A state House of Representatives committee declined Tuesday to endorse a bill that would have prevented the state Department of Environmental Quality from investigating anonymous complaints, siding with state and federal officials who said the measure would "chill" the willingness of people to report problems.

House Bill 2447 by Rep. Daryl Pace, R-Siloam Springs, would bar the department from investigating information provided by an individual unless that individual provides a written complaint with the individual’s name and address.

The measure is needed, Pace said, to deflect "frivolous" complaints by individuals who buy houses in the country, then discover they don’t like living next to a farm.

"They don’t like the way money smells," said Pace, using a farming phrase to describe the potentially profitable but sometimes smelly business of raising poultry, cattle and swine. He added that the bill would allow farmers to face their accusers.

Bill Haak, a dairy farmer in Benton County, said he and his neighbors had discovered that many complaints were being made against them with the intent "to create hatred or hostility, to create rumor or gossip, to retaliate in some manner because of their apparent dislike of a farmer."

"We saw a pattern that was disturbing to all of us," Haak said. "Approximately 85 percent of the calls were not about environmental issues but were rather used to destroy or hurt the farmers."

Haak said he was a member of the state Farm Bureau, Arkan- sas’s largest farmers organization, which supports the bill.

Requiring an individual to provide his name would force individuals to think through the consequences of their actions, Haak said, and not make a "kneejerk" decision.

But the bill ran into opposition from the department and the federal Environmental Protection Agency, both of which rely on anonymous complaints to enforce environmental laws.

Marcus Devine, director of the state department, pointed out that chemical weapons now are being incinerated at the Pine Bluff Arsenal, a process that potentially could be dangerous for the arsenal’s neighbors. The state should be attentive to their concerns, anonymous or not, Devine told the committee.

"I’m sure you don’t want a scenario where residents near that facility or employees of the facility are not allowed to complain anonymously," Devine said. "That is bad, and I think it’s the wrong message to give."

The department received about 1,000 complaints last year, of which a third were anonymous, said Mary Leath, the department’s chief deputy director. Of those anonymous complaints, 170 proved valid, Leath said.

Leath also said federal law makes the department responsive to the EPA and requires the state meet a variety of standards in enforcing environmental regulations. Among those is a requirement that the department respond to all citizen complaints, which Pace’s bill would prevent, Leath said.

The bill would not keep the EPA, which is a federal agency, from investigating anonymous tips.

If the department couldn’t investigate the tips, the federal investigators would, said Steve Gilrein, deputy director of compliance, assistance and enforcement of the EPA’s Dallas office.

"We have concerns that if enacted as written, it will have a very meaningful impact on the state’s ability to implement an enforcement program equivalent to the federal programs, as required under EPA’s delegation of authority," Gilrein said. "We believe a cornerstone and important component of any effective enforcement compliance program is the ability to look after and look into... anonymous complaints."

Gilrein told the committee that "if you weren’t unable to do that, we would."

Pace responded by saying the bill wouldn’t limit the number of complaints received by the agencies, and instead would simply prevent invalid complaints from being filed.

"We don’t believe we’re hindering at all every complaint that they get," Pace said. "We’re just talking about a certain number of complaints that would not even be filed."

Several lawmakers said they would rather deal with bureaucrats from the state than from the federal government.

During debate, Rep. Gregg Reep, D-Warren, asked if supporters of the bill weren’t concerned more with how complaints were investigated, not whether they should have been filed.

"Is the problem with people calling in or is the problem with the way it’s being investigated?" Reep asked.

Both Pace and Haak said they did not have a problem with the department’s investigations.
   The Committee on Public Health, Welfare and Labor defeated a motion to recommend the bill to the House