As the state of Arkansas waits for the Department of Environmental Quality (wheeze) to complete its review of the permit renewal for the hog factory in our precious Buffalo National River watershed, a lot of public interest in protecting the environment has continued to grow across the state.
For example, Little Rock attorney Richard Mays, who represents a consortium of environmental groups in legal actions involving the factory's grossly misplaced location, told me a relatively new statewide nonprofit called the Arkansas Environmental Defense Alliance has developed. Its purpose is to monitor and protect the Arkansas environment through policy advocacy and other necessary actions.
I was impressed by the quality of the board members who will lead this organization in providing public oversight over environmental matters such as potential contamination of the Buffalo from constant spraying of raw hog water on pastures along Big Creek, a major tributary of the national river.
My hope is these men and women will be ready, willing and quick to act in any way feasible, up to and including the courts, when they have reason to believe our waterbodies or other areas of our environment are threatened.
Readers likely have little desire to wade through a list of names. But I'm sharing most of them all the same because their standing in our state carries enormous influence, especially as a group. And very few other states have such an organization devoted to serving the environment and as a clearing house for citizens with related problems locally.
The alliance board consists of Mays, Joe Nix (longtime water quality expert at Ouachita Baptist University), Don Richardson (head of the Natural Resources Commission), Dan Flowers (former director of the state Highway Department), Rob Leflar (law professor at UA), Richard Davies (former director of the state Department of Parks and Tourism), Richard Mason (former commissioner with the state's Pollution Control and Ecology Commission), Sam Cooke (Batesville optometrist and former president of Friends of the White and Norfolk Rivers), Nancy DeLamar and Kay Kelley Arnold (both former directors of the Nature Conservancy of Arkansas), Texarkana Attorney Lance Lee, and former Paragould state Sen. Robert Thompson.
The alliance is co-sponsoring an environmental policy conference at the Clinton Library on Oct. 27, along with the Clinton School of Public Policy, Arkansas Policy Panel, Sierra Club and Audubon Arkansas.
"I think the agenda is pretty cutting edge in regard to the topics--particularly in view of current developments," said Mays.
Meanwhile, in a development related to the hog factory, Mays said he, on behalf of Buffalo River champion Carol Bitting of Jasper, appealed the permit issued to Ellis Campbell doing business as EC Farms. That permit would allow C&H Hog Farm wastes to now be spread over 600+ acres that EC Farms controls in the nearby Little Buffalo River watershed.
Ellis Campbell and Richard Campbell of C&H are related, and the 600 acres in question until four years ago served as a swine-farrowing operation for about 300 hogs.
The judge will decide if a new permit is required for C&H to begin using the EC property to spray the karst-laden region with even more raw and potent hog waste.
"We had a hearing before Circuit Judge John Putman in Jasper last week," said May. "I thought it went pretty well. The judge seems very conscientious. We are awaiting a decision. He could reverse it and send it back to the commission/[Department of Environmental Quality], or affirm it. Then we would have to appeal to the Court of Appeals or Supreme Court."
The sad truth is in this age where even tax-supported public agencies can seem unable or unwilling to respond to obvious public problems and needs due to political pressures and/or limited resources, a group such as the Environmental Defense Alliance will serve as an invaluable source of advice, answers and action. I know I'll be using them.
Pet peeves
In my continuing effort to share with readers what make me tick, here are two additional personal peeves.
Those who freely abuse the term "racist" as their twisted way of trying to shame and demonize anyone who doesn't agree with their often radical views. Not only does this tactic allow true racists to meld into the vast cloud of wrongly accused, but it cheapens the term without any hard proof to back the smear. This, in itself, is evil.
Hollywood stars who make extravagant livings as thespians pretending to be others who actually have done something with their lives should keep their political views and nasty comments to themselves. Because they each receive obscene compensation in our free enterprise system and enjoy gas-hogging vehicles, yachts and private planes purely to enhance their personal pleasure and comfort gives them neither the standing nor the discernment to lecture and threaten those who believe far differently than them on everything from purported climate change to politics.
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Mike Masterson is a longtime Arkansas journalist. Email him at [email protected].
Editorial on 09/17/2017