LITTLE ROCK — 2 Entergy plants rank in top 100 on mercury
Two Entergy Arkansas facilities were among the top 100 coal-fired plants in emissions of mercury in 2009, according to nonprofit organization that seeks to protect U.S. natural resources.
Independence Plant near Newark emitted 582 pounds of mercury in 2009, the 71st highest level in the country and the same as in 2008, according to the Environment America Research & Policy Center in Boston.
The White Bluff plant near Redfield was 74th, emitting 559 pounds of mercury, down 4 percent from 584 pounds in 2008. Both plants were among the top 50 plants in emitting mercury in 2008.
There are abut 450 coal fired plants in the U.S.
The data are the most recent available from the Environmental Protection Agency.
A third coal plant, Southwestern Electric Power Co.’s Flint Creek facility in Gentry, ranked 251st in mercury emissions, with 118 pounds, down 12 percent from 134 pounds in 2008.
There are no federal limitations on the emission of mercury, but the EPA is scheduled to announce requirements next month, said Lev Guter, a spokesman for the Sierra Club in Arkansas.
Crop insurance sign-up
deadline is Monday
Farmers have until Monday to sign up for government insurance on spring crops.
The USDA’s guaranteed base prices for the various crops are $1.15 per pound for cotton, $5.93 per bushel for corn, $13.53 per bushel for soybeans, $5.79 per bushel for sorghum, and 16 cents a pound for rice.
Growers have a choice between insuring against yield losses or revenue losses, and they can also choose the size of the unit being insured. Scott Stiles, an extension economist, said in a news release that premiums are lower for larger combined acreage units.
More information about risk management is available at the Southern Risk Management Education Center at srmec.uark.
edu, or by contacting a county extension office.
Index declines 0.24 as 8 stocks rise, 8 fall
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, dropped 0.24 to 210.24 Thursday.
“U.S. stocks finished mixed on Thursday, rallying in afternoon trading after oil prices retreated from their highs,” said John Blackwell, senior vice president and managing director of equity trading at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock. “The Arkansas Index finished essentially unchanged as eight stocks advanced and eight declined.” 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 02/25/2011