Grazing practices focus of funding
Winrock International will get nearly $1.2 million to reach out to farmers about best animal grazing practices to improve nearby water quality.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that it had given the funds last week as a part of water quality improvement efforts for the Gulf of Mexico. The agency awarded similar amounts to groups in six other states along the Mississippi River, which drains into the Gulf.
Many Arkansas farms abut waterways that eventually drain into the Gulf of Mexico, which has a large hypoxic zone that's toxic to aquatic animals.
Also known as a dead zone, the zone is mainly caused by human activity, such as farming or sewage discharge, that produces excess amounts of the nutrients phosphorus and nitrogen. Those nutrients "stimulate an overgrowth of algae, which eventually die, then sink and decompose in the water," according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Earlier this year, NOAA projected a dead zone this summer of 7,829 square miles, roughly the size of Massachusetts.
Officials have measured the dead zone for decades, and the EPA formed a hypoxia zone task force of representatives from each state along the Mississippi River. The task force's goal is to reduce the size of the dead zone to 1,900 square miles.
Critics of the EPA and states argue that progress is hindered by a lack of regulatory action and that efforts to shrink the dead zone have been voluntary measures.
Pollution panel meeting canceled
The Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission will not meet this month.
Commission Chairman Doug Melton canceled the meeting because of a lack of agenda items, according to emails sent to the commission's listserv.
The meeting had been scheduled for Friday.
Meetings are periodically canceled for a lack of agenda items.
The commission is scheduled to meet 11 times each year and has three more meetings scheduled for 2019: Sept. 27, Oct. 25 and Dec. 6.
Metro on 08/18/2019