The Buffalo River Watershed Alliance supports a permanent moratorium on swine Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) in the Buffalo National River watershed.
The Buffalo River is a unique and beloved state icon and a national treasure that warrants enhanced protection against threats to its water quality posed by swine CAFOs in its watershed. A permanent moratorium against the issuance of permits for such facilities is appropriate and justified based on science and past experiences with these facilities.
There are two different permits for swine CAFOs in Arkansas:
- Regulation 5 regulated by the Arkansas Department of Agriculture (DOA)
- Regulation 6 regulated by the Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality (ADEQ)
Both regulations are undergoing revision, and both include a moratorium on swine CAFOs in the Buffalo River watershed. Those revisions must be approved by the Arkansas Administrative Rules subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council, and both are on the agenda for Nov. 14.
https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Home/FTPDocument?path=%2FAssembly%2FMeeting+Attachments%2F040%2F26644%2F26644.pdf
Regulation 5 is the rule under which current and future swine permits will be regulated. Unfortunately, the final draft of Regulation 5 does not include adequate public notification requirements, using only the DOA’s website as notification. BRWA supports improved public notification such as is included in Regulation 6, which includes notices to neighboring landowners, newspapers, county government offices, and other media outlets.
BRWA urges the public to advocate for a permanent moratorium in both Regulations 5 and 6 for the following reasons:
1. In 2012, without public notification, ADEQ issued a permit to the C&H swine CAFO in the Buffalo River Watershed. In 2018 Big Creek, where C&H hog CAFO was located, and an adjacent 14 miles of BNR were declared impaired by ADEQ due to high E. coli and low dissolved oxygen. These stream segments were the only ones in the watershed to be placed on the 303d draft list of impaired streams. ADEQ then denied C&H a new permit citing, among several reasons, that the CAFO could be contributing to water-quality issues in Big Creek and the Buffalo River. In 2019, recognizing that ADEQ should never have issued this permit in the first place, the state negotiated a multi-million-dollar buyout agreement with C&H and the facility was closed. Then-Governor Hutchinson directed ADEQ to seek a moratorium against any new permits in the Buffalo River watershed.
2. Research shows that the porous nature of Buffalo’s karst terrain allows liquid, untreated hog waste from these industrial-sized facilities to seep into the soil and groundwater that eventually ends up in the Buffalo River.
3. The Buffalo River is the crown jewel of Arkansas, is our nation’s first National River and is an economic engine.
4. The National Park Service report, 2022 National Park Visitor Spending Effects, has found that Buffalo National River contributed over $78.4 million dollars in economic output in 2022. The annual peer-reviewed report shows that the 1.3 million visitors to Buffalo National River in 2022 contributed over $64.9 million in spending to local gateway regions. This supported 864 jobs and had a total economic output of $78.4 million.
5. The Buffalo River makes up only 11% of its watershed, which is only 2 % of all Arkansas land.
6. This beloved state icon and powerful economic engine deserves permanent protection against the proven threats of swine CAFOs.
