In Gum Springs, Arkansas, about an hour southwest of Little Rock, site preparation is beginning and the tracks of rail-line spurs are being laid down, for a planned $1.8 billion pulp mill that has not yet been permitted by regulators. The mill is proposed to be built and operated by Sun Bio Materials, a division of Sun Paper, from Shandong Province in China. It is a high profile, high stakes and expensive component of Governor Asa Hutchinson’s economic development effort, costing taxpayers in Arkansas $167 million for 250 jobs expected at the new mill. In addition, it comes with promises from the state of Arkansas to “expedite” air and water permitting for the mill.
Last week, prior to the conclusion of the public comment period for the draft air permit, at least five citizen groups stepped forward with procedural and substantive objections to the permit, and now the question is whether the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality will fulfill is obligations to comply with the requirement of the Clean Air Act, maintaining law and order in the permitting process and fairness the integrity of the law and the permitting process, and
Last week,
During the recently concluded public comment period for the draft permit,
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