BELLA VISTA -- U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton says he will talk with the interim director of the federal Environmental Protection Agency about the underground fire at a dump site in Bella Vista.
The state says it needs federal money to extinguish the fire and clean up the site.
Cotton toured the former stump dump site for about 30 minutes Friday afternoon. Smoke rose in places from the 5-acre plot and from small holes as Kevin White led Cotton and a small contingent around the outer edge of the site. White is the associate director for the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality's Office of Land Resources.
Cotton said it was critical for him to see the site before he speaks with Andrew Wheeler next week.
"It is important that I give him a firsthand account," Cotton said, adding that he would also tell Wheeler about the preparatory work that has been completed at the site and about what will come next.
Cotton said his main concerns after seeing the site were public health, the costs associated with cleanup and extinguishing the fire, and accountability.
Federal assistance at the site is necessary because cost estimates for putting out the fire and cleaning up the site exceed the $7.9 million that the state has available in its response fund, Donnally Davis with the Department of Environmental Quality said in an email.
"This is what we have an EPA for," said state Sen. Jim Hendren of Gravette, who also toured the site Friday.
The cost of the project could range from $21 million to $39 million, Gov. Asa Hutchinson has said. Trench work done at the site late last month stopped the fire from spreading, saving an estimated $3.5 million to $7.5 million, Davis said.
"We could use some financial help," White told Cotton as they walked the rocky, muddy terrain.
The EPA might not step in right away with a decision because the cost estimate is still in flux, Cotton said.
The EPA has a few options available for providing the state financial assistance to deal with the fire, according to the Department of Environmental Quality.
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act -- commonly known as Superfund -- gives the EPA the funds and authority to conduct removal response action and clean up contaminated sites. The EPA also can waive the state's obligation to match or supplement federal funding for remedial actions under the Remedial Action Trust Fund Act.
Another option would be using EPA water-protection funds for water-quality monitoring, storm-water runoff controls and water protection that is needed because of the karst topography and the dump's close proximity to Lake Ann.
Prep work at the site is ongoing. The Arkansas Forestry Commission had to postpone back-burning inside the firebreak this week because of rain. Back-burning will clear brush and other debris to prevent the spread of the fire above ground, according to an Environmental Quality news release sent Wednesday.
An access road for transporting equipment also will be built, which could take about a month to complete, Davis said.
Environmental Works, a Missouri company with an office in Springdale, dug a trench Jan. 21-25 along the south perimeter of the site. It ranges from 22 feet to 48 feet deep. The trench was used to access the dump's waste and determine the location of the fire, according to the Department of Environmental Quality.
The waste included car parts, tires, scrap metal, concrete, plastic pipes and rubber, Davis said.
White told Cotton that a vehicle transmission, crossties and construction debris also were found.
EnSafe, a Memphis company hired by the state, collected surface water samples at the northern perimeter of the site Jan. 23. The Arkansas Department of Health's evaluation of results showed no apparent public-health hazard, according to the Department of Environmental Quality.
The state is reviewing EnSafe's proposal for extinguishing the fire, Davis said. The company provided seven options, including excavating the site, according to its draft response plan. The Department of Environmental Quality has been exploring more cost-effective alternatives, Davis said.
The EPA started three days of air-quality testing Thursday, according to the state agency. The EPA has one monitor on-site and five air monitors off-site within a quarter-mile of the site, Davis said. Results will help establish baseline air-quality data.
The EPA's sampling will look at more than 60 compounds, Davis said.
The agency also will do particulate matter monitoring at the off-site locations, Davis said. Particulate matter monitoring measures the amount of solid and liquid droplets in the air, such as ash, dust and smoke. The findings provide a snapshot of air quality and how it might affect health, according to the Health Department.
The Department of Environmental Quality is also monitoring the air at two locations near the fire. An unhealthy reading in December prompted the state to caution everyone within a half-mile of the 8000 block of Trafalgar Road to avoid prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors.
State Sen. Bart Hester of Cave Springs joined the tour Friday. He said it was important for residents near the stump dump to know that state and federal agencies are doing all they can for them.
"The neighbors didn't cause this problem, but they are the ones who have to deal with it," he said. "It's unfair to those property owners who can't sell and to those people who are sick and getting sicker."
Firefighters were sent to the area on Trafalgar Road on July 29, where they spotted smoke and what appeared to be the remains of a brush fire, said Steve Sims, Bella Vista fire chief. Fire Department personnel have said the fire may be burning more than 50 or 60 feet underground.
Tom Judson, the Bella Vista Property Owners Association's chief operating officer, has said the association operated the dump on leased land from December 2003 until 2016, after which it was covered with soil.
Nobody monitored the site during the last few years it was open, but staff members would remove trash when possible, Judson has said. The operation was closed Dec. 31, 2016, according to Bella Vista's website. The property is now owned by Brown's Tree Care.
Jim Parsons, a Bella Vista resident, filed a lawsuit Wednesday to force a company, a former property owner and the Property Owners Association to pay for extinguishing the fire and cleaning up the site.
The lawsuit claims that there was negligent oversight of the stump dump, which was operated without a permit and was used as a trash dump.
Another lawsuit was filed in November related to the fire. Curtis and Tiffany Macomber, who live near the dump site, sued Brown's Tree Care and John Does 1-3 in connection with the fire.
The suit claims that continued smoke from the site has created a hazardous situation for the Macombers and their children.
State Desk on 02/09/2019