May 13, 1999
1) Mobile Register Ozone Poll Produces Surprises
2) Sen. Shelby Hammered On Sturgeon Rider
3) TVA Announces Green Power Institute for the Shoals
4) Mobile Bay Watch Files Notice to Fix Sewer System
5) Bibb County Glades Profiled in Southern Living Mag.
6) Alabama Enviro - Job Openings
7) WildZine - New Internet Magazine from Alabama
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1. Ozone Poll Produces Surprising Results - Mobile area
residents are
concerned about the health effects of ground level ozone air pollution
but
know very little about it, according to a new Mobile Register
- University of
South Alabama poll that was released Sunday May 9. Here are some
of the poll
questions and their results:
Question: How concerned are you about the health effects of
ground-level
ozone in you and your family?
Very Concerned - 30% Somewhat Concerned - 46% Not Very Concerned
-14% Not
Concerned At All - 7% DK/NA - 3%
Would you be willing to pay a few cents more per gallon for
cleaner burning
fuel (to reduce gound-level ozone)?
Yes - 76% No- 22%
Would you be willing to pay a higher amount for electricity
produced in a way
that results in less ground-level ozone?
Yes - 59% No - 33%
Under which conditions are we most likely to have the highest
concentrations
of ground-level ozone?
Cold, cloudy days in winter -13% Clear sunny days in summer
-18% Warm
nights with high humidity - 53% Don't Know - 16% (The answer is
Clear
sunny days in summer)
Mobile and Baldwin counties are in danger of being designated
as
"non-attainment" areas according to environmental and
health standards set by
the EPA. A local ozone awareness task force called GLORI or the
Ground Level
Ozone Reductions Initiative for the Mobile-Baldwin County area
has been
created to educate people about ground-level ozone pollution and
push
voluntary measures during the summer.
2. Sen. Shelby Hammered On Sturgeon Rider - What does
an emergency
appropriation for our troops in Kosovo and tornado victims in
Oklahoma have
to do with the Alabama Sturgeon? Absolutely nothing - according
to
environmentalists across Alabama upset at Senator Richard Shelby's
recent
proposal to attach a rider to "must pass' emergency appropriation
bill that
would have denied U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service funds to list
the Alabama
Sturgeon as endangered.
"We'd like to see environmental issues debated on their
own merits" stated
Brad McLane of tha Alabama Rivers Alliance.
"It's dirty politics to try to attach anti-environmental
riders onto
important bills for humanitarian aid and the war in Kosovo"
said Mark
Whiteis-Helm of Friends of the Earth a Washington D.C. Legislative
Watchdog
Group.
As of Tuesday (May 11), a Senate-House conference committee
had decided not
to accept Shelby's amendment but did agree that Fish and Wildlife
would
postpone any listing of the Sturgeon until March 2000.
3. TVA Proposes New "Green Power" Institute In Shoals
- The Tennessee Valley
Authority (TVA) has committed up to $5 million dollars to expand
its
Environmental Research Center in Muscle Shoals, Alabama to include
a new
"Public Power Institute" designed to help develop more
environmental and
sustainable power sources. The Institute is expected to focus
on "clean"
energy technologies (including renewable sources), energy efficiency,
pollution prevention , environmental modeling and assessment and
water
quality.
To learn more about this new pro-environmental direction TVA
is taking in the
Shoals, please contact the Tennessee Valley Energy Reform Coalition
at
423-637-6055.
4. Mobile Bay Watch Files Notice to Fix Sewer System
- Mobile Bay Watch has
filed a "60 day notice with intent to sue" against the
Mobile Water and Sewer
Authority for violating the federal Clean Water Act and the utility's
wastewater discharge permits with dozens of sewage spills. If
successful, the
Water and Sewer System could be forced to spend hundreds of millions
of
dollars to upgrade its sewage plants and 1500 miles of sewer lines.
The
group's planned suit is based on discharges reported by the sewer
board to
the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM).
Deja vu? It was only several years ago Jefferson County faced
the same kind
of "notice of intent" and subsequent lawsuit. They fought
it, lost (remember
it's their own collected data saying they were in violation),
settled, and
now we are seeing some impressive investments and improvements
in the
County's sewer system and a $30 million Greenway/watershed protection
program
(Land Trust) has been created as a result of the suit.
5. Bibb County Glades Profiled In Southern Living Magazine
- Check out page
35 in the May edition of Southern Living Magazine and you will
find a
wonderful story written by Alabama nature writer Jennifer Greer
about "A Lost
World" the Bibb County Glades. Located just 40 miles south
of Birmingham,
the Glades have been called a 'Lost World" because of the
discovery of eight
(8) plants that were previously unknown to science. Fortunately,
thanks to
efforts by the Nature Conservancy of Alabama and neighboring landowners
including U.S. Alliance Coosa Pines Corporation and the Bibb County
Commission, the Glades are now protected as a nature preserve.
For more information about the Bibb County Glades please contact
the Nature
Conservancy of Alabama at 205-251-1155.
6. Alabama Enviro. Job Openings - Please check out the
following
environmental job openings in Alabama.
World Wildlife Fund - WWF is looking for a project director
for its Southeast
Rivers Project, to be located in Chattanooga. This person will
be doing
significant work in Alabama. Anyone interested in this position
should
contact Ms. Quinn McKew, WWF, 1250 24th St. NW, Washington, D.C.
20037 or
e-mail Quinn.Mckew@wwfus.org
Camp McDowell Episcopal Church Camp - Camp McDowell is currently
hiring
instructors for their fall environmental program. The job includes
teaching
outdoor hands-on science to students grades 4-8. Requirements
are a college
degree, experience working with children, a love for the outdoors
and first
aid and CPR training. Pay is $190 per week plus room and board.
Applicants
can mail a resume, cover letter and references to Heather Martin,
105 Delong
Road, Nauvoo, AL 35578 or cmec@campmcdowell.com
7. WildZine : A New Internet Magazine from Alabama -
Alabama environmental
attorney, writer and activist Ray Vaughan has founded an Internet
environmental magazine devoted to providing cutting edge articles,
editorial,
poetry, short fiction and news on environmental work throughout
North
America. Named "WildZine" the premier issue will debut
on June 1,1999.
WildZine welcomes people who are passionate about the environment
to submit
in-depth and creative environmental articles and materials. You
can send
pieces for publication via e-mail to editor@wildzine.com. Visit
the WildZine
website at http://www.wildzine.com
to learn more about this new exciting
venture.
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
