LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Arkansas Army National Guard (ARARNG) is making great strides increasing renewable energy sources at installations across the state.
The ARARNG has significantly reduced energy use at its two major training sites, the Camp Robinson Maneuver Training Center and the Fort Chaffee Joint Maneuver Training Center.
RMTC covers nearly 33,000 acres and accommodates the Professional Education Center, providing conferences, classes, and training for the nation’s fulltime guard support personnel. The larger of the two training sites, FCJMTC, is more than 65,000 acres and includes specialized training facilities like the Arrowhead/Rattlesnake Assault Strip, Carnis Village and Carnis Auburn Forward Operating Base.
The ARARNG environmental staff oversees the environmental impact of the two training sites, 54 readiness centers, and 862 buildings, statewide – an incredible amount of ground to manage environmental impact.
“Reducing energy use has been a longstanding goal for the ARARNG’s environmental management system, and over the past two years, the environmental staff documented a nearly 7 percent reduction, a significant milestone for that program,” said Darrell Daniels, Environmental Programs branch chief.
All environmental and energy plans enacted by the environmental staff must take the entire state, not just the training sites, into consideration. The energy goals of ARARNG include energy independence. ARARNG has been developing and implementing several plans to reduce energy consumption, reduce solid waste, increase recycling, and to make greener choices in everyday operations.
First, through $1 million of infrastructure funding provided in 2019, ARARNG was able to build a 360-kilowatt solar field at RMTC, with the capability to expand an additional megawatt. The solar field is up and running and projected to offset energy consumption 5 to 10 percent. All excess power produced by the solar field is rerouted to the public energy grid. FCJMTC is working on a similar solar field design.
ARARNG is looking for further redundancies in its energy systems to ensure there are no training interruptions or impediments. A second natural gas line was connected to the other side of the installation. In the electrical capacity, they have tied into a second substation should anything happen to the initial substation. From 2008 to 2018, ARARNG’s energy use dropped from 66.4 kBTU/square foot to 54 kBTU/square foot, a significant decline for an installation that encompasses 5 million square feet of floor space.
During Environmental Performance Assessment System site inspections, the entire ARARNG installation earned 49 positive findings – the ARARNG’s most positive EPAS assessment ever, and one of the best in the nation. The installation did require some improvement in solid waste management. The environmental staff conducted a complete waste audit in 2018 and developed a plan to drive waste diversion and reduction.
The installation was generating 1,606 cubic yards of solid waste per year, including municipal and construction and demolition solid waste. The installation’s recycling program diverts 67 percent or 300.6 tons of solid waste annually, reducing disposal costs and generating an average annual revenue of $200,000 statewide.
The environmental staff constantly monitors operational and general cleaning supplies for possible green substitutions. It bought a $4,600 internal sampling kit to characterize unknown compounds in house. Each individual test costs about $1,200, and with an average of a dozen samples required each year, the kit will pay for itself within months.
For their efforts, The Arkansas Army National Guard Environmental Team received the Environmental Quality Award for Non-industrial Installations.
Lt. Col. Brian Mason, state public affairs officer, said the environmental team's efforts solidfy “our position in the communities as a great neighbor who cares about being more than just a good environmental steward. This award demonstrates our exemplary efforts in environmental science, sustainability, innovation, green remediation and practices, preservation and protection.”