Arkansas governor issues ultimatum for Oklahoma

Friday, March 29th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is giving neighboring Oklahoma an ultimatum _ back off tougher water quality standards for the Illinois River or Arkansas will consider new rules on chlorine for the Arkansas River.

The governor issued the ultimatum at a public forum Wednesday in Siloam Springs. Huckabee was unavailable for comment Thursday. His spokesman, Jim Harris, said the governor was traveling around the state promoting his education initiative.

Huckabee said he was concerned about the effects of the proposed Oklahoma standards on northwest Arkansas, where runoff from residential neighborhoods, poultry and cattle operations contributes to phosphorus levels in the Illinois.

``You'd have to bulldoze every house, business and highway in northwest Arkansas and relocate everyone out of the area to meet those standards. These regulations, as proposed, would put hundreds of thousands of Arkansans out of work,'' Huckabee told the crowd of about 150.

The Illinois River flows from Arkansas to Oklahoma.

The Arkansas River flows from Oklahoma to Arkansas.

Huckabee said Oklahoma's petrochemical industry produces chlorine runoff.

``If they are going to regulate water that flows through Arkansas, we are far more than willing to regulate water that flows into Arkansas,'' Huckabee told the Springdale Morning News after the forum. ``We want them to be reasonable, responsible and use sound science to make their decisions. I'm sure they want the same from us.''

Huckabee said regulators in Arkansas will be looking at the issue.

``It wouldn't be retaliation,'' he said. ``It would be an attempt to get them to look at what they're proposing. They are trying to impose standards on us that they are not willing to meet themselves. They are simply not being a good neighbor.''

Oklahoma gave little notice and little heed to Arkansas on the regulations, he said.

``We don't need a border war,'' Huckabee said. ``We need to be two good neighbor states that respect each other and resolve this like grown-ups.''

Keating spokesman Dan Mahoney said Keating had not heard of Huckabee's ultimatum Thursday and would have no comment.

However, Oklahoma Secretary of Environment Brian Griffin said the standards are fair.

``We are not asking Arkansas to meet standards any more draconian than what we in Oklahoma are prepared to meet ... We consider these water quality standards fair, attainable and vital to protect water quality in both states,'' Griffin said in a statement Thursday.

``These stringent standards we want Arkansas to meet will apply to our own citizens, industries and municipalities in Oklahoma,'' Griffin said. ``It's certainly not unrealistic to expect Arkansas to meet the same standards.''

He added that Oklahoma already requires chlorine to be removed from industrial discharge.

The Oklahoma Water Resources Board approved a limit of .037 parts per million of phosphorous in the state's six scenic-designated rivers, to be achieved in 10 years. The proposal was approved March 12. It must now be approved by the Oklahoma Legislature and Keating to become law.

Mahoney said Thursday the governor planned to approve the proposal.

Huckabee and Keating are longtime friends. The two governors refer to themselves as dog in-laws because their black Labrador retrievers come from the same litter.

As a payoff of a wager between the two governors on whose team would win the Cotton Bowl _ Arkansas lost to Oklahoma 10-3 _ Huckabee, Keating and their wives, along with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, spent a day in January duck hunting in Arkansas.

``This doesn't change their friendship at all. They are still good friends. This is just a matter of policy,'' Mahoney said.

Opponents say the standards are too strict. In comparison, they say the Buffalo National River, a federally protected waterway that flows through sparsely populated rural Arkansas, has much higher phosphorus levels.

The standard Oklahoma proposes within the Illinois River watershed, an area that includes Arkansas' second- and third-most populous counties, ``is an unreasonable, unrealistic standard that is unachievable in an area with any development at all,'' Huckabee said.