Tulsa World: Group seeks to halt Ark. sewage treatment plant

MAKE US YOUR HOMEPAGE | Wednesday, February 10, 2010 | WIRELESS

Home > News > Article

Newspaper View Print this story

Comment

RSS

Bookmark

Group seeks to halt Ark. sewage treatment plant

By SUSAN HYLTON World Staff Writer
Published: 11/29/2009 2:19 AM
Last Modified: 11/29/2009 4:02 AM

TAHLEQUAH — An Oklahoma environmental group has filed a petition to stop a new northwest Arkansas sewage treatment plant that it believes will violate the federal Clean Water Act.

Save the Illinois River (STIR) maintains that the Northwest Arkansas Conservation Authority's regional wastewater treatment plant serving Bentonville and other small communities will be a new source of phosphorous released into the Illinois River basin, which is already impaired by phosphorous.

STIR is asking the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission, which sets environmental policy for that state, to reconsider the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality's October permitting decision. The department implements policies set by the commission.

STIR claims the wastewater treatment plant will discharge 30 pounds of phosphorous a day.

The plant is scheduled to open next year and will be located on Osage Creek, which flows into the Illinois River. Both have excessive levels of phosphorous and are on the federal Environmental Protection Agency's list of impaired waters.

Excessive levels of phosphorous can increase algae growth and bacteria, cause odor and taste problems and kill fish.

Phosphorous sources include wastewater treatment plants, large confined animal operations, septic systems and water runoff that contains fertilizers.

Oklahoma's Department of Environmental Quality also expressed "serious concerns" about the project's effect on waters here.

"Under the Clean Water Act and its implementing regulations, this is not allowed except under extremely limited circumstances, none of which have been demonstrated in this case," Mark Derichsweiler, manager of watershed planning for the Oklahoma DEQ's water quality division, said in a letter to the EPA opposing the draft permit for the new plant.

STIR attorney Bob Kellogg said that a "total maximum daily load" would determine how polluted the stream is and what is needed to bring it into compliance.

The group asserts that the protection of impaired waters cannot be ensured without such an assessment.

"We're asking that they follow the process established by Congress and the EPA to protect waters and that is: If you issue discharge permits, to base those on the knowledge of what's already in the stream," Kellogg said.

The Arkansas DEQ has said the new plant is consistent with the 2003 joint agreement between the two states on a 1.0 parts per million phosphorous limit. The Oklahoma DEQ adopted a lower phosphorus limit of 0.037 ppm approved by the federal government to be met by 2012.

Oklahoma officials say the 1.0 ppm limit was an interim and inadequate measure that doesn't apply.

In a letter to both sides, EPA Acting Deputy Regional Administrator Miguel Flores said the permitting of the new plant is tied to the Arkansas-Oklahoma joint agreement. Flores said his agency plans to develop a total maximum daily load for the Illinois River in the next 11 to 17 months and that factors including "ongoing litigation" may influence decisions on that assessment.

The state is in the middle of a trial in federal court in Tulsa against 11 poultry companies that it blames for degrading the Illinois River basin with chicken litter.

The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality has indicated that there would be no increase in phosphorous from the new plant because sewer sludge would be disposed of in a landfill and not applied to land. But the Oklahoma DEQ countered that the draft permit doesn't prohibit the sludge from being applied to land and even specifies the conditions for land application.

STIR indicates that Fayetteville, Ark., and Tahlequah are existing dischargers into the Illinois River basin and with good operational practices, discharging much less that the current limit of 1.0 ppm limit.

Kellogg said STIR has been granted a preliminary hearing on the issue Wednesday.

Susan Hylton 581-8381
susan.hylton@tulsaworld.com By SUSAN HYLTON World Staff Writer

Newspaper View Print this story

Comment

RSS

Bookmark

Reader Comments

Show: Most Recent Comment First

Add your comment

11 comments have been made on this story so far. Tell us what you think below!

Reporting Comments

If you see a comment that violates our terms and conditions, please help us by clicking the "Report this Comment" link next to a comment. That will alert the web staff to review the comment. Thank you. -- Web Editor Jason Collington

Some reader comments for this story were copied from "SUNDAY: Oklahoma group fights Arkansas sewage plant," which was published on 11/28/2009.

	Report Comment nuffsaid, Tulsa (11/28/2009 3:01:51 PM) New sources of phosphorus in the Illinois river. Why don't we just start dumping nuclear waste there to? The Illinois doesn't stand a chance. Way to go people. You have ruined my states best river.
	Report Comment Thunder196, Tulsa (11/28/2009 3:21:38 PM) Anyone who doesn't know what phosphorus does, it makes bad algae scum grow fast and wild on top of the water. Blocks out sun which in turn inhibits oxygen and eventually kills everything that is living in the water. Ends up a 'dead zone'.
	Report Comment FUTURE WORLD, Tulsa (11/28/2009 6:04:09 PM) Well maybe this petition will be the first of many court challenges to this waste water treatment plant. stretching this process out for many years to come. Now see if there were a republican administration in place, this would have been railroaded through, the EPA would be stripped of it's enforcement powers, and this plant would already be well on it's way towards completion.
	Report Comment born okay the 1st time, tulsa (11/28/2009 9:21:24 PM) Future world, considering REPUBLICAN Oklahoma is the one filing the suit against a democrat Arkansas, you may want to think before you type.
	Report Comment charlestace, Tulsa (11/29/2009 7:57:10 AM) The word "phosphorus" is misspelled in almost occurrence in this article. True, there is a word spelled "phosphorous," but it is the adjectival form of "phosphorus." So in that sense, the usage, "Phosphorous sources include wastewater treatment plants" could be considered correct, except I know that the intent was "sources of phosphorus." Intriguingly, the word was spelled correctly, apparently by accident, in the second instance of the word in the following paragraph: "The Arkansas DEQ has said the new plant is consistent with the 2003 joint agreement between the two states on a 1.0 parts per million phosphorous limit. The Oklahoma DEQ adopted a lower phosphorus limit of 0.037 ppm approved by the federal government to be met by 2012." Remember, "phosphorus" is the noun; "phosphorous" is the adjective. Best wishes.
	Report Comment charlestace, Tulsa (11/29/2009 7:58:42 AM) And to show that I could use some editing myself: in the first line, insert the word "every" between "almost" and "occurrence."
	Report Comment Ed 8 R, Non (11/29/2009 11:29:24 AM) Will Arkansas challenge STIR to a SPAR, Stop Polluting Arkansas River? Kellogg, Fite and Chad Smith go way back in their own stream of corruption. This is another case of Fox in the hen house. I wonder how long it will take Tyson to point out that the so-called Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma is not the historical Cherokee Nation according to the new head of the BIA Larry EchoHawk? Next look for Tyson to point to the CNO landfill near Stilwell as the major contributor to polluted waters in Northeastern Oklahoma and the source of drinking water for Fort Smith Arkansas. Chad is going down the road to another header over Little Rock Arkansas. But this time the poison IV will scratch him.
	Report Comment FinallyDebtFree, Broken Arrow (11/29/2009 6:07:09 PM) Does anyone else find humor in the discussion about a maximum daily load? Especially by lawyers?!?
	Report Comment Elusive, Owasso (11/30/2009 12:15:54 AM) Ha Ha finallydebtfree, good catch. Save our streams and rivers.
	Report Comment algaepreneur, (11/30/2009 9:21:16 AM) Algae is renewable, does not affect the food channel and consumes CO2. Algae plants can use phosphorus and the wastewater could supply additional nutrients for algae production. Why not build an algae production plant on the site? To learn about the algae industry, you may want to check out the National Algae Association. It is the first algae trade association in the US.
	Report Comment Ed_C_in_OK, Tahlequah (11/30/2009 12:46:45 PM) The latest and greatest pollution development being perpetrated in NE Oklahoma is in how Chief Chad Smith plans to contract with companies drilling for oil in Arkansas. Smith is currently maneuvering legislation through the Cherokee Council so companies can transport salt water wastes generated by drilling in Arkansas, oven into the Cherokee Nation where it will be injected under pressure into under ground voids beneath the 14 County Jurisdiction of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Over the past 80 years, oil drillers did this same thing in the Seminole Nation to an extent that the underground waters there are grossly polluted.... I believe when the good people of Ft Smith learn about the gross toxins that the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma has been abundantly injecting into their drinking water supply from the Cherry Tree Landfill of Stilwell, we will finally see a genuine effort, by these two States, to clean up our water supplies.... More will be revealed...

Add Your Comment
In order to post a comment on this article, you must sign in to Tulsaworld.com. If you do not have a site account, you can create an account for free.

Post Your Comment

Comments made yesterday	2,108
Total Comments	1,034,009
Register to make reader comments