Title 8 — Environmental Law

(a) It is the purpose of this chapter to authorize the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission to establish a system of fees for the issuance of permits required by §§ 8-4-101 — 8-4-106, 8-4-201 — 8-4-229, 8-4-301 — 8-4-314, 8-6-201 — 8-6-212, 8-6-214, and 8-9-403, to d…

(1) As used in this chapter:(1) “Annual fee” means the fee required by this chapter to be submitted upon the issuance date and the anniversary date of issuance of the permits required by the statutes enumerated in subdivision (4) of this section;(2) “Commission” means the Arkansa…

(1) The Division of Environmental Quality and the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission shall have the following powers and duties, respectively:(1) (A) Following a public hearing and based upon a record calculating the reasonable administrative costs of evaluating an…

All existing rules of the Division of Environmental Quality not inconsistent with the provisions of this chapter relating to subjects embraced within this chapter shall remain in full force and effect until expressly repealed, amended, or superseded if the rules do not conflict w…

(a) A Division of Environmental Quality Fee Trust Fund is established on the books of the Treasurer of State, the Auditor of State, and the Chief Fiscal Officer of the State. (b) All interest earnings and fees collected under the provisions of all laws administered by the Divisio…

(a) As used in this section:(1) “Affiliated person” means:(A) Any officer, director, or partner of the applicant;(B) Any person employed by the applicant in a supervisory capacity over operations of the facility that is the subject of the application that may adversely impact the…

(a) General. Whenever it shall be necessary for the purpose of implementing or monitoring the enforcement of any law charged to the authority of the Division of Environmental Quality, any authorized employee or agent of the division may enter upon any public or private property f…

(a) All funds that are held in a trust fund administered by the Division of Environmental Quality may be invested and reinvested subject to the written approval of the Treasurer of State. (b) All investments as authorized for use by the Treasurer of State may be available for the…

(a) The General Assembly recognizes that since 1949, when the precursor of the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission was first created, significant changes have occurred in the responsibilities charged to the state's environmental agency. This subchapter intends to cl…

(a) The Director of the Division of Environmental Quality shall be the executive officer and active administrator of all pollution control activities in the state. (b) As such, the director's duties shall include:(1) (A) The administration of permitting, licensing, certification,…

(a) The Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission shall meet regularly in publicly noticed open meetings to discuss and rule upon matters of environmental concern. (b) The commission's powers and duties shall be as follows:(1) (A) Promulgation of rules implementing the su…

(a) The Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission shall employ a full-time administrative law judge to perform functions and duties that the commission shall direct and, in particular, to advise the commission on matters of law and procedure that may arise during the cond…

A.C.A. § 8-1-205Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved

(a) As used in this section:(1) “Environmental laws” means this title and any rules, permits, and orders adopted or issued under this title;(2) “Environmental management system” means a set of documented processes and practices that enable an organization to reduce its environmen…

The General Assembly hereby finds and declares that protection of the environment is enhanced by the public's voluntary compliance with environmental laws and that the public will benefit from incentives to identify and remedy environmental compliance issues. It is further declar…

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Commission” means the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission;(2) (A) “Environmental audit” means a voluntary, internal, and comprehensive evaluation of one (1) or more facilities or an activity at one (1) or more facilities regulated…

(a) In order to encourage owners and operators of facilities and persons conducting other activities regulated under this chapter or its federal counterparts or extensions, both to conduct voluntary internal environmental audits of their compliance programs and management systems…

(a) The privilege described in § 8-1-303 does not apply to the extent that:(1) It is waived expressly by the owner or operator of the facility that prepared or caused to be prepared the environmental audit report;(2) The owner or operator of a facility or person conducting an act…

(1) The privilege described in § 8-1-303 does not apply to the following:(1) Documents, communications, data, reports, or other information that must be collected, developed, maintained, reported, or otherwise made available to the public or a regulatory agency under:(A) Federal …

The parties to a legal action may at any time stipulate to the entry of an order that directs that specific information contained in an environmental audit report is or is not subject to the privilege provided under § 8-1-303.

(a) In a civil or administrative proceeding, a court of record or administrative tribunal, after an in-camera review, shall require disclosure of material for which the privilege described in § 8-1-303 is asserted if the court or administrative tribunal determines one (1) of the …

A.C.A. § 8-1-308Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved

The privilege created by § 8-1-303 does not apply to criminal investigations or proceedings. When an environmental audit report is obtained, reviewed, or used in a criminal proceeding, the privilege created by § 8-1-303 applicable to administrative or civil proceedings is not wai…

(a) A party asserting the environmental audit privilege under § 8-1-303 has the burden of proving the privilege, including if there is evidence of noncompliance with federal or state law or extensions thereof, and proof that appropriate efforts to achieve compliance were promptly…

Upon making a determination under § 8-1-307, the court of record or administrative tribunal may compel disclosure of only those parts of an environmental audit report that are relevant to issues in dispute in the proceeding.

(1) Nothing in this subchapter may limit, waive, or abrogate:(1) The scope of any statutory or common law privilege, including the work product doctrine and the attorney-client privilege; or(2) The rights of the public as provided in the Freedom of Information Act of 1967, § 25-1…

This subchapter may be called the “Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program Act”.

This subchapter authorizes the Division of Environmental Quality to establish and administer an environmental laboratory accreditation program so that laboratories that submit data and analyses to the division may be accredited by the division as having demonstrated acceptable co…

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Acceptable results” means results within limits determined on the basis of statistical procedures as prescribed by the Division of Environmental Quality;(2) “Accreditation” means the process by which the division recognizes a laboratory as meet…

(a) The Division of Environmental Quality shall have the following powers and duties under this subchapter:(1) To establish and administer the Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program for laboratories applying for accreditation by the division;(2) To enforce the provisions …

(a) Any person that violates any provision of this subchapter or of any rule or order issued pursuant to this subchapter or that commits an unlawful act under this subchapter shall be subject to the same penalty and enforcement provisions as are contained in the Arkansas Water an…

(a) (1) (A) (i) All consulting laboratories performing analyses for which results are to be submitted to the Division of Environmental Quality shall obtain a laboratory accreditation under this subchapter.(ii) An analyte, method, or matrix for which the Environmental Laboratory A…

(a) A certificate of accreditation shall be effective for a period of one (1) year from the date of issuance, after which time the accreditation will lapse. (b) Accreditation may be renewed for additional periods of one (1) year's duration upon application for renewal made to the…

(a) After a laboratory is accredited, the laboratory's accreditation may be revoked or suspended by the Division of Environmental Quality for:(1) Knowingly falsifying any data submitted to the division or any data related to laboratory analysis;(2) Knowingly making any false stat…

(a) (1) The Division of Environmental Quality may assess and collect reasonable fees from participating laboratories for the administrative costs of the Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program.(2) The costs shall include without limitation, the expense of conducting evalua…

No area within Arkansas shall be redesignated by the state for the purposes of permitting under the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) of air quality requirements except by an act of the General Assembly.

(a) After review of scientific literature and similar standards in other states, the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission shall promulgate, through procedures set out in § 8-4-202, ambient air quality standards or other appropriate regulatory controls that will prote…

(a) Ambient Concentration Standard. (1) Except as provided in subsection (d) of this section, no person shall cause or permit emissions from any facility that result in predicted ambient hydrogen sulfide concentrations at any place beyond the facility's perimeter property boundar…

(a) The General Assembly finds that:(1) The United States Environmental Protection Agency has proposed emission guidelines for the regulation of carbon dioxide emissions from existing fossil-fuel-fired electric generating units under § 111(d) of the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. § 741…

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Covered electric generating unit” means an existing fossil-fuel-fired electric generating unit within the state that is subject to regulation under federal emission guidelines;(2) “Federal emission guidelines” means a final rule, regulation, gu…

(a) (1) This subchapter does not require the Division of Environmental Quality to develop a state plan to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from existing fossil-fuel-fired electric generating units under § 111(d) of the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. § 7411(d).(2) However, submission o…

(a) If the Division of Environmental Quality proposes to finalize a state plan submittal for review and approval by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the division shall comply with the procedural requirements for notice and public comment specified in § 8-4-317. …

(a) Before seeking public comment on a proposed state plan for regulating carbon dioxide emissions from covered electric generating units or any permit amendment, rule amendment, or administrative order necessary to implement a state plan for regulating carbon dioxide emissions f…

(a) The Division of Environmental Quality shall not submit a state plan to the United States Environmental Protection Agency under § 8-3-207 if the state plan:(1) Results in a significant rate increase annually for any rate class of the total delivered electricity cost per kilowa…

(a) After the conclusion of the public comment period under § 8-4-317 and before transmitting a state plan to the Governor for submission of the state plan to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the Division of Environmental Quality shall transmit to the cochairs o…

(a) If a state plan approved under this subchapter would result in a significant increase in the total electric or natural gas bill annually for any customer class as determined by the Arkansas Public Service Commission, the Division of Environmental Quality shall initiate develo…

A.C.A. § 8-3-209Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved

This chapter may be cited as the “Arkansas Water and Air Pollution Control Act”.

(1) As used in this chapter:(1) “Any wastes” and “pollutants” include sewage, industrial wastes, or other wastes;(2) “Discharge into the waters of the state” means a discharge of any wastes in any manner that directly or indirectly permits such wastes to reach any of the waters o…

(a) Criminal Penalties. (1) (A) Any person that violates any provision of this chapter, that commits any unlawful act under it, or that violates any rule or order of the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission or the Division of Environmental Quality shall be guilty of …