Arkansas hog farm’s foes want their expert at drilling

The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality is reviewing a request by opponents of C&H Hog Farms in Newton County to reconsider who is allowed to observe a drilling project at the facility to determine whether hog manure ponds are leaking.

Richard Mays, a Heber Springs attorney representing the Buffalo River Coalition, sent a letter Thursday to Bob Blanz, air division manager at the Department of Environmental Quality, asking that the department either allow a coalition-requested geologist to observe the drilling, or disallow the two geologists with the Big Creek Research and Extension Team from observing.

“Members of [Big Creek Research] were not listed in the original list of participants, and we are extremely disturbed by this addition,” Mays wrote. “As you well know, it was the original work of [Big Creek Research], and its failure to follow up on evidence of a release … that has led to their investigation.”

The Big Creek Research and Extension Team has maintained that drilling was not needed because the data that suggested a possible leak was accompanied by contrasting clean data in nearby areas that team members said would have been affected by a leak.

The department elected to proceed with drilling in June after the Buffalo River Coalition asked the department to do so. C&H owners gave the department permission to conduct the research on the facility’s property, with co-owner Jason Henson saying that researchers wouldn’t find the pollution that hog farm opponents were looking for.

E̶a̶r̶l̶i̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶y̶e̶a̶r̶ In June 2015*, a contractor doing electrical resistivity imaging for the Big Creek Research and Extension Team found what he believed to be higher than expected moisture levels below one of the ponds, which could indicate a leak. He said the problem could be addressed by drilling to discover what was causing the higher moisture levels or by installing plastic liners under the hog manure.

C&H has received a permit to install plastic liners but has not installed them yet.

The dispute over who can observe the research is the latest tussle between opponents of the hog farm and the Big Creek Research and Extension Team over perceived bias in the myriad studies taking place at C&H Hog Farms.

The Big Creek team maintains that it is impartial, while Buffalo River Coalition members insist that the team is biased in favor of C&H because of its affiliation with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. Henson has argued that the research being conducted by hog farm opponents near the facility is biased.

The environmental department has permitted the drilling contractor, Harbor Environmental, to have geologist Tai Hubbard of Hydrogeology Inc. observe the proceedings as a third party, along with two researchers from the Big Creek Research and Extension Team. But the department denied the coalition’s earlier request to have a coalition hydrogeologist —University of Tulsa geology professor Bert Fisher — present for the drilling. The department has not responded to Thursday’s request.

“Regarding the inquiry from the Buffalo River Coalition, it is currently under review and we have not yet responded,” department spokesman Kelly Robinson said.

Why the department initially denied the coalition’s request was unclear Friday.

The Big Creek team declined to comment Friday through a spokesman, saying it was the Department of Environmental Quality’s decision.

The Department of Environmental Quality informed the coalition on Friday that drilling would begin no sooner than Aug. 15, as opposed to the previously announced Aug. 8, because of a scheduling conflict with Harbor Environmental’s subcontractor, Mays said.

C&H is permitted to hold up to 2,503 sows and 4,000 piglets. It has been opposed for the entirety of its three-year existence by environmental and recreation groups concerned about its potential to pollute the Buffalo National River. The farm is near Big Creek, about 6 miles from where the creek enters the Buffalo River.

The Department of Environmental Quality signed a contract with Little Rockbased Harbor Environmental for $75,000 to do the drilling and lab work, which was higher than the $20,000 to $30,000 estimate the department made before putting the work out for bids.

In June, the department said it had about $50,000 set aside in environmental settlement funds received for water studies for the project. Some additional funds would be provided by the department’s general operating budget, Robinson said.

Harbor Environmental will study the integrity of the manure pond liners by extracting samples of the ground through drilling.

The Buffalo River, the first national river, had 1.46 million visitors last year, the third-highest total since it became a national river and the highest since a record visitors count of 1.55 million was set in 2009. That year, visitors spent an estimated $62.2 million at local businesses, directly supporting 750 jobs and secondarily supporting 219 jobs.

*CORRECTION: An Oklahoma State University researcher studied electroresistivity imaging at C&H Hog Farms in spring 2015. This article incorrectly stated when the research was conducted.

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