St. Paul city council hears environmental concerns
Posted on Thursday, November 20, 2008
Following routine city council business on Nov. 11, St. Paul Mayor Richard Burton and city council members listened to Boston Mountain Solid Waste District Deputy Enforcement Officer Mike Harp as he presented the results of a recent assessment of environmental law violations in St. Paul.
Acting on an anonymous complaint about St, Paul School children having respiratory problems caused by smoke from burn barrels being used in the vicinity of the school’s playgrounds, Harp and Burton recently toured the town and found “ three-four burn barrels within a one-block radius of the school, ” Harp said.
He told the group that burning and dumping of household trash has been illegal in Arkansas since 1972. He said that burning yard waste was permissible, however.
Harp said that a private landfill had recently been cleaned up not too far from St. Paul and that 70 tons of waste had been removed from it. “ The land owner has to pay the expense of cleaning up such sites, ” Harp said.
It was the consensus of the city council members that a flyer about burning trash would be included with the next mailing of St. Paul water bills and that these flyers would be distributed at various locations around town for those who do not have city water.
Although there are fines and penalties for illegal trash disposal, Harp said he preferred to go the education route and let the people know it is against the law and give them a verbal warning before taking more aggressive actions.
FEEDBACK:
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online