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The Town of Vian and the Cherokee Nation are asking the Oklahoma Corporation Commission to overturn a decision that re- commends approval of a commercial disposal well in the city limits. I-MAC Petroleum Services of Muskogee is seeking to construct the well for disposal of salt water that comes from the natural gas drilling process at wells in Arkansas. Greg Riepl, a geologist for I-MAC, said that Arkansas doesn't have a lot of underground rock formations that are conducive for water disposal. "Arkansas put a moratorium (on salt water injection wells) until they can gin up some regulations," because some of the gas companies were not following the existing rules, Riepl said. Ideal sites for injecting salt water are thick formations that are porous and permeable so that fluids can move through them, Riepl said.

The Town of Vian and the Cherokee Nation are asking the Oklahoma Corporation Commission to overturn a decision that re- commends approval of a commercial disposal well in the city limits. I-MAC Petroleum Services of Muskogee is seeking to construct the well for disposal of salt water that comes from the natural gas drilling process at wells in Arkansas. Greg Riepl, a geologist for I-MAC, said that Arkansas doesn't have a lot of underground rock formations that are conducive for water disposal. "Arkansas put a moratorium (on salt water injection wells) until they can gin up some regulations," because some of the gas companies were not following the existing rules, Riepl said. Ideal sites for injecting salt water are thick formations that are porous and permeable so that fluids can move through them, Riepl said.

Here in Arkansas with way above normal cancer rates, the survivors linked to radiation induced cancers ask me to find the source of radiation that caused their cancers. Radioactive fallout from the 1950's nuclear weapons tests in Nevada spread throughout most of the nation, but the hottest spots were in the Midwest and Northwest, according to government projections. Data, was compiled by the National Cancer Institute as part federal study over a decade ago. It was the first to show high exposure rates outside Nevada and Utah. Some of the highest doses of fallout were received by milk drinking children here in Arkansas. From earlier studies, exposure rates were highest in 12 states east and north of the Nevada desert: Arkansas, Missouri,Nevada,Utah, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Idaho, Montana, and Colorado.

Arkansas Nuclear One near Russellville were shut down nearly 30 hours this weekend after unrelated problems involving a fire in a turbine building for Unit 1 and a steam leak in a turbine line that serves Unit 2. Neither occurrence caused extensive damage - and none to the reactors, plant spokesman Phil Fisher said Monday. Plant workers were unharmed, and neither event threatened public safety, he said.

"Colorado Governor Bill Ritter stood by the banks of the Arkansas River near a neighborhood contaminated by a uranium mill today and signed legislation that will force uranium mills to clean up existing messes before launching new projects. "This just gives us a better hold on the milling process," Ritter said before signing the bill, a bipartisan measure sponsored by Rep. Buffie McFadyen, and Sens. Ken Kester and Bob Bacon. Greenwood Village based Cotter Corp. operates the mill that became a Superfund cleanup site in 1984. During the statehouse battle over the law, Cotter vice president John Hamrick said the legislation would kill Cotter's proposed project to refurbish the mill and haul 12.5 million tons of uranium ore from New Mexico for processing. Hamrick on Tuesday declined to comment on the status on any future project."

Norman Rep. Scott Martin joined a handful of Oklahoma lawmakers on a tour of Arkansas One, the reactor at Russellville, Ark. It's a four hour drive to see the plant that sits just off Interstate 40. Mr. Martin said perception -- and the $6 billion to $8 billion cost -- keep more reactors from being built in the United States.

Federal regulators recently approved the final environmental impact statement submitted by Sequoyah Fuels Corp., which operated the plant until it shut down in 1993. Located about 75 miles southeast of Tulsa, the facility sits along the Arkansas River.

It began in late 2007 as a routine audit. Retail giant Wal-Mart noticed that some exit signs at the company's stores and warehouses had gone missing. As the audit spread across Wal-Mart's U.S. operations, the mystery thickened. Stores from Arkansas to Washington began reporting missing signs. They numbered in the hundreds at first, then the thousands. Last month Wal-Mart disclosed that about 15,800 of its exit signs - a stunning 20 per cent of its total inventory - are lost, missing, or otherwise unaccounted for at 4,500 facilities in the United States and Puerto Rico. Poor housekeeping, certainly, but what's the big deal? In a word: radiation.

(Ed. Note: Writer Art Hobson is a retired physics professor from the University of Arkansas and an old friend of Santiago Times publisher Steve Anderson. In this article Hobson makes the case for nuclear energy - an issue that is very much in the news in Chile. The Santiago Times respectfully disagrees with Hobson's conclusion that - given the world's current and very urgent climate change plight - there are few alternatives as good as nuclear energy. Hobson's argument may hold for some parts of the world, but not for Chile. Why? Because Chile is different, with more renewable energy potential than almost any other country on earth: huge coastline, dozens of rivers, a remarkable Atacama desert. And because a quantum jump by Chile to wind, solar and run of the river energy sources would show other developing nations the real economic benefits and job creation potential that comes with a truly radical commitment to renewable energy. Chile could and should be a world leader in renewable energy development.

A US House of Representatives panel that is analyzing legislation to cap man-made carbon emissions and mandate standards to boost renewable electricity by 20% narrowly rejected Thursday an amendment to allow nuclear power to be considered a renewable energy source. Michigan Republican Fred Upton's amendment failed in a 29-26 vote, but attracted support from four Democrats -- John Barrow of Georgia, Mike Ross of Arkansas, Baron Hill of Indiana and Zack Space of Ohio -- on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Owners of an idled Canon City uranium mill where contamination remains a problem are planning to reopen for business. The Cotter Corp. has told state officials they plan to process uranium from a New Mexico mine as early as 2014. The company would ship 12.5 million tons of ore by train to its site along the Arkansas River.

While their plant officially remains an environmental disaster, owners of a Cañon City uranium mill are pursuing a plan to reopen for nuclear business by hauling 12.5 million tons of ore by train from a protected mountain in New Mexico to refurbished facilities along the Arkansas River. Cotter Corp. executives have informed state officials they will crush and chemically leach 500,000 tons of uranium per year for 25 years - starting as soon as 2014 - "dependent upon market forces."

"A proposal to stiffen state requirements for cleaning up uranium processing facilities and notifying area residents of groundwater contamination passed on second reading in the state House Thursday. No one spoke in opposition to HB 1348, which will have its third and final reading on the House floor Monday, and two Republicans - Reps. Marsha Looper and Tom Massey - spoke in favor of the bill, which has bipartisan sponsorship and widespread support in the Arkansas River Valley and along the southern Front Range. Officials at the Cotter uranium mill in Cañon City, a facility with a history of water contamination violations, are considering refurbishing the plant to process ore from New Mexico beginning in 2014. Local activists want the EPA Superfund site fully cleaned up before such plans are considered. In other mining waste storage news, environmentalists Thursday condemned an Obama administration filing Tuesday supporting Bush administration rules allowing the mining industry greater latitude in disposing mining waste on public lands."