The Buffalo River is not in a vacuum:Oppose HB1929 TODAY!

[DeBo]

Oppose HB1929 Today! It goes to the Senate Public Health Committee tomorrow!

The Buffalo River does not exist in a vacuum. It is the sum of a great network of tributaries that feed into it. Public participation prevents bad public policy that ends up with bad results for our streams if left unopposed! Under HB 1929 these smaller streams lose protection. We know better than anybody that what goes in at the top comes out at the bottom. Remind our state Senators of this fact. Below is a letter that you may use for talking points. Please try to write your own letter using some or all of these points.

Find your State Senator here:
http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/senatorSearch.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Here are the members of the Senate Public Health Committee

1. Cecile Bledsoe, Chair
2. Paul Bookout, Vice-Chair
3. Linda Chesterfield
4. Stephanie Flowers
5. David Burnett
6. Missy Irvinl
7. Jonathan Dismang
8. Ronald Caldwell

Dear Senators,

I am writing this email to you regarding my concerns with HB 1929. Below are my points on why I disagree with HB 1929.

• This bill will impose a financial burden on the state and an environmental burden on small fishing, recreation, and drinking water source streams around the state.
• The bill polarizes water issues for years to come. It is not a solution to mineral standards, but undermines water quality standards statewide.
• It is confirmed the bill is likely to violate the federal Clean Water Act requirements that apply to the state and that govern the process whereby the state’s water quality standards are changed and will result in federal intervention.
• All streams smaller than approximately 10’wide and 1’ deep will no longer have adequate protection. It is such streams that feed Crooked Creek, the Buffalo, the North Fork and White Rivers.
In addition, the entire water quality protection process by ADEQ will be compromised. In Arkansas, Regulation 2 is the current basis for water quality standards statewide, and with this bill the mineral concentration in these standards will be eliminated.

Additionally, this bill attempts to override the EPA on water quality standards. The EPA will not allow the State of Arkansas to override the Clean Water Act, nor should it. Furthermore, if we lower the standards and allow discharges into state water streams, assuming that the flow will eventually get into the Mississippi River and other streams, the legal issues of polluting adjacent states comes into play. Not only will this cost Arkansans money from a legal standpoint, it is unethical to pollute downstream onto another neighbors property.

Arkansas is part of a federal system, and as part of that system, we must comply to the rules and regulations of the United States of America. I do not think they are going to let our legislators override the Clean Water Act.

Thank you for taking the time to read my email. I hope that you will vote this bill down before it gets out of the committee.

Respectfully,

[DeBo]

bump