Environment: Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times

Long-term health effects after the Mayflower oil spill

David Ramsey — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:31:00 -0500

Lisa Song of InsideClimate News has a great piece today exploring the complicated question of the long-term health impacts of oil spills. The short answer is that we really don't know. There are no clear federal guidelines on what to do when a spill happens in a populated area and it's often left up to local officials to make decisions, with results varying from place to place. Song notes the differences in response to three oil spills in U.S. neighborhoods since 2010, including the Pegasus pipeline in Mayflower.

In Mayflower, Ark. authorities quickly evacuated 22 families after a broken pipeline leaked about 200,000 gallons of heavy crude on March 29, 2013. But people living in the same subdivision, just a few blocks away, were not asked to leave. Neither were the residents of the lakeside community where the oil eventually pooled and where the cleanup continues today.

After each of these spills, people complained of headaches, nausea and respiratory problems—short-term symptoms that health experts say are common after any chemical spill and usually disappear as the air clears.

What health experts don't know, however, is whether the fumes could also trigger long-term health problems that become evident only years or decades later. That gap will be increasingly important, because over the next few years the industry plans to build or expand more than 10,000 miles of oil pipelines—including the Keystone XL.

Despite all the new building, Song notes that "there are no plans to conduct long-term health studies in Mayflower, Marshall or Salt Lake City. There also doesn't appear to be any momentum to set federal guidelines for chemical exposures at oil spills, so health officials will be better equipped for future emergencies."

The article takes a close look at the policy response to the Mayflower spill from state health officials:

In Arkansas, health officials decided that Mayflower residents could return to their subdivision when benzene levels in and around their homes dropped to below 50 ppb. (Most of the 22 evacuated homes have been cleared for re-entry, although none of the families have returned.) But people nearby complained of headaches, nausea and other health problems even after officials announced online that contaminants in the air were "below levels likely to cause health effects for the general population." ...

After oil spills, public health decisions usually fall to county or state officials. In Mayflower, those decisions were made by the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH), which set a benzene threshold of 50 ppb.

Lori Simmons, who heads the agency's environmental epidemiology section, said the ADH calculated that a member of the general public could be exposed to air with up to 50 ppb of benzene for up to six months without long-term health effects.

InsideClimate News tried to compare that 50 ppb guideline with guidelines established by other agencies, but found that it was virtually impossible to make a direct comparison. Some guidelines were designed to protect people from certain health effects but not others. Many, like the ATSDR guidelines, come with disclaimers saying they aren't supposed to be used to define what's safe and not safe.

Song notes that "Arkansas' benzene threshold is also considerably higher than the guidelines used in Alberta, Canada, where the heavy crude oil that spilled in Arkansas and Michigan was extracted."

Read the whole thing.

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Mark Darr: "looks like they've done a good job" on Mayflower cleanup

David Ramsey — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 11:08:00 -0500

KUAR reports on Lieutenant Governor Mark Darr's visit to Mayflower, where he toured cleanup efforts with Mayor Randy Holland.

They say questions persist — like what caused the pipeline to rupture — but both officials seem to echo a sentiment common among many local officials and even some residents who don’t live in the immediate area of the spill: That the area is actually more desirable than it was before the spill and that Exxon has been cooperative.

"To me the clean-up looks like they've done a good job. But I didn't just do that from my visual. I did that from speaking to the mayor, hearing his opinions, local businesses, and also local citizens that they've kind of made this area even better than what it was before. I definitely think there's some unanswered questions, but as far as the clean-up goes it looks like that's been pretty well taken care of," says Darr.

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McDaniel and U.S. Attorney to hold 11 a.m. presser at ADEQ

David Koon — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 09:59:33 -0500

Arkansas Attorney Gen. Dustin McDaniel has scheduled a press conference for 11 a.m. today at the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality HQ in Maumelle, with ADEQ Director Teresa Marks and U.S. Attorney Chris Thyer in attendance.

Could be some fresh environmental hell, but we're betting on Mayflower. We'll update once we know.

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Exxon gets 3rd extension to report on pipe

Leslie Newell Peacock — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 14:09:00 -0500

ExxonMobil has been granted its third extension to provide the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration its analysis of what may have caused the metal in the Pegasus Pipeline to split under a Mayflower neighborhood, spilling 100,000-plus gallons of heavy crude there and into the Lake Conway watershed.

Spokesman Aaron Stryk said the company wants to do more testing in the laboratory and clarify some of the preliminary data that he said has already been supplied to PHMSA. Originally due May 17 and extended to June 7, the report deadline is now July 10. Stryk said ExxonMobil will not release any of the findings until the analysis is complete.

John Tynan, the Watershed Protection Manager with Central Arkansas Water, said CAW asked for but was not provided the preliminary report. CAW and Pulaski County municipalities are concerned about the integrity of the pipeline as it passes by Lake Maumelle, the water supply for 400,000 people, and have begun meeting with ExxonMobil representatives to make sure their concerns are addressed. Tynan said the communication with the company, slow at first, has improved.

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No 'matoes in Bradley Co. for annual Pink Tomato Festival

David Koon — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 12:12:00 -0500

The annual Bradley County Pink Tomato Festival, scheduled for this weekend in Warren, will have crafts, food and music. but few tomatoes, organizers say. A cooperative extension agent told KATV that three April temperature dips delayed the usual harvest time in Bradley County by up to three weeks and stunted what did ripen to "finger food" size. Get thee to the Piggly Wiggly, Warrenites.

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Environmental groups meet with ADEQ on hog-farm permit

David Ramsey — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 17:20:00 -0500

Officials from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality met today with representatives of the Ozark Society, the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, the Arkansas Canoe Club, and the National Parks Conservation Association. The conservation groups have raised complaints about the adequacy of the permit granted to C&H Hog Farm for a hog feeding operation near Big Creek, which flows six miles away into the Buffalo National River. These groups were also part of a coalition that sent a letter of demand to the feds yesterday; a federal lawsuit may be forthcoming.

Hank Bates, a Little Rock lawyer acting as co-counsel for the coalition, asked for the meeting with ADEQ. "We did not go in to the meeting with any specific agenda," he said. "It was really just a chance to sit down and talk about the issues in a very broad sense. We had a free-flowing discussion."

While they "have a fundamental disagreement on the adequacy of the permit application," Bates said that they tried to find "areas we can find common ground on in terms of moving forward both in terms of this specific operation and the future." Bates wasn't willing to go in to much detail but said that the meeting was a success in terms of opening up dialogue.

I asked whether litigation against the state was possible. Bates said "it's an option we're looking at."

The meeting was closed to the public and the media.

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Health problems in Mayflower

David Ramsey — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 11:06:00 -0500

Great report from HuffPost on lingering problems for residents of Mayflower two months after the oil spill.

More than two months after ExxonMobil’s 65-year-old Pegasus pipeline burst and spewed a gusher of thick Canadian tar sands oil through Mayflower, AR, and into a marsh on Lake Conway—the state’s most popular fishing spot—residents are still complaining of health problems and are worried about poisonous impacts on wildlife and the environment. Many locals and some scientists have little faith in the continuous rosy assurances from Exxon and the Unified Command that testing results show the environment is safe and that tar sands oil has not contaminated the lake.

Read the whole thing.

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Exxon report on pipeline break said to be nearing completion

Leslie Newell Peacock — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 10:12:00 -0500

KUAR reports that an unnamed spokesman for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration says ExxonMobil's report to PHMSA on what caused the rupture of the Pegasus pipeline in Mayflower report should be complete soon, but he didn't say when it would be made public.

The report also quotes environmental scientist (and MacArthur Genius Grant winner) Wilma Subra saying there is no evidence to support the state's claim that the bed of Lake Conway is unharmed.

In response to McDaniel’s claim of a relatively unharmed lake bed, Subra says there is no evidence to support such a claim and that her analysis and independent testing shows the presence of harmful chemicals associated with the "fingerprint" of the oil that spilled from the Pegasus Pipeline.

Subra said, "Well, if they want to tell us there's not very much down there they need to perform the sampling in the water column and demonstrate that it's not there."

If the oil has reached the bottom, as was the case in a tar sands spill along the Kalamazoo River, she says it presents a new set of ecological, public health, and clean-up challenges. It also brings into question the methodology and reporting of information concerning health factors in Mayflower.

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Oil spill in Fort Smith

Lindsey Millar — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 16:36:00 -0500

Workers with the energy utility Oklahoma Gas and Electric discovered a mineral oil spill at a utility substation in Fort Smith on Saturday, 40/29 reports. OGE said about 16,000 gallons spilled. A spokesperson from the EPA said it hasn't confirmed how far the oil has spread, but knows it's gone at least three miles downhill from the substation. Crews were working on a nearby creek today.

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CAW considers Lake Maumelle marina lease renewals

David Ramsey — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 11:11:00 -0500

Central Arkansas Water is seeking public comment on two leases up for renewal in the Lake Maumelle watershed — Jolly Roger's Marina and the Grande Maumelle Sailing Club at Lake Maumelle. A survey on the decisions can be accessed here.

After the jump, a letter from CAW Watershed Protection Manager John Tynan on the lease renewals and the public survey.

Lake Maumelle Watershed Stakeholders,

As you may know, Central Arkansas Water is evaluating the renewal of the leases for Jolly Roger’s Marina and the Grande Maumelle Sailing Club at Lake Maumelle. As part of the renewal process and our commitment to collaboration regarding watershed projects, we have created a survey that will allow us to solicit feedback from the community regarding the marinas, their operation, and their relationship to watershed protection.

The survey will give the users of the marinas and the larger community an opportunity to provide input and suggestions as to how CAW may continuously improve our watershed protection efforts, particularly those that relate to recreational access and use of Lake Maumelle. The results of the survey will assist CAW in development of the lease renewals.

The survey can be accessed at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WH36KSD.

Please feel free to share this email and link with others that have an interest in these issues. Please contact me if you have any questions or comments regarding this survey or the marina lease renewal process.

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Quorum Court seeking applicants for Lake Maumelle watershed task force

David Ramsey — Thu, 30 May 2013 18:40:00 -0500

A land-use ordinance restricting development in the Lake Maumelle watershed is set to go into effect in April of 2014 (with a moratorium on various forms of development in place in the mean time), but various stakeholders are hoping to come up with an alternative plan.

An amendment from JP Tyler Denton established a task force to once again hash out the various issues surrounding watershed protection and make recommendations for possible changes to the ordinance. Denton is hoping to get 20-30 (!) individuals to serve on the task force, representing various constituencies, including landowners, environmentalists, business interests, and others (Deltic Timber, which owns more than 10,000 acres of land in the watershed, is the biggest stakeholder of all). Here's a press release on the task force and here's the application for those interested in serving on it.

“This is a good opportunity for the community and all the stakeholders who didn’t like the initial watershed management plan to roll up their sleeves and work for a better plan,” Denton said. Some environmentalists have complained that the ordinance does not go far enough to protect the watershed, while landowners have griped that they are getting a raw deal.

Pulaski County Judge Buddy Villines said that he believed that the ordinance as it stands already "does what we've set out to do, which is protect our drinking water and to be as fair to the property owners as we can." He pointed out that the debate — and attempts at compromise — have been ongoing for years, and the ordinance as written has periodic review and opportunities for amendments. "I don’t have any problem at all with folks getting together and looking at this," he said. "My biggest concern is that they don’t forget that our primary role and responsibility is to protect the drinking water of 400,000 people in central Arkansas. And if they come back and want to reduce those protections, then I’ll have a serious problem.”

For his part, Denton seems to be focused on the process and building consensus rather than any specific policy complaints about the ordinance. "I'm optimistic that the Quorum Court has seen a light at the end of the tunnel for finally putting this behind us," he said. "I'm optimistic that this doesn't have to be such a heated, partisan activity. I'm confident that with community input from the bottom up that we can come up with a process that will make everybody happy. And if we can't, at least we tried."

Denton tapped Tom Riley, a conflict resolution expert from the University of Arkansas, to facilitate the process. If the discussion follows a similar path to the last few years, Riley will have his hands full.

In any case, the task-force recommendations will be non-binding and would have to go through the Planning board and the Quorum Court. Otherwise, the ordinance as is will be implemented in a little less than a year.

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As the world warms: Arkansas leaders want it hotter

Max Brantley — Tue, 28 May 2013 09:11:46 -0500

Another good column by Ernie Dumas this week, this based on the lightly reported finding at a weather station in Hawaii of the highest atmospheric readings of carbon dioxide in three million years.

The climate deniers, Dumas notes, say we should cheer a warmer planet — the melting ice cap, rising oceans, wild weather swings notwithstanding. Arkansas leads the way in the wrong direction.

In case people might be getting the wrong idea from all the climate news, Randy Zook, president of the State Chamber of Commerce [there he goes again], wrote a piece for the Democrat Gazette last week warning that terrible damage was about to be inflicted on Arkansas by the Environmental Protection Agency, which wants to cap carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants. The U. S. Supreme Court said years ago that the Clean Air act obliged government to regulate greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, and the proposed EPA rules on new source performance standards for carbon-based power is the first anemic effort.

Nearly everywhere in the U.S. except Arkansas utilities and government have scaled back coal-based power development. The EPA rules won’t discommode a single Arkansas homeowner or business, but Zook warned that we will no longer have electricity that we can afford.

Our congressman Tim Griffin, deterred only briefly by the ExxonMobil tar-sands pipeline catastrophe in the heart of his district, rejoined the effort to get the president to approve the giant tar-sands pipeline across the heart of the country, which would enable Canada to develop its tar sands and give the biggest impetus yet to global warming. Griffin was elected by $220,000 of carbon-industry money, including $4,000 from Exxon Mobil, but the entire Arkansas congressional delegation joins him. All six also join the oil and coal industries in opposing the EPA rules.

The unstated argument is that electricity costs might go up a little and that our prosperity should not suffer a whit to preserve a healthy planet for our great-grandchildren. The great search of our time is for a moral philosophy to justify selfishness.

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If only Arkansas had a big beer industry

Max Brantley — Fri, 24 May 2013 12:30:00 -0500

I heard this on NPR this morning and wondered if Jason Rapert would trade fracking for seven or eight of the world's biggest breweries.

I would.

From The Telegraph:

German brewers have warned Chancellor Angela Merkel that any law allowing the controversial drilling technique known as fracking could damage the country's cherished beer industry.

The Brauer-Bund beer association is worried that fracking for shale gas, which involves pumping water and chemicals at high pressure into the ground, could pollute water used for brewing and break a 500-year-old industry rule on water purity.

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Whirlpool sued over groundwater pollution near Fort Smith plant

Max Brantley — Thu, 23 May 2013 11:58:00 -0500

Fort Smith residents have filed a lawsuit over chemical contamination of the groundwater in the neighborhood of Whirlpool's now-closed refrigerator factory in Fort Smith.

Here's some good background from The City Wire, a Northwest Arkansas digital news site. It recently reported:

Documents reviewed by The City Wire show Fort Smith city officials knew about Whirlpool's plan to request a groundwater well ban as early as June of last year and that Whirlpool may not have been forthcoming with the city or the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality about its request.

Whirlpool finally disclosed the situation because it wanted the ordinance, since pulled down, as an aid to selling the site.

Details on the lawsuit follow:

NEWS RELEASE

Fort Smith, AR (May 23, 2013) — Residents and landowners of the neighborhood north of the former Whirlpool facility in Fort Smith, Arkansas filed suit today in Sebastian County Circuit Court. The two suits seek damages from Whirlpool for the harm caused by a trichloroethylene (TCE) plume emanating from the facility.

The suits allege that Whirlpool used TCE at the facility beginning in 1967 to clean appliances prior to painting. Documents submitted to the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality by Whirlpool’s environmental consultant show the TCE plume extends to the subsurface below dozens of properties. The suits further allege that Whirlpool discovered TCE below its facility in the 1980s, but that property owners did not learn of the TCE plume until January of 2013, when Whirlpool proposed a city ordinance to ban drinking water wells in the neighborhood.

TCE is a volatile organic compound. Industrial users have historically used it as a solvent. It is a known carcinogen that can cause adverse impacts to human health and the environment. TCE can break down into harmful daughter products, such as vinyl chloride, after it is released to the environment.

Counsel for the plaintiffs include Sam Ledbetter and Ross Noland of McMath Woods P.A. in Little Rock, and Rick Woods of Taylor Law Partners, LLP in Fayetteville. McMath Woods P.A. represents clients in environmental and personal injury cases. Taylor Law Partners is a general litigation firm comprised of experienced trial attorneys who represent clients at both the trial and appellate levels.

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ExxonMobil has a plan for Lake Maumelle watershed

Max Brantley — Wed, 22 May 2013 17:00:00 -0500

The line is open.

Leslie Newell Peacock hopes to follow directly with a little something about a meeting today of Little Rock, Central Arkansas Water, ExxonMobil and other people over the Pegasus pipeline that runs through 18 miles of CAW's watershed, including along the shore of Lake Maumelle, the region's water supply. This was in response to a request from Mayor Mark Stodola for a little overdue info.

Among other things, the company has at long last come up with some ideas to better assure water drinkers about the safety of their supply. Leslie is getting a copy of the report. Somehow, I don't think it includes moving the aging line — currently not operating after it spilled Canadian tar sands crude all over a Mayflower neighborhood and wetlands near Lake Conway. ExxonMobil says it's still waiting, after several months, for the findings of an internal study of the structural condition of the aging line, more than 60 years old.

Back to you for the open line.

UPDATE: As of 6 p.m., CAW had not sent over the report. According to Mayor Stodola, who met with me after the unpublicized meeting, Exxon representatives said they had not had time to read the letter jointly sent them by Sens. Pryor and Boozman, Rep. Tim Griffin, Stodola and NLR Mayor Joe Smith, County Judge Buddy Villines and CAW chairperson Carmen Smith as "Lake Maumelle Governmental Shareholders." The letter asks Exxon to, among other things, take immediate action to analyze the integrity of the pipeline that crosses the Lake Maumelle watershed and "provide assurances that the pipeline is safe for operation" prior to the restart of the Pegasus line.

Stodola said he asked the Exxon officials, now represented by Bill Paschall of Paschall Strategic Communications, why the company had not gotten around to installing a third valve in the line in the watershed that CAW requested in 2010. Stodola said they claimed they were going to get around to it this summer, but they can't now, of course, because the pipeline is shut down.

Exxon told Stodola that it does aerial surveys of the pipeline in the Maumelle area twice a week, and walks the pipeline once every three years. The area is rugged and remote in places and the "shareholders" are concerned that should there be a break, Exxon could not shut down the pipes and get to the break before all of Central Arkansas's drinking water is fouled by Canadian crude.

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Morning report: ExxonMobil caught; city directors get big pay raise; the return of Ken Starr

Max Brantley — Wed, 22 May 2013 06:25:00 -0500

The morning report:

* EXXON MOBILE CAUGHT MASSAGING MAYFLOWER SPILL DAMAGE: Interesting post on Daily Kos about documents obtained by Greenpeace through a Freedom of Information Act to the state Department of Environmental Quality.

According to the post, which provides links to the documents, ExxonMobil initially wrote a news release in early April claiming both Lake Conway and a cove that is connected to the lake were oil free. The cove, indisputably, received Canadian tar sands crude from the burst ExxonMobil Pegasus pipeline. Conduits connecting the cove and the lake have been blocked. Exxon amended the news release after objections from ADEQ. To say the cove is not Lake Conway, as Exxon has tried to do, is a stretch, as Attorney General Dustin McDaniel has already pointed out. Emails also show reports from Exxon on benzene found in both the cove and the lake.

* TAR SANDS? WHAT TAR SANDS?: With the Mayflower spill standing as ugly testimony to the perils of pipelining, U.S. Rep. Tiny Tim Griffin of Koch Energy is rallying for House passage of the Keystone XL pipeline, an environmentally disastrous project through America's heartland designed mainly to help the Koch billionaires move dirty, problematic tar sands to refineries for export. Its a nominal economic benefit. It's fraught with peril to the Nebraska aquifer. Canadian provinces have refused to approve pipelines over THEIR land. But Tiny Tim thinks it's just great for the US of A, because he's wholly beholden to the Kochs, whose tar sand folly has produced a mountain of nasty byproduct in Detroit.

Meanwhile, Inside Climate News reports on Exxon's slow moving on reopening the Pegasus pipeline. Hints at questions about the line's integrity.

* LITTLE ROCK CITY DIRECTORS GET 75 PERCENT PAY RAISE: Little Rock city directors last night raised their pay from $12,000 to $21,000 a year, a 75 percent increase. I know, they technically raised pay $6,000 and gave themselves $3,000 a year for "expenses." But since no expense itemization is required and the money is paid in a regular lump sum, it's treated as ordinary income. A director need spend not a single cent on city service to claim the money. They got a $9,000 annual pay raise.

* 'BILL KELLER IS OUT OF HIS FLIPPIN' MIND": That's how Gene Lyons appropriately labeled a note with this link to a column by Bill Keller, former executive editor of the New York Times. He wants a special investigator to look into the IRS controversy.

The list of candidates could start with Kenneth Starr, who chased down the scandals, real and imagined, of the Clinton presidency

Yes, and Hick Ewing and Jackie Bennett, too. And the rest of the snipe hunting pussy posse. A reader of the Times commented, "Is this from The Onion?"

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Escaping traffic in America: The remotest place in Arkansas

Max Brantley — Tue, 21 May 2013 23:22:00 -0500

From up East comes a link from a former Arkie about a website, Remote Footprints. What is it?

Remote Footprints is an idea rooted in our concern that the remoteness of the natural landscape is still continually diminishing despite America’s best efforts to preserve its public wildlands. We have discovered that the U.S. road network fills the national landscape so fully, that it is no longer possible to be more than 5 miles from a road within the vast majority of the conterminous 48 United States. The number of roads continually increases, even within many conservation lands. Opportunities for humans to “get away from it all” are all but gone outside Alaska. The roaring sound of roads, light pollution on the horizon, or line of sight views of civilization are next to impossible to avoid. The mental and physical health of a culture farther and farther removed from the natural world is at stake and worth saving. We have developed a unique and exciting approach to preserving remote and roadless areas, called Project Remote, and we invite you to browse our website to learn more about the problem and solutions for preserving America’s famed remoteness.

OK, that's all touchy feely. Here's the specific angle. Project Remote is aimed at identifying the most remote spot in each of the 50 states. Arkansas has already been visited. The remote spot is in the Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge in South Arkansas. (My cousin Jewell, late of Huttig, Ark., would be thrilled. He loved to take any and all fishing down in the wetlands.)

In addition to the YouTube of a trip to the spot, there's an extensive post with more photos, including this from a visit by canoe to the putative remotest Arkansas spot in November 2011:

The river floodplain swamp forest comes alive at night. Barred owls ”who-aw” back and forth. A coyote pack yelps wildly. A few arboreal insects are still calling despite the onset of winter. All night, we enjoy the sounds of Southeastern wildness. However, there is one unwelcome sound. US 82 roars constantly through the night, and dominates the other sounds, despite being nearly 3 miles away. This blows our minds. We had no idea that one could hear a road, and quite loudly, from such a distance. This is an eye-opener for us and provides further motivation for conducting Project Remote.

I'm thinking the website's standard for remoteness, distance from a road, doesn't fairly take into account some spots in the vast timbered stretches of both the Ouachitas and Ozarks. They may be right by a forest road, but traffic doesn't come along too often. Still, food for thought. Quietest place I ever traveled by road was the vast desert along the so-called Extraterrestrial Highway (for its proximity to Area 54) between Las Vegas and Carson City. You could hear nothing but wind. Below is their road coverage map of the state.

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A call for Buffalo River protection on float, hog farm tour

Max Brantley — Tue, 21 May 2013 09:41:00 -0500

State legislators have an interesting twofer today and tomorrow — a Buffalo River float trip and a visit to a mass hog feeding operation that conservationists fear holds peril for the pristine national river. Hosts will include the Arkansas Farm Bureau and agri-giant Cargill.

A news release follows from the National Parks Conservation Association, one of several groups that have criticized an inadequate permitting process for the C&H Hog Farm at Mount Judea, which will house 6,500 pigs for Cargill. It says, in part:

By forcing a permit through that has tremendous holes with a lack of adequate public input, these agencies have endangered our treasured landscape and the livelihoods of many individuals — including the owners of C & H. The organizations concerned about the impact of C & H are pro-farm, but we are also pro-Buffalo National River, and the threat to the nation’s first national river is real.

Don Nelms, the environmentalist business tycoon/photographer who watches over the Buffalo River from a bluff-top home above Jasper, is urging a demonstration of river advocates at lunch Wednesday in Jasper. Earlier, we posted his photo slideshow on the issue. He sent the artwork above with the following message:

Until Cargill acknowledges that they made a mistake and rectify their mistake, there will continue to be a large hog farm in the Buffalo National River watershed.

Cargill is hosting a luncheon for the Arkansas Senate and House Agriculture Committees at the Ozark Café on Wednesday, May 22, in Jasper. This would be a perfect time for you to send a message to Cargill. If everyone would show up on the square of Jasper by about 10:30 and protest until the legislators leave around 1 o'clock, I think it would have a profound effect on the disposition of this whole issue.

Cargill thinks they're going to just wait this thing out and that the people voicing opposition to their locating this hog farm in Newton County are just a bunch of wacko environmentalists. Let's prove them wrong. Let's show them that the opposition comes from all walks of life.

NEWS RELEASE

Groups Urge Continued Focus on Faulty Permitting Process for Factory Hog Farm Near Buffalo National River

Background: On May 21 and 22, Arkansas state legislators will tour C & H Hog Farms, which was approved through an inadequate permitting process that did not factor in the potential for numerous environmental and health impacts to the region and Buffalo National River. The agencies that approved the loan and permit for the factory farm failed to consult with the National Park Service or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is charged with protecting endangered species in the region. Local residents could face health impacts, along with a constant unpleasant odor, due to exposure to ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, and methane. Additionally, the farm's Nutrient Management Plan (NMP) contained significant errors, omissions and misrepresentations, which were highlighted in a letter to the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality last week, urging them to revoke the permit. The letter and associated attachments can be found here: http://buffaloriveralliance.org/Default.aspx?pageId=1558368

Statement by Michael Dougherty, President of the Buffalo River Chamber of Commerce and Member of the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance

“As state legislators prepare to tour C & H Hog Farms, the National Parks Conservation Association, Ozark Society, Buffalo River Watershed Alliance and Arkansas Canoe Club urge that the focus remain on the faulty permitting process that has allowed this industrial hog factory to proceed. The presence of this concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) in the Buffalo River Watershed continues to cause an uproar throughout the state and endangers the local economy, America's first national river — the Buffalo, as well as the quality of life for thousands of surrounding residents.

“The individuals who are set to operate C & H were put into an unfortunate position by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) and USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA). The situation we have now is a result of a failed permitting process, and Cargill — the international agri-giant who will supply the hogs — and the agencies involved should be working toward a resolution that pleases everyone. By forcing a permit through that has tremendous holes with a lack of adequate public input, these agencies have endangered our treasured landscape and the livelihoods of many individuals — including the owners of C & H. The organizations concerned about the impact of C & H are pro-farm, but we are also pro-Buffalo National River, and the threat to the nation’s first national river is real.

“Buffalo National River brought over 1 million visitors to the region, who supported roughly $38 million in economic activity in 2011. Visitors spend money in our stores. They rent our vacation homes. They eat in our restaurants. They fish and kayak in our river. The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality and USDA's Farm Service Agency owe it to the people of Arkansas and to the residents who depend on this river to show the true impacts of this factory farm through an open and transparent process. We’re calling on Cargill, ADEQ and the federal government to make this right.”

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New study finds no water contamination by fracking in Arkansas

Max Brantley — Thu, 16 May 2013 14:24:00 -0500

A study by Duke University and U.S. Geological Survey participants has found no contamination of Arkansas groundwater by gas exploration using hydraulic fracturing.

The scientists sampled 127 shallow drinking water wells in the Fayetteville shale exploration region

Duke scientists had earlier found some contamination in the shale zone in Pennsylvania.

"The hydrogeology of Arkansas's Fayetteville Shale basin is very different from Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale," [Avner] Vengosh noted. Far from contradicting the earlier studies, the Arkansas study "suggests that variations in local and regional geology play major roles in determining the possible risk of groundwater impacts from shale gas development. As such, they must be taken into consideration before drilling begins."

Faulty drilling techniques also still hold the potential to cause problems, the scientists said.

"The take-home message is that regardless of the location, systematic monitoring of geochemical and isotopic tracers is necessary for assessing possible groundwater contamination," he said. "Our findings in Arkansas are important, but we are still only beginning to evaluate and understand the environmental risks of shale gas development. Much more research is needed."

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Michigan pipeline whistleblower John Bolenbaugh visits Mayflower

David Koon — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:15:00 -0500

Citizen journalist John Bolenbaugh, the Michigan oil-spill-clean-up-worker-turned-whistleblower-turned tar-sands gadfly, spent the last week in Mayflower, chatting with residents, documenting what he saw on video, and attempting to see the ongoing spill clean-up himself.

Bolenbaugh worked on cleanup following a July 2010 rupture of an Enbridge pipeline near Marshall, Michigan that sent over a million gallons of heavy tar sands oil flowing into the Kalamazoo River. He was fired in October 2010 by Enbridge subcontractor SET Environmental after, he says, he refused to hide and cover up evidence of oil contamination. He later filed a whistleblower lawsuit over his firing, and settled out of court for an undisclosed sum in April 2012. Since then, Bolenbaugh has become an activist against tar sands oil, visiting spill sites and documenting what he sees while doing follow-up reports on the Kalamazoo River clean up. Bolenbaugh said he has spent over $35,000 of his own money traveling and documenting pipeline spills.

"This is my calling," he said. "This is what I feel my purpose in life is now: to travel around and give speeches and document tar sands spills. I've seen the devastation first hand of what tar sands oil can do to a community."

During his time in Arkansas, Bolenbaugh said he was followed several times by local police, something he managed to capture on video on at least one occasion, confronting an officer in a Faulkner Country Sheriff's Department patrol car who tailed him into a parking lot. As seen in the video, the officer in the car refused to roll down his window or talk to Bolenbaugh when Bolenbaugh confronted him to ask why he was being followed.

Bolenbaugh, who said he has several relatives currently working on pipeline projects, said that he isn't an anti-oil.

"I'm not against oil. People need to understand that. I'm a Union member, that works on oil pipelines. I'm not against oil, and I'm not against working on an oil pipeline job. I'm against tar sands."

Bolenbaugh said Mayflower residents he spoke with are upset, and don't believe that ExxonMobil has been telling them the truth about the spill cleanup or the potential health effects.

"The residents are pissed," he said. "Exxon, of course, is doing their little PR campaign that everything is fine. One lady was really mad because all the kids were sick and puking at school, and they didn't evacuate the school." Bolenbaugh said he has been diagnosed with migraines, dizziness, headaches, blood in his urine and kidney dysfunction, all of which he attributes to his time as a tar sands oil cleanup worker. He added that residents of the area should consider seeking legal representation, and should avoid signing any settlements with ExxonMobil, even if they're feeling fine now.

"People have to realize that these chemicals sometimes take up to a year before you'll even see signs that you are getting sick," he said. "What Exxon and Enbridge and all these companies do, they'll have people sign off, they'll give them two or $3,000 dollars or less, and then they say: 'sign this document that clears us from all future lawsuits. Basically you have settled with us.' The issue with that is, people will have major medical bills in the future, or maybe the kids who breathe these chemicals in, maybe ten years in the future, they get cancer."

To see more video shot by Bolenbaugh during his time in Mayflower, visit his Youtube page or his HELPPA.org Facebook page.

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The forgotten in Exxon County, Arkansas

Max Brantley — Thu, 16 May 2013 11:39:00 -0500

The Northwood subdivision in Mayflower has gotten most of the attention in the Canadian tar sands crude spill that flowed from a ruptured ExxonMobil pipeline. But those property owners are not alone with claims of damage from the oil spill and airborne chemicals and damage in the cleanup effort itself.

One is Diane Wilson, who lives nearby and who says her repeated efforts to get corrective action from Exxon officials have been futile. She writes and supplies the photos here, which were taken from the front door of her home:

I live on Joseph Road. Most people don’t know this road is there. We are off the I-40 service road on Joseph Road. ExxonMobil has been using Joseph Road to access the spill at Dawson Cove. We are that close to the spill yet no one came to evacuate the area. We knew something happened because the odor was so strong we were all sick. We didn’t know if it was a gas leak in town or a wreck on the interstate until the next day.

We watched as the mass of people came down our one-lane gravel road with equipment and vehicles. It felt like an invasion. I have never been afraid of an occupation. Now I know how it feels. ExxonMobil blocked off my road from my neighbors and would not let me down the street I live on. I was backed down my own road to allow huge equipment the right of way. The roads are so rutted it is hard to travel. I have no property value now because of the stigma attached to the oil spill and our proximity to it. ExxonMobil workers blocked both my drives to my house three times. Workers vehicles lined my road and strangers came and went 24/7.

Everything is slowing down now. There is not as much traffic on my road in front of my house. The road is contaminated from ExxonMobil driving equipment out of the spill in the wetland and down my road before the wash stations were built. The deer and turkey, all the wildlife, are gone. ExxonMobil’s newsletter says everything is almost cleaned up and they will leave the area as it was before. All I see is a mud hole and rutted and ruined roads. My once quaint beautiful neighborhood carries the stigma of being at the oil spill.

Can anyone tell us what the plan is? So much attention has been paid the Northwood Subdivision and understandably so, but we would like a little information as well. What about OUR property value, what about our cove and wetland area? What is the end game? The plan?

ExxonMobil did not mind using our road, our neighborhood for their access to the spill, but they sure don’t want to acknowledge any responsibility to the residents.

Diane Wilson
46 Joseph Road
Mayflower

I've sent some questions about Wilson's complaint to the Exxon PR team. (Coincidentally, Benji Hardy who blogs for the Legislative Digest has a post up about the nearly non-existent state response to pipeline damage and peril, a notable exception being Attorney General Dustin McDaniel.)

UPDATE: A response from Amber Gardner of Exxon's PR team:

Per your inquiry below, we regret that this incident has occurred and apologize for any disruption and inconvenience that it has caused. Property owners along the Cove are able to address any harm they feel they have incurred due to the spill through the claims process. We will continue to honor all valid claims.

Any damage to roads or property owners' landscaping by our cleanup operations will be repaired. We have been in direct communication with Ms. Wilson and we are working to address her specific concerns.

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Buffalo River Watershed Alliance asks revocation of hog farm permit

Max Brantley — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:33:37 -0500

The Buffalo River Watershed Alliance and others have written to Teresa Marks, director of the state Department of Environmental Quality, asking her to revoke the permit issued for the C&H factory hog farm at Mount Judea, near a major tributary to the Buffalo River.

The letter says Marks had once said she'd revoke the permit if significant errors were found in the application.

The Alliance, at this link, lists in some detail what it believes to be significant shortcomings. To name but one, the Alliance says an environmental assessment by the Farm Services Administration had "45 significant errors, misstatements, inaccuracies and other problems." Among others, the National Park Service was not notified about the hog feeding operation — which will produce waste from 6,500 pigs — and excluded from the assessment of impact despite the farm's presence in the national river's watershed.

Little Rock lawyer Hank Bates sent the letter in behalf of the Alliance, the Ozark Society, the National Parks Conservation Association and the Arkansas Canoe Club. His letter specifically objects to the nutrient management plan. It says the plan calls for spreading hog waste laden with phosphorous onto fields that already have more phosphorous than they need. Inevitably, rain will put the phosphorous into the streams, which will produce algae and alter the Buffalo River ecosystem.

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UPDATE: Pipeline Safety Office continues shutdown order on entire ExxonMobil Pegasus pipeline

Max Brantley — Tue, 14 May 2013 17:25:00 -0500

Thanks to Arkansas Blog reader Radical Centrist for some crowd sourcing. He gave us a headsup on a May 10 finding by the Office of Pipeline Safety related to its review of the pipeline break at Mayflower March 29 that spilled tar sands crude on a residential neighborhood and nearby wetlands. Here's the document.

Bottom line from a quick scan: It confirms an April 2 corrective action order that the entire ExxonMobil Pegasus pipeline remain shut down until "certain" corrective actions are taken. A safety hazard would otherwise exist. ExxonMobil had argued that a southern portion of the pipeline, about 200 miles from Corsicana to Nederland, Texas, was constructed later (most of it in 1954 but a shorter section in 1973) of different materials and should be exempt from the order. The Pipeline Office said, however, that other factors were considered in covering the entire line with the order, including the age of the line, the lack of results from a 2013 inspection, the change of direction of the pipeline flow in 2006, the proxmity of the line to heavy populations and environmentally sensitive areas and the uncertainty of the cause of the break. "Integrity concerns" exist about the type of pipe used in both sections of the line, the letter said. The letter expressed concerns, too, about the sufficiency of tests for "seam integrity." Photos of the ruptured pipe in Mayflower (see photo above supplied by the Duncan Law Firm) have suggested to some that a split seam was at the root of the break. The letter said it did not appear so far that the nature of the crude carried in the line caused the break through corrosion. ExxonMobil hadn't asked for an end to the order shutting down the 648-mile stretch north from Corsicana through Arkansas to Illinois while the cause of the break is studied.

The letter notes that the line was operating below maximum pressure when it ruptured and that the company was alerted to the break by a drop in pressure. The letter said it took 16 minutes to shut the line down at valves 18 miles apart after that pressure drop was noticed. The cause of the break remains undetermined so far, the letter notes. It says 3,500 to 5,000 barrels of oil were released.

If earlier reporting on the original Pipeline Safety order holds, ExxonMobil will have to win approval of a restart plan for the entire pipeline before it can again move crude through the line.

UPDATE: I sought a comment from ExxonMobil. This came in:

Per your inquiry below, ExxonMobil Pipeline Company (EMPCo) can confirm that we have received PHMSA’s post-hearing decision on EMPCo’s request for clarification of the Corrective Action Order (CAO) regarding the Pegasus pipeline. EMPCo requested a hearing on the CAO to better understand PHMSA’s restart plan requirements.

Any restart of these lines will comply with the CAO and the operating pressures will not exceed 80% of the actual operating pressures in effect immediately prior to the failure. We will not restart the pipeline until both the relevant government authorities and we are convinced it is safe to do so.

Kind regards,
Amber

Amber Gardner
ExxonMobil Pipeline Company
Public and Government Affairs Advisor

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McDaniel announces air test results in Mayflower oil spill homes

Max Brantley — Thu, 09 May 2013 14:19:00 -0500

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel today announced results of air tests in 14 homes in Mayflower in the area of spill of Canadian tar sands crude from the ruptured ExxonMobil Pegasus pipeline.

He said air quality in 13 of the home could not be expected to cause short-term health harm. But he said the Health Department, which reviewed the independently gathered sampling data, found an "indeterminate" public health hazard in one home. Further testing was recommended for the unoccupied home.

None of the data indicates a long-term health risk, McDaniel's release said. However:

McDaniel said he remained concerned over reports from area residents who have experienced headaches and nausea. His office will continue monitoring air quality, including in other residences affected by the spill, like those near the “cove” area of Lake Conway.

Also today: members of the Remember Mayflower Coalition traveled to Washington to make a symbolic delivery of a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry urging him to visit Mayflower and see damage there before approving a route for the Keystone XL pipeline.

NEWS RELEASE

LITTLE ROCK — Attorney General Dustin McDaniel today continued to provide information and resources to the people of Arkansas related to the Mayflower oil spill, adding a toll-free hotline and releasing air-quality findings based on samples his office has collected.

“Today, I am posting on my website the initial air-quality findings from residences in the Northwoods subdivision in Mayflower,” McDaniel said. “I also have created a toll-free hotline specifically for spill-related consumer concerns.”

The hotline number is (855) 388-6555.

The Attorney General’s Office conducted indoor air sampling in 14 homes in the Northwoods subdivision, at the request of subdivision residents. The results were generally consistent with findings from air sampling and monitoring completed by other entities.

The Arkansas Department of Health reviewed the data from the AG’s independent sampling, and determined that, in 13 of the 14 homes, “breathing the indoor air is not expected to harm people’s short-term health.” However, ADH stated that there is an “indeterminate” public health hazard at one of the homes. The Department recommended further testing at that residence after remediation work is completed in order to determine whether the home should be reoccupied. It has not been occupied since the spill.

ADH said none of the air-quality data demonstrate a risk to long-term health of affected residents.

McDaniel said he remained concerned over reports from area residents who have experienced headaches and nausea. His office will continue monitoring air quality, including in other residences affected by the spill, like those near the “cove” area of Lake Conway.

The ADH report is posted on a page of the Attorney General’s website dedicated specifically to providing consumers with information about the oil spill, www.ArkansasAG.gov/oilspill.

“Mayflower residents are rightly concerned about the effects of this oil spill on their property and their well-being,” McDaniel said. “My office will assist consumers in any way it can, whether through my Health Care Bureau addressing concerns related to the carcinogens released into the air, or my Consumer Protection Division making sure residents don’t fall victim to door-to-door sales scams.”

The new hotline will connect consumers directly to a member of McDaniel’s Mayflower Consumer Response Team, which he created to focus on issues being raised by area residents directly impacted by the March 29 spill.

McDaniel encouraged any Arkansan who has concerns, questions or a consumer complaint related to the spill to call the hotline or send an email to OilSpill@ArkansasAG.gov. He also requested that anyone with photographs or video taken the day of the spill or thereafter to email those images to OilSpill@ArkansasAG.gov.

Both the hotline and email address will provide consumers with direct access to the Mayflower Consumer Response Team.

Mayflower Consumer Response Hotline: (855) 388-6555
Email: OilSpill@ArkansasAG.gov
On the web: www.ArkansasAG.gov/oilspill

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Mayflower becomes a powerful symbol

Max Brantley — Wed, 08 May 2013 10:49:00 -0500

The Mayflower pipeline break that showered Canadian tar sands on a nice neighborhood and adjoining wetlands has had an undeniable political benefit to pipeline skeptics. Don't believe it? See how non-stop pipeline supporter Rep. Tim Griffin has suddenly become a protector of the damaged people of Mayflower against ExxonMobil (though he remains quite deferential to the oil colossus).

Groups fighting the Keystone XL pipeline have certainly moved to take advantage. A coalition fighting that dangerous line is supporting a Mayflower group that plans to deliver a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry asking him to visit Mayflower before making a decision on Keystone XL's route through the U.S. The Remember Mayflower Coalition, which includes people affected by the spill, will meet the press at the State Department in Washington tomorrow morning. They'll be joined by Jane Kleeb, Executive Director of Bold Nebraska and member of the “All Risk, No Reward” Coalition, which is assisting in Mayflower organizing.

And who is the All Risk Coalition? I was told today by a spokesman that it includes the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, League of Women Voters, Indigenous Environmental Network, Bold Nebraska, Keystone XL Truthforce, STOP Tarsands, Sandhills Beef, Nebraska Farmers Union, Nebraska Interfaith Power and Light, League of Women Voters Nebraska, and Dakota Rural Action.

A shoutout, by the way, to Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, at last finding his consumer protection chops against a multinational energy company. I mentioned his press conference yesterday. But good for him that it is not enough to say, as Exxon's flaks have, that dangerous chemicals in the air are below actionable levels. Carcinogens have still been found. Should homeowners take comfort that they are not at demonstrably hazardous levels? Can you only be a little bit pregnant? His press for full and easier compensation for all affected by the spill is also likely to be a popular sentiment. Are you not directly impacted if your whole neighborhood stinks of crude oil?

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