SWEPCO told to stop work in Arkansas wetlands
Mike McNair, chief of the regulatory branch for the corps district at Vicksburg, Miss., said SWEPCO had applied for a permit to work among 10 acres of wetlands at the site but reported March 9 that it might have violated federal regulations after clearing some property, spreading mulch and putting down some fill material.
McNair said that, after corps officials visited the site, the agency issued a cease-and-desist order. He said his office referred the matter to the federal Environmental Protection Agency and SWEPCO's permit application will be on hold, pending a decision by the EPA.
"There were violations on the site," McNair said.
SWEPCO President and Chief Operating Officer Paul Chodak said in a news release that "the potential impacts were unintentional and occurred because of errors in mapping." The release said about 2.5 acres were affected.
"Once we determined this mapping error had occurred, we began an immediate investigation, established broad no-work zones near any potential jurisdictional area, and immediately notified the (Army Engineers)," he said.
SWEPCO spokesman Scott McCloud said in a telephone interview that he could not elaborate on the news release. He said construction on the John W. Turk Jr. plant continues, although he noted that the project has already been delayed 18-20 months primarily because of legal challenges filed by environmentalists, hunters and landowners.
The $1.6 billion plant is scheduled for completion October 1, 2012.
SWEPCO, based in Shreveport, La., is a subsidiary of Columbus, Ohio-based American Electric Power, among the largest electric utilities in the country.
Related News

Told "no" 37 times, this Indigenous-owned company brought electricity to James Bay anyway
FORT ALBANY - For the Indigenous communities along northern Ontario’s James Bay — the ones that have lived on and taken care of the lands as long as anyone can remember — the new millenium marked the start of a diesel-less future.
While the southern part of the province took Ontario’s power grid for granted, the vast majority of these communities had never been plugged in. Their only source of power was a handful of very loud diesel-powered generators. Because of that, daily life in the Attawapiskat, Kashechewan and Fort Albany First Nations involved deliberating a series of tradeoffs. Could you…