State to kill 9,000 birds over avian flu
An Arkansas livestock official said Wednesday that poultry flocks potentially exposed to avian flu in Scott County have been isolated and about 9,000 birds will be euthanized to prevent the spread of the disease.
Preston Scroggin, director of the Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Commission, said a quarantine area of 6.2 miles from the the affected farm will be in place for three to four weeks. Tests on other flocks all have come back negative for the avian flu, also known as H7N7, he said. The birds were being raised for Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale.
“We feel like at this time we’ve got it isolated to this one location,” Scroggin said, adding that the agency and the U.S.
Department of Agriculture will continue testing and retesting large and small flocks, including “backyard flocks.”
State livestock and health officials were notified of the avian flu report in the Boles community Sunday night. Scroggin said the event may be related to heavy rains and flooding a few weeks ago.
State health officials said the positive test doesn’t pose a publichealth threat since avian flu can’t be transmitted through the consumption of properly prepared poultry. Despite the precautions, Scroggin said, some countries are likely to temporarily ban imports of poultry from the region.
- Steve Painter
Cement maker fined $2.5 million by EPA
Ash Grove Cement Co.
has been fined $2.5 million by the Environmental Protection Agency because its plants in nine states, including Arkansas, are said to have violated the federal Clean Air Act, the agency said Wednesday.
Arkansas will receive $103,000 from the fine.
Ash Grove has a plant in Foreman that employs 130 people, company spokesman Jacqueline Clark said.
Ash Grove also will be required to spend $750,000 on a project to replace old diesel truck engines at its facilities in Arkansas, Kansas, and Texas. The Environmental Protection Agency said the plan will reduce more than 17,000 tons of nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide each year in the nine states.
- Jessica Seaman
State index dips 3.83 as 14 stocks decline
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, dropped 3.83 to 277.36 Wednesday.
The Arkansas Index moved lower as 14 stocks declined, one advanced and one remained unchanged.
First Federal Bancshares fell 4 percent on average volume.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business, Pages 27 on 06/20/2013