Arkansas Blog

According to the Arkansas Leader, Sen. Bobby Glover, D-Carlisle, will introduce a bill in the next legislative session that would give cities and counties a say in the permitting process that allows private companies to store and dispose of waste produced from natural gas drilling in the state.  Currently municipalities and county governments have no say in the matter.  Just ask the citiziens of Prairie County who are up in arms over a proposed waste site currently awaiting a permit from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality.  The only thing the county can do right now is issue a weight limit on all the trucks that will be traveling along the county's narrow roads.  Of course, this isn't the best solution as it will impact local farmers in the area as well.  If the diposal site is approved, one truck carrying gas drilling waste will be going down Prairie County roads every 12 minutes.  ADEQ has no authority to place restrictions on the number of trucks using the roads and citizens are concerned they'll be left to foot the bill when they begin to deteriorate. 

In other gas-related news, it looks like falling natural gas prices might have an impact on the amount of money the state is likely to raise from an increase in severance taxes on natural gas extraction.  Head over to the Shale Watch blog for more info on this and related issues.