Two coal-fired power plants in Arkansas are exempt from revised air pollution rules under a Trump administration rollback of environmental standards adopted last year, leaving some former EPA officials and environment groups concerned about prolonged exposure to unhealthy emissions.
The exemptions will last for two years, long enough to keep one plant already slated for closure from having to install equipment required by the new rules.
As part of its deregulation efforts, the Trump administration put out a call earlier this year for companies to request exemptions to several environmental rules finalized in Biden’s last year in office. The Clean Air Act allows the president to exempt pollution sources from compliance with any part of section 112 of the CAA if “the technology to implement the standard is not available and it is in the national security interests of the United States to do so.”
Entergy Arkansas’ White Bluff 1 power station near Redfield and the Plum Point Energy Station near Osceola, which is owned by a consortium of utility companies, applied for the exemption.
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Had President Donald Trump not directed the Environmental Protection Agency to provide the exemptions, the plants would have been required to install continuous emissions monitoring systems (CEMS) to measure the amounts of particulates released into the air. The plants also would have been subject to stricter regulations for how much particulate matter they could release through their stacks.
Instead, the plants will only be subject to the version of the rule prior to the 2024 revisions. The plants now have until 2029 to comply with the requirements finalized last year — that is, if they remain in effect.
The Mercury and Air Toxics (MATS) rule is one of more than two dozen environmental and pollution regulations being targeted for rollbacks by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. In a statement announcing the deregulation targets in March, Zeldin said the move was a push back against “destruction and destitution” caused by EPA rules enacted in the previous administration.
The White Bluff plant is scheduled to be shut down in 2028, an Entergy Arkansas spokesperson said.
“White Bluff 1 is the only affected unit in Arkansas that may require the installation of additional equipment to meet new MATS requirements coming into effect in 2027, and that same unit is also subject to a requirement to cease burning coal at the end of 2028 under a consent decree,” Matt Ramsey said in an emailed statement. “This exemption will avoid the need to make additional MATS-related investments that increase costs to our customers so close to the cessation of coal date.
“White Bluff 1 will continue to operate under the current MATS standards, which the EPA has determined to be protective of public health with an adequate margin of safety,” Ramsey added.
MATS matters
The MATS rule was first issued in 2012 to reduce the amount of mercury and other toxics being emitted by coal power plants. Those rules were revised in 2024, during the final months of the Biden administration, requiring all facilities subject to the rule to install CEMS monitoring while tightening the amount of “filterable particulate matter” that a coal power plant could emit.
The revised requirements slashed the amount of particulate matter a coal plant could emit by two-thirds. A fact sheet issued by the EPA last year said that 93% of existing coal plants that were not already set to close already met the revised particulate matter standard.
Particulate matter is used as a surrogate for emissions of mercury, a heavy metal, and other pollutants designated as air toxics under the federal Clean Air Act. Heavy metals can be toxic to humans, and inhaling them can lead to respiratory issues such as asthma.
“Fine particulate matter in the rule and in the science is a proxy for these heavy metals,” explained Sierra Club attorney Tony Mendoza. “So if you’re limiting fine particulate matter to a certain level, EPA found you’re reducing your emissions of mercury and arsenic and nickel.”
Mendoza said he had been surprised that the Plum Point and White Bluff facilities had requested exemptions, saying that documentation put forth by the EPA during the rulemaking process led them to believe it would not be difficult for either plant to comply with the revised rule.
“It seems that they should have been able to comply and there is some non-public reason why they’re seeking that exemption,” Mendoza said. “We were frankly a little surprised to see them on that list.”
Frustration and concern
The chair of the Sierra Club’s Arkansas chapter expressed frustration and concern over the Trump administration’s move. The Sierra Club was one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit that resulted in the consent decree that requires Entergy to shut down White Bluff and its Independence coal plant within the next ten years.
“Environmental issues tend to work kind of like co-morbidities, where air quality issues on their own might not be causing huge issues for the average Arkansan,” Erica Kriner said, “but then you add poor drinking water from hog farms disposing waste into the Buffalo River; then you add an uptick of diseases that threaten agriculture; and suddenly all of these issues start to snowball with each other.”
Kriner said it was important that Arkansas communities understand the “larger context” of what these actions can mean. She compared the attempts to roll back regulations to a car in need of repair — perhaps it could continue to run at first, but it would eventually stop working.
“Chipping away at our clean air protections may not feel like it will lead to dire consequences, but the Trump administration, the [Sarah] Huckabee Sanders administration, they rely on people not understanding the long-term consequences of dismantling these regulations,” Kriner said.
The exemption from complying with the revised rule was particularly concerning for Joe Goffman, who oversaw the 2024 revisions as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency’s air office during the Biden administration and helped author the section of the Clean Air Act that gave the EPA the authority to regulate so-called “air toxics,” such as mercury, in 1990.
Goffman said the MATS rule exemptions for coal-powered plants would allow these facilities to continue using less frequent testing to demonstrate compliance with the pre-2024 version of the standards, which they are still subject to, if they had not already begun using CEMS.
Goffman said this leaves room for inaccuracies and potentially even manipulation.
“I can say from my many decades of experience in this area — if there was one pollutant” that Congress decided to regulate, “the pollutant to target is PM [particulate matter], because that’s the most dangerous pollutant that makes people sick,” Goffman said.
That’s because harmful substances – like mercury – “ride” on fine particles.
“A lot of these substances are carried by fine particles,” Goffman said. “In other words, you don’t have these free floating nickel molecules or other heavy metal molecules. They ride on fine particles. That’s what makes them particularly lethal.”
Without a CEMS monitoring mandate for all coal plants, Goffman said, there could be “a lot” of particulate matter that is being emitted that isn’t necessarily reflected in reporting.
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Arkansas Advocate is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arkansas Advocate maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sonny Albarado for questions: info@arkansasadvocate.com.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Assessment: Center-Right
The article primarily discusses the Trump administration’s rollback of environmental regulations, particularly with regard to air pollution standards for coal-fired power plants in Arkansas. It presents the viewpoint of the administration’s policy as one focused on deregulation and reducing what is described as “burdensome” restrictions. This reflects a right-leaning stance, as the policy approach aligns with the traditional conservative emphasis on reducing government intervention in business and regulatory practices.
While the article includes criticism from environmental groups and former EPA officials, which represents a left-leaning perspective, the focus on the actions taken under Trump’s deregulation efforts and the framing of those actions as part of a broader conservative agenda signals a Center-Right bias in the overall tone and context. The criticisms of the exemptions are presented as concerns about the long-term impact, but the narrative is largely driven by the deregulation viewpoint associated with the Trump administration.
SUMMARY: The Fort Smith police held their annual awards ceremony at the Bakery District, honoring officers, civilians, and community partners for their exceptional contributions over the past year. Field Training Officer Justin Ritter was named Officer of the Year, expressing surprise and humility at the acknowledgment, given his focus on mentoring new officers. The awards process is open to department nominations, with selections made by an awards committee. Chief Baker emphasized the importance of recognizing those who exemplify the department’s mission. The ceremony celebrates the dedication and hard work of those who serve and protect the community, with plans for future events.
Fort Smith police annual awards ceremony Subscribe to 40/29 on YouTube now for more: http://bit.ly/PTElbK Get more Northwest …
www.thecentersquare.com – By Harry Roth | Save our States – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-22 16:27:00
To say 2024 was a terrible year for ranked-choice voting would be an understatement. Not only did six states ban it, but voters in six states also rejected it at the ballot box. Pro-RCV groups spent more than $100 million pushing those ballot initiatives, lavishly outspending opponents, yet they lost. Just a few months into 2025, it’s shaping up to be another devastating year for ranked-choice voting.
All this is good news for voters, since RCV makes the entire election process more complex, slower and more difficult. Instead of just voting for one candidate, in an RCV election voters are asked to rank all of the candidates. When ballots are counted, less popular candidates are eliminated. Voters who selected those candidates have their second choices counted – or, if they don’t have another choice, their ballots are eliminated. This process of counting, moving votes, throwing out ballots, and recounting goes on until a candidate has a majority of what’s left.
No wonder five more states have already banned RCV this year: Kansas, Wyoming, West Virginia, North Dakota, and Arkansas. Similar bills are working their way through legislatures in states like Texas, Georgia, and Ohio. A bill to ban ranked-choice voting in Iowa is on the governor’s desk awaiting her signature.
And that’s not all. Repeal movements are active in Alaska and in major cities like Oakland and San Francisco. In Maine, a bill to repeal ranked-choice voting passed the state House before dying in the Senate. Last November, a ballot measure to repeal it in Alaska came within 743 votes of passing.
All of this probably comes as a shock to well-funded “election reform” groups like FairVote and Unite America and their donors. A few years ago, they seemed to be winning. Their big spending convinced voters in Alaska, Maine, and various cities and towns to adopt RCV. Now they are spending tens of millions of dollars just to defend their convoluted election system. RCV faces fierce bipartisan opposition.
A great example is what happened in Kansas last month. The Republican majority legislature passed a ban on RCV, and Gov. Laura Kelly signed it into law. That made her the first Democratic governor to enact an RCV ban, although Democratic governors in other states have vetoed RCV legislation.
Repeal efforts in Oakland and San Francisco are led by Democrats upset with the urban decay their once-beautiful cities are experiencing due to the so-called progressive officials elected by the system. For example, the San Francisco School Board, which is elected by RCV, voted to remove Algebra 1 from middle school in a twisted attempt to create a more “equitable” system.
Oakland’s Mayor Sheng Thao was recalled only two years after her election for presiding over an increase in violent crime and having her home raided by the FBI over accusations of corruption. She became a poster child for RCV after winning in the ninth round by receiving the most second-place votes.
The Stop RCV movement is one of the most successful political coalitions in recent memory. But its success isn’t just due to those fighting against the scheme. We should thank pro-RCV groups and officials elected by the system for showing the public firsthand how confusing and unworkable it is.
arkansasadvocate.com – Mary Hennigan, Special to the Advocate – 2025-04-22 05:00:00
by Mary Hennigan, Special to the Advocate, Arkansas Advocate April 22, 2025
The life-saving medicine naloxone was approved for nonprescription sale more than two years ago, but many rural Arkansas pharmacies still keep the overdose-reversal kit behind the counter.
Of 15 pharmacies the Advocate contacted for this article, all but two kept naloxone behind the counter. Pharmacists and business owners said requests for the drug have been low or nonexistent among their clientele, and they haven’t thought of moving it to a different area. Others cited shoplifting and the drug’s expense as a concern; several said more insurance providers should cover the cost.
Goodman Drug in Corning, a town of about 3,000 people in Clay County, was one of two pharmacies that makes naloxone available over the counter. Though owner Cathy Goodman said she didn’t have many customers come in looking for the product, she said it was important to keep it in an accessible location.
“Some people have prescription drugs and children in the house,” Goodman said. “[Naloxone] may not necessarily be for them, but it should be readily available to anybody who has anything [with opioids] in their household,” she said.
More than 82,000 people in the United States died of a drug overdose in 2024, according to preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The same data shows Arkansas had 386 drug overdose deaths in 2024, though the figure could change as the data is finalized. The CDC reported a 28% decrease in Arkansas overdose deaths from 2023 to 2024.
Naloxone is packaged as many brands, and the Narcan nasal spray was a commonly known label when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration expanded its availability in March 2023. While the nasal spray is effective and designed for easy use, experts say 911 should still be called immediately in the event of an overdose.
Arkansas officials stress the importance of naloxone distribution as they gradually allocate the state’s $216 million share of the national $26 billion opioid settlement funds. The funds were divided between the state, counties and cities. The Arkansas Association of Counties and the Arkansas Municipal League pooled their allocations together and formed the Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership, which former state drug director Kirk Lane leads.
“I think there’s a stigma attached to anything that has to do with substance use disorder, and there always has been,” Lane said, acknowledging that naloxone carries a stigma. “It’s what’s always made it difficult for us to give resources to people who need it.”
Kirk Lane, director of the Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership, speaks at a press conference announcing a new youth drug-reduction program in Little Rock on Oct. 9, 2024. (Mary Hennigan/Arkansas Advocate)
Lane agreed that keeping naloxone behind the counter where a customer has to ask for it establishes a barrier. However, ARORP has distributed about 100,000 dosage units of naloxone statewide, and Lane said if someone has a will to access the medicine, they could get it very quickly from a local participating organization, law enforcement agency or emergency services group.
Lane said the recovery partnership has approved funding for a handful of pharmacies to provide naloxone kits free of charge to patients who can’t afford it.
Per Arkansas Act 651 of 2021, health care professionals are required to prescribe an opioid antagonist like naloxone under certain conditions, including when a patient has a history of opioid use disorder or if they receive an opioid dosage of at least 50 morphine milligram equivalents per day for at least five days.
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Patient hurdles
Spence Reed, an owner of the ReedHutchins Pharmacy in Heber Springs, said he could see how the behind-the-counter placement of naloxone in his Cleburne County store would create an additional hurdle for customers. But Reed said he’s also concerned that people might steal the $60 medicine. He compared the product to pregnancy tests or condoms, which he said are commonly taken to avoid embarrassment.
Several other pharmacy operators said they were worried naloxone would be taken unknowingly out of their business and have kept it behind the counter so they can keep an eye on it.
Chris Cooper, director of operations for Heartland Pharmacy’s 11 Arkansas locations, said the location of the drug depends on the storefront. While smaller businesses with less to oversee may stock it on their shelves, it’s mostly kept behind the counter as a preventative for shoplifting.
Chris Cooper, director of operations, Heartland Pharmacy (Source: heartland-rx.com)
“It’s not cheap, so contrary to what a lot of people think — they think that it is still very affordable, a cheap medication that they can just snag. Unfortunately, it’s not,” he said.
Cooper said the behind-the-counter placement is not meant to deter use of the drug in any way, and he expressed support for naloxone access as drug overdose continues to affect thousands nationwide each year.
Naloxone is typically packaged in a small box containing two nasal sprays. Most Arkansas pharmacies sold the product for about $65, though Eudora Drug Store’s pharmacist Clara Rice said the price was up to $250.
Eudora is a town of about 2,000 people in the Arkansas Delta, not far from the Mississippi River. Data shows the town’s median age is 52, and an average household income is about $27,000. Rice described the area as having high crime.
“We don’t want to take any chances with having [naloxone] out front,” Rice said. “Of course, if there were an emergency, it would be easy to get to if that was the case.”
Such is the notion that many rural pharmacies described: If a customer came in and asked for naloxone, they would still be able to buy it.
“It’s a financial thing for me,” said Tyler Staten, manager of Gannaway Drug in Warren, the seat of south Arkansas’ Bradley County. “If nobody’s demanding it — then just like stocking anything else, if you don’t have a demand for it there’s no need to stock it on the shelf. As soon as somebody wants it or needs it, I’m willing to do that. We will do that.”
While theft may play a small factor in Larry Thomerson’s decision to keep the medicine behind the counter at the Gurdon Pharmacy in Arkansas’ south central Clark County, he also wants to talk with his customers beforehand and ensure they know how to use it, he said.
Thomerson, a pharmacist of 50 years, said he doesn’t consider naloxone to carry a stigma, and there are no restrictions on buying naloxone in his shop. “I’ll be glad to sell it to anyone who wants one,” he said.
Cissy Clark, pharmacist and owner of Clarks Family Pharmacy in Earle, also pushed back on the idea that purchasing naloxone is complicated by stigma.
“I live in a really, super small town. I’ve known these people since 1995; raised them from diapers,” Clark said. “I think they’re comfortable enough with me to come in and ask for it.”
She also said that she recommends naloxone to customers who are headed off to college soon in case of any emergencies.
Earle is located in Crittenden County on the Arkansas-Mississippi border. In 2020, the town had a population of about 1,800. The town takes up about 3.25 square miles, and staff said Clarks Family Pharmacy is the only local provider in town.
Still, Clark said she keeps naloxone behind the counter because of the area’s financial standing.
Financial burden
In Heber Springs, Reed said not many people have asked for naloxone over the counter, but it is included with frequent pain medicine prescriptions. He said that if a medicine could save a life and prescribers have to include it on their opioid scripts, insurances should cover it.
“We often try to tell them it could be somebody who doesn’t know what it is that gets a hold of [pain pills] in your house — could be another family member or grandchild — somebody that accidentally gets a hold of them and takes them,” Reed said. “That way, you would have [naloxone] on hand to hopefully rescue them or prevent an unwanted outcome.”
Mayflower Family Pharmacy owner Michael Thilo tells his Faulkner County customers something similar. Rather than highlight how a customer’s dependency on pain medicine is a physical addiction itself, Thilo said he puts a “soft spin” on naloxone to encourage people to keep the overdose-reversal medicine around.
Michael Thilo, owner, Mayflower Family Pharmacy (Source: mayflowerfamilypharmacy.com)
Thilo said he prompts his clientele to think about what would happen if a child accidentally consumed the pills, which shifts the focus away from the person using the pain medicine.
“I definitely think there’s a stigma,” Thilo said. “I think most people see it as, ‘I don’t need that because I don’t have that problem,’ whether they realize they do have the problem or not. I think most people that have been on opioids long term just need it for day-to-day, but they don’t realize they’re addicted to it.”
Thilo said he hasn’t had anyone ask for naloxone over the counter, and affordability may be another barrier.
Of the most common insurance providers — including Medicare for whom Thilo considers the most vulnerable population — about half won’t cover the medicine, he said. He estimated that one customer out of every 10 who receive an opioid prescription at his pharmacy will pick up naloxone because of the copay expense.
“I think all insurances should be required to cover it for no cost,” Thilo said. “If we’re worried about it as a population, as a society, then I think we should take it seriously and remove the financial burden.”
Heath Branscrum, a pharmacist and part owner of Health-Wise Pharmacy in the small Sebastian County town of Lavaca, shared similar sentiments about his patients not jumping to pay the cost of the preventative medicine.
“One of the barriers to people gaining access to Narcan is the fact that their insurance is not covering, particularly Medicare-affiliated insurances, the over-the-counter version of Narcan,” Branscrum said. “…There’s a large number of people out there that are supposed to have Narcan available to them, but they don’t get it because it’s going to cost them $50.”
Other resources
Purchasing naloxone at a pharmacy isn’t the only way residents living in rural Arkansas can access resources to stop the opioid epidemic.
River Valley Medical Wellness, a primary care provider with offices in Russellville and Hot Springs, in 2023 launched the Arkansas Mobile Opioid Recovery (ARMOR) nonprofit, which sends mobile health units with critical substance use care to rural pockets in the state.
Attorney General Tim Griffin funded the first mobile health unit with a $777,000 grant from the state’s opioid settlement funds. After seeing some success, the Arkansas Department of Human Services provided the same funding amount for a second mobile unit. Tucker Martin, chief operating officer at River Valley Medical Wellness and co-founder of ARMOR, said the goal is to have five mobile health units that provide services in each corner of the state and in the Little Rock metro area.
According to results from a twice yearly River Valley Medical Wellness social determinants of health survey, Martin said patients consistently list transportation to care at the top of the list.
Tucker Martin, COO, River Valley Medical Wellness (Source: rvmwellness.com)
“They’re making a decision about whether they’re going to buy food to put on the table for their family, or they’re going to put gas in their car, travel 38 miles or whatever it is, to go to the doctor,” Martin said. “That’s the kind of decision that these people are facing, so that birthed the idea of, ‘Let’s create an environment where we can take health care directly to communities.’”
April 14 marked the one-year anniversary of ARMOR’s mobile health unit launch, and Tucker said 1,785 patients in a handful of towns were treated during that time. Each of the meetings are “very meticulously scheduled” and coincide with a providing service already in the community, such as a local church, he said.
More than 1,200 free naloxone kits were distributed to the community in the last year, according to an impact report from ARMOR.
“My deep, deep desire is to give the same thing that was given to me, which is access to a little bit of hope,” said Martin, who celebrated nine years of continuous sobriety in October.
At the state level, Griffin also has distributed a portion of opioid settlement funds to a variety of organizations focused on providing help to those with opioid addiction. Griffin recently launched a pilot program for the state’s specialty courts system and helped fund opioid research at Arkansas Children’s Hospital.
The Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership funds projects in all 75 counties that aim to abate the opioid epidemic. While Lane said ARORP doesn’t allow applications for naloxone kits from individuals, the organization works to provide funding for local entities that can distribute the resource in the community.
ARORP’s Naloxone Hero Project distributed more than 100,000 dosage units statewide, the majority of which went to local organizations. Recently, ARORP started distributing units to law enforcement agencies, first responders and fire departments.
The ReviveAR mobile app also teaches residents how to use naloxone, where they can access it locally and how to provide support for family and friends. The app provides step-by-step opioid reversal instructions in English, Spanish and Marshallese.
“I think in every ability where there’s any possibility of somebody overdosing … [naloxone] ought to be considered as a resource to reverse an overdose,” Lane said.
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SUPPORT
Arkansas Advocate is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arkansas Advocate maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sonny Albarado for questions: info@arkansasadvocate.com.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Assessment: Centrist
The content appears balanced with no strong political leaning. It focuses on the practical aspects of naloxone accessibility in rural Arkansas, emphasizing both the challenges (e.g., cost, availability, stigma) and the efforts being made to combat the opioid crisis (e.g., mobile health units, funding through opioid settlements, and partnerships). The inclusion of perspectives from pharmacy owners, health officials, and state authorities presents a broad view of the issue without overtly supporting any political ideology. The focus is on the public health implications and logistical hurdles rather than a partisan stance.
