Even new energy technologies are not immune to the economic malaise gripping the world. LM Glasfiber, the first of several windmill blade manufacturers to locate in Arkansas, has announced it will layoff over 150 workers.

The Danish based company announced last July that it was establishing operations in Arkansas with predictions of employing over 1,000 workers within five years. But the souring economy along with scaled back and…[more]

In a recently conducted study, a multidisciplinary French-American research team with expertise in archaeology, past climates, and ecology reported that Neanderthal extinction was principally a result of competition with Cro-Magnon populations, rather than the consequences of climate change.

The study, reported in the online, open-access journal PLoS ONE on December 24, figures in the ongoing debate on the reasons behind the eventual disappearance of Neanderthal populations, which occupied…[more]

WFO Little Rock MIC Renee Fair and WCM John Robinson staffed a severe weather education display at the “Warriors Day” children’s festival in Russellville, Arkansas. The festival was organized to honor the memory of 10 year-old Emelaine “Emmy” Cherry, who lost her life in the Super Tuesday (February 5th) tornado that struck the town of Atkins, 13 miles from Russellville. Emmy’s parents were also killed by the tornado.[more]

Southwestern Energy Co. is planning to build a regional headquarters in Conway, Arkansas that will support its operations in the Fayetteville Shale.

The Fayetteville Shale is a large natural gas deposit that has attracted several energy companies which are currently in the process of tapping into the deposit.

The $25 million, 100,000 square foot structure will be built on an 11.5 acre tract in a development…[more]

The feud between the state of Oklahoma and Arkansas poultry producers continues as Oklahoma filed an appeal with the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.

Oklahoma wants to overturn U.S. District Judge Gregory K. Frizzell’s ruling that companies could continue to spread poultry litter in the Illinois River watershed after finding that Oklahoma had “not yet met its burden of proving that bacteria in the waters…[more]

The Bush administration gave its approval to a new environmental ruling that eases the way for coal mining companies to dump rock, sludge and other mining waste near rivers and streams.

The ruling allows mining companies that blow off mountain tops in order to reach the coal underneath to disregard maintenance of a 100 foot buffer zone between the mining operation and nearby bodies of water.

…[more]

Arkansas may be savvy in situating itself square in the middle of greener energy production.

At a news conference with former President Bill Clinton announcing a partnership with the Clinton Foundation to make state buildings more energy efficient, Governor Mike Beebe said the state was in the final stages of negotiating to bring in a fourth windmill manufacturer to the Natural State.

“Arkansas has carved out…[more]

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Every house, store, school, office or other building that goes up on the landscape uses up many square feet of the earth’s surface that once acted as a filtering system for storm water that runs off into watershed streams and lakes.

In a research project at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s Watershed Research and Education Center, graduate student Channon Toland is studying…[more]

In a sign of tough economic times, the Northwest Arkansas Conservation Authority may be able to save nearly $6 million on the construction of a new sewage pipeline that will service Bentonville and Tontitown.

That pipeline, which will bring sewage from the two communities to a proposed treatment plant near Lowell, was expected to cost in the neighborhood of $19.65 million. But bids submitted by hungry pipeline construction…[more]

STUTTGART, Ark. - Some people look at animal manure and see a waste product to be avoided. Dr. Samy Sadaka looks at manure and sees a potential energy source for the future.

Sadaka is an assistant professor - extension engineer with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture. He has been conducting research for several years into new fuel sources for an energy-hungry world.

With a…[more]