GENTRY — Plans are in the works to bring
a state Senate committee to Benton or Wash
ington county to talk about the cost of retro
fitting a coal plant in Gentry and other ener
gy issues, said state Sen. Kim Hendren, R
Gravette.
Hendren, a veteran state senator, co-chairs
the state legislative joint House and Senate
Energy Committee, which makes continuing
studies of energy resources and problems.
The committee is also charged to exercise
leadership in conservation, development and
use of energy resources.
"What we hope to do is get that committee
- our Energy Committee - up here and talk
about that and talk about the coal plant we
have over at Gentry. They're going to have to
spend a whole bunch of money over there.
The last I heard, they're going to have to
spend as much or more money to retrofit that
plant as they did to build it," Hendren said re
cently.
At the same hearing, he would also like to
look at ongoing efforts to convert poultry lit
ter to electricity and to look at other energy al
ternatives, he said.
"It would be a beautiful time to talk about
this litter project, to generate electricity; to
look at the coal-fired thing at Gentry, the nat
ural gas thing at Tontitown and, of course,
Beaver Lake and the hydroelectric power. And,
we've got the windmills out here," he said.
News, Pages 10 on 08/19/2009