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."
Metro on 04/25/2015