January 24, 1999
1) Sen. Sessions Proposes Major Land Protection Initiative
2) Wildlaw Files 3 Lawsuits Against Babbitt
3) TVA to Hold Lake Hearings
4) Alabama's Coastline Disappearing According to Study
5) Upcoming Conferences Important to Alabama Activists
6) Forever Wild Board Meeting Set - Friday Feb. 5th
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Quote of the Month:
"ADEM needs to be overhauled from top to bottom."
Then candidate and now Governor Don Siegelman - Huntsville
Times Interview,
Oct. 29, 1998
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1. Jeff Sessions Co-Sponsors Land Protection Bill -
This week Alabama Senator
Jeff Sessions announced plans to co-sponsor a bill that would
send half the
federal royalties from offshore oil and gas drilling back to the
states for
conservation programs. This plan along with President Bill Clinton's
"Lands
Legacy Initiative" is one of several bills in Congress being
proposed to
dramatically increase funding of the Land Water and Conservation
Fund (LWCF).
Under the bill Sessions is supporting, Alabama would see about
$6 million a
year from LWCF and another $5 million for Teaming With Wildlife
, a new
national program that would focus on restoring habitat for non-game
species.
One of the Alabama's programs that would benifit greatly from
the Sessions or
Clinton proposals is the Alabama Forever Wild Program.
2. WildLaw Files 3 New Lawsuits - On January 19th, WildLaw,
an environmental
public interest law firm out of Montgomery, filed 3 new lawsuits
against
Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt and the agencies he oversees.
Here is a
rundown of the suits filed.
Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge - WildLaw filed suit on behalf
of Citizens
Opposing Northern Alabama Pipeline Project (CONAPP) and Wild Alabama
against
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for permitting Southern Natural
Gas Co.
(SONAT) to drill a natural gas pipeline across the Wheeler National
Wildlife
Refuge.
Cahaba Shiner - On behalf of the Biodiversity Legal Foundation,
Ned Mudd and
Wild Alabama, WildLaw is suing Babbitt and the Fish and Wildlife
Service for
failure to designate critical habitat for the endangered Cahaba
Shiner, as
required under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Little River Canyon National Preserve - On behalf of Wild Alabama,
WildLaw is
suing the National Parks Service for failure to comply with ESA
and the Clean
Water Act in their maintenance and development of the roads in
the Preserve.
The suit claims that recent road work has destroyed endangered
Green Pitcher
Plants and caused water pollution problems adversely impacting
the pristine
Little River located inside the park.
For more detailed information about WildLaw and these lawsuits
please call
334-265-6529 or check out their website at : http://www.wildlaw.org
3. TVA to Hold Public Meetings On Lake Weed Control -
The Tennessee Valley
Authority is planning to hold public hearings in Guntersville
and Scottsboro
on a plan to use herbicides and harvesters to control aquatic
plant growth in
Guntersville Lake. The meetings will be held in Scottsboro at
the Goose Pond
Community Center on Feb. 9 and in Guntersville at the city recreation
center
on Feb.11th. Both meetings begin at 6:30.
TVA studies in 1998 estimated that more than 15,200 acres or
22% of Lake
Guntersville is covered with plants such as milfoil and hydrilla.
For more
information about the proposed plan please contact the Marshall
County
Legislative Office at 256-582-0619.
4. Alabama's Coastline Disappearing - According to the
recently released
"State of the Beaches" report, nearly half of Alabama's
38 miles of beaches
has narrowed dramatically since 1970. The report cites dredging
offshore
channels as the primary cause of the erosion. The report also
states that
from 1974 -1997, more than 16 million cubic yards of sand was
removed by
dredging from Alabama's shoreline, or littoral, system - enough
sand to widen
Dauphin Island beaches by more than 1000 feet.
Scott L. Douglass, an associate professor of civil engineering
at University
of South Alabama, authored the 32 page report which recommends
the creation
of a state beach erosion manager. Currently, no state agency has
overall
responsibility for Alabama beaches.
5. Important Conferences for Activists - While we march
through these winter
months, more and more conferences are popping up on the horizon.
Here are 4
more conferences to add to your calendar.
Alabama Water Watch Conference - A great conference for activists
interested
in learning about water issues and how to protect watersheds across
Alabama.
This one is approaching fast. The conference is January 30th 10-3:30
at
Auburn University's Foy Union Building. Registration is $15 (make
checks
payable to Auburn University). Call Wendi Winter at 1-888-844-4785
to place
a reservation.
Greenprints '99 Sustainable Communities By Design - This is
the premier
conference to be held this year on Sustainable development. Leading
the
impressive agenda is Paul Hawken, the author of 'The Ecology of
Commerce". A
quick sample of the "tracks" - Track 1. Green Building
Programs, Track 2.
Sustainable Communities, Track 3. Sustainable Technology Learning
Fair, and a
special training seminar focused on green and energy efficient
K-12 school
construction programming.
The conference is slated for February 22-24 at the Atlanta-Decatur
Holiday
Inn Hotel and Conference Plaza. For more information about the
conference
call, 404-653-0606 or check out the Greenprints website at:
http://www.southface.org
Annual Spring Conference of the Alabama Chapter of the Alabama
Planning
Association and the 3rd Annual Alabama Planning and Land Use Law
Update
Seminar - For activists concerned about urban sprawl in Alabama,
these
conferences are for you. The annual spring conference of the APA
is March
24-26 at the Twin Pines Conference Center near Birmingham. Contact
Jeff
Pruitt at 205-620-6620 for details. The Planning and Land Use
Law Update is
scheduled for May 3rd in Orange Beach at the new Windemere/Hampton
Inn
Conference Center. For more info call Bill Matthews at 256-765-4862.
6. Forever Wild Board Meeting Set - One last item for
your calendar! The next
meeting of the Forever Wild Board of Directors will be held on
Friday
February 5th, 10:00 A.M. at Joe Wheeler State Park in Lauderdale
County (near
Florence). As a board member, I invite folks who receive BEN to
contact me
if they have any questions or would like to offer some advice
or suggestions
about the program.
Please share BEN with friends and fellow conservationists.
If you have any questions about BEN, contact Pat Byington at
205-226-7739 or pkbyington@aol.com
