Pulaski County to collect e-waste
The Regional Recycling and Waste Reduction District in Pulaski County will host its second 2016 semiannual free electronics recycling drop-off Oct. 11 and 12 at Verizon Arena, but will require people dropping off electronics to provide identification that proves they or their business reside in Pulaski County.
"That way we do not pay for other solid waste districts' electronics," Deputy Director Carol Bevis told the district's board last month.
The district implemented that policy for all of its smaller electronics drop-off programs July 1.
The event is free, but the district spends money on recycling the items, Bevis said. The district, also known as the Pulaski County Regional Solid Waste Management District, is one of 18 solid waste districts in Arkansas that receives funding from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality.
The district has diverted more than 6 million pounds of electronics from landfills from its special collections since 2004, according to a news release on the event posted on the district's website.
County residents can bring their unwanted electronics to the arena from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. both days.
Public session set on water quality
The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality will hold a public "listening session" on how the department assesses water quality Oct. 11, according to a department news release.
Department officials will listen to public input at the session and receive public comments through Oct. 31. Department officials will follow up with a series of stakeholder meetings and another public comment period once they release the department's methodology for its 2018 list of impaired water bodies, also known as the 303(d) list.
The department assesses the quality of the state's individual bodies of water every two years. For its 2016 list, the department considered five years of data for each one, with the period of data collection considered ending April 1, 2015.
During the public comment period for the list this year, most comments requested that three tributaries of the Buffalo National River be placed on the list, which the department rejected because of the time period over which the data was collected.
Placement on the list can trigger more monitoring and studies to determine measures to improve a water body, including stricter permitting levels for facilities that discharge into it.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must approve each list but has declined to approve of Arkansas' dating back to 2010 because of a disagreement with the state Department of Environmental Quality over the way it assesses water quality.
Russellville votes to test water, soil
The Russellville School Board voted last month to test the water and soil at the Center Valley Elementary School campus.
The testing is designed to establish a baseline of the soil and air quality before the eventual construction of a crematorium, district spokesman Ashley Snellenberger said.
"The district does not anticipate any problems with environmental quality, but feels that additional testing performed by the district will ensure, without a doubt, that there are no environmental issues associated with the facility to be constructed in the area," Superintendent Randall Williams said in a statement sent to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. "We want our parents to know that there are no safety concerns, and the best way to do that is to perform our own testing."
The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality in 2015 approved an air emissions permit for Humphrey Family Properties LLC to construct Center Valley Memorial Gardens, a cemetery and crematorium, at 2601 Center Valley Road. That's about a half-mile from Center Valley Elementary. The department approved a wastewater permit for the site in July.
The department determined that the air permit request fulfilled all required criteria, while opponents have said the crematorium poses an unacceptable risk.
Wilderness group set up as nonprofit
A Missouri-based group was incorporated as a nonprofit last week devoted to conservation efforts at federal wilderness areas in Arkansas, Missouri and Illinois, according to a news release from the group.
Arkansas/Illinois/Missouri for Wilderness Stewardship plans to recruit, train and field volunteers to establish a baseline for wilderness area health to help the group determine conservation needs, the release said.
Congress has not adequately appropriated funds to manage the areas, Charles Bell, chairman of the group, said in the release.
Four of the nonprofit's board members are from Arkansas, two are from Illinois and three are from Missouri.
Metro on 10/03/2016