Drill, baby, drill

Conflicting aims

I've never believed anyone can effectively serve two masters.

That sets me to wondering about the mission of the Big Creek Research and Extension Team, working under auspices of the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture. How realistic is it that this appointed team with dual roles is the official watchdog to monitor possible contamination of our precious Buffalo National River?

This team was formed by then-Gov. Mike Beebe in response to widespread concerns about the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (cough) wrongheadedly permitting C&H Hog Farms with 6,500 swine in the Buffalo watershed. The factory operates around Big Creek, a major tributary flowing fewer than seven miles from its confluence with the Buffalo.

In an exit interview from office, Beebe conceded his biggest regret was that the state allowed the Cargill-supported factory into the treasured watershed. He claimed he didn't know this bad idea was approved until it had been.

Here's the Big Creek team's explanation of its allegiances and responsibilities in a Q and A section of its website:

"Q: Does the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture have a conflict of interest since it is so closely aligned with the agricultural community in the state, including the pork producers?

"A: The work of our team is science-based and can withstand scrutiny. While we do have a close relationship with the agricultural community, we also have a history of providing research and educational programs aimed at protecting the environment. Our core values are to collect the best data and provide the best interpretation possible. In this study, we want to find answers to ensure the Buffalo River Watershed and other watersheds are protected."

Sounds like a mixed sense of purpose and responsibilities, especially when big agricultural corporations are making six-figure contributions to the university's Agriculture Division but getting zip from the Buffalo River. Do the values expressed in the team's answer justify its decision to avoid drilling beneath one of two waste lagoons to acquire the "best data and provide the best interpretation possible" of suspected waste leakage and apparent "major fracture" an Oklahoma State University geologist detected last year?

Dr. Todd Halihan of OSU used electroresistivity studies of the lagoons in March 2015 when he found apparent leakage. The Big Creek team continues to speculate the stuff Halihan discovered is wet clay rather than hog waste. If so, wet from what?

It took a coalition of Arkansas environmental groups using a Freedom Of Information Act request to bring Halihan's findings to light during a meeting of the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission last month. Anyone wonder why so many upset Arkansans are untrusting of the state's role?

Last week, Department of Environmental Quality Director Becky Keogh said her agency finally will retain independent experts to assess the integrity of liners in the factory's raw waste lagoons. What's the rush?

The coalition, which includes the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, Ozark Society and Arkansas Canoe Club, has urged the agency to launch a thorough investigation to determine if waste has been leaking into the fractured karst beneath the lagoons ever since the group broke loose Halihan's findings. Responding to the announcement, the coalition called the agency's decision to drill a test well a good first step.

Perhaps I'm mistaken, yet I sense the hand of Gov. Asa Hutchinson at work in the sudden pursuit of truth here. If so, let's hope Hutchinson insists on straightforward answers in the public interest and toward protecting our precious Buffalo at whatever cost.

The coalition also emphasized that the agency has several important decisions to make in connection with its decision. Those include disclosing the identity of the independent experts who'll conduct the investigation, as well as the type and scope of their work and the protocols and technology they'll use. Full transparency is important to coalition members and many others.

"That includes being fully informed of developments and results," the coalition stated in a news release, saying the agency "has committed this investigation will be conducted in an open and transparent manner, and will provide an opportunity to collaborate with other scientific experts from [the Big Creek team] and the Buffalo River Coalition. The coalition looks forward to that opportunity."

Learning the truth about what's below the lagoon is unduly overdue considering the Big Creek team's noble-sounding statement above: "We want to find answers to ensure the Buffalo River Watershed and other watersheds are protected." It's never made sense to those with common sense for this team not to insist upon answers from the beginning, as opposed to basically surmising there's no raw waste leaking into the watershed.

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Mike Masterson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at mmasterson@arkansasonline.com.

Editorial on 06/28/2016

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