Save the Buffalo River! America's first national river threatened by Cargill factory hog farm

[BlueToTheBone]

http://www.treehugger.com/environmental-policy/americas-first-national-river-threatened-factory-hog-farm.html

This is a very good article about the fight going on to save our state. In the south, SPP built an illegal coal fire plant (since litigated and settled); in the northwest they are trying to destroy the oldest mountain on earth to string 345Kv power lines into Oklahoma and Missouri and then there is this going on as well. Oh, and don't forget the Mayflower contamination from the pipeline spill into Lake Conway and the estuaries.

snip
In June, Dr. John Van Brahana, a a renowned hydrogeologist and an expert in Arkansas’ karst geology, sent a letter to AQED asking that the permit for the CAFO be suspended until more research could be done to see how the hog waste will affect the flora and fauna of the nearby rivers.

Brahana notes that the Big Creek area – where C & H Hog Farms was permitted – includes karst geologic conditions with a fragile ecosystem. In karst areas, groundwater flow enlarges the dimensions of the conduits through which groundwater flows. The groundwater moves as quickly as water in a stream, but the path of that flow is difficult to predict and would be capable of transporting sediment, organic matter, fecal waste, and dissolved solids from the factory farm. Within this geology, if a waste-lagoon were to breach, there would be little opportunity for it to be naturally remedied or lessened.

The letter goes on to read: “I know of no active karst consultant who recommends that a CAFO be sited on karstified limestone, particularly upgradient from so sensitive a natural resource as the Buffalo National River, with its direct-contact use by canoeists, fisherman, and swimmers.”

[CrispyQ]

1. What a gorgeous photo.

Factory farming is a disaster for the environment, for the animals & for human health. People just don't care about the impact of their choices. I found this yesterday. On the left, you can click the type of 'farm.' What a heinous industry, full of suffering & misery, all around. I would turn tricks before I'd work in a slaughterhouse.

http://www.factoryfarmmap.org/

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Here's more information about the fight at this site.....

http://buffaloriveralliance.org/

[snagglepuss]

3. k and r

[Jenoch]

4. I agree that locating a large hog operation

near that river with karst geology is a bad idea. However, I have a question, the oldest mountain in the WORLD is located in Arkansas?

[BlueToTheBone]

5. Should have said "One of the"

http://ozarks.cr.usgs.gov/ozark_environment.htm
Here's the USGS report on this area.

Here's the website re: the power lines
www.savetheozarks.org

It is astoundingly beautiful here. Not like the majestic coastal mountain range with towering trees; but it is up close and personal..200 species of plants and animals found only here. One of my favs is the eastern hog nose snake.
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=&imgrefurl=http://myths-made-real.blogspot.com/2011/01/creature-feature-western-hognose.html&h=194&w=259&sz=1&tbnid=0w86XLXkqif3kM:&tbnh=150&tbnw=200&zoom=1&usg=__1Tqn2oI2cMWIcrOnMCeNh9eb2CY=&docid=aWKtG-TMaWRI0M&itg=1&sa=X&ei=VCUzUqiuNIGf2QWm8oFQ&ved=0CHsQ_B0wCg

[Jenoch]

6. That is a cool looking snake.

We have several species of snakes in Minnesota, including Timber Rattlesnakes, but the only snakes I ever see are the little Garter snakes.

[BlueToTheBone]

7. We have timber rattlers too. Also king snakes

corals, water moccasins. but the hog nose is special...very cute and to watch it play dead to avoid trouble is brilliant...s/he eats rats and other forest "vermin"

But the flower display is marvelous. I had no idea that the flowers here are the parents of so many hybrids in garden centers.

[stuntcat]

8. People's river vs. people's MEAT ?

I have a prediction how this will turn out.