Second set of air samples from near landfill being analyzed, state confirms

TONTITOWN — The Arkansas National Guard has completed a second set of air samples near the Eco-Vista landfill in Tontitown, but analysis of those results will take an as yet undetermined amount of time, the state Division of Environmental Quality confirmed Monday.

Tontitown residents have complained of odors coming from the Eco-Vista landfill for years. Both the city and a group of residents have appeals pending to the state Pollution Control and Ecology Commission to rescind approval of the landfill’s expansion.

The state asked for the air quality tests by the 61st Civil Support Team of the Arkansas National Guard after residents complained of intense smells they described as methane from Dec. 6 through Dec. 13, according to records of the state.

The tests found a sulfur dioxide concentration up to 0.2 parts per million of the air sampled, according to the summary of the findings. This level of the foul-smelling, colorless gas reaches the threshold of the “acute exposure” warned about by the federal Environmental Protection Agency if the exposure meets or exceeds 10 minutes, according to the agency’s website and as cited in the National Guard’s report.

The division requested a second, more extensive set of tests, something suggested in the National Guard’s report on the first round.

The landfill is owned by WM Inc., formerly known as Waste Management. Eco-Vista has been Northwest Arkansas’ only licensed public landfill since 1980. The expansion under appeal would add about 10 years of capacity, its managers estimate.

WM said in a statement after the first set of tests it would issue a statement after it had a chance to review the testing’s findings.

The appeal of the expansion plans will have final briefs filed by the end of March, according to deadlines set by the administrative law judge in a hearing on the appeal earlier this month.