LITTLE ROCK — Two Arkansas zoologists testified Thursday that the Little River is home to a rare species of mussel, and work done on a 600-megawatt coal-fired plant in Hempstead County could harm the species.
Jerry Farris, a professor of environmental biology at Arkansas State University whohas a doctorate in zoology, and John Harris, a zoologist with the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, each said the Little River is home to Arkansai wheeleri, commonly known as the Ouachita rock pocketbook mussel. The mussel is on the federal endangeredspecies list.
Southwestern Electric Power Co. is building the $2.1billion plant.
The Hempstead County Hunting Club, the Sierra Club, the National Audubon Society, Audubon Arkansas and several individuals sued SWEPCO and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in separate lawsuits, seeking a preliminary injunction in the construction of SWEPCO’s John W. Turk Jr. plant in the Little River bottoms. The plant is about onethird complete.
The lawsuits were filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas in Texarkana, but because judges in that district recused themselves, the cases are being tried in Little Rock before Judge Bill Wilson of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
Testimony about the mussel also was given in SWEPCO’s hearing before the Arkansas Public Service Commission in 2007. The commission approved SWEPCO’s permit to build the plant, but the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled unanimously in May that the commission erred in approving construction.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found that the mussels face no adverse effectsfrom the SWEPCO project.
Harris testified about searching for the Ouachita rock pocketbook along the Little River in 2002. Harris’ search group found the mussel in two spots along the river.
Farris estimated there are about 100 Ouachita rock pocketbook mussels in the Little River and about 1,000 in the Kiamichi River in Oklahoma. The two rivers have by far the largest concentrations of the mussels.
Farris was concerned that construction of SWEPCO’s water intake structure and the filling of wetlands could harm the mussel or its habitat.
“That species needs to be carefully protected,” Rick Addison, an attorney for the hunting club, said in an interview. “This mussel used to be in what is the entire Ouachita watershed, and now it is down to just these two rivers.”
David Matthews, an attorney for SWEPCO, said Farris’testimony was not new.
“Fish and Wildlife considered all the studies [Farris discussed],” Matthews said in an interview. “And the Fish and Wildlife Service, which was charged with the responsibility, said it did not view a population of less than 1,000 to be a viable population.”
The Fish and Wildlife Service concluded that such a small population of the mussels will not be able to survive, whether or not the plant is built, Matthews said.
No protected wildlife areas fall within the SWEPCOplant site. But 11 rare species were found within a mile, particularly in the area of Grassy Lake, part of 18,000 acres near the plant site. Among species in the area are bald eagles, terns and alligators.
The Corps of Engineers was sued because it issued a permit allowing SWEPCO to build the plant. An attorney for the Corps testified earlier in the case that the agency wasn’t authorized to pursue permitting for thousands of acres surrounding the plant, only for the discharge of dredged or fill material on8 acres of wetlands near the plant site.
The Corps determined that SWEPCO’s construction wouldn’t have a significant impact on that area and issued its permit.
Yancey Reynolds, a member of the Hempstead County Hunting Club who lives at Grassy Lake, testified that there have been major changes in the area because of work on the plant.
Matthews asked Reynolds what harm he had personally seen because of construction of the plant.
He said he has observed a muddying of Bridge Creek near the plant, which he attributed to the work. There also is noise and light pollution from the plant, he said.
He has seen the plant’s smokestack, which is more than 600 feet tall, from Grassy Lake, more than three miles from the plant.
Matthews said on the first day of hearings in the lawsuits in August that there has been no irreparable harm to the hunting club or the Sierra Club, a requirement for a preliminary injunction to be issued.
Business, Pages 27 on 09/24/2010