinedmuch worse than the common cow pie. Pig-manure storage pits can produce hundreds of compounds, creating a nauseating stew of odors, from the sharp bite of ammonia to the rotten-eggs stink of hydrogen sulfide.

The big challenge is getting any additive to work on the scale of a modern hog farm. An adult pig generates about 1.2 gallons of dung a day, and a single barn in the Midwest can house thousands of animals. Storage pits can hold hundreds of thousands of gallons of decomposing manure waiting to be spread on fields for fertilizer.

"It is so potent that it takes a lot of product to make a difference," says Al Heber, professor of agricultural and biological engineering at Purdue University.

Bottles of hog manure slurry in an experiment conducted by U.S. Agriculture Department scientist Terry Whitehead. The one on the left is untreated. The darker one on the right has been treated with tannins to reduce odors. Mark Peters/The Wall Street Journal
Farmers say many vaunted products haven't worked. In the 1990s, agriculture giant Monsanto Co. tried developing a spray but gave up after disappointing early tests. In the early 2000s, Mr. Heber tested 35 additives marketed to reduce manure smell. Some lowered the levels of certain malodorous compounds, but none made much of a difference in tests by trained sniffers.

"I get a lot of calls from guys who have a technology that is going to fix all our problems," says Michael Formica, chief environmental counsel at the National Pork Producers Council. But few of the products are up to snuff.

Government scientists last decade found success treating cattle manure with thyme and oregano-plant oils, which also are used in mouthwash and throat lozenges. More recently, Agriculture Department researchers experimented with an enzyme extracted from soybean plants, doing tests in a wind tunnel.

Some think the projects reek of government waste. In 2009, Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona took issue with a $1.7 million federal budget item for "pig odor research in Iowa," lumping it with other spending on a rodeo museum and wolf-breeding facilities that he considered unnecessary.

Across the Midwest, swine farmers typically are advised to plant trees around barns to prevent odor from traveling and keep neighbors from seeing a constant reminder that thousands of hogs live nearby. Other suggestions to earn good will include hosting a summer pig roast or giving out holiday hams.

Just outside Iowa City, Iowa, Randy Lackender faced concerns from neighbors about the odors emanating from his hog farm. The 58-year-old farmer doesn't understand why people raise such a stink. "We have always had smells on the farm," he says. "It is a fact of living in the country."

Mr. Lackender nonetheless installed special filters in his barns that use microorganisms to clean the air and tested an additive for his manure pits. The first approach proved overly complicated to maintain, while the other didn't work.

Then he was offered a free trial of a product called ManureMagic from a small Texas company. The "magic" is a patented technology that relies on microorganisms that interfere with the decomposition process and limit creation of the worst-smelling gases, the company says.

Mr. Lackender says his wife estimated that the stench decreased by about 75% in two weeks. "She has a very keen sense of smell," Mr. Lackender says. He says he now buys the product regularly.

Back in his lab, Mr. Whitehead says his use of tree tannins sprang from past research on the digestive systems of cattle and sheep.

He and colleague Michael Cotta, a USDA supervisory microbiologist, knew that cattle that ate the leaves of the quebracho tree experienced changes to the bacteria in their digestive systems. So the pair bought a tub of the tree's tannins from a leather-industry supplier and started to experiment. The scientists added the powder to bottles filled with manure from a nearby farm. They sampled gases regularly from the bottles using a syringe and found lower levels of those that contribute to odor.

Mr. Whitehead and his colleagues have patented their work and last year published the findings in the journal Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology. He says a manure-additive company and kitty-litter makers have expressed interest.

On a recent afternoon, Mr. Whitehead unscrewed a plastic bottle filled with the dark slurry of hog waste. A rank odor escaped and began to spread through his lab. He keeps air freshener on hand to prevent it from seeping down the hall.

Though he has been surrounded by the smell of swine manure for years, Mr. Whitehead says, "You never get used to it."

Write to Mark Peters at mark.peters@wsj.com