Public notification requirements for any NPDES permit application for a proposed CAFO in Arkansas are as follows:
(1) The applicant shall provide written notice by letter, certified mail, return receipt requested, to the following people:
- (A) Property owners adjacent to the CAFO production site and property owners adjacent to manure spreading sites;
- (B) The county judge of the county where the CAFO production site and any manure spreading site is located;
- (C) Mayors of incorporated municipalities within ten (10) miles of the CAFO production site; and
- (D) The superintendent of the school district that serves the CAFO production site;
- (2) It shall be the applicant’s responsibility to retain return receipts for the active life of the permit;
- (3) The division shall provide the contents of the written public notice distributed by the applicant in a form letter made available to the applicant;
(4) The form letter shall include, at a minimum, the following:
- (A) Notice of the proposed CAFO, including the address of the production site and the name of the applicant and farm;
- (B) An explanation of the thirty-day public comment period and the right to comment;
- (C) The telephone number of a person to contact at the division with questions;
- (D) Directions to the division’s website, including directions regarding how an interested party may submit his or her name to receive electronic notifications regarding the sought-after CAFO permit; and
- (E) All letters shall include the certified mail, return receipt number;
(5)
- (A) The applicant shall publish notice one (1) time of the proposed CAFO in the paper of the largest circulation in the county of the CAFO production site.
- (B) The division shall determine the form of that notice and determine the proper paper for publication;
(6)
- (A) The applicant shall post a sign measuring at least two feet by three feet (2’ x 3’) on a public road nearest the entrance to the CAFO production site.
- (B) The sign shall be clearly legible and conspicuous in such a manner that passersby can clearly see from the public road the applicant’s requirements set forth in this section.
- (C) The division will prescribe the sign’s minimum requirements which, at a minimum, will contain the same information as that which the division requires the applicant to publish in the paper.
- (D) The sign shall be posted prior to any submittals to the division and shall remain in place until thirty (30) days following division approval; and
- (7) Applicants for a CAFO NPDES permit must certify compliance with the public notification requirements in subdivisions (1) – (6) of this section.