Looking for some support in Newton County

[Ham-Bone]

Some of you may have heard that Carroll Electric has begun spraying the power line right of ways with herbacides. In the recent past, they were manually clearing the right of ways with chainsaws and man power.

I don't really have a lot of information, but I am posting this for some friends who are trying to save our streams in Newton County.

This would affect anyone who values the resources, clean water, and heath of Newton County.

Please try to make this meeting, send letters, or make phone calls. Sorry, but this is new to me so, I'm not sure it we need to contact the ADEQ, Carroll Elctric, or our state represenatives.

Thanks



If ever there was an opportunity to make a difference on an important
environmental issue, this is it. Area utility companies are increasing
the use of herbicides to control brush on utility Right of ways across
the region. Scientific and medical research has proven that herbicides
have harmful long-term effects in the environment, and, are responsible
for causing birth defects and chronic illnesses across multiple species,
including humans.

On Thursday, May 28th at 10 AM, Carroll Electric Cooperative (CE) will
hold its annual membership meeting in the Pioneer Room of the Carroll
Electric building in Berryville, AR. (located across from Wal Mart). The
meeting will be attended by the 9 member Carroll Electric board, and the
CEO, Rob Boaz. These meetings are historically very lightly attended;
usually around 15 people total. Our presence in numbers will make a
clear statement. Residents who support the reduction and / or
elimination of herbicides on CE Right of Ways are invited and encouraged
to attend the meeting.

A regular monthly board meeting follows the annual membership meeting.
After a year of requesting Carroll Electric meet with coop members to
discuss our concerns, the board has only allowed one person 10 minutes
to address them, alone. I do not assume to represent all of the area
residents opposed to the use of herbicides on ROW's. I will carry
anyone's statements or letters into the meeting and hand them to the
board members to represent those of us who were uninvited to speak.

What you can do between now and the 28th. (Please do one or more of the
following):
- Email / print this note for everyone you know in Newton, Madison,
Carroll, and Benton Counties, AR, as well as, coop members in
Southwestern Missouri.
- Make a date with a friend for this event. Bring kids. Bring grandma.
Wear Green!
- Write a letter to your local paper. Include concerns about herbicides,
and a note about the meeting.
- Write a letter to the CE board expressing your concerns that can be
hand delivered at the meeting.
- Talk to friends and neighbors to build support for the meeting.

A few details: The Annual Members meeting begins at 10:00 AM. We plan to
begin arriving around 9:30. We think there could be 100-200 people or
more. The more people that show up for this event, the better. If there
are many of us, we may spill out into the hall or lobby. Please stay
cool if this happens. This meeting is scheduled to last about 30
minutes. If you can't make it into the room, please stay in the building
area until the Annual Meeting is adjourned. If you know anyone in the
press, tv, or radio, please contact them and invite them to this
meeting. We will provide a press release and other background
information. Contact me at greensinger@fastmail.fm or 870-446-6126.

Please set aside this date and time to show your support for protecting
the waters of the Ozarks. This is the best opportunity we will have to
make a difference on this issue. Carroll Electric and Progressive
Solutions crews are spraying thousands of gallons of herbicides every
day it doesn't rain, and on some days when it does rain. The polluting
of our water has to stop.

One final note: Please arrive a few minutes early, and, if possible,
where a green shirt, dress, hat, or a green ribbon.

For all our relations
Grassrootsozarks.net
http://grassrootsozark.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The resource website for grassroots action in the Ozarks is
Here's a start check out the info at the web at the end of this e-mail let me know what else you need in the way of info I'll check your crossing and give you a shout

[johned]

Sorry, can't support that position at all. I think what they are doing is a standard practice to keep the power lines clear. By using the herbicides, the ROW will not become grown up enough to need manual clearing with chainsaws. Also, I'm not really sure that spraying a right of way really has any impact on the health of Newton County.

Just my $.02

[prophet]

not a Newton Co resident but i'd much rather see manual clearing in my neck of the woods as they did last time. they only have to do it every 5 -10 years anyway. my water well is just feet from the power line ROW and would prefer not to take chances. i would wonder about the effects on wildlfe as well and the actual usage amounts by the field crews.

standard practice is usually defined as what is cheapest

[johned]

Prophet,
I've got a place in Searcy county about a mile from the Newton border, but since I don't get the bill, I'm not sure if we're on Carroll or another co-op. If there was a herbicide spill within 50 ft of my well I'd be concerned, but a surface application every two to three years just doesn't worry me that much. Besides, I grew up in the delta so it's already too late for me if there is some proven verifiable link.

Standard practice can be the cheapest, but that doesn't mean it's a bad practice either.

[mb]

Herbicide treatment is the cheapest way to clear the power lines.

As to an herbicide's danger--it depends on what the herbicide is, if it is being used properly and if the applicator knows what he/she is doing.

Bannanas are sprayed 50 times a year. Strawberries (if you buy them in a grocery store) have the fields in which they are grown fumigated, and the berries are sprayed for fungus. If one eats any fruit or vegetable that is not organicly grown one is eating the beautiful results of fungicides. Herbicides are sprayed in the feilds where the crops are grown.

I know that all that crap is cumulative and can contribute to cancers. But, I figure we have to choose our battles. I was out of electricity for 10 days last January. I really missed it!

From a licensed applicator

[Ham-Bone]

http://www.lovelycitizen.com/story/1541033.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I hope links are OK.

Here is some more information on the herbicides.

Below is a small assortment of information on some of the chemicals of
> concern being used by Carroll Electric to control brush under right of
> ways.
>
> The current list of herbicides used by the Newton County district is:
> Accord XTR, (glyphosate), Milestone VM (aminopyralid), and Powerline
> (imazapyr). These are being used with the surfactant Surf Ax 100 and a
> drift control, MistTrol (apolyacrylamide copolymer).
>
> It should be noted that each district uses their own mix, and that the
> mixes vary.
>
> Milestone VM (aminopyralid) was at the center of a furor in the United
> Kingdom. Gardeners discovered that, when they used manure from animals
> that grazed on or were fed hay from aminopyralid-sprayed roadsides in
> their gardens, their garden crops failed or developed poorly or
> abnormally. In fact, the University of Minnosota Extension discusses
> this problem in their fact sheet, "Use Caution When Harvesting and
> Feeding Ditch Hay."
> http://www.extension.umn.edu/distributi ... ponents/M1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
> 197.pdf
>
> Another of the herbicides, Accord XTR (glyphosate), is described by
> the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as having the following human
> health effects:
>
> Short-term: EPA has found glyphosate to potentially cause the
> following health effects when people are exposed to it at levels above
> the MCL for relatively short periods of time: congestion of the lungs;
> increased breathing rate. Long-term: Glyphosate has the potential to
> cause the following effects from a lifetime exposure at levels above
> the MCL: kidney damage, reproductive effects.
> http://www.epa.gov/ogwdw/contaminants/d ... phosa.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
>
>
> It is important to note that Benachour and Seralini
> (2008) recently reported that some glyphosate-based formulations and
> metabolic products cause the death of human embryonic, placental, and
> umbilical cells in vitro even at low concentrations. The effects are
> not proportional to glyphosate concentrations but dependent on the
> nature of the adjuvants used in the formulation. [Benachour Nora;
> Gilles- Eric Séralini (December 23, 2008). "Glyphosate Formulations
> Induce Apoptosis and Necrosis in Human Umbilical, Embryonic, and
> Placental Cells". Chemical Research in Toxicology 22: 97.
> doi:10.1021/tx800218n. http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/tx800218n" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;].
>
> Perhaps most important for a the
> Ozarks region and certain endangered or rare species, 2005 study
> concluded that certain amphibians may be at risk from glyphosate use.
> [see .Bette Hileman. (2005) Common herbicide kills tadpoles. Chemical
> & Engineering News. Washington 83(15):11]
>
> The surfactant, Surf Ax 100, consists of nonylphenol ethoyxlate,
> glycols, free fatty acids and dimethylpolysiloxane. The primary
> ingredient, nonylphenol ethoxylate breaks down in the environment into
> nonylphenol. U.S. Envronmental Protection Agency describes nonylphenol
> as follows: "It is toxic to aquatic life, causing reproductive effects
> in aquatic organisms."
> http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/criteri ... nylphenol-" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
> fs.html
>
> The Agency also says, nonylphenol ethoxylates are an
> example of a surfactant class that does not meet the definition of a
> safer surfactant."
> http://www.epa.gov/dfe/pubs/projects/formulat/sdsi.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
>
> Numerous large corporations have stopped using nonylphenol ethoxylate.
> One such company, Unilver says, "We no longer use nonylphenol
> ethoxylate (NPEs). We stopped using them for environmental
> reasons, before they were linked to endocrine disruption."
> http://www.unilever.ie/ourvalues/enviro ... chemicalsi" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
> nproducts/faqs.asp
>
> MistTrol consists of a polyacrylamide polymer.
> Smith et al. (1997) reported that polyacrylamide degrades in the
> environment, forming acrylamide, a known neurotoxin. [Smith, E. A., S.
> L. Prues, F. W. Oehme."Environmental Degradation of Polyacrylamides
> and its Effects of Environmental (Outdoor) Exposure." Ecotoxicology
> and Environmental Safety 37(1). June 1, 1997.]
>
> Acrylamide is also classified by the IARC as a probable carcinogen.
> http://www.ec.gc.ca/substances/ese/eng/ ... _79-06-1_e" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
> n.pdf
>
> The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency describes the
> health effects of acrylamide as including "damage to central and
> peripheral nervous systems, weakness and ataxia in legs"
> http://www.epa.gov/ogwdw/dwh/t-voc/acrylami.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
>
> According to Material Safety Data Sheets, acrylamide has harmfull
> effect on aquatic organisms. and should not be allowed to enter
> waters, waste water, or soil. (See, for example, BioAmerican MSDS,
> Acrylamide
> http://www.bioamerica-inc.com/pdf/bioam ... lamide.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)
>
> Grassrootsozarks.net
> http://grassrootsozark.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
> The resource website for grassroots action in the Ozarks
>
>
>