Comment extended on Red River rules

The public comment period for a proposal to change mineral standards in the Red River has been extended to March 2, according to the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality.

The original deadline was Feb. 9, but the hearing officer for the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission, which granted the mineral rule-making, permitted an extension of the comment period requested at a public hearing Monday in Ashdown.

Montreal-based Domtar, which owns and operates a paper and pulp mill in Ashdown, has proposed increasing the level of minerals allowed in the Red River in two places: from the Arkansas-Oklahoma border to the mouth of the Little River and from the mouth of the Little River to the Arkansas-Louisiana line.

Domtar officials have said they don’t plan on increasing the amount of minerals the plant discharges into the river, but they are concerned that the parameters of its current Environmental Quality Department permit may change when it reapplies for a permit in the future.

Industry and Environmental Quality Department officials have also said the state’s minerals standards are unusually strict compared with surrounding states and that the rule-making process is the best way for companies to change them.

Public comments are due by 4:30 p.m. March 2.