Willcox Ranger News – ADEQ Cracks Down on I-10 Dust Issues Near San Simon (TPD1605023)

A 62-mile stretch of the Interstate has been closed 10 times due either to crashes or as a precautionary measure to prevent them.

The problems began after a Scottsdale-based Ag company, David’s Agrigold Farms, LLC, cleared land in the area to plant an orchard.

“The dust issue caused by activities at David Turner’s farm, located near milepost 376 on I-10, is unacceptable,” said Spokeswoman Caroline Oppleman, with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ), in Phoenix.

“Since the ADEQ became aware of this issue, we have worked proactively and diligently with the farmer, the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT), Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS), and the Arizona Department of Agriculture (ADA) to take actions to solve this problem caused by this new owner to the area, who, being from out-of-state, was unfamiliar with the nature of Arizona soils,” she said in a statement issued Tuesday, May 17.

“During our work together, it appeared as if Mr. Turner understood the urgency and need for quick and thorough action. Therefore, in collaboration with ADOT and the Dept. of Ag, we deployed State resources to mitigate the dust issue and arranged for stepped up watering of the farm,” Oppleman said.

“Simultaneously, we worked on a consent order with Mr. Turner to remedy the situation, which we finalized yesterday (Monday, May 16) and went into effect immediately.”

Key components of the consent order include:

• Cease tilling/cropland leveling activities on undisturbed soil;
• Applying a chemical stabilizer to create a crust and prevent blowing dust;
• Planting vegetative cover;
• Limiting the amount of acreage disturbed in the future;
  • ADEQ inspectors are and have been onsite to ensure the terms of the consent order are being met; and
    • Mr. Turner has been slow to comply with the terms of the consent order.

“Therefore, we are re-deploying State resources to mitigate the dust issue and will be pursuing escalated enforcement including penalties of up to $10,000 per day,” Oppleman said Tuesday.

ADEQ contracted with Scottsdale-based “Soilworks” to spray chemical stabilizer on the 300 acres of Turner’s land nearest the Interstate, she told the Range News.

According to the company’s website, Soilworks will apply nearly 45,000 gallons of its “Gorilla-Snot,” described as an “eco-safe, biodegradable, liquid copolymer used to provide erosion control and dust suppression.”

The Range News asked DPS if it would seek reimbursement from Turner for its vehicle totaled during the April 25 crash, as well as the use of manpower in closing and opening the affected 62-mile stretch of the Interstate.

Public Information Officer Kameron Lee, in Sierra Vista, replied Wednesday, “DPS is not seeking reimbursement from the land owner. ADEQ and the Attorney General will be the ones seeking any reimbursement.”

“We are solely focused on the Public Safety aspect of the dust issue,” he said.

ADEQ inspectors had visited Turner’s San Simon farm on Wednesday, May 4, recommending that he water his cleared land near the Interstate, said Timothy Franquist, deputy director of ADEQ’s Air Quality Division.

“If you disturb the soil, it is more prone to dust,” he told the Range News. “Even more so when you disturb virgin desert land.”

The State has “general rules governing any land prone to fugitive dust emissions,” Franquist said.

As an emergency stopgap measure while ADEQ worked with Turner to develop a plan for mitigating dust from his field south of I-10, ADOT provided water tankers last week to haul water and contracted for water trucks to apply an initial watering to several hundred acres, said ADOT Spokesman Doug Nintzel.

That initial response to the situation ended Sunday, May 15, when Turner and ADEQ agreed upon a plan for him to take over dust mitigation, Nintzel told the Range News.

Meanwhile, ADOT continues to have personnel stationed near the field along I-10 to coordinate with DPS on immediately closing the Interstate and establishing the detour when conditions warrant, Nintzel said.

Turner owns about 2,400 acres of land in the San Simon Sub-Basin, according to his July 17, 2015 letter to the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR).

At that time, he was writing in opposition to a proposed Irrigation Non-Expansion Area (INA) in the water basin. Earlier that year, ADWR had received a petition from some of the basin’s growers, who sought designation of the area as an INA.

In his opposition letter, Turner said that “beginning last fall and up through the present,” he was engaged in an effort “to bring the land into cultivation, including drilling wells, purchasing trees, and developing an irrigation plan.”

As of Wednesday, there was no response to two e-mails sent to a law firm copied on Turner’s letter to ADWR.

A phone message left Wednesday morning for Nicki Frank, with David Turner International, has not yet been returned. Frank had sent the July 17, 2015 e-mail to ADWR on Turner’s behalf.

In the meantime, the 62-mile stretch of I-10 was closed again the afternoon of Tuesday, May 17.

On April 25, a dust storm resulted in multiple crashes at milepost 376, including the involvement of a couple of first responders. A DPS patrol vehicle and a San Simon Fire District rescue truck were totally demolished by semi-trucks unable to see and traveling too fast through the area. No one was seriously injured in the crashes.

During the closures, eastbound traffic was routed onto U.S. Highway 191 north to U.S. Highway 70 east in Safford. Drivers continued on U.S. Highway 70 into New Mexico and re- entered I-10 at Lordsburg.

With westbound I-10 closed at Lordsburg, drivers had to take U.S. Highway 70 to Safford and then U.S. Highway 191 south to I-10.

The detour route was about 40 minutes extra travel time.