skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Groups Seek Moratorium on N.E. Arkansas Chicken Farms

play audio
Play

Monday, January 23, 2017   

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- A coalition of environmental and animal rights groups is asking for a moratorium on constructing new chicken processing farms in northeast Arkansas.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund, the Arkansas Rights Koalition and the Center for Biological Diversity are among the groups asking that federal agencies review the environmental, animal welfare and public health impacts of expanding factory farm operations in the region.

Hannah Connor, staff attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, said they're asking for a hold on any new federal loans to build farms until the study is completed.

"It's a commonsense, comprehensive review of bringing all of these poultry operations into one small region, and what impacts that will have on the environment,” Connor said.

Their petition asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Small Business Administration to delay new loan approvals, saying studies are required by the National Environmental Policy Act. State poultry officials and PECO, the company involved, have not commented on the petition.

Connor said the requirement for environmental studies has been ignored in the past. She said the groups are concerned that adding up to 1,000 facilities to a region that currently has very few industrial poultry operations could produce as much as 16 billion cubic feet of chicken waste per year.

"It is a huge, beautiful area for species diversity and biodiversity,” she said. "In Arkansas, there are a variety of different species that could be very adversely affected by this build-out."

The Animal Legal Defense Fund says chicken processing plants in Arkansas have a documented history of animal cruelty and abuse, and the coalition believes the industry is in need of more federal oversight.

"These confinement facilities are industrial facilities. They have practices that are very difficult for the animals that live inside of them,” she said, "so I think that is also a concern of our collaborators."

The Poultry Federation reported that processed chicken is the largest agricultural product in Arkansas, generating $4 billion a year and employing 42,000 people.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021