Meeting to address Malvern pollution

State officials will provide information to the public today about a ‘pollution incident’ in Town and Chatman creeks involving an Anthony Timberlands sawmill.

The Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment’s Division of Environmental Quality’s Office of Water Quality is coordinating with the state Department of Agriculture, the state Department of Health and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission for the meeting at Arkansas State University’s campus in Malvern.

The event will begin at 2 p.m. in the Lecture Hall (A309) at ASU’s Three Rivers campus at 1 College Circle in Malvern.

An emergency response incident report filed with the ADEQ on Sept. 12, 2022, said a “release of possible sewage” was reported in the 1700 block of Grigsby Ford Road on Sept. 2.

Investigators determined hydraulic oil had been released from the Anthony Timberlands sawmill in Malvern into a 7-mile stretch of Chatman Creek, which flows into the Ouachita River.

ADEQ Office of Water Quality officials said in emailed responses in December that their investigation suggested the problem arose from failures in the design and operation of the mill’s stormwater system.

Anthony Timberlands said operations at the mill were “paused” for a month starting in January in response to actions “by downstream landowners, facility neighbors and local government officials” that led the company to determine “operating at this time is not in our best interest,” a company news release said.

More information on the incident can be found on the ADEQ website at https://bit. ly/42bt3EW.