The proposed Keystone XL pipeline brought together campaign rivals Sen. Mark Pryor and U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton this morning at a press conference hosted at Welspun Tubular LLC, the east Little Rock pipe plant, along with U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin and state legislators and business leaders. Because of environmental concerns, the White House is reluctant to approve the Keystone project, which would deliver about 800,000 barrels of carbon-heavy Canadian tar sands oil each day to Gulf Coast refineries and cross hundreds of miles of sensitive lands. Pryor, Cotton and Griffin all urge President Obama to drop objections to the pipeline, which they say are standing in the way of job creation in Arkansas.
Benjamin Hardy
Benjamin Hardy is managing editor at the Arkansas Times.
Posted inArkansas Blog
Should public schools be allowed to use state-owned internet infrastructure?
Today, at a joint meeting of the House and Senate Education Committees held at Arkadelphia High School, a study was released that sets up a showdown between public education advocates and internet service providers. The report was the result of the Quality Digital Learning Study (QDLS) Committee, a task force of legislators, education officials and business leaders that was established by the legislature in 2013 for the express purpose of developing a plan to deliver high speed internet to K-12 schools.
Posted inGuest Writer
An undeniable threat
This winter was a bad one. Ice storm after ice storm. Weeks’ worth of disruption to schools, roads and business. Worst of all, there were those several long stretches of viciously frigid temperatures, the kind that reduce everyone to uselessly and indignantly declaring “IT’S COLD” when stepping out the door.
Posted inArkansas Blog
Will Exxon move the Pegasus pipeline out of Lake Maumelle’s watershed? Probably not without a fight.
The Clinton School hosted a panel discussion Monday afternoon commemorating the one year anniversary of ExxonMobil’s oil spill in Mayflower. In attendance: Congressman Tim Griffin, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, Tammie Hynum of ADEQ, Graham Rich of Central Arkansas Water (CAW), and Faulkner County Judge Allen Dodson, with Dean Skip Rutherford moderating. (Rutherford said that Exxon had been invited to send someone as well.) It was a packed house; public interest in the incident and the future of the ruptured Pegasus pipeline evidently remains high, in no small part because the line just south of Mayflower crosses 13 miles of watershed that drain into Little Rock’s major drinking reservoir, Lake Maumelle.
Posted inCover Stories
The Mayflower oil spill robbed Michelle Ward of her middle-class dream
One year later, she and other residents and stakeholders in Mayflower consider the toll exacted by Exxon’s spill.
Posted inArkansas Blog
Game and Fish Commission disagrees with Exxon’s conclusion that ‘there are no unacceptable ecological risks’ in cove of Lake Conway due to Mayflower oil spill
It’s been almost a year since the Pegasus pipeline spilled an estimated 210,000 gallons of oil in Mayflower. After months of back-and-forth, a final environmental report from ExxonMobil to state regulators appears to be complete. But though the science behind the report is sound, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Deputy Director Ricky Chastain said its overarching conclusions about ongoing ecological risk are flawed.
Posted inArkansas Reporter
Arkansas senator says Special Language subcommittee actions violate state constitution
On paper, S.L. is an afterthought; in practice, it’s long been a powerful tool for experienced legislators to shape policy.
Posted inArkansas Blog
The coming teachers’ insurance funding crisis, a punt on NSLA funds and more updates on K-12 education policy in Arkansas
With the endless debate on the private option Medicaid expansion eclipsing most other issues this fiscal session, it’s been easy to forget that Arkansas’s spending on health care remains far outweighed by the largest component of the budget — schools. Education remains at the center of state public policy, and although the legislature did not make any sweeping changes to the school system within the limited confines of the fiscal session, there’s plenty on the horizon. Expect every measure that failed in 2014 to re-emerge in 2015, if not sooner.
Posted inArkansas Reporter
Lake Conway spared from Mayflower oil spill catastrophe
But testing shows cove needs more cleanup.
Posted inArkansas Blog
Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, Game and Fish request more testing of Lake Conway from Exxon
Game and Fish letter says that Exxon’s figure for a certain kind of contamination may misrepresent the amount of toxins still in the environment.