Threat unchanged 

NWAOnline

Lest readers become confused by results coming out of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality's (cough) results of the single hole drilled near one of the waste lagoons at C&H Hog Farms in the Buffalo National River watershed, please allow me to remind everyone.

This was but a single hole sunk at a cost to taxpayers of $75,000 specifically to determine if the large plume of suspected waste (detected by an electrical resistivity analysis in 2015) was indeed swine waste that had been leaking into what also appeared to be a fractured area beneath one corner of the lower lagoon.

Like many others, I'm waiting for experts who comprehend the technical jargon in the contractor's findings to determine if the hole was sunk directly into the plume rather than near or above it.

When it comes to ensuring public transparency, I also vastly prefer plain spoken English, as in, "We dug into the questionable plume that started all this and discovered 1. hog waste, 2. wet clay, 3. Skippy's Extra Crunchy Peanut Butter."

Regardless of what the findings of this boring are interpreted to reveal, the potential threat to our sacred Buffalo from the continually spraying of millions of gallons of untreated hog waste onto a limited number of acres close to or adjoining a major tributary of the Buffalo remain more obvious, relevant and significant than ever.

------------v------------

Mike Masterson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at mmasterson@arkansasonline.com.

Editorial on 12/06/2016