Drinking Water and Pig Poop Shouldn't Mix
Republican legislators in Arkansas seem to want to muddy the waters.
This is an expanded version of the previous article.
Clear, clean, unpolluted water is necessary to sustain life, including human life. In recent years, our nation’s dangerous problems with lead pipes have proved just one example of our challenges to keep our water safe.
But it’s not the only challenge. In Arkansas, we’ve seen serious problems with polluted fertilizer and animal-waste runoffs from farms, particularly from hog farms, into our natural waterways.
Last October, the Arkansas Environmental Commission voted to permanently ban hog farms from the Buffalo River Watershed to protect the river and tributaries from pollution. This decision came after years of debate and concern over the impact of large-scale hog farming on one of our state's most precious natural resources.
But today, Arkansas stands at a critical juncture regarding this stewardship of our precious water resources. Senate Bill 84 (SB84) proposes to prohibit state agencies from enacting moratoriums on issuing permits in watersheds and other sensitive bodies of water. While the bill seeks to streamline processes, it seriously risks undermining our ability to protect vital ecosystems, like the Buffalo River watershed.
A good friend of mine, Steve Grappe, who has raised hogs on his farm for years, shared his insights with me recently. It was eye-opening, to say the least. Steve said, "As someone who has raised hogs for years, I've seen firsthand the challenges of managing waste and protecting our water resources. It's a delicate balance between agricultural needs and environmental stewardship. The Buffalo River and our other waterways are treasures that deserve protection. We need smart regulations that allow farmers to operate responsibly while safeguarding our natural heritage for future generations."
The stakes are also personal for me. One of my first research projects at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) involved building a laser to measure the turbidity, or muddiness, of water in real time. That work taught me the vital importance of clean water—not just for drinking but for the health of entire ecosystems. High turbidity often indicates pollution or other environmental stressors, and without intervention, it can devastate aquatic life and communities relying on that water.
And let’s be clear, pig poop can lead to high turbidity.
In fact, a single hog can produce up to 8 pounds of manure per day. Multiply that by thousands of hogs in large-scale operations, and the potential for water pollution becomes staggering.
Problems and a Solution
SB84’s restrictions on moratoriums could make it harder for agencies like the state Department of Agriculture or the Department of Energy and Environment to pause and evaluate activities that might harm our water quality. Without this authority, we risk approving projects that degrade our watersheds, allowing pollutants to flow unchecked and threatening the natural balance of our environment.
But there is a solution. Let agencies do their protective jobs. Instead of an outright ban, we should advocate for policies that allow temporary moratoriums when evidence points to potential harm. This would provide agencies the time to conduct thorough assessments, ensuring responsible permitting that balances economic growth with environmental protection.
This could also allow farmers to meet their responsibilities in protecting the environment while earning a living and aiding the economy. It's not about choosing between agriculture and clean water—it's about finding ways to support both.
Photo credit: KOBU Agency on Unsplash
Call to Action
The time to act is now, Arkansans. Our state's natural beauty and the health of our communities are at stake. Here's what you can do today to safeguard our water resources:
Contact your legislators: Urge them to oppose SB84 and support agencies' authority to enact temporary moratoriums when needed. Remind them that clean water is essential for both our ecology and economy.
Educate yourself and others: Learn more about the importance of clean water and share this knowledge with your community. The more informed we are, the better decisions we can make for our state's future.
Support local conservation efforts: Get involved with organizations working to protect Arkansas's waterways. Your participation can make a real difference in preserving our natural heritage.
Remember, every voice counts in this crucial debate. By acting today, you can help ensure that future generations inherit clean and vibrant ecosystems. Ask yourself: Which Arkansas do you want to live in? One with pristine rivers and thriving wildlife, or one where our waterways are at risk?
Together, we can preserve the natural beauty and resources that make Arkansas the Natural State. That’s good for both Arkansas’s ecology and economy.
No. Check with the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance who fought to prevent this a few years ago and won. Now it has come up again. We do not need to risk polluting the Buffalo River. It is bad enough the hunger for tourism dollars has affected it's natural beauty, not to mention the how the Waltons and our Governor continue to try to make more money off of it.
Bill targets moratorium on swine farms near Buffalo River, would block future permit bans in watersheds
January 22, 2025 at 6:39 p.m.
A bill that would eliminate an existing moratorium on swine farms in the Buffalo River watershed and prohibit future watershed-specific permit moratoriums without legislative council approval was filed Tuesday in the Arkansas Senate -- something one advocacy organization called an "obvious effort" to circumvent the rulemaking process.
The filing comes after the Division of Environmental Quality moved last year to make a temporary swine farm moratorium in the watershed permanent. The rulemaking the moratorium is contained in, Regulation 6, received hundreds of public comments from supporters and opponents. It was set to be heard by the rules subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council for approval in December, before it was abruptly pulled from the agenda the day before by the agencies, who cited procedural issues that necessitated the removal.
Senate Bill 84, if passed, would prohibit state agencies from instituting "a moratorium on the issuance of permits in a watershed, including without limitation the Buffalo River Watershed, or any other body of water" unless it gets approval from the Arkansas Legislative Council first.
Additionally, SB84 would render existing moratoriums -- such as the one on medium- and large-size concentrated animal-feeding operations in the Buffalo River watershed -- "unenforceable." The bill was referred to the Senate Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development Committee.
Farm interests were staunchly opposed to the moratorium. Sen. Blake Johnson, R-Corning, who introduced the bill, did not respond to a request for comment. Johnson is a farmer, as is the House sponsor Rep. DeAnn Vaught, R-Horatio.
It is unclear whether the legislation, if passed, would result in any meaningful difference in current procedures. The current, temporary moratorium is part of the Division of Environmental Quality's rules, which already require Legislative Council review and approval for any changes.
[LEGISLATIVE CALENDAR: Catch up on this week's meetings » arkleg.state.ar.us/]
The most obvious impact would be the end of the animal-feeding operation moratorium in the Buffalo River watershed, which has been in place for the better part of 10 years after outcry over the issuance of permits to C&H Hog Farms.
The Division of Environmental Quality's predecessor began the process of instituting the moratorium in 2014, in response to the controversy with the C&H Hog Farm in the watershed. That moratorium, however, was temporary, with language that it had to be made permanent in five years or deleted from the rule.
The Division of Environmental Quality, which proposed the rule amendment, tried to make the moratorium permanent in 2020 in accordance with the temporary moratorium's language. It made it through the administrative process but was ultimately shot down during legislative review in the face of opposition from agricultural interests and skepticism from lawmakers.
The division brought it back to the commission last year as part of a group of amendments to Regulation 6, which governs the state's administration of the federal National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System program, with the stated purpose of preserving the status quo in the watershed.
The Arkansas Farm Bureau, in public comments last year, said the moratorium wasn't supported by science and that it could lead to further restrictions on agricultural activity within the watershed. Department of Environmental Quality staff disagreed, saying that the impact of swine farms on the Buffalo River had been "an ongoing concern in Arkansas."
Watershed advocates were against SB84, with Gordon Watkins, the president of the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, saying his organization was disappointed but not surprised by the bill, and that removing the protections against concentrated animal-feeding operations in the watershed was "a recipe for a repeat" of the C&H Hog Farms "debacle."
"It's an obvious effort to circumvent those rule makings," Watkins said. He called the idea that the moratorium was a "slippery slope" to further agricultural prohibitions in the watershed a red herring, noting that the moratorium has been in place for nearly 10 years. "We haven't seen any efforts to expand that to other types of agriculture or to other parts of the state. ... I don't think anyone is interested in trying to stop agriculture in the state of Arkansas, that's just ridiculous."
Meanwhile, Ozark Society President Brian Thompson called the potential removal of the moratorium "a betrayal" after the millions of dollars the state of Arkansas spent to shut down C&H Hog Farms. He urged Arkansans to write to their representatives about the matter.
Recreation and tourism dollars will not come to Arkansas if the waters are full of pig waste. No kayaker wants to wade through that. Nobody wants to eat fish covered in that.