The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality has determined Scout Clean Energy is now in compliance with requirements for its Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) for the site of a job trailer for the proposed Nimbus Wind Farm located near Green Forest. The ADEQ also determined that earlier earthwork at the site was not a result of Scout/Nimbus activities.
William Cody, an inspector for the ADEQ Office of Water Quality, wrote the site up for violations in late September because of a lack of the required site’s SWPPP Notice of Coverage at the empty trailer.
“I walked a majority of the site and identified that they are constructing what appears to me as some type of on-site roadway in both the south corner and northwest corner of the site,” Cody wrote in September. “In both of these areas the path eventually comes to a fork and goes deeper into the property, which I did not investigate. I did not cite any stormwater/sediment Best Management Practice violations, but that is always subject to change with any additional evidence.”
Scout had 14 business days to respond and reported that the earthwork activity noted by Cody was not a result of actions by Scout. In an email to Scout Oct. 22, Cody wrote that the information provided sufficiently addresses the items referenced in his inspection report. “It has been further explained that the earthwork activities noted in the September 25, 2024, inspection report, do not consist of activity conducted by Scout Clean Energy,” Cody wrote. “At this time, the Division has no further comment concerning this inspection.”
Scout Director of Marketing & Communication Will Patterson wrote in an email that the company has a SWPPP in place with the State of Arkansas covering roughly 1,600 acres that includes the land for the job trailer that has been in place since February. He said the company is in the process of acquiring an additional SWPPP to cover the entire site.
Scout Clean Energy said the benefits of Nimbus include generating 180 megawatts of electricity over a 30-year period with expected $31.5 million in tax revenues to Carroll County during the time and $15 million in direct lease payments to landowners.