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Thursday, November 14, 2024

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Matt Gaetz resigns from Congress, ending ethics probe after Trump nominated him for attorney general; Trump's performance in Maryland keeps other races tight; New research finds Americans like public pensions; WI wave of racist texts sparks concerns over data privacy.

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Trump promises a smooth transition this time. South Dakota Sen. John Thune will lead that chamber's new majority, and one failed bill could be an omen of what a GOP trifecta in Washington will bring.

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An urban vote slump, not the rural electorate, tipped the presidential election. Minnesota voters approved more lottery money to support conservation and clean water. And a survey shows strong broadband lets rural businesses boom.

AR nonprofit works to protect Buffalo National River from contamination

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Thursday, November 14, 2024   

Members of the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance are supporting two moratoriums on concentrated animal feeding operations to be voted on today by the Arkansas Administrative Rules subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council.

Concentrated animal feeding operations are large agriculture facilities which keep animals confined in small spaces.

Gordon Watkins, president of the alliance, said Regulations 5 and 6 include a moratorium on swine Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations in the watershed, but Regulation 5 does not include adequate public notification requirements. He pointed out the regulation only requires a request for a permit be posted on the Department of Agriculture website.

"If someone wants to put a 10,000-animal hog-confinement facility next door to you, you'd probably like to know about that," Watkins contended. "Secondly, in order to oppose a permit -- legally -- it's a 30-day comment period, and unless you submit comments on it, you do not have standing to legally challenge a permit."

He acknowledged Regulation 6 has stronger notification requirements which include notifying nearby landowners, publishing the permit request in the local newspaper and contacting school superintendents within a 10-mile radius of the proposed facility.

The last concentrated animal feeding operation allowed near the Buffalo National River, C and H Swine, was shut down in 2019. Watkins added he is a farmer but feels the area needs to be protected.

"It's the first National River ever created in the country. It's also a state icon," Watkins stressed. "If you look at any of the literature, put out by the department of tourism to promote the state, you'll see images from the Buffalo National River. It's an economic engine to some of the poorest counties in the state."

It was discovered in 2018 the C and H swine operation contaminated the water quality in Big Creek and the Buffalo River. Today's meeting is scheduled for 2 p.m.


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