Federal Agencies Find “No Significant Impact” for Buffalo River Swine CAFO

The United States Department of Agriculture Farm Services Agency and the United States Small Business Administration released an Environmental Assessment finding that a large concentrated animal feeding operation (“CAFO”) would have “no significant impact” on the Buffalo River.  United States District Court Judge D. Price Marshall had ordered the agencies to conduct an intra-agency review of the potential impacts of the farm under the National Environmental Policy Act in December 2014.

The CAFO has been controversial since its construction.  C & H Hog Farms received a permit from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality in August 2012 approving operations adjacent to Big Creek roughly six miles upstream from the creek’s confluence with the Buffalo River.  The Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, Ozark Society, National Parks Conservation Association, and Arkansas Canoe Club filed suit in August 2013 to force the Farm Services Agency and Small Business Administration to undergo an Environmental Assessment of the CAFO’s impact.  The Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission placed a temporary moratorium on other large CAFO’s in the Buffalo River watershed in 2014.

While the Environmental Assessment‘s ultimate determination was predictable due to an earlier draft released in August 2015, it was not expected to be made public until 2016.  The document included 30 pages in response to public comments submitted in 2015.  It also addressed National Park Service studies and data collected by researchers from the University of Arkansas.

The full draft of the Final Environmental Assessment can be read here.  The public notice and comment period ends January 18, 2016.