Area residents support SWEPCO at hearing

GENTRY - A crowd of more than 100 people attended the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality public hearing held July 16 in the Gentry High School auditorium to show their support for SWEPCO and the Flint Creek Power Plant as its air permit application is considered for renewal.

Randy Barrett, superintendent of schools for the Gentry School District, was the first to publicly comment during the hearing.

“I have grandchildren living in the area,” Barrett said. “If I thought this plant was hurting our environment and hurting our kids, I wouldn’t be standing up here tonight,” he said.

Barrett said SWEPCO has been a good neighbor from the beginning by supplying clean energy, supporting the local community and preserving the environment, mentioning the Eagle Watch Nature Area as one example of SWEPCO’s concern for preserving the environment. He also said that the loss of the power plant would result in a loss of 25 percent of the school district’s local revenue, something which would severely handicap the school system in providing a quality education to students in an area where the numbers of children qualifying for free and reduced lunches is approaching 70 percent.

Statements were read or shared by Kevin Johnston, Gentry’s mayor; Bob Clinard, Benton County judge; Dan Douglas, state representative; Debra Hobbs, state representative from Rogers; Mark Allison of Little Rock; Tim Summers of Bentonville; Onie Irvine of Grove, Okla.; Steve Young of Gentry; and Wes Johnson of Rogers. With the exception of Allison, who simply made reference to a technical report he submitted in writing, all spoke in favor of SWEPCO receiving the new air permit.

In addition to speaking of the benefits of having the local power plant which produces clean energy for the region, Clinard called the recent Arkansas Public Service Commission decision to approve a retrofit plan to make the coal-fired plant compliant with new Environmental Protection Agency standards a tremendous victory in the United States for the continued use of coal to produce clean energy. He said the decision stopped some who are going too far and trying to put coal and gas producers out of business.

District 91 State Representative Dan Douglas summed it up this way for the ADEQ: “It’s not complicated,” Douglas said. “Flint Creek Power Plant has been a dependable source of clean electricity for the last 35 years. Now they are going to make it even better. It’s essential that this air quality permit be granted,” Douglas said.

Prior to the hearing, Tom Rheaume, engineer for the ADEQ, explained briefly the retrofit plan of SWEPCO designed to reduce pollutants from the plant by more than 75 percent.

The air permit was already tentatively approved by the ADEQ, but public comments for and against will be taken into consideration in the final decision of whether to grant the new air quality permit.

Earlier this month SWEPCO received word that Arkansas Public Service Commission ruled in favor of a $408 million retrofit plan to make the coal-fired power plant near Gentry compliant with new EPA regulations as being in the best interest of Arkansas residents.

News, Pages 3 on 07/24/2013