Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Something Arkansas does NOT need now: Disastrous House Bill 1895 could be voted on by Arkansas Senate tomorrow
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Important Legislative Update: The Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWECPO) has drafted HB 1895 which would make it much easier for utilities to get power plants approved under the radar, hurt ratepayers and cut the public out of the commenting process. The bill can be found at http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/2011/2011R/Pages/BillInformation.aspx?measureno=HB1895 This bill is bad on several levels: 1) HB 1895, written by the utility Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO), would change the utility law that is the subject of pending litigation in suits where SWEPCO is a party. Changing the law right before a judge makes a ruling is not a tactic of which I want my legislature to be a part. 2) This bill would create a “declaration of need” proceeding to determine whether there should be more electricity production in Arkansas, but not create public notice requirements for the proceeding. If a government agency is conducting a decision making process that could later on affect my utility rates, I want to make sure that I’m given the opportunity to be a part of that discussion. And I won’t know how to attend if the law doesn’t require me to be notified. 3) HB 1895 would tip the scales to the utilities so that they can pressure government to raise electric rates even more. The bill would create a separate “declaration of need” proceeding where a determination for the need of increased electric capacity would provide the basis for utilities to recover new costs through increased rates. We, the ratepayers, would be stuck with higher bills. Unfortunately, it has already passed the Arkansas House. It is possible that this bill will wind up on the Senate floor, and we need concerned citizens to call their senators now and urge them to vote NO on HB 1895. In order to find your own senator, visit: http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/senatorSearch.html For more information about the bill, please contact: Lev Guter Associate Field Organizer Sierra Club - Arkansas lev.guter@sierraclub.org (941) 779-3337 |
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Why we needed Fayetteville's newly approved streamside ordinance many years ago: A few photos of stream abuse witnessed March 21, 2011
Please click on individual images to ENLARGE views of pollution headed directly to Spout Spring Branch without the polluted water being allowed to soak in and be cleansed before heading to Beaver Lake.
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| Unpleasant looking runoff from storm drain on north edge of Fifteenth Street. Is it caused by naturally occurring algae or by whatever a homeowner on South College Avenue dumped from a bucket shown in photo below? |
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| Drain entrance still wet two hours after I watched a guy dump a bucket there. Material appeared to be white paint chips and thick plastic-like goo that could be material from a paint can. |
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| Flow from storm drain above enters Spout Spring Branch on north side of 15th Street. |
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| The gel-like material at first glance looked like icicles but the the temperature hadn't been below freezing for more than a week. |
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| Seeds from pod of vine milkweed knocked down by Arkansas Highway Department machines dredging ditch the routes water from a storm drain on the south side of 15th Street directly into Spout Spring Branch. Milkweed plants of all varieties provide foliage to the caterpillars of monarchs and a few other species of butterfly and logically would be protected by a state highway department whose Web site touts its wildflower program. |
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| Back on the northside of 15th Street, which is a state highway at that point, the water polluted by something but at least there is a remnant of vegetation including the same milkvine and a few other native species. |
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| The highway workers dredged out part of the business owner's landscaping and widened and deepened the ditch. And hauled away the good soil to its dump in south Washington County. |
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| Both the dumping of ANYTHING into a storm drain and the dredging of the ditch and allowing erosion violate best-management practices for watershed management and were already illegal before Fayetteville's new streamside ordinance was passed. If the ADEQ and the AHTD and the US Corps of Engineeers won't protect our water supply, maybe this new ordinance will embolden city officials to see that such things don't happen so often in the future. |
Friday, March 18, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
Friday, March 11, 2011
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Trail planning continues through one of Fayetteville's most impaired urban stream corridors
Please click on image to ENLARGE aerial view from Fayetteville, Arkansas, GIS mapping system of Tanglewood Branch at Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. The city trail-planning team visited with the owners of the Agricultural Co-op about how to take the Frisco that runs along the old railroad right of way from downtown Fayetteville past the district and directly through the co-op's property. The most scenic way to cross the Tanglewood Branch south of MLK would be on the abandoned trestle but the easiest way would be along the south side of MLK. Both sides of Tanglewood Branch have parking areas right to the streamside with no protected riparian zone beyond the lip of the stream bank. Even under the proposed streamside ordinance being considered by the Fayetteville City Council, the owners of the land would not be required to remove existing structures unless a totally new project were to be built on the land. However, the Co-op's plan to add a fuel storage tank on the property has presented the opportunity for the trail right of way to be obtained by the city.
For hundreds more images of this and other stream corridors in Fayetteville, please see the following set on Flickr streamside.
For these and more trail images, please see the following Flickr set on NWA trails.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Fayetteville's proposed streamside-protection ordinance to be discussed as Tuesday, January 24, 2011, City Council: Passing and enforcing it on future projects near streams can prevent many problems
Streamside Protection Ordinance
The Nutrient Reduction Plan, completed in April 2009 by Geosyntec Consultants as part of an Agreement with the Beaver Water District and the City of Fayetteville, recommends the development and implementation of a riparian buffer ordinance. This ordinance is part of a series of recommendations designed to reduce non-point source loadings of total phosphorus in the Beaver Lake Watershed and would ultimately reduce the non-point source loadings of total phosphorus in all the City’s waterways.
The City of Fayetteville hosted two public education and input sessions on streamside protection in early March, as well as an online survey during March and April, in order to get citizen input in the development of the ordinance. Questions asked of participants included input into which streams should have buffer protection and what activities should be allowed or prohibited in the protected areas.
A question and answer session for property owners who might be affected was held on October 12 at the City Administration building. The question and answer slide show from this meeting can be found HERE.
The Planning Commission forwarded the Streamside Protection Ordinance to the City Council with a recommendation for approval on November 8, 2010 with a vote of 7-2-0. The ordinance will go to City Council on February 1, 2011.
View a draft of the current proposed Streamside Protection Ordinance that goes before the City Council for review on 2_01_11.
View a draft of the City's Streamside Protection Best Practices Manual.
View a draft of the City's Streamside Protection Zone Map.
View a draft of the City's Streamside Protection Ordinance that was forwarded by the Planning Commission on 11_08_10.
The Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service published a Streamside Protection Ordinance Fact Sheet which also offers information on protecting riparian zones.
Images from March 6 Input Session and field trip to College Branch at Martin Luther King Boulevard
(March 6 Images courtesy of Aubrey Shepherd)
Images from March 10 Input Session and field trip to College Branch
Sunday, January 23, 2011
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