Two seats filled on ecology panel

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has reappointed one person and replaced another on the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission.

Robert Reynolds will continue to serve on the commission through March 2023, the governor’s office announced last week.

Alex Bigger of Pocahontas will replace Chris Gardner on the commission.

Gardner was first appointed about the same time as Reynolds, four years ago. Their terms expired in March.

Gardner, of Pocahontas, practices law in Jonesboro. Bigger is an attorney in Pocahontas.

Reynolds, of El Dorado, is president of Shuler Drilling Company, chairman of the El Dorado Economic Development Board and president of the Union County Water Conservation Board, according to his profile on the El Dorado Chamber of Commerce’s website.

Hutchinson has not announced a replacement for or a reappointment of Wesley Stites, a University of Arkansas, Fayetteville biology professor whose term expired March 29.

The commission is composed of two governor-appointed representatives from each congressional district and the agency heads of the Department of Health, Oil and Gas Commission, Natural Resources Commission, Geological Survey and Forestry Commission. It serves as the appellate and rule-making body for the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality.

Commissioners are not paid but may be reimbursed for travel if they are a governor appointee.