Update: Lawmakers pass compromise watershed bill that includes protections for the Buffalo River

by Phillip PowellApril 15, 2025

Update: On Wednesday morning, the Senate gave final passage to the amended bill, sending it to the governor’s desk. The vote was 25-6, with four members voting “present.” A few Republicans joined all Democrats in voting “no” or “present.”

After months of debate between Republicans, a bill once opposed by conservationists and Gov. Sarah Sanders has passed the Arkansas House of Representatives thanks to a compromise amendment.

Senate Bill 290 would make it harder for state regulators to place a moratorium on farming permits in any other watershed in Arkansas by requiring legislative review. But it would not apply to existing moratoriums, thus exempting protections for the Buffalo National River and Lake Maumelle.

The bill passed the House by a comfortable margin, 70-11, with 14 representatives voting “present” (effectively the same as a “no”) and five not voting. Most Democrats continued to oppose it, along with a number of Republicans.

The original version of the bill did not contain an exception for the Buffalo River or Lake Maumelle, both of which are currently protected by bans on industrial farming in their watersheds. Last week, the sponsors, Rep. DeAnn Vaught (R-Horatio) and Sen. Blake Johnson (R-Corning), struck a compromise with Gov. Sanders to grandfather in those specific protections and avoid a possible veto fight despite almost passing their original bill.

A state moratorium on large, industrial hog farms on the Buffalo National River has been in place since 2014, after an operation called C&H Hog Farm managed to obtain a permit through a regulatory loophole. Vaught and others still maintain that C&H never had a negative impact on the river.

“Farming does not hurt our watersheds because farmers are our true conservationists. We are environmentalists at heart because if we don’t take care of the water and land that we have, then we can’t feed you and ourselves,” Vaught said.

Farm industry groups pushed the bill as protecting their “right to farm” while environmentalist groups opposed it. In the end, the governor’s office watered the bill down enough to preserve protections for the iconic river, though legislators will get more of a say in any future farming permit moratoriums proposed by state government.

The latest chapter in the fight over industrial farming in the Buffalo watershed began last year when the state Department of Agriculture and state Department of Energy and Environment proposed two rules that would have made the state’s moratorium permanent. The Legislature will still have to consider those rules in the future.