April 8, 1999
1) Gov. Siegelman Fails Clean Air Report Card
2) AL. State Senate Enviro. Committee Chairs Announced
3) Mobile Rapidly Losing Green Space
4) Alabama Water War Negotiator Shuffle?
5) Water in Alabama Study Released
*****************************************
1. Gov. Siegelman Fails Clean Air Report Card - Public
health and
environmental advocates issued report cards Wednesday (April 7)
evaluating
the performance of eight Southern Governors on air quality issues.
The
report cards were issued as the Southern Governors meet in Asheville
North
Carolina at the Governors' Summit on Mountain Air Quality.
Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman and West Virginia's Gov. Cecil Underwood
were the
only state executives to score straight F's on the four (4) catagories
graded
by the Clean Air advocates. None of the Southern Governor's fared
particularly well, with North Carolina Gov. James Hunt and Tennessee
Gov.
Don Sundquist scoring the highest with a 50% passing score.
The Clean Air Report Card was based on support for four (4)
major clean air
initiatives including: (1) Support for closing a loophole in the
Clean Air
Act that exempts older coal-burning power plants from meeting
modern
pollution standards; (2) Support for EPA's SIP Call regulations
that will
dramatically reduce nitrogen oxide pollution from power plants
in 22 eastern
states; (3) Support for proposed federal visibility regulations
to address
the problem of pollution generated haze; and (4) Willingness to
sign a
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between states and the Department
of
Interior to involve federal land managers in the permitting process
for
proposed projects that have the potential to diminish air quality
in the
National Parks. Each Governor received a "pass," "fail,"
or "incomplete" for
each of the four initiatives.
The grades were handed out by USPIRG, The Izaak Walton League,
Southern
Environmental Law Center, National Environmental Trust, Tennessee
Environmental Council, Appalachian Voices, Western North Carolina
Alliance,
National Parks and Conservation Association, Tennessee Valley
Energy Reform
Coalition and Ozone Action. For more information about the Report
Card
contact: Rebecca Stanfield, United States Public Interest Research
Group at
202-546-9707.
2. AL. State Senate Enviro Chairs Announced - Chairs
and Deputy Chairs for
Alabama State Senate Committees were announced Tuesday (April
6). Here is a
breakdown of committees and their chairs that are likely to handle
environmental legislation.
Conservation and Environment and Natural Resources Committee:
Chair Larry
Means, D-Gadsden and Deputy Chair Jack Biddle, R-Gardendale
Agriculture and Forestry Committee: Chair Zeb Little, D-Cullman
and Vice
Chair Albert Lipscomb, R-Magnolia Springs
Confirmations Committee: Chair E.B. McClain, D-Brighton and
Vice Chair Gerald
Dial, D-Lineville
Finance and Taxation-General Fund Committee - Chair Roger Bedford,
D-Birmingham and Vice Chair Hinton Mitchem D-Albertville
Rules Committee: Chair Jim Preuitt, D-Talladega and Vice Chair
Tommy Ed
Roberts, D-Hartselle
If would like to contact and welcome the leaders of these committees
you can
write them at: Alabama Statehouse, 11 S. Union, Montgomery, Al.
36130 or
call 334-242-7800 (Senate switchboard).
3. Mobile Losing Green Space - Check out these figures
obtained from the
Mobile Register article "Urban Sprawl Hems In Mobile"
written by reporter
Danny Cusick, as part of a 2 day (April 3 and 4) series on Open
Spaces.
According to numbers from the South Alabama Regional Planning
Commission in
1975, Mobile County's urban land covered 82,000 acres, an area
slightly
larger than the city itself. By 1995, that number had more than
doubled, to
170,000 acres, according to the Natural Resources Conservation
Service an
agency of the U.S. Deparment of Agriculture.
Was this the natural result of population growth? No. The county's
population
has grown only 25% from 320,000 to 400,000. "We're paving
over Mobile County
at a rate four times faster than population growth." states
the Mobile
Register.
4. Alabama Water War Chief Negotiator Shuffle? - According
to the Anniston
Star, State Rep. Richard Laird, chief negotiator for Alabama in
the tri-state
water negotiations may be replaced by Gov. Don Siegelman. "I
have the strong
impression that I will not be reappointed..." stated Laird.
Laird's potential replacement in the middle of negotiations
could delay and
hinder future efforts to reach a conclusion in deciding the tri-state
water
allocations. The deadline for an agreement is the end of the year
and
currently the states are far apart on various allocation and environmental
issues.
5. Water In Alabama Study Released - The Geological
Survey of Alabama
released this month, the latest in a series of annual reports
entitled "Water
in Alabama." The latest edition is for the 1995 calendar
year, and includes
information on federal and state legislation, superfund sites,
groundwater
level data and water quality data collected by the Geological
Survey of
Alabama in 1995. The document is an important tool for anyone
who cares
about Alabama's water resources and quality.
The cost of Circula122M (name of the report) is $10.00 plus
postage and
handling of $2.50. People can order from - Publication Sales Office,
Geological Survey of Alabama, P.O. Box O , Tuscaloosa, Al. 35486-9780.
Please make checks available to MAP Fund Geological Survey of
Alabama.
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
