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Editor’s note: Representative Painter is only co-sponsoring the proposed bill. He is not the main sponsor of the bill. The article has been updated to reflect that fact.
A proposed state law could reopen the Buffalo River watershed to large-scale hog farming operations, sparking urgent calls to action from the Friends of the North Fork and White Rivers and other environmental groups who fought for years to protect one of Arkansas’ most treasured natural resources.
Senate Bill 290 would prohibit state agencies from instituting moratoriums on permits in watersheds, including the Buffalo River Watershed, without approval from legislative agricultural committees.
The bill is currently being co-sponsored by Representative Stetson Painter, who represents District 3, which includes Mountain Home, and portions of Baxter and Fulton County.
“Action needed!” warned Steve Blumreich, president of the Friends of the North Fork and White Rivers, in a recent alert to members. “SB290, like the previous SB84, seeks to allow industrial swine CAFOs in the Buffalo River watershed. SB290 achieves the same results as SB84, with a meaningless procedural twist.”
The bill specifically targets existing protections that were established after a contentious, years-long battle over a large confined animal feeding operation (CAFO) that operated near the river until 2019.
The controversy began in 2012 when C&H Hog Farms received approval from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) for a feeding operation housing more than 6,000 sows and piglets near Mount Judea, approximately five miles from the Buffalo River.
The operation was located on Big Creek, a tributary that flows into the Buffalo. According to reports from the time, the farm was permitted to spread over 4 million gallons of hog manure annually on surrounding fields.
“The most recent soil reports for this operation showed that, after less than three years of waste applications, all but one of the fields sampled had soil test phosphorus levels which were ‘above optimum’ for the crops being produced,” noted the Buffalo River Coalition in their 2016 comments to the ADEQ.
Environmental concerns intensified when National Park Service monitoring detected water quality issues. Aquatic ecologist Faron D. Usrey reported that “for two months between March and July 2014, Big Creek was above the safe standard for E. coli, and the Buffalo was higher than the safe standard for one month.”
The Buffalo River, which attracts more than 1 million visitors annually, was designated in 1972 as America’s first national river. It generates approximately $47 million for Arkansas each year, with about $41 million coming from outside the immediate area, according to National Park Service data.
“While the last CAFO was operational, the nearest section of the Buffalo was declared impaired for pathogens. The algae was unprecedented. CAFO’s damage water quality, especially in karst topography,” Blumreich said.
After years of legal challenges by multiple environmental groups including the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, the Arkansas Canoe Club, the Ozark Society, and the National Parks Conservation Association, Governor Asa Hutchinson announced in June 2019 that the state would shut down the operation.
Arkansas used $6.2 million from the state’s rainy day fund to buy out the owners of C&H Hog Farms and obtain a conservation easement on the land. The state subsequently placed a moratorium on other CAFOs in the Buffalo River watershed “due to the historical, cultural, and recreational significance” of the national river.
The newly proposed legislation would effectively overturn this protection. According to the bill text, any existing moratorium would need to receive legislative approval within 30 days of the bill’s effective date or become “unenforceable,” potentially reopening the door to new CAFOs in the watershed.
The region’s karst topography presents particular concerns when it comes to waste management. This type of geological formation, composed of easily dissolved rocks such as limestone and dolomite, creates a landscape where groundwater—and any pollution it carries—can flow miles very quickly through sinkholes and caves.
In its 2016 comments opposing CAFOs in the region, the Buffalo River Coalition emphasized that “there is the distinct risk of application of waste in excess of agronomic needs, as well as the possibility of waste discharge in a storm event, both of which could lead to runoff and/or groundwater contamination.”
Opponents of the bill argue that allowing CAFOs near the Buffalo River would have severe economic consequences.
“Operations that spread millions of gallons of untreated swine waste along the banks of the Buffalo’s tributaries, will kill investment, kill jobs, and put an end to Arkansas’ outdoor economy,” Blumreich said in an email to members of the Friends of the Northfork and White Rivers.
Blumreich also pointed out that allowing new CAFOs would undermine the substantial public investment already made: “Allowing new CAFOs near the Buffalo is a poke in the eye to the taxpayers and private donors that raised 6.2 million dollars to close the last one.”
SB290 is scheduled for consideration by the Senate Agricultural Committee on February 27. Environmental advocates are urging Arkansas residents to immediately contact committee members with their concerns.
Dr. Ray E. Stahl, in a circulated message supporting the protection efforts, noted: “The only hope of defeating this bill is by voicing our opposition to the legislators who are in the power-position to vote on this issue.”
Blumreich concluded his call to action with a stark assessment: “Bottom line… Allowing CAFOs near the Buffalo is terrible for Arkansas.”
