A Giant Step Backward For Arkansas Water Quality; Hb1929

[bfishn]

It seems the bill was presented to the Legistature by the "Arkansas Environmental Federation".

From the Koch Companies own words;

"Over years of support of environmental initiatives, Koch companies have partnered with a
number of organizations for stewardship projects and educational initiatives:
...
...
...
Arkansas Environmental Federation
...
...
..."

Look's like my initial hunch was spot-on, and the smell of rat still lingers.

[Tim Smith]

It seems the bill was presented to the Legistature by the "Arkansas Environmental Federation".

From the Koch Companies own words;

"Over years of support of environmental initiatives, Koch companies have partnered with a

number of organizations for stewardship projects and educational initiatives:

...

...

...

Arkansas Environmental Federation

...

...

..."

Look's like my initial hunch was spot-on, and the smell of rat still lingers.

Ok. You're saying except for watersheds named as "non-drinking water" on pages 41-44 of Regulation 2 the de facto standard has been the drinking water standard. The bill reverses that de facto standard to "non-drinking water" and then almost guarantees a 5 year wait while data is collected to allow any enforcement could occur. I suppose most of the affected unnamed streams are small streams?

In the bill, it does seem there is a way to reverse the drinking water designation. That would probably require repre$entation and a legal fight. I bet a lot of consulting firms would be happy to get those monitoring contracts. But the reality is there's probably little money for that anywhere so the chances anything gets over turned are slim and none. Ironically too, if anyone does a study for a TMDL limit, the bill says they have to notify the discharge permit holders for the duration of that study. So during that time, the polluter's self interest will be to pollute as much as possible to push the average up and set the regulatory standard as lax as possible.

Wikipedia shows the EPA has fined the Kochs the equivalent of the GDP of a reasonably sized country. It makes sense they would be counter-punching where they could. Not sure what the Kochs have accomplished the environmental side...other than paying fines...but they do sponsor the program NOVA on PBS.

I appreciate your bringing up this issue. You're right I've spent a little time on this. I've worked on the research end of 2 TMDL projects (including one for which I wrote, conducted and analyzed the field component of the grant). Chemistry makes sense to me. Policy, on the other hand, makes me want to hurl.

[bfishn]

You're burning up! There it is.

Ok. You're saying except for watersheds named as "non-drinking water" on pages 41-44 of Regulation 2 the de facto standard has been the drinking water standard. The bill reverses that de facto standard to "non-drinking water" and then almost guarantees a 5 year wait while data is collected to allow any enforcement could occur. I suppose most of the affected unnamed streams are small streams?

In the bill, it does seem there is a way to reverse the drinking water designation. That would probably require repre$entation and a legal fight. I bet a lot of consulting firms would be happy to get those monitoring contracts. But the reality is there's probably little money for that anywhere so the chances anything gets over turned are slim and none. Ironically too, if anyone does a study for a TMDL limit, the bill says they have to notify the discharge permit holders for the duration of that study. So during that time, the polluter's self interest will be to pollute as much as possible to push the average up set the regulatory standard as lax as possible.

Wikipedia shows the EPA has fined the Kochs the equivalent of the GDP of a reasonably sized country. It makes sense they would be counter-punching where they could. Not sure what the Kochs have accomplished the environmental side...other than paying fines...but they do sponsor the program NOVA on PBS.

I appreciate your bringing up this issue. You're right I've spend a little time on this. I've worked on the research end of 2 TMDL projects (including one for which I wrote, conducted and analyzed the field component of the grant). Chemistry makes sense to me. Policy, on the other hand, makes me want to hurl.

(Note to self; learn to use de facto in a sentence).

More after work...

[bfishn]

...I suppose most of the affected unnamed streams are small streams?...

For some insight into the affected streams in my home county (colored in red), see the following map;

This watershed is separated from the White River Basin to the east by an elevated tailout of the Springfield Plateau. These year-round streams are all spring fed base flow, originating in the Boone and St Joe limestone formations, and retained by a lower boundary layer of Chatanooga Shale. They all hold self-sustaining populations of native fish, and one (Spavinaw) has even been intermittently stocked with brown trout by the AGFC. They all flow out of Arkansas into larger streams and rivers, winding thru Missouri and Oklahoma, only to return to the state in the Arkansas River. Spavinaw Creek eventually becomes a major drinking water supply in Oklahoma, serving some small towns and eventually part of Tulsa. There are some permitted municipal discharges that, as yet, have been (arguably) of negligable detriment.

Lakes over 5 acres in this county that would also lose protected status include Avalon, Ann, Brittany, Norwood, Windsor, Lomond, Bella Vista, Rayburn, Bentonville, Siloam Springs, Crystal, Elmdale, and Swepco.

[bfishn]

Update; Bill Status History

Chamber Date Action

House 4/8/2013 1:00:19 PM Notification that HB1929 is now Act 954

House 4/1/2013 10:12:12 AM Correctly enrolled and ordered transmitted to the Governor's Office.

House 3/28/2013 4:55:07 PM TO BE ENROLLED

House 3/28/2013 4:55:05 PM Returned from the Senate as passed, with the Emergency Clause having failed.

Senate 3/28/2013 4:05:19 PM Returned to the House as passed.

[hoglaw]

Our state's legislature is an absolute joke. Most of them are barely literate, elected by an even more illiterate electorate that only pays attention to the D or R. Most of them spend their time trying to make headlines, doing things like requiring a mother to hear her fetus' heart beat before getting an abortion; banning abortions at a gestation stage that is incredibly unconstitutional; allowing folks to carry guns in church. The ones that can count and read are still morons, but for the most part they cater to interests like Koch and will get on board with whatever they want. They sponsor and caucus a bill that the rest of the folks with an R after their name (not trying to play the D or R game here, that's just the majority at the moment) will support without question.

We have some serious morons in our state's legislature. I can't emphasize that enough. It is beyond sad. The best thing these folks could do is just stay home. We don't need them to do ANYTHING. The state is getting along just fine, or it was without them anyway. While I like the idea of term limits and fresh blood, unfortunately when your talent pool (and gene pool) only runs so deep, all this does is assure that some serious dumb asses get their shot. I'm not going to name any names, but I'm absolutely astounded that some of the folks who hold state office get elected, including some that are from right here in NWA. Aside from vote, or actually run myself, all I can do is sit back and pray that they don't do anything too stupid, or if they do it's so stupid that the feds have to step in and say "are you kidding me?"

[bfishn]

Update

Act 954 became law Aug 16.

In a review, EPA determined that Arkansas water law no longer fully supported the Clean Water Act, and that EPA would itself assume monitoring and permitting responsibility from the state accordingly.

The Governor subsequently called for Act 954 to be repealed (although he had previously allowed it to pass by ignoring it on his desk).

Unwilling to be the man who brought this potentially uber-costly oversight upon his constituents, the Act's founder (Davis) led the ensuing effort to repeal his own law. This is expected to officially happen as soon as tomorrow in continuing Special Session.

Some here, including myself, had previously opined that the timber industry was the big money player. Turned out to be chickens, hogs, and turkeys (with a capital T).

[Quillback]

Thanks for the update. Sounds like the last thing these guys wanted was the EPA prowling the hills looking for water quality violations.

[bfishn]

You're welcome.

Yesterday the Arkansas legislature unanimously voted to repeal Act 954 in it's entirety, and the Governor promptly signed off on it. Done deal.

A giant step backwards led to a kick in the pants that landed us right back where we were to start with. Hopefully it's a lesson learned.

[exiledguide]

Wow, Thanks for the info!