Uphold permit denial

A huge, toxic algae bloom has now polluted 17 to 30 miles of Big Creek, the Buffalo River, and even the White River, and become a health hazard. Recently I attended a meeting of the Pollution Control and Ecology Commission to decry our so-called environmental quality department’s actions in allowing C&H Hog Farms to continue operating despite the agency’s denial of its permit. C&H has appealed that decision, which will be tied up in court for who knows how long, and meanwhile is permitted to keep polluting without restriction. The result is that a significant number of people, including children, have already been afflicted with rashes and worse ailments after swimming in the river, and residents say there are now far fewer tourists.

Clearly this pollution is killing tourist trade as well as fish and wildlife. Now I read that C&H owners applied to create a new, even larger factory farm of 10,000-plus hogs near tributaries of the Arkansas River and the town of Altus in the heart of Arkansas wine country, another major tourist attraction.

An owner of C&H approached me at the meeting and tried to convince me that the algae bloom is due to tourist activity and sunscreen application; I had to laugh. Scientists have been saying for years that the Buffalo River valley’s highly permeable karst geology is absolutely the wrong place for factory farming and the application of millions of gallons of hog feces on the land. Please, please write and phone the governor, your representatives, the Department of Environmental Quality, and the pollution control commission to demand that they uphold the C&H permit denial (a new comment period is now being opened) and deny any future permit for another horrific factory farm. NANCY BAXTER North Little Rock