Legislation to test landfill groundwater filed

A bill to spend more than $1 million for testing groundwater around the Eco-Vista Landfill in Tontitown was filed Thursday by state Rep. Steve Unger, R-Springdale.

The state Division of Environmental Quality has also issued an emergency order for more air quality testing. The order was issued March 29 and public notice given Sunday. How much the air testing will cost was not shared in the public notice, but the necessary expense will be paid for by the division’s Hazardous Substance Remedial Action Trust Fund. The trust fund includes money from fines and fees imposed by the division. Division Director Caleb Osborne signed the division’s order.

“We’re going to take a run at it,” Unger said of the water testing. “We need to prove to people something bad is going on or give people assurance that it’s not.”

Unger filed his bill during the second day of the Legislature’s fiscal session. Rep. Robin Lundstrum, R-Elm Springs, and Sen. Clint Penzo, R-Springdale, co-sponsored the bill. The landfill is in Lundstrum’s and Penzo’s districts.

“I greatly appreciate Representative Unger and Representative Lundstrum for their continued support and sincere interest in looking out for the health and well-being of Tontitown citizens,” Tontitown Mayor Angie Russell said Thursday. “I would like to thank Senator Penzo for supporting this bill.”

“Due to the many concerns we have about the groundwater surrounding the Eco-Vista landfill, the study this bill will pay for is very much needed at this time.”

House Bill 1079 was assigned to the Joint Budget Committee. Unger announced plans to file such a bill before a February round of air quality tests showed higher-than-recommended levels of benzene in the air in Tontitown.

The environmental division met with state lawmakers, including Unger, looking for ways to pay for the more extensive tests of air needed to confirm the source of the benzene.