Emergency funding

Bill to provide money to help extinguish stump dump fire.

A bill to steer up to $20 million in state taxpayer money to help fight a slow-burning landfill fire in Benton County was filed Monday afternoon in the state Senate.

Firefighters discovered an underground fire at a stump dump on Trafalgar Road in Bella Vista on July 29. The smoldering blaze never stopped burning. Residents near the fire were urged in December to avoid prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors after an unhealthy air quality reading in the area. The state continues that caution for people living within a half-mile radius of the blaze, although recent testing has shown air quality results in the “good” range.

Senate Bill 406 by Sen. Jim Hendren, R-Gravette, proposes to tap either or both of two emergency reserve funds by the state. The state Department of Environmental Quality would be obligated to pay the money back to those reserve funds. The two funds involved are the state’s Budget Stabilization Trust Fund and the state’s Hazardous Substance Remedial Action Trust Fund.

The stabilization fund was created in 2015 at Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s request to make loans to state departments as needed. The remedial fund is a similar reserve set up specifically for the environmental department for emergencies involving pollutants.

The bill has the governor’s support and is not expected to have much opposition, according to Hendren. The bill was assigned to the Joint Budget Committee on Monday afternoon. Bella Vista Mayor Peter Christie said Hendren notified him earlier Monday the bill was going to be filed.

“All I can tell you is that I’m very, very happy,” Christie said in a telephone interview Monday.

The total forwarded from reserve funds if the bill passes would not exceed $20 million and the money is to be repaid “from any legal fund of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality” in its entirety no later than June 20, 2023, according to the bill.

The finances in the bill are structured as a loan because of how the reserve funds are set up and to allow work to

begin this fiscal year, Hendren said in a telephone interview. Any new, direct appropriation made by the Legislature now could not go forward until the next fiscal year begins July 1, he said.

“This is much easier to get through since we are in legislative session,” Hendren said. Still, this would be a significant demand on state reserves, which covers emergencies for the entire state, he said. “It’s a mechanism to get things moving. Hopefully, we can get reimbursed through a federal environmental fund.”

Rep. Steve Womack of Arkansas’ 3rd Congressional District said in a statement Monday: “I continue to engage every level of government to help the people of Bella Vista. While statutory thresholds to activate federal resources have not yet been met, the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] continues to closely monitor the situation. I have been personally assured by Acting EPA Administrator [Andrew] Wheeler that federal resources will be made available the minute EPA emergency levels are triggered. It’s a dynamic situation, which is exactly why I remain in touch with Mayor Christie and all of local, state and federal partners.”

Spokesmen for other members of the state’s congressional delegation had no immediate comment on the filing of the state bill but have

expressed support for federal taxpayer support of a solution for putting out the fire in Bella Vista.

Co-sponsors of SB406 are Sen. Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs; Rep. Austin McCollum, R-Bentonville; and Rep. Gayla Hendren McKenzie, R-Gravette.

In Bella Vista, officials with the environmental department and EnSafe, the Memphis-based company hired by the state to help put out the fire, are monitoring the situation. Also, the 61st Civil Support Team of the National Guard in Arkansas will take over air quality monitoring of the site today , Christie confirmed.

Tom Judson, the Bella Vista Property Owners Association’s chief operating officer, said the association operated the dump for wood and yard waste on leased land from December 2003 to 2016, after

which the site was covered with soil.

The cost to put out the fire and clean up the site could be between $21 million and $39 million, according to state estimates.

U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Dardanelle, on Feb. 12 asked the federal Environmental Protection Agency for about $15 million to help extinguish the fire, a Cotton spokesman said.

Site preparation is already underway, the environmental department has said. That work includes clearing trees and other vegetation to create a staging area around the site, and building an access road and a support system to facilitate fire control and fire response, the department said in a statement earlier this month.