House passes bill to bar new landfills on karst geology

The Arkansas House on March 11, 2025, passed House Bill 1576, a measure that would prohibit future solid waste landfills from being placed over karst topography.

The bill’s sponsor, Representative Lundstrom, told colleagues that Arkansas’s “karst topography has lots of cracks and fissures,” and that those geologic features allow water — and any contaminants — to move rapidly underground. “All this bill does, it says in the future, when we go looking for a landfill, we won't put it over that type of karst topography,” Lundstrom said.

Supporters cited potential threats to groundwater and springs. Representative Unger, speaking in favor of the bill, recounted a historical incident in which a gasoline tanker accident allegedly allowed fuel to travel through karst formations and killed fish at a trout farm: “About 24 to 36 hours later, it was tummies up for the trout. And that is why we should not have landfills on karst topography,” Unger said.

The transcript records the vote as: “The A's, 11 nays and 7 present. The bill has passed.” The transcript does not include a complete numeric count of affirmative votes in the record provided.

The bill’s language, as read into the record, restricts placement of new solid waste landfills atop karst formations; the transcript does not show further statutory references, specific siting standards, or implementation steps beyond the passage vote recorded during the session.

The debate on the measure was limited to sponsor remarks and one speaker in favor in the portion of the transcript provided. No amendments were recorded for this bill in the supplied transcript.

The House passage was recorded in the session minutes; the transcript does not include subsequent steps (for example, transmission to the Senate or enrollment) in the excerpt provided.

Ending: The measure passed the House on the day’s floor session. The transcript does not record subsequent legislative steps or the date a bill would take effect.