‘Shut down’ if it pollutes

Gov. Mike Beebe told several members at a protest last week that the controversial hog factory (that his state agency wrongheadedly permitted in the Buffalo National River watershed) would be “shut down” if it pollutes the precious Ozark stream.

His remarks reportedly came in casual conversation with some of the estimated 150 Arkansans who rallied last Saturday at the John Q. Hammons Convention Center in Rogers to protest the home to as many as 6,500 swine in the watershed.

During two hours together (dozens also joined the crowd in protest of SWEPCO’s plan to run a 52-mile-long high-voltage transmission line through the mountainous forests in Benton and Carroll counties), the gathering seemed appreciative that Beebe, at the request of former Fayetteville Mayor Dan Coody, stepped outside to speak encouragingly.

Lorel Hoffman of Mayfield said she even asked the governor to repeat that comment in front of several others, which he did. “I asked what the penalty would be if hog contamination was discovered in the river,” she said. “And that’s exactly what he said. It would be shut down.”

Well, then, I say hooray for the governor!

Beebe’s comment came shortly before he spoke at the annual Governor’s Conference on Tourism. Strangely, it wasn’t reported by the TV news crews on scene, nor did his remark make the news of the day.

It certainly was one significantly newsworthy statement in my faded journalism books. The only other remark I’ve seen coming from Beebe’s office (since his own Department of Environmental Quality quickly and quietly allowed this factory) came from his aide who told me last summer that if Beebe “had his druthers,” he wouldn’t have issued the permit.

So just to make sure I still have this continually twisting saga straight, let’s recap my opinions of this nationally publicized mess together: The Department of Environmental Quality, which operates with a gubernatorial-appointed director, permitted a large hog factory, without allowing sufficient advance public notification or hearings, in the worst possible location without requiring preliminary water-quality tests paid for by those seeking to profit from the venture (multinational Cargill Inc. and C&H Hog Farms).

Neither the U.S. National Park Service nor the Department of Environmental Quality’s own office in Newton County say they were informed that this permit was approved until after the fact. The state agency’s director, Teresa Marks, told me that even she didn’t know her folks had issued the factory’s permit until it was a done deal.

After finally reviewing the permit, the Park Service complained long and loud, saying about 40 flaws were discovered in its pages. Other agencies and state and national associations were none too pleased with the way the permit glided through without sufficient notification or warning.

It’s important to remember that this pristine river in “God’s Country” accounts for about 40 million tourism dollars to the state annually. And since becoming the country’s first National River in 1972 it’s become a very popular recreational spot for so many people and their families across Arkansas. I’d guess the planet holds at least 190 billion spots more suitable for a mega-waste-producing hog factory.

When the state and national alarms finally were sounded after the fact, the Department of Environmental Quality threw up its hands and squealed Oops, too late! There was nothing that could stop this since the owners had jumped through all required hoops.

So former University of Arkansas geoscientist and professor John Van Brahana (bless the man) took it upon himself with fellow volunteers to quickly begin testing baseline water quality in and around this factory and Big Creek, a tributary of the Buffalo. Brahana shamefully has received no support or funding from the state or the university.

Meanwhile, the governor did see to it that $340,000 was appropriated for the University of Arkansas (more state institutions) to conduct water-quality testing. But it turned out the factory owners and managers didn’t even have legal authority to list three of the waste-distribution fields cited in the permit. And apparently the Department of Environmental Quality had known that. Many then wondered (with that erroneous information confirmed) why the permit hasn’t been withdrawn.

The Cargill-supported factory now had one of its many swine-feeder factories owned by a local family with a federally insured loan (being questioned in an ongoing federal civil suit) and regulated by a state agency that issued its permit, even though the governor said he wouldn’t have done that given his druthers and that the factory will be shut down if it fouls the water. What a mess.

Moreover, taxpayers are footing a further bill for the study by our state institution of higher education to detect whether this state-approved hog factory has contaminated our only national river. What a great country where taxpayers back private hog factories supported by multibillion-dollar multinational private corporations using private family operators in grossly inappropriate tourism locations.

One reader admirably summarized the feelings of (probably most) Arkansans this way: “I can’t think of an issue which is a larger embarrassment to the state’s regulators, and suddenly, a group from the university is there to accept the Legislature’s money, show their technological sophistication, and divert the attention.” -

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Mike Masterson’s column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at [email protected]. Read his blog at mikemastersonsmessenger.com.