Please comment on proposed New hog farms on Buffalo River ASAP

PROTECT THE BUFFALO NATIONAL RIVER!

Call for Public Comments

The Ozark Society and the Arkansas Public Policy Panel need your help to ban new medium and large confined swine operations in the Buffalo National River watershed.

You can make oral comments at a public meeting to be held, tomorrow June 17, 2014 at 6:00 p.m. in the Durand Conference Center, Room A, North Arkansas College, 303 N. Main St., Harrison AR 72601.  You may also deliver your written comments at this meeting.

Written comments will be accepted until  July 1, 2014 at 4:30 p.m. and should be addressed to Mr. Doug Szenher, Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, Public Outreach and Assistance Division, 5301 Northshore Drive, North Little Rock, AR 72118 or by e-mail to reg-comment@adeq.state.ar.us 

 We encourage you to voice your personal reasons you want to protect the Buffalo River. Here are a few reasons to support these changes:

PROTECTING WATER QUALITY:

•       The pristine and treasured waters of the Buffalo are at risk of contamination from multiple sources including leakage from waste holding ponds, run-off, and flooding.

•       A catastrophic failure of a hog waste pond would create irreversible damage to the aquatic life of the Buffalo and downstream in the White River. In North Carolina in 1995, due to heavy rains the dike around an 8-acre hog waste pond failed, spilling 26 million gallons of manure into the New River.  The spill killed 10 million fish and closed 364,000 acres of coastal wetlands to shell fishing. 

PROTECTING JOBS AND BOOSTING THE ECONOMY:

•       The Buffalo River is an extremely valuable piece of Arkansas’s tourism engine.  Tourism in the Natural State in 2012 accounted for a $5.76 billion positive economic impact and employed 58,452 people.

•       In 2012, the Buffalo National River attracted 1,093,083 visitors who spent $43.78 million in communities surrounding the river.  Direct spending from visitors to the Buffalo employed 610 people in 2012.

PROTECTING PUBLIC HEALTH:

•       Aside from the obvious unpleasant odors, the gasses emitted from hog farms are toxic and contribute to greenhouse gas pollution.  Entrained fecal bacteria and other pathogens can be carried by the winds to local residences, schools, and towns. 

 •       The Arkansas Department of Health has expressed concerns that water-borne bacteria and parasites from the proposed land application sites may pose a risk for body contact in the Buffalo River.

UNDERSTANDING GEOLOGY

•       Due to the porous topography of the Buffalo River watershed, the area is not suited for waste ponds or land application of hog wastes allowed by current regulations, as the risk of transporting nutrients, bacteria, and other pollutants to the Buffalo River is too great.

Contacts for further information:

Ozark Society:  Bob Cross, racross@uark.edu

Arkansas Public Policy Panel:  Anna Weeks, annaw@arpanel.org

St. Louis, Missouri, officially sanctions butterfly gardens with variety of species of milkweed to support dwindling population of Monarch butterflies

Milkweeds for Monarchs Initiative Update

The St. Louis Butterfly Project

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Published: 04-22-2014

Update 6.4.2014

The Milkweeds for Monarchs Initiative is underway.  Mayor Slay has committed to the City planting 50 monarch gardens, and is challenging the community to plant an additional 200 monarch gardens in 2014 to commemorate the City's 250th birthday year.

The City has created an online registration. Once your Milkweeds for Monarchs garden is planted, register your garden with us so we can track our progress toward the goal. Your personal information will not be displayed.  Registered gardens will appear on the Milkweed for Monarchs Map.

There are a variety of plants that will make your garden a success for attracting Monarchs. In partnership with community plant and butterfly experts, the City has created a STL Monarch Mix Brochure to serve as a reference in establishing your monarch garden. These plants have been carefully selected to provide the best combination of features for the butterflies and your personal enjoyment. These varieties were chosen to flower at different times of the growing season, offering seasonal color and important butterfly food and nectar sources.

The STL Monarch Mix consist of: (Photos courtesy of Missouri Botanical Garden and Monarch Watch)

   

 

 

 

Original Post:

Famous for their remarkable annual migrations between Mexico and Canada, monarch butterflies are important participants in pollinating plants in our ecosystem. Yet, their population has declined 90 percent over the last two decades. Female monarchs depend on milkweed to lay their eggs and feed their caterpillar larvae. While other flower species can serve as nectar sources for butterflies, only milkweeds play host to monarch caterpillars enabling the monarch population to grow.

In honor of this year's Earth Day, Mayor Slay announced a new City sustainability initiative called 'Milkweeds for Monarchs.'

"The goal of this project is to both increase the dwindling monarch butterfly population and to better connect people and urban nature," said Slay.

Mayor Slay has committed to the City planting 50 monarch gardens, and is challenging the community to plant an additional 200 monarch gardens in 2014 to commemorate the City's 250th birthday year.

"I will be planting one at City Hall and in my own yard at home. But, I'd like to see these butterfly gardens everywhere. They can go in your neighborhood's community garden, in front of your business or in your own yard," said Slay.

Access to nature can reduce stress and anxieties, nourishes the imagination, and provide important learning opportunities. STL Milkweeds for Monarchs also aligns with the City's Sustainable Neighborhood Initiative. Creating monarch gardens is also an opportunity to enhance a community's sense of place and to build relationships between neighbors.

In partnership with community plant and butterfly experts, the City has created a STL Monarch Mix Brochure to serve as a reference in establishing your monarch garden. These plants have been carefully selected to provide the best combination of features for the butterflies and your personal enjoyment. These varieties were chosen to flower at different times of the growing season, offering seasonal color and important butterfly food and nectar sources.

For updated information on the STL Milkweeds for Monarchs initiative and to receive recognition for creating a monarch garden, please visit stlouis-mo.gov/sustainability.

Related Resources

• City of St. Louis Sustainability Plan

Documents

Milkweeds for Monarchs

ADEQ and and Arkansas Public Service Commission offer stakeholders meeting open to public on June 25, 2014

FOR RELEASE: June 9, 2014

Stakeholders group to meet on proposed carbon pollution reduction rule

The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) and the Arkansas Public Service Commission (APSC) will hold a stakeholders’ meeting on June 25 to explore options for complying with the newly proposed federal air rule regulating carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants.

The meeting, which is open to the public, will be held from 9 a.m. to noon at ADEQ, 5301 Northshore Drive, North Little Rock.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on June 2 issued its Clean Power Plan proposal, which for the first time regulates carbon pollution from existing power plants under section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act.  EPA plans to finalize the rule by June 1, 2015. States must submit their implementation plans – which can include a mix of options including efficiency improvements at existing power plants, energy efficiency on the part of customers, renewable energy and more -- to EPA by June 30, 2016. In some cases, extensions may be allowed.

“We’re glad EPA is giving states flexibility to develop their own plans to achieve the required emissions reductions,” said ADEQ Director Teresa Marks. “We realize this will take a lot of work and we look forward to starting the stakeholder process. Our stakeholders really represent a broad swath of Arkansas from environmental and health groups to industry representatives and state agencies.”

            Representatives from the following groups, selected by Marks and APSC Chairman Colette D. Honorable, will serve as stakeholders:

1.  Entergy Arkansas, Inc.

2.  Southwestern Electric Power Company

3.  Oklahoma Gas & Electric

4.  Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas

5.  Plum Point Energy Associates

6.  Union Power Station- Entegra Power Group, LLC

7.  North Little Rock Electric

8.  Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc.

9.  Southwest Power Pool

10.  CenterPoint Energy Arkansas Gas

11.  Arkansas Advanced Energy Association

12.  Arkansas Electric Energy Consumers

13.  Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce

14.  Arkansas Environmental Federation

15.  Sierra Club

16.  Audubon Arkansas

17.  Arkansas Department of Health

18.  Arkansas Attorney General’s Office

19.  Arkansas Energy Office

20.  Arkansas Municipal League

21. Arkansas Public Policy Panel

The group will develop recommendations for Arkansas’ statewide implementation plan. The group is expected to meet every other month through June 2015 and possibly more frequently after that date.

Meetings will be announced through news releases and will be posted on ADEQ’s website. Information on the first stakeholders meeting, held on May 28, can be found online athttp://www.adeq.state.ar.us/air/branch_planning/carbon_pollution.htm or by clicking on Carbon Pollution Standards for Power Sector under the Hot Topics column on ADEQ’s website: www.adeq.state.adeq.ar.us. The page also includes information on the proposed rule and a listserv those interested can subscribe to for updates on the process.

More information, including a copy of the proposed rule, is also available on EPA’s website athttp://www2.epa.gov/carbon-pollution-standards.

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