A call to arms
Aconcentrated human fundraising operation of influential former Arkansas elected officeholders and others gathered Thursday evening at the Little Rock home of former 2nd District Congressman Vic Snyder and the Rev. Betsy Singleton.
They were investing valuable time, energy and personal resources to raise support for and awareness of efforts to protect the Buffalo National River from contamination by waste generated by the C&H hog factory. I think of it as a CAFO call to arms.
Perhaps with some irony, it was our state government that permitted this industrial hog factory in such an environmentally sensitive location where it will generate and spread millions of tons of waste in the pristine river’s watershed. The owners say its business, supplied and sponsored by multinational meat processor Cargill Inc., is so well-operated it can’t harm the river.
The invitation list to the Snyder home was bipartisan. It included Democratic former Gov. and U.S. Sen. Dale Bumpers, as well as former 2nd District GOP Congressman Ed Bethune.
GOP former 3rd District Rep. John Paul Hammerschmidt of Harrison, who introduced legislation to protect and preserve the Buffalo in 1972, couldn’t make it.
These previous officeholders were joined by others who care about the purity and majesty of the Buffalo River, including members of the four organizations that have filed a federal suit to oppose the factory that the state’s Department of Environmental Quality permitted to hold up to 6,500 hogs and piglets.
The Ozark Society, Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, National Parks Conservation Association and Arkansas Canoe Club joined forces to challenge the U.S. Farm Service Agency and the Small Business Administration for allegedly preparing an inadequate environmental assessment report. They also question the propriety of loan guarantees made to the hog factory.
Elizabeth Caldwell, who coordinated the event, said Arkansans who want to contribute toward expenses involved with the lawsuit can send a tax-deductible contribution in any amount to: Earthjustice, c/o Barbara Miles, P.O. Box 250954, Little Rock, 72225.
I sent my own piddling check filled with good intentions just today. Hey, if one collects just a nickel a day for a year, one winds up with a whopping $18.25.
Meanwhile, I’ve just read the lengthy and blistering letter of complaint sent on Dec. 20, 2012, from Kevin Cheri, superintendent of the Buffalo National River, to Teresa Marks, director of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (cough) months after the department had permitted the hog factory.
In the single-spaced letter, Cheri said his agency had received questions from the public about a “proposed hog farrowing operation being planned on Big Creek near Mount Judea. Big Creek is a major tributary to the Buffalo River and confluences at Carver Access, a major visitor use area.”
Cheri continued: “Upon researching … we discovered your office issued a NPDES permit to a Mr. Henson of C&H Hog Farms for a concentrated animal feeding operation general permit … on Big Creek unknown to the staff of Buffalo National River. We were very surprised you went forward with the issuance of this permit without consultation with us or without notifying us of the open comment period.”
The park superintendent explained: “Several resources—both natural and economic—are at risk by allowing this permit to stand and allowing a [CAFO] to go forward so close to the Buffalo River … ADEQ is Buffalo National River’s greatest partner in the task of preserving the water quality … as your agency has been empowered by the EPA to implement the Clean Water Act on behalf of the state of Arkansas. Water quality is the most important resource within the park.
“… In the mid-1990s ADEQ placed a moratorium on all new permitting of liquid waste agricultural systems within the watershed of Buffalo River. … We would like to ask ADEQ to consider reinstating the moratorium, if it was [ever] lifted on any new liquid waste systems within the watershed while we work with our partners at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to plan a management response to the listing of all these new species,” Cheri’s letter continued, adding that the wildlife agency also wasn’t informed before the CAFO was permitted.
“By allowing this [CAFO] permit to go forward, you may be placing much of the economic benefit of the Buffalo at risk, as local and regional economies will be impacted if the waters of Big Creek become polluted with animal waste. … The NPS can’t safeguard the waters of the Buffalo without your cooperation.”
In the nine months since Cheri’s letter was mailed, we’ve all seen just how well the cooperation Cheri and the National Park Service was seeking has fared, haven’t we?