By Scott F. Davis and Rob Moritz

The Morning News

LITTLE ROCK -- Arkansas and Oklahoma officials agreed Wednesday to a revised document settling the dispute over Oklahoma's controversial phosphorus rule.

Arkansas has been given 10 years to implement programs and determine whether it can meet Oklahoma's water quality standards for rivers along the states' joint border, Gov. Mike Huckabee announced Wednesday.

The standards include a phosphorus limit of 0.037 part per million in Oklahoma's six state-designated scenic rivers. Four of those rivers, including the Illinois River, begin in Arkansas.

Officials from both states said a "statement of joint principles" is expected to be signed today. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials said they expect to approve the phosphorus standard this week.

The agreement, brokered by the EPA, was reached after months of negotiation that had become "a very acrimonious and a very intense border dispute," Huckabee said at a news conference Wednesday.

"This ongoing, bitter, harsh, sometimes unfriendly conflict between neighbors that ought to be able to get along has been ... broken through, and I think now we can say the impasse is over," he said.

At issue is the amount of phosphorus -- much of it from land-applied chicken litter used as fertilizer and treated municipal wastewater in Northwest Arkansas -- flowing into Oklahoma rivers.

"The agreement prolongs any implementation of the phosphorus standard that Oklahoma has sought for at least 10 years, and it gives us the opportunity to develop a plan that will make sure that any implementation is attainable, scientifically sound and that is affordable and rational," Huckabee said.

The governor described the agreement as "good news" and said the state's goal is to improve water quality along the rivers.

Attending the afternoon news conference with the governor were Randy Young, state Soil and Water Conservation Commission executive director, and Marcus Devine, director of the state Department of Environmental Quality.

Devine said late Wednesday "we still think that the phosphorus limit is unachievable, but we're satisfied that we have something that is an amicable solution.

"EPA has agreed that compliance with terms of the agreement are consistent with compliance with the standard," Devine said.

The governor said the state is working on several fronts to reduce the amount of phosphorus in the rivers, and several cities also are spending money to improve their sewage treatment plants toward this end.

"To the credit of many communities in Northwest Arkansas, they have already taken proactive steps to reduce phosphorus discharge into the watershed. In addition to that, poultry and other industries have made enormous investments ... to ensure that their level of discharge of phosphorus is dramatically reduced," Huckabee said.

The document requires the five big cities in Northwest Arkansas -- Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers, Bentonville and Siloam Springs -- to reduce phosphorus in effluent discharges to 1 part per million.

All five cities discharge into tributaries of the Illinois River, except for Bentonville, which plans to do so once a new plant is constructed.

The document requires the smaller cities in the basin to reduce phosphorus through voluntary controls.

Young said his agency also is working to help farmers reduce the amount of chicken litter. Some of those projects include:• Helping farmers pay to move excess chicken litter to east Arkansas, where it can be used as fertilizer.

• Working with Oklahoma officials to burn the fertilizer as methane gas.

• Working with the University of Arkansas to help farmers burn the chicken litter and use the energy to heat their homes.

Young also said new laws approved by the Legislature this year will help his agency keep better track of the litter in Arkansas.

• Act 1059 of 2003 requires certification and training to spread litter.

• Act 1060 requires registration of poultry growers and the number of birds to keep track of the state's poultry concentrations.

• Act 1061 designates counties in Northwest Arkansas as "nutrient-surplus" areas where only those who are certified can spread litter and where farmers are required to follow a state-approved nutrient-management plan.

Those new regulations go into effect Jan. 1.

"We now have a road map to reducing phosphorus pollution in the scenic river watersheds. The cities appear to be willing to take real steps to reducing their impact. We look forward to a similar commitment from the poultry industry," said Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson.

Morril Harriman, executive director of The Poultry Federation, said further discussions between the industry and Oklahoma officials are necessary, but "we certainly view an agreement between as a very positive development."

"It won't wrap up everything ... We hope to do that fairly soon," Harriman said.