The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission opened a big can of worms when it leased public land for gas exporation and already is having to deal with habitat destruction caused by drilling on private land.
A weakness in the severance-tax passed many months ago was not ensuring that a portion of the proceeds of that tax would be set aside to restore the land leased to the drilling companies. Depending on collecting for damage after it occurs is always risky at best.
Aubrey
Dead fish spur state to ban site from taking driller wastewater
BY L. LAMOR WILLIAMS
Posted on Wednesday, December 17, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/246862
Gas-drilling waste kills fish in Raft Creek
A second facility used to store and dispose of discarded water used by natural gas drillers can no longer accept the wastewater, the director of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality said Tuesday.
A property owner reported seeing dead fish on his property near the Griffithville disposal site operated by Searcy-based Central Arkansas Disposal, said Teresa Marks, director of the Department of Environmental Quality.
After investigating, the department issued an emergency order Friday after an inspection found a "large unlined, unpermitted waste treatment reservoir," being filled through an underground pipe from the licensed facility, the emergency order states.
On Dec. 3, the department closed a wastewater storage and disposal facility near Carlisle for improperly applying the water onto farmland.
Marks imposed a moratorium on new permits for drill fluid storage facilities until a study is completed examining the effects the operations have on soils and waterways.
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A water sample also found high chloride levels in the stream. The creek feeds the Steve Wilson/Raft Creek Wildlife Management Area in White County.
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Mike Armstrong, chief of fisheries for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, said ... "We found several largemouth bass up to 4 pounds and quality-sized crappie so there was a robust fish population in those ditches."
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Gas-drilling waste kills fish in Raft Creek
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