Public Viewpoint: Pork Industry ‘Using’ Arkansas

Trust us. We know what we are doing. We are here to help. We won’t let them hurt you.”

The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality asked us to do that on March 24 in Jasper.

The Natural State is under attack by corporate greed in this Land of Opportunity. The Buffalo River doesn’t need to be built, but we sure can destroy it in a heartbeat. Then, talk about the devastation of the trickle-down domino effect. Allowing Cargill to come, set up shop, dump all that pig manure (they excrete copious amounts) on sides of our mountains, is the stupidest risk our state has taken to permit us to poison ourselves.

When the head pork pusher of Arkansas was allowed to ‘be an exception’ to meeting rules, I was appalled. Earlier, the crowd was chastised for laughing when a self-declared expert said canoe paddlers alone made more fecal matter than the pig factory slurry ever would. The cards were in; the comments were done. Teresa Marks was making closing remarks when a representative of the Arkansas Pork Producers raised his trump card, literally in his hand. He was allowed to speak. He opened with God and the saintly persecuted family, he closed with “it’s not about emotions’.

Ms. Marks knew well who that man was and allowed him to break the rules and give a closing pitch. What else can we expect? Trust?

I implore all Arkansas citizens to research this crisis and see the line waiting to get in our state and use us up in the worst kind of way.

Sharon Davison

Fayetteville

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