The cover article on this month's Onearth, the magazine of the Natural Resources Defense Council, is titled, "Too Much Pig."
Focusing on the grief caused by hog farms in Iowa, home to 8,500 confined animal feeding operations called CAFOs, the article elaborates on how much is too much tolerance of this dubious and morally questionable method of raising food for humans. We have experienced problems in Arkansas dealing with tons of dry chicken litter from confined farming, but until the C&H Hog Farm's location-location-location problem arose, we have not had as widespread an awareness of hogs in this part of the state, Razorbacks being the exception, of course.
One would have to be in a blacked-out news coma to not know about the 6,500-pig feeding operation located in the watershed of the Buffalo River that's causing great consternation in Arkansas. Opponents of this concentrated hog facility went to great lengths to stop it before operations began, and failing that are now focused on putting a halt to what they believe is certain contamination of Big Creek, a tributary to the Buffalo River, our country's first national river.
A coalition of organizations -- the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, the Ozark Society, the Arkansas Canoe Club, and the National Parks Conservation Association -- filed suit "challenging the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency and the U.S. Small Business Administration for their inadequate review and improper authorization of loan guarantee assistance to C&H Hog Farms." These organizations took this action only after it became clear agencies that should have given public notices and undertaken environmental reviews were not going to remedy their violations of the law. The combined loan guarantees totaling about $3.4 million were made available for this private enterprise to grow pigs on porous karst geology that slopes near a large creek and a rural school. The lawsuit asks that those loans be set aside.
Of course, Cargill could, and probably would, pony up their private millions to keep the hogs growing in their cages in that location, but perhaps if the lawsuit goes against the agencies, laws might change and regulations might stiffen. Or at least one would hope. Arkansas' extremely lax environmental protection and inspection policies provide the perfect pathways of least resistance, which welcome environmental injustice, the exact conditions large polluting industries love. In some situations industries help create arcane legislation for their own benefit, contribute heavily to politicians, and the public is unaware what is happening until they discover no laws are in place to protect them. To put the Arkansas situation into a national perspective, Cargill calls C&H "a relatively small CAFO by today's standards."
If our state's so-called Department of Environmental Quality and the Health Department won't protect us, there is another avenue to political consciousness if we follow the money. Starting today and culminating Tuesday, the Governor's Conference on Tourism is being held at the Embassy Suites and John Q. Hammons Convention Center, 3303 Pinnacle Hills Parkway in Rogers.
Individuals like me, and hopefully you, and members from a variety of organizations and from across the state plan to attend a rally near the convention center from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday. We will hold signs concerning confined animal operations, water and air pollution, and for this auspicious occasion, reminders of hog manure's consequences on the world of tourism. According to Alliance research, almost $44 million and approximately 610 jobs were generated in the region (2012 figures) thanks in large part to the national river. The best available information as to the hog farm's job creation is six. Risking the river is a great deal more than one hog farm and six jobs.
My sarcastic self is considering, "Arkansas: Come Paddle the Poopie," as a poster slogan, or at least, "Arkansas: The Naturally Polluted State." Make your own sign, get one there, or just come and lend your presence to making a "Support the Buffalo" statement. Contact Lin Wellford ([email protected]) or 870-438-5537 for more rally information.
In addition, if you want to attend the conference, the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance is willing to help defray registration costs if you need assistance. Contact Gordon Watkins at [email protected] or 870-446-5783 for information. Also, there will be printed information and press packets available from the Alliance.
In Arkansas, like in many states across the country, we have learned there is definitely a problem with, "Too Much Pig!"
Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled Lin Wellford's name and email address. The error has been corrected.
Commentary on 03/09/2014