Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

Public Commentary Opportunity

The Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission (APCEC) will hold a public hearing in Harrison on June 17, 2014, to receive comments on a third-party proposal by the Ozark Society and the Arkansas Public Policy Panel to change APCEC Regulations 5 and 6, entitled Liquid Animal Waste Systems and Regulations for State Administration of the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System, respectively.

Proposal Summary

The proposed changes to APCEC Regulations 5 and 6 seek to prohibit the ADEQ (Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality) Director from issuing Regulation No. 5 permits for Confined Animal Operations, and Regulation No. 6 permits for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, for facilities in the Buffalo National River Watershed with either 750 or more swine weighing 55 pounds or more, or 3,000 or more swine weighing less than 55 pounds. The proposed regulation changes do not impact the status of existing facilities. The regulation changes will prohibit an increase in the number of swine at existing facilities in the Buffalo National River Watershed.

You can view and download information concerning the proposed changes from ADEQ’s web site: http://www.adeq.state.ar.us" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

How to Comment

APCEC will accept oral and written comments on the proposed changes to Regulations 5 and 6 at the hearing, but written comments are preferred in the interest of accuracy. In addition, written and electronic comments will be considered if received by 4:30 p.m. (Central Time), July 1, 2014.

Written comments should be sent to Doug Szenher, Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, Public Outreach and Assistance Division, 5301 Northshore Drive, North Little Rock, AR 72118. Electronic comments should be sent to reg-comment@adeq.state.ar.us.

PROTECT THE BUFFALO NATIONAL RIVER

While written comments are preferred, you can make oral comments at a public meeting to be held on June 17, 2014 at 6:00 p.m. in the Durand Conference Center, Room A, North Arkansas College, 303 N. Main St., Harrison AR 72601. You may also deliver your written comments at this meeting.
There may be a number of reasons why you think that banning swine operations near the Buffalo River is important and making comments in your own words is encouraged. Some points that you may wish to consider are the following:
GEOLOGY:
• The Buffalo National River watershed has the feature of porous limestone “karst” topography that allows rapid transport of pollutants. The karst pathway connects surface water, groundwater, wells, springs, streams, and tributaries into the Buffalo River.
• The area is not suited for waste ponds with leakage rates of up to 5,000 gallons per day per acre of surface area allowed by current regulations or for the land application of millions of gallons of hog waste. The risk of transporting nutrients, bacteria, and other pollutants to the Buffalo River is too great.

WATER QUALITY:
• Leakage from waste holding ponds as well as run-off, infiltration into the karst sub-layer, or flooding of the spray fields all pose significant threats to the high quality waters of the Buffalo.
• A catastrophic failure of a hog waste pond (as has happened a number of times in North Carolina) would create irreversible damage to the aquatic life of the Buffalo and downstream in the White River.
ECONOMICS:
• The Buffalo River is an extremely valuable piece of Arkansas’s tourism
engine. Protecting the Buffalo, protects jobs in Arkansas.
• Tourism in the Natural State in 2012 accounted for a $5.76 billion positive economic impact and employed 58,452 people.
• In 2012, the Buffalo National River attracted 1,093,083 visitors who spent $43.78 million in communities surrounding the river.
• Direct spending from visitors to the Buffalo employed 610 people in 2012.
• In other states, landowners adjacent to large swine operations have often seen dramatic losses in property values.
PUBLIC HEALTH:
• The major public complaint about large swine operations is odor but air
emissions go well beyond the smell.
• Three of the gases emitted—ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, and nitrous oxide—are toxic and methane is a potent greenhouse gas. Entrained fecal bacteria and other pathogens can be carried by the winds from the barns, ponds, and spray fields to local residences, schools, and towns.
• In a letter dated March 21, 2013 from the Arkansas Department of Health to ADEQ the statement was made that for the large hog farm in the watershed nearing completion at that time “we have concerns that water-borne pathogens—including e. coli and cryptosporidium—from the proposed land application sites may pose a risk for body contact on the Buffalo National River, a popular recreational destination.”

OTHER STATES
• A proliferation of large swine operations degrades watersheds. Iowa and North Carolina, for example have suffered major water pollution and public health crises as a result of swine operations. These problems in North Carolina have resulted in a moratorium for new swine farms and expansions of existing hog farms.
• As an example of what can happen, in North Carolina in 1995 due to heavy rains the dike around an 8-acre hog waste pond failed spilling 26 million gallons of manure into the New River. The spill killed 10 million fish and closed 364,000 acres of coastal wetlands to shell fishing. At the time it was the biggest environmental spill in US history, more than twice as big as the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
Contacts for further information:
Ozark Society: Bob Cross, racross@uark.edu
Arkansas Public Policy Panel: Anna Weeks, annaw@arpanel.org

Sticky this please.

Just a reminder that the meeting in Harrison is tonight 6:00 PM on the third party rule making. If you can get to the meeting, I'm sure the farm bureau will have representation.

http://ualrpublicradio.org/post/buffalo ... -hog-farms" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;