Commentary: How 'Bout Them Hogs?

Two Opportunities To Make A Difference For Arkansas Are On Horizon

Photo by Steve Smith Lin Wellford makes her opinions known during a “Raise Your Paddle For The Buffalo” float trip May 24. The even was designed to raise awareness of the issues surrounding development of a hog farm near the national river.
Photo by Steve Smith Lin Wellford makes her opinions known during a “Raise Your Paddle For The Buffalo” float trip May 24. The even was designed to raise awareness of the issues surrounding development of a hog farm near the national river.

"Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world. For, indeed, that's all who ever have."

-- Margaret Mead

If there's one thing about my fellow humans that angers me more than any other, it's the tendency of some to throw up their hands and exclaim, "Oh, I'm just one person. What can I do about (whatever issue)?" My fever begins to rise as I try to control my tongue from saying, "And who isn't 'just one person?'" (At least that was my response before our Supreme Court decided corporations were persons.) Each of us connecting one to another and another changes the course of human history.

For the past year in Arkansas there have been a lot of "it's just terrible" expressions of futility regarding the confined animal feeding operation of hogs near Big Creek, a tributary of the Buffalo River. Several organizations have taken action to "Save the Buffalo ... Again," to prevent more of these larger food factories from being sited in the river's watershed. But, individuals not part of specific groups also need to lend their voices and/or their written comments to the weight of public disapproval over the siting of these feeding operations in our watersheds across the state. Is that individual, that one person, you?

An opportunity to take action on this issue will occur at 6 p.m. June 17 in Harrison (Durand Conference Center, Room A, North Arkansas College, 303 N. Main St.). This will be a public hearing of the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission to take comments on Regulation No. 5 titled, "Liquid Animal Waste Management Systems." The Ozark Society and The Arkansas Public Policy Panel have petitioned that Regulation No. 5 be amended to prohibit permitting of "new animal operations, which house 750 or more swine weighing 55 pounds or more, or 3,000 or more swine weighing less than 55 pounds," within the Buffalo National River Watershed. Written comments can be addressed to: Doug Szenher, Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, 5301 Northshore Dr., North Little Rock, AR 72118 or emailed to: [email protected]. The phone number is (501)-682-0744 for further information.

Many steps must be taken to limit the size and impact of factory farms, and this proposed amendment is just one step, but it is a beginning. Speaking at hearings is extremely important to the success or failure of changing any aspect of a standing policy, and nothing shows public concern better than a large number of people turning out for meetings, something I call the "body count impact." Verbal statements at the hearing will be transcribed for the public record, and July 1 at 4:30pm is the absolute deadline for written comments. It would also be wise to send a copy of your statement to your legislators, whose contact info can be found by entering your address at the http://www.arkansashouse.org website, and to Gov. Mike Beebe at governor.arkansas.gov or sent to him at: State Capital Room 250, Little Rock, AR 72201.

Another step in dealing with confined animal feeding operations is to rectify the lack of public notification, which was at the root of the problem of this hog operation permit near the Buffalo. A public hearing regarding a requirement for a "Notice of Intent," when an application for a permit for any such feeding operation is made (Regulation No. 6), will be held by the commission at 2 p.m. July 14 at the Department of Environmental Quality's North Little Rock office. Written comments are due by July 28.

These two hearings represent beginning efforts toward procedural fairness to the public and to avoid further degradation of our state's national river.

The Buffalo River Watershed Alliance website, http://buffaloriveralliance.org, is full of information about the river, confined animal feeding operations, and what people can do to change the situation that allowed this hog farm to be built in the first place. The site also has information about karst geology, water quality, economics, public health, and the experiences of other states dealing with these operations as well as an extensive collection of news articles on all these topics. Membership is free to the Alliance, so there is no excuse for not informing oneself.

Keep in mind that a factory farming operation of any kind could be sited on property near you and change your quality of life completely. Without strict guidelines, they could spread across Arkansas like they have in other states that also have weak laws. One by one we must form a ring of refusal, and one by one we can make a difference.

FRAN ALEXANDER IS A FAYETTEVILLE RESIDENT WITH A LONGSTANDING INTEREST IN THE ENVIRONMENT AND AN OPINION ON ALMOST ANYTHING ELSE.

Commentary on 06/01/2014

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