Crittenden County Looks Forward To ADEQ Redesignation
Last updated Wednesday, January 14, 2009 7:18 PM CST in News
By Zack Stovall
THE MORNING NEWS
LITTLE ROCK -- The state Department of Environmental Quality said Tuesday it would consider removing a designation of "nonattainment" for ozone compliance in Crittenden County.
The designation has been applied to the county since 2004 and has been viewed as a deterrent to economic development because of much stricter environmental requirements when building factories.
"Air quality monitoring during the past three years has shown the county to be in compliance with the federal eight-hour standard for ozone, so the department proposes to amend the current State Implementation Plan for Air Pollution Control to list Crittenden County as an attainment area for ozone," the agency said in a news release.
Kay Brockwell, economic development director for Marion in Crittenden County, said the city had done well over the past year to insure that the nonattainment label could be dropped.
"I was just thrilled when I heard the news," Brockwell said. "We wanted to make sure we had a good year so that we could be brought back in compliance."
Brockwell described the redesignation as a "definite plus" for the city's economic development prospects.
"A lot of businesses won't even consider you if you're listed as a nonattainment county," Brockwell said. "Even though we had mitigated all of the problems that made us nonattainment in the first place, it doesn't matter. You won't even be considered if you're on that list. You're off the map completely."
Two years ago, Toyota chose Tupelo, Miss., over Marion as the site for an auto manufacturing plant in part because of the area's pollution designation.
Brockwell said the economic impact of the positive redesignation was not immediately foreseeable, but she speculated that business that had overlooked Crittenden County in the recent years would reconsider locations in eastern Arkansas.
"I know of one tire manufacturer that chose to go elsewhere because of the nonattainment designation," Brockwell said.
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