Hog farm assessment granted extension

LITTLE ROCK — A federal judge granted the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Services Agency and the U.S. Small Business Administration on Wednesday three more months to comply with two federal environmental laws in their assessment of the impact of C&H Hog Farms in Mount Judea.

The two agencies requested the extension Sept. 25, citing “the receipt of an unexpectedly large volume of comments during the public comment period on the draft Environmental Assessment.”

The revised environmental assessment of C&H

Hog Farms, drafted and released Aug. 6, received 1,858 public comments.

The facility sits on Big Creek, 6.8 miles from where it flows into the Buffalo National River. It’s the first large-scale hog facility in the watershed, which is the area that drains into the river.

C&H Hog Farms is permitted to hold 2,500 sows and 4,000 piglets. It has been criticized by nearby residents and environmental groups upset about the perceived risk of pollution from hog waste.

“This volume of comments far exceeds the number usually received by the FSA [Farm Services Agency] on its EAs [Environmental Assessments], and many of the comments are lengthy, raise multiple substantive issues, and in some cases provide additional studies or technical references which need to be identified and reviewed for applicability,” attorneys with the U.S. Department of Justice wrote.

The extension was unopposed by the plaintiffs in the civil lawsuit over the original environmental assessment done in 2012.

In 2013, the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, the Ozark Society, the Arkansas Canoe Club and the National Parks Conservation Association sued the two federal agencies over the 2012 environmental assessment, arguing it was incomplete. Those federal agencies were required to do an environmental assessment so they could provide loan guarantees to the facility it later helped to open.

In 2014, Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. sided with those groups and ordered a new environmental assessment that would comply with both the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act and include consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Marshall gave them a one-year deadline beginning Dec. 2. He granted the request extend it to March 1 on Wednesday.

Public comments were received at a hearing in Jasper on Aug. 27 and were additionally accepted in written form.

Officials with the agencies have declined to release public comments submitted on the assessment. An official with the Farm Services Agency told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette they would attach public comments received as an appendix to the final environmental assessment when it is completed.

The newspaper was able to obtain copies of the comments made by the plaintiffs’ and the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, which issued C&H Hog Farms’ permit in late 2012.

In a three-page comment from Ellen Carpenter, chief of the Water Division, the department offered mostly clarifications to the environmental assessment, including pointing out the department doesn’t have numeric standards for nutrients in streams and rivers.

“To date, ADEQ does not have sufficient data to assess for nutrient impairment on Big Creek or the Buffalo River,” Carpenter wrote.

In the plaintiffs’ 40-page comment, they again argued the assessment was incomplete. The comment also includes research and expert opinions from science professors at universities in the South that raise concerns.

The plaintiffs’ comment also argues the assessment is inaccurate about whether C&H is on karst terrain, doesn’t include relevant data being collected by various researchers and ignores findings of impairment in Big Creek, among other things.

They also argue the federal agencies didn’t consider the socio-economic costs of the facility, given the potential harm to property owners and tourism in the poorer-than-average Newton County. In 2014, the Buffalo National River — the country’s first national river — had more than 1.3 million visitors , who spent about $56.5 million at area businesses, according to National Park Service data.

C&H Hog Farms is permitted to hold 2,500 sows and 4,000 piglets. It has been criticized by nearby residents and environmental groups upset about the perceived risk of pollution from hog waste.