In late 2007, B&H Resources, LLC made initial application to mine a large tract of land that turned out to be adjacent to Mill Creek, just upstream from its confluence with Piney Creek. George Bartmess and James Hardy are listed as principles of B&H, a Delaware company licensed to do business in Louisiana and Arkansas as a foreign company. Mr. Hardy is an officer and member of Evergreen Resources LLC, which is B&H’s new name. The company is still pursuing the same purposes of mining frac sand, but proposing an open pit quarry mine at another location. Their stormwater application indicates they will disturb two hundred forty acres for extraction and processing in a one thousand acre tract.
The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) did not immediately rule on the application for a permit as they requested additional technical information. Despite the lack of a permit, large areas of land were cleared, including the complete denuding of creek frontage for thousands of feet along Mill Creek.
Subsequent to this denuding, Mill Creek and the Piney Creek below it were choked with silt, sand and sludge from massive erosion. Two big questions remain: “Why would someone do this to the creek?” and “Why did this go on for so long before it was stopped when several state and Federal Agencies were aware of the site as well as working with the owners?”
A number of people, including landowners and others who love Mill Creek and Piney Creek, worked to stop this destruction starting in January 2008. The group invited Friends Board members (FNFWR) to meet with them and, on June 14, 2008, met with a group of 35 and explained to them how mining and stream protection works… or doesn’t work… in Arkansas. The Friends of Mill and Piney Creeks was born.
Alerted by a large and sustained public outcry, Teresa Marks, Director of ADEQ, onJune 19, 2008 issued a Cease and Desist Order to B&H Resources (click here for emergency order) demanding that all preparatory work to the site be immediately halted, and that B&H Resources present to ADEQ an acceptable rehabilitation plan to restore damage to the stream bank by June 23rd. An excellent article about the situation was published in the White River Current. (click here for link to White River Current article)
The following are excerpts from the report of Tony Morris, ADEQ Inspector, who inspected the site on June 13, 2008. (Click here to see the full report)
“According to adjacent land owners, the company began clear cutting timber on the mine site, including the riparian areas, in January 2008. Clearing of stumps and residual vegetation began in April of 2008. At the time of this investigation there was equipment parked near the confluence of Pearogue Creek with Mill Creek and signs of recent dozer operation on the stream banks. As a result of the removal of the riparian vegetation, massive bank erosion is occurring along Mill Creek over an approximately one mile reach within the proposed mine site. No effort is being made to control erosion and as a result, the gravel substrate is smothered in sediment and the pools are filled with sediment through the length of the stream on the mine site to below the confluence with Piney Creek a distance approaching 2 miles. The massive sediment loss from the mine site to area streams continues to cause a significant alteration of habitat.”
A rehabilitation plan (very big file to download!) for the damage caused by B&H was approved on October 13, 2009. There is also a “timetable” (also a very big file to download!) for the plan. The plan, designed by Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Stream Team program, will consist of replanting the stream banks, as it was considered too risky to work in the stream itself. Since the approval from ADEQ postdated the start date in the plan, an updated timetable was submitted on March 15, 2010 and approved by ADEQ on April 7, 2010. No work on either of these plans was ever started.
The most current activity regarding the ordered reclamation is a cooperative agreement between Evergreen and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service dated September 2010. This agreement proposes to restore 249 acres along Mill Creek but allows on $25,000 for this work. The start date in this latest proposal was early fall 2010. As of today (December 20, 2010), once again, no work has been started.
Meanwhile, massive erosion continues and fishing habitat in the creeks has been destroyed. Much of the damaged stretches are now too shallow for swimming and floating, let alone fishing. The creeks are warming and creek bottoms that were once gravel are now covered muck.
What’s Happening on Mill Creek Now?
The reclamation plan was approved by ADEQ on October 13, 2009. Remember that ADEQ ordered the plan on June 19, 2008. Not one single thing has been done to repair the damage done by B&H Resources and deterioration of the creek bank continues. FoMPC and FNFWR continue to pursue action and press ADEQ to insist that reclamation begin but progress is painfully slow and the frustration of local citizens is increasing.