If there was little vocal opposition Thursday night to a proposed 73-acre solid waste landfill meant to serve the AEP/Southwestern Electric Power Co. John W. Turk, Jr., Power Plant near Fulton it was because the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality preempted it by explaining how the landfill permit submitted by SWEPCO satisfies state requirements.
That was the bottom line which Bryan Leamons, ADEQ supervising engineer, explained in a powerpoint presentation prior to the formal public comment hearing conducted for the permit at the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope here before about 50 attendees.
The proposed landfill meets the overlapping requirements of the Arkansas Solid Waste Management Act, the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission Regulation 22 on design and operational standards, and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act in its location, design, proposed operation, closure plan, and monitoring requirements, Leamons explained.
The siting clearly does not disrupt any airport safety, does not lie in any geologic fault or seismic impact zones, is within the 100-year flood plain for the surrounding lands, and does not directly affect any nearby wetlands, Leamons added.
Permeability will not be a hazard, since the landfill is within the Arkadelphia Marl formation, which has a thickness over 100 feet deep at the site, and has relatively low permeability, he said.
“There is no guarantee that anything will not leak, but we have provided a draft permit that the plan's liner will not leak over time,” Leamons said.
Explaining the most potentially controversial aspect of the landfill design, Leamons pointed out that SWEPCO has notified the ADEQ of its intention to exceed design standards for the protective liner for the landfill cells, which will govern the containment of compacted solids and leachate collection.
Karen Bassett, ADEQ deputy director, acting as hearing officer Thursday, also specifically recognized the change in SWEPCO's design.
“It's not uncommon that permit applications evolve as the permit is reviewed,” Bassett said. “The permit we are talking about today does not include that change, but we will be reviewing that.”
Brian Bond, SWEPCO manager of external affairs, also called attention to the design change in the formal comment period, noting that the design is “fully protective of human health and the environment.”
Bond said the company would submit technical applications and supporting data to ADEQ soon.
The design, he said, is in anticipation of standards changes coming from the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The design will incorporate a synthetic liner for both the landfill cells and the leachate collection pond for the system, he said. It replaces a proposed compacted clay liner, and is considered less permeable.
That was the key issue in the hearing Thursday, as only four of the 13 individuals to offer comment for the record opposed the proposed permit.
But, it was an issue which SWEPCO President Venita McCellon-Allen said is a false issue.“Everyone produces waste; all industry produces waste, that is true,” McCellon-Allen noted.
But, she noted that it is agencies such as ADEQ that regulate how that is done because Arkansans recognize generally the need to do so in order to live with “the conveniences of modern life” such as electrical power.
Still, Little Rock resident Robert Walker argued in his comments that Hempstead County officials should investigate the problems of coal ash residue which the plant will have to manage in bulk prior to putting it in the ground.
“I think the mayors and officials should talk to the people of Poteau, Oklahoma, and see what they think about living with it,” Walker said. “Why not ship it back to Wyoming where they get the coal? They've got big holes in the ground up there where the coal came from; they can put it back.”
Rel Corbin, of Little Rock, also warned that while the landfill is within the 100-year flood plain of the Little River, that record was breached with deadly results this past summer in Central Arkansas
.“That was a 100-year flood that drowned a lot of people,” Corbin said. “We need jobs all over Arkansas; but, we don't need these kinds of jobs.”
Larry Brown, of Hope, argued that SWEPCO has changed too many things in its estimates of costs, payrolls, and other matters to accept the idea that an improvement the liner design now will not change later.
But, Hope Mayor Dennis Ramsey and Hope/Hempstead County Chamber of Commerce Director Mark Keith put the central issue back into perspective.
Ramsey noted that the City of Hope has gone through the same process as SWEPCO recently in expanding its own landfill operations, and that in his 30 years of dealing with the state on such issues, he recognizes the level of scrutiny which such permits require, which is part of the reason most people in Southwest Arkansas support the Turk plant.
Keith was more direct.
“Outside of some hunting club members, I can think of only three people locally who are against it,” Keith said. “Probably, 90 percent of local residents support it.”
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If there was little vocal opposition Thursday night to a proposed 73-acre solid waste landfill meant to serve the AEP/Southwestern Electric Power Co. John W. Turk, Jr., Power Plant near Fulton it was because the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality preempted it by explaining how the landfill permit submitted by SWEPCO satisfies state requirements.
That was the bottom line which Bryan Leamons, ADEQ supervising engineer, explained in a powerpoint presentation prior to the formal public comment hearing conducted for the permit at the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope here before about 50 attendees.
The proposed landfill meets the overlapping requirements of the Arkansas Solid Waste Management Act, the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission Regulation 22 on design and operational standards, and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act in its location, design, proposed operation, closure plan, and monitoring requirements, Leamons explained.
The siting clearly does not disrupt any airport safety, does not lie in any geologic fault or seismic impact zones, is within the 100-year flood plain for the surrounding lands, and does not directly affect any nearby wetlands, Leamons added.
Permeability will not be a hazard, since the landfill is within the Arkadelphia Marl formation, which has a thickness over 100 feet deep at the site, and has relatively low permeability, he said.
“There is no guarantee that anything will not leak, but we have provided a draft permit that the plan's liner will not leak over time,” Leamons said.
Explaining the most potentially controversial aspect of the landfill design, Leamons pointed out that SWEPCO has notified the ADEQ of its intention to exceed design standards for the protective liner for the landfill cells, which will govern the containment of compacted solids and leachate collection.
Karen Bassett, ADEQ deputy director, acting as hearing officer Thursday, also specifically recognized the change in SWEPCO's design.
“It's not uncommon that permit applications evolve as the permit is reviewed,” Bassett said. “The permit we are talking about today does not include that change, but we will be reviewing that.”
Brian Bond, SWEPCO manager of external affairs, also called attention to the design change in the formal comment period, noting that the design is “fully protective of human health and the environment.”
Bond said the company would submit technical applications and supporting data to ADEQ soon.
The design, he said, is in anticipation of standards changes coming from the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The design will incorporate a synthetic liner for both the landfill cells and the leachate collection pond for the system, he said. It replaces a proposed compacted clay liner, and is considered less permeable.
That was the key issue in the hearing Thursday, as only four of the 13 individuals to offer comment for the record opposed the proposed permit.
But, it was an issue which SWEPCO President Venita McCellon-Allen said is a false issue.“Everyone produces waste; all industry produces waste, that is true,” McCellon-Allen noted.
But, she noted that it is agencies such as ADEQ that regulate how that is done because Arkansans recognize generally the need to do so in order to live with “the conveniences of modern life” such as electrical power.
Still, Little Rock resident Robert Walker argued in his comments that Hempstead County officials should investigate the problems of coal ash residue which the plant will have to manage in bulk prior to putting it in the ground.
“I think the mayors and officials should talk to the people of Poteau, Oklahoma, and see what they think about living with it,” Walker said. “Why not ship it back to Wyoming where they get the coal? They've got big holes in the ground up there where the coal came from; they can put it back.”
Rel Corbin, of Little Rock, also warned that while the landfill is within the 100-year flood plain of the Little River, that record was breached with deadly results this past summer in Central Arkansas
.“That was a 100-year flood that drowned a lot of people,” Corbin said. “We need jobs all over Arkansas; but, we don't need these kinds of jobs.”
Larry Brown, of Hope, argued that SWEPCO has changed too many things in its estimates of costs, payrolls, and other matters to accept the idea that an improvement the liner design now will not change later.
But, Hope Mayor Dennis Ramsey and Hope/Hempstead County Chamber of Commerce Director Mark Keith put the central issue back into perspective.
Ramsey noted that the City of Hope has gone through the same process as SWEPCO recently in expanding its own landfill operations, and that in his 30 years of dealing with the state on such issues, he recognizes the level of scrutiny which such permits require, which is part of the reason most people in Southwest Arkansas support the Turk plant.
Keith was more direct.
“Outside of some hunting club members, I can think of only three people locally who are against it,” Keith said. “Probably, 90 percent of local residents support it.”
