NASHVILLE (AP) - A Republican lawmaker from northwestern Tennessee operated his hog farm without proper state permits, and an inspector said he was discouraged by upper management from enforcing violations.

WTVF-TV reports that Rep. Andy Holt of Dresden had run the farm without a permit for nearly three years when the state finally ordered him to turn in required paperwork in 2012. But state records show that while Holt submitted incomplete papers in 2012 and 2013, the state let him keep operating.

"This isn't something where I just said nope. I don't want a permit," Holt said. "I don't want to have to apply for that. That's not the case. There were several attempts made to apply for the permit."

An inspector in 2011 found improperly buried hogs on Holt's farm and photographed hog waste being pumped from an overflowing lagoon into a nearby creek.

"Several serious violations noted, but an (Enforcement Action Review) was discouraged by upper management," the inspector wrote.

Bob Martineau, who is Republican Gov. Bill Haslam's commissioner of environment and conservation, denied that Holt got special treatment. The inspector who wrote the report has since retired, the department said.

When WTVF asked Martineau what it would take to shut down the farm, the commissioner answered that he "can't guess in hypotheticals."

Holt told WTVF that he was unaware of the inspector's claim that he had been discouraged by management.

"I can honestly say that is not something that has ever been brought to my attention," he said.

Holt said he closed his farm late last year, but a WTVF helicopter flying over the farm recently found an exposed hog carcass surrounded by buzzards. Holt said the birds must have dug up the hog.

Holt has been a thorn in the side of the Haslam administration

Two of the three bills Haslam has vetoed since coming into office were sponsored by Holt. Last year the governor turned back a bill aimed at penalizing retail vandalism by "flash mobs." The way the bill was worded, the governor said it would have had the unintended consequence of reducing criminal penalties for pollution in Tennessee.

"We have to protect our land and water for future generations so it remains an attractive place for people to live, work and raise a family," Haslam said in his veto message.

And in 2013, Haslam vetoed Holt's legislation that would have required people to turn over any images of animal abuse to law enforcement within 48 hours of it being captured.

Opponents dubbed the measure the "ag-gag bill," arguing that it was aimed at preventing long-term undercover investigations into abuse of livestock.

Holt was also a vocal critic of Haslam's failed effort this year to extend health coverage to 280,000 low-income Tennesseans.