A federal judge has agreed to bar consultants from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality and a group opposing a Newton County hog farm from observing drilling at the site next week to determine if waste is leaking into a tributary of the Buffalo National River.
The Buffalo River Watershed Alliance Inc. announced Friday that it will withdraw its lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Little Rock that sought to allow an alliance scientist to be present during research at C&H Hog Farms near Mount Judea.
The settlement stipulates that neither the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance nor the state-hired Big Creek Research and Extension Team will have an observer present during drilling. Instead, an independent observer experienced in karst geology will monitor the drilling and report to all parties.
The Buffalo River Watershed Alliance filed the legal action after the Environmental Quality Department rejected the alliance's request to have its consultant present during drilling.
Alliance attorney Richard Mays of Heber Springs said the group was satisfied with the agreement.
"It's not perfect, but it has achieved what we hope will be an objective and impartial assessment of the situation," Mays said. "It's about as good as we can get."
Kelly Robinson, a spokesman for the state's environmental department, did not return a telephone message seeking comment Friday afternoon.
The Buffalo River Watershed Alliance asked for a hydrological consultant to observe drilling at the farm after electronic resonance images done nearly two years ago showed what they said was an unexpectedly high amount of moisture beneath one of the farm's manure ponds.
The images indicate the "likelihood" of a release of hog waste beneath the farm, Mays said.
The Big Creek Research and Extension Team did not report its findings of potential leakage to the environmental department, and the alliance only learned of the results after filing a Freedom of Information Act, Mays said.
"We believed there was a cozy relationship there between [the team] and ADEQ," he said. "We felt that there should be an independent observer there, or we should have one of our own, too."
The Environmental Quality Department hired Harbor Environmental of Little Rock to do the drilling and initially allowed two members of the Big Creek Research and Extension Team -- a division of the University of Arkansas System Agriculture Division -- at the testing, which was scheduled to be done Aug. 8 but was postponed. The alliance filed its lawsuit Aug. 24.
Mays' suit stated that the prohibition of the alliance's observers violated the rights of the alliance and its members to "due process and equal protection of the laws under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments."
C&H Hog Farms opened in May 2013 after the Environmental Quality Department approved its permit in late 2012. The farm sits on Big Creek, about 6 miles from where it converges with the Buffalo River.
The farm is licensed to house up to 6,000 piglets and 2,500 sows. Since it began operations, the farm has been the target of environmental groups that say the farm threatens the integrity of the river.
Research conducted by the Big Creek Research and Extension Team has not found the facility to be polluting into the river. Research will continue for at least another two years on the site.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson helped negotiate Friday's settlement, the alliance said in its news release.
"There was no point in continuing the suit," Buffalo River Watershed Alliance President Gordon Watkins said. "We had two options. One was if there was going to be other observers there for ADEQ, we should be allowed to observe. The other was to have no observers."
Drilling is expected to begin at C&H Farms on Wednesday, weather permitting, Watkins said.
He described Friday's negotiated settlement as a "small part" of the ongoing situation with the hog farm.
Watkins said water tests done in Big Creek have shown low dissolved oxygen levels, which is indicative of water being too warm, too many bacteria, organic discharges or untreated sewage.
He said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been asked to consider declaring the Buffalo National River an "impaired stream" because of the low levels.
Mays said the alliance will monitor the results of the drilling tests to determine if the hog farm is leaking.
"If they screw up, we will be the first to point it out," the attorney said.
The Buffalo River, the first national river, had 1.46 million visitors last year, the third-highest total since it became a national river in 1972 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 others.
State Desk on 09/03/2016