Fear of CAFOs near Buffalo put to rest

"This has been a long time coming,” said Gordon Watkins, of Parthenon, president of the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance.
He was speaking to state media about the action last June by the Arkansas Legislative Council giving its final approval to a permanent moratorium on medium- and large-scale hog concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) within the Buffalo National River and Lake Maumelle watersheds. The decision followed years of debate about the impact of large commercial swine farms on water quality in the watershed and its tributaries that empty into the nation's first national river.
The new rule permanently bans CAFOs, as defined by the Environmental Protection Agency, that are medium or large in size, based on animal count and waste production.
The Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, the Ozark Society, and the Arkansas chapter of the Sierra Club, fought to safeguard the river, pointing to the area's karst geology that makes the river vulnerable to groundwater pollution. The decision also comes years following the public controversy over the former C&H Hog Farm permitted in 2012 under a general permit process that lacked public input. The farm at Mount Judea was located just a few miles up Big Creek that flows into the Buffalo at Carver. Gov. Asa Hutchinson led the state to buy out the farm in 2019 for $6.2 million and also created the Buffalo River Conservation Committee (BRCC) to oversee development in the watershed appropriating money for improved water and sewer systems, county roads and even feral hog controls within the watershed. The committee, made up of the governor's cabinet secretaries and local subcommittees, exhausted the funds last year. The BRCC did not get any new appropriations.

Arkansas Farm Bureau and the Arkansas Cattlemen’s Association opposed the permanent moratorium. They pointed out that there was no scientific proof that the activities on the hog farm ever polluted the river. They also said the moratorium violated land use rights and warned that this was a slippery slope towards further regulatory overreach.
State officials sided with the conservationists, however, saying potential risks justified the precautionary approach offered by the permanent moratorium.
Senate Bill 290 was passed ever-changing the way environmental rules could be established. From now on bans will require legislative approval taking the matter out of the hands of state agencies. The bill was amended during the legislative session to preserve moratoriums on CAFOs in the Buffalo River. Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders reportedly threatened to veto the original version of the bill until amendments preserving the moratorium were included.
With the council’s vote, the long-disputed moratorium becomes permanent, offering a sense of closure for many. “We’re grateful the state is finally standing up to protect this national treasure,” Watkins said, according to media reports.