Pig Farm Threatens Buffalo River
Concern for the Buffalo brought together a repub and democrat. This op-ed was written by y Former Reps. Ed Bethune (R-Ark.) and Vic Snyder
D-Ark.)
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This brings us to Arkansas’s Buffalo, where it all began. Saved once from harm, the Buffalo faces a new and impending pollution problem — a poorly placed industrial hog farm — that will likely change the nature of this magnificent river.
The Buffalo is an ecological jewel that meanders 135 miles through the heart of the Ozark Mountains. When this free-flowing stream of pristine waters, carved bluffs, and dramatic waterfalls became part of the National Park System it was to be spared from dams and development — or so we thought.
Just a few miles away, on a major tributary of the Buffalo, a factory farm of 6,500 pigs is now in operation. The animals are owned by international conglomerate Cargill and raised by a local group called C & H Hog Farms. The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) granted the permit without public hearings or even putting a public notice in a newspaper. Not even the National Park Service, the agency charged with protecting the Buffalo, was consulted. How did this happen? It was a combination of failed leadership among multiple agencies and a political culture that favors Big AG.
http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/198266-pig-farm-threatens-buffalo-river