Posted on June 19, 2018
By Sean Ingram, Courier News
The city of Dardanelle and the Yell County Wildlife Federation (YCWF) have about three weeks to determine if they will appeal a federal judge’s recent decision to dismiss a lawsuit that has blocked construction of a proposed intermodal facility.
U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. ruled June 8 in Little Rock that a lawsuit filed in February 2014 should be dismissed, because the plaintiffs’ claim — that an environmental impact study issued in March 2013 was invalid — was not the case. His ruling came after a February hearing where he heard testimony from both parties.
YCWF spokesman Jim Wood said he would meet with their attorney, Richard Mays of Heber Springs, to discuss the 16-page ruling and determine if there will be an appeal.
“From my reading of it, I expect, it will be appealed. But I can’t say that for sure,” Wood said last week. “I haven’t got a chance to do much more than read and re-read. The enormous amount of files on this project is mind-boggling. They [plaintiffs] are trying to do something that is notably illegal. There is a lot of little side issues to this.
“We have participated now and been developing supplementals and all kinds of documentation for about 20 years in this. We’re still continuing to represent sportsmen and others in partnership with the city of Dardanelle.”
The 2014 lawsuit was filed against the Federal Highway Administration (FHA), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the River Valley Regional Intermodal Facilities Authority (RVRIFA) by Dardanelle and the YCWF after the FHA issued an environmental impact statement in 2013 that indicated again that there was no significant environmental impact that would be caused by the facility.
The Corps of Engineers was first asked to conduct a feasibility study of a slackwater harbor in 1997. The Corps issued an environmental assessment in 2000 and found no significant impact. The plaintiffs filed suit in 2003.
In 2004, U.S. District Judge Billy Roy Wilson ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and said the Corps of Engineers violated the National Environmental Protection Act and its findings were invalid because it failed to consider all the effects of the components of the facility.
The FHA took over the project and worked on a comprehensive study with the Corps that would result in the 2013 impact statement that said the project would do no harm.
The primary issue is the disagreement between the parties about the suitability of the location of the intermodal facility. The site is directly across the Arkansas River from Dardanelle, which is a shared floodplain, Wood said.
“Dardanelle is a flood-prone community,” he said. “People have to have flood insurance. There is an elevated interest in any tinkering with the floodplain on the river here in Dardanelle. We want them to place the project on Lake Dardanelle at a suitable location.”
YCWF past president Wayne Shewmake said they anticipated they were going to lose in the long run, but overall they accomplished their goal to make the intermodal board conduct the in-depth studies.
“By doing so, it has dragged out long enough, now the federal government isn’t likely to put any funding into it,” he said Friday. “The state has put funding into it, but i don’t know if they will continue.”
Mayor Randy Horton said Thursday the recent court ruling has been long anticipated and was welcome news.
“With the judge’s order in hand, the intermodal board will be able to return to looking forward to the next steps in order to move the project forward,” he said. “The proposed development increases the tools in our economic development recruiting package to bring in more employment opportunities for workers all over the Arkansas River Valley.”
Roy Reaves, former chairman of the intermodal board, said they were obviously very pleased with the judge’s ruling, one that has been a long time coming with several disappointments along the way.
“My hope now is the good people of Dardanelle will join forces with us and let us all work together, get this thing built and bring some much-needed jobs to the area,” Reaves explained. “I will also hope the people of Dardanelle and Yell County to tell their leaders to use their money to work with us instead of opposing something that will create this many jobs. We all need to work together, and if we do, it will be really, really successful.”
Reaves said he understood the flooding concerns, but the slackwater harbor project would only increase the water level less than one inch, according to a study conducted by a hydrologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
“I have no reason to doubt their study,” he said. “If this is not going to impact it, there is no other reason that I know of to oppose this project. Almost every city up and down the Arkansas River is trying to get a slackwater harbor. It has become apparent to the area of the value of the project. When we started, that wasn’t known. Now it is known. The whole area will benefit. Several counties in the River Valley will benefit from this.”
The intermodal facility would cover over 800 acres and include a slackwater harbor for the loading and unloading of barges. According to a previous article in The Courier, the facility would include land for industrial development where people would build factories and have access to the three modes of transportation — water, rail and highway.
Reaves said the main draw for companies to use the intermodal facility and to locate factories here will be the reduced freight rates the facility will produce.
“The big benefit most people are not aware of is freight rates, and those are set by zones,” he said. “When the freight rates get lowered, every manufacturer brings in raw materials and ships out their finished product. It makes it more profitable for existing industry. If Russellville has a lot lower freight rate, it makes it a lot more efficient.
“When companies select their next plant site, Russellville becomes a lot more attractive area. That is what we are trying to do. Jobs are the things that provide each of us our livelihood and the lifestyle that we get to live. It is based on our income, and good jobs make all the difference in the world.”
Reaves added that he hoped people in Dardanelle or the wildlife federation would want their taxpayer dollars spent to appeal the judge’s ruling.
Source: Courier News
