The Army Corps of Engineers has issued a permit to allow Chesapeake Operating Inc. to install a water intake structure and rehabilitate a boat ramp on the Little Red River north of Searcy in White County.
The permit, issued under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, requires several conditions before, during and after construction. The conditions are the result of concerns expressed during the Corps’ public interest review that included comments from the public and other agencies.
Chesapeake will build the intake structure to draw water from the Little Red River and pump it about one-half mile west into a 25-acre reservoir. Chesapeake will use the reservoir to provide water needed for its gas well drilling operations. The boat ramp will be rehabilitated to provide all-weather boat access to maintain the intake structure.
The Corps became involved in this project because the agency regulates the placement of fill material in the Little Red River under the Clean Water Act. In this case, the fill material will include a sheet pile cofferdam and associated backfill, intake structure and footings, large stones to encapsulate a 48-inch-diameter intake pipe and precast concrete slabs for the boat ramp.
Chesapeake provided the Corps an alternatives analysis that included using groundwater wells, constructing ponds and using tanker trucks to haul water, or constructing the intake structure and reservoir. The environmental review determined the intake structure and reservoir was preferred.
Both the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service told the Corps that the location of the intake structure is in a transitional zone that will not affect water quantity or quality in any way that would be detrimental to either trout upstream or native fisheries downstream.
This is not a Corps project. Congress gives the Corps the responsibility to regulate matters like these. Chesapeake will build, operate and be responsible for the project.
For more information about the issuance of the Section 404 permit, call the Corps at (501) 324-5295. For information about Chesapeake and the project call Paul Hagemeier, Chesapeake’s vice president of regulatory affairs, at (405) 767-4014.
