Watershed moratoriums oversight bill passes House

Watershed moratoriums would require legislative approval

The Arkansas House of Representatives passed legislation Tuesday to give lawmakers greater oversight of restrictions on agriculture near watersheds in the state.

Senate Bill 290 would require the Arkansas Department of Agriculture and the Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment to seek legislative approval of moratoriums on agriculture near watersheds.

Sen. Blake Johnson, R-Corning, introduced SB290 as a way to give lawmakers more authority over current and future moratoriums on agriculture. The bill was then amended last week to exempt current moratoriums aimed at protecting the Buffalo River and Lake Maumelle watersheds, easing concerns Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders had with the proposal.

The bill's House sponsor, Rep. DeAnn Vaught, R-Horatio, amended it to exempt the existing moratoriums on those watersheds.

She said the amended version of the bill protects farming by giving lawmakers more oversight over agricultural moratoriums, while also protecting the state's waterways.

"I don't think one agency should be able to implant or put on a moratorium without it coming before us," Vaught said.

Currently, the state has a moratorium in place to protect the Buffalo River watershed from pollution from a nearby swine farm that led to years of litigation, which resulted in the state paying $6.2 million to C&H Hog Farms and taking ownership of the farmland as a conservation easement.

The House voted 70-11 in favor of Senate Bill 290, sending it back to the Senate, which is scheduled to vote to concur with the House amendment on Wednesday. If approved, the bill would take effect on Feb. 1, 2026.

"This revised bill is the result of our valuable partnership with Senator Johnson and Representative Vaught and achieves our goal of both protecting the Buffalo National River and supporting Arkansas farmers, whose success is critical to our state," Sanders said in a statement last week.

Vaught said the original bill was amended last week to exempt the Buffalo River moratorium, to safeguard the state's tourism industry, and the moratorium for Lake Maumelle, the source for drinking water for many in Central Arkansas.

"I believe this bill recognizes the significance of agriculture and encourages tourism," Vaught said. "And will continue to protect the Buffalo (River) and Lake Maumelle at the same time."

The legislation defines a moratorium as "a prohibition on the issuance of permits or any other limitation on agricultural production, including without limitation, livestock and poultry operations, contained animal feeding operations, and the cultivation of crops and orchards."

Under SB290, future moratoriums would have to undergo a rulemaking process following "the procedure under the Arkansas Administrative Procedure Act."

The moratorium would have to then be approved by either the Arkansas Legislative Council, when the General Assembly is not in session, or the Joint Budget Committee when the Legislature is in session. If approved by lawmakers, a moratorium would last for four years.

The legislation allows for state agencies to impose an emergency moratorium "to protect the public from imminent peril to the public health, safety, or welfare or compliance with a federal law or regulation."

Information for this article was contributed by Josh Snyder of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

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