June 28 , 1999
1) Mobile Register Releases Toxic Release Info
2) Website Maps Forever Wild Delta Purchase
3) Alabama's Roads to Reefs Program Takes Off
4) Care About Bama Birds? Learn Audubon's WatchList
5) Profile: A Grassroots Republican Environmental Movement
6) Ruffner Mountain Seeking a New Director and Naturalist
7) Alabama Sturgeon Debate and Comments
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1. Mobile Register Releases "TRI" Special
- Last Sunday (June 20) the Mobile
Register ran a series of articles examining EPA's Toxics Release
Inventory
(TRI) (http://www.al.com/news/mobile/Jun1999/20-a262838a.html
) and the
effects of toxic air pollution has on the health and environment
of the
Mobile region. In all, Mobile industries discharged more than
23 million
pounds of the pollutants that must be reported on the TRI, an
EPA program
that attempts to quantify more than 650 toxic chemicals pumped
into the air
and water by mills and factories nationwide. Mobile ranks 15th
in the nation
for industrial pollution according to the government's latest
reports.
To learn more about Toxics Release Inventory information in
Mobile and in
your Alabama community, the Mobile Register provided some helpful
websites
to assist and help citizens "make sense" of the pollution
that is being
released into our water, air and land. Please check out these
sites -
EPA' Website - http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/tri/
EDF's Website - http://www.scorecard.org
Right to Know Net - http://www.rtk.net
2. Forever Wild's Delta Purchase Mapped Out - The Alabama
Wildlife Federation
(AWF) has released on it's website, a map of the recently purchased
Delta
Lands by Forever Wild and AWF. The map includes not only the Delta
Land but
also existing public land adjacent to the new purchases. The entire
area
consists of nearly 100,000 acres of public land.
To access the map and additional info about the area's endangered
and
threatened species visit the sites at: http://209.196.184.34/awf/special.htm
3. Roads To Reefs Project Project - For years Alabama
has been a leader in
constructing artifical reefs offshore in the gulf. This has greatly
enhanced
fisheries and the commercial fishing industry.
This summer, through the "Roads to Reefs" program,
a diverse coalition of
groups that include the Department of Conservation, Marine Resources
Division, Alabama Wildlife Federation, Mobile County Wildlife
and
Conservation Association, Mobile County Commission and Woolpert
LLP, will be
building 10 reefs to better inshore fishing, which benefits individuals
who
prefer short trips in shallower, more protected waters. The reefs
will come
from cleaned "road materials" that will be placed in
Mobile Bay and the
Mississippi Sound. The new habitat improvements will help benefit
many
inshore species such as spotted sea trout, white trout, and flounders.
Along
with the habitat improvements, the use of the road material (only
clean pipe,
free of oil or asphalt residue that could damage the Bay's ecosystem
will be
recycled and used for the reef project), will help divert nearly
30
flatbed-truck loads of materials from the landfill.
To learn more about this exciting new habitat program and the
diverse
partnership supporting the project, please contact the Marine
Resources
Division in Mobile at 334-861-2882.
4. Audubon's WatchList Identifies Alabama Birds In Need
of Protection - The
National Audubon Society has developed a program/website to help
people learn
more about bird species that face population decline, limited
geographic
range, and/or threats such as habitat loss on their breeding and
wintering
grounds. The WatchList is Audubon's early warning system that
focuses
attention on at-risk bird species before they become endangered.
If you care about protecting birds and their habitat the WatchList
website is
an incredible learning/activist tool. The site not only caters
to avid
birders, but also includes a "Kids WatchList". To visit
the Audubon
WatchList check out -
http://www.audubon.org/bird/watch/
5. Profile: Grassroots Republican Environmental Movement
- Two weeks ago, I
had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Martha Marks a Republican County
Commissioner
from Illinois and President of a national grassroots organization
called
Republicans for Environmental Protection or REP America. She talked
to me
about the Republican Party and its proud, but lost legacy on environmental
issues. A very impressive person, Dr. Marks is dedicated to restoring
that
lost legacy.
REP America was formed in 1995 "to resurrect the GOP's
great conservation
tradition and to restore natural resource conservation and sound
environmental protection as fundamental elements of the Republican
Party's
vision for America". "Greening Up the GOP" REP
America has members in 47
states (including Alabama).
The environmental voting (League of Conservation Voters Scorecard)
record of
our Republicans in the Alabama congressional delegation hovers
around single
digits or at best in the teens. Even on "fiscally conservative
votes" such
as reforming the terribly antiquated 1872 Mining law or subsidies
(Forest
Service road-building, FS losing money on the sales etc..) to
timber
companies to clearcut forests in our National Forests, we have
failed to
garner pro-environmental votes from the delegation. For years,
I have talked
to environmentally minded Republicans who have been very discouraged
and want
to change the GOP on the environment. REP America is a way for
Republicans
who want to restore the GOP's Conservation Legacy.
You can learn more about REP America by checking out their
website at
http://www.rep.org or call them
at 847-940-0320 /e-mail MarREP@aol.com
6. Ruffner Mountain Seeking A New Director and Naturalist
- Ruffner Mountain
is advertising two (2) positions 1) Executive Director, and 2)
Part time
Naturalist. They are seeking to fill both post by September 1st.
For more
information about the positions please contact Maggie Clancy at
205-833-8264.
On a more personal note - Maggie Clancy, Ruffner's director,
has accepted a
position as a Program Manager with the Trust for Public Land (TPL),
based in
Asheville, North Carolina. She will be responsible for conservation
projects
throughout Western North Carolina. Maggie's departure from Alabama
will
leave a big hole in the state's environmental movement. In just
a few short
years Maggie has turned Ruffner around. She has a deep love and
passion for
the environment and she has a special spirit. TPL and the state
of North
Carolina are very fortunate.
7. Alabama Sturgeon Debate and Comment - Last week,
there were numerous
articles written throughout Alabama about the listing of the Alabama
Sturgeon. Here are some of the fears, and responses expressed
during the
public hearing and through newspaper accounts.
Fears
"First District Congressman Sonny Callahan, R-Mobile,
said that more than 70
per cent of the state would be affected and that 115,000 jobs
in his district
alone are "in the crosshairs" of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service. We may
as well hang a closed sign on a buoy off Fort Morgan," Callahan
said. -
Mobile Register June 25th
"Rep. Spencer Bachus R-Birmingham warned that the listing
could hurt more
than just people's livelihoods... Bachus predicted that the resulting
economic losses could widen the nation's trade deficit, weaken
the dollar and
produce "terrible negative effects for anyone depending on
a pension fund, a
mutual fund or life insurance." "This listing could
threaten your
retirement." Bachus said. - Mobile Register June 25th
"The last time four fish made this much commotion was
when Jesus took four
fish and fed 5000" state Rep. Johnny Ford (D) Tuskegee said
at the hearing.
"We don't want these ugly fish in the state of Alabama."
- Birmingham News,
June 25th
Responses
"In his opening statement, Mitch King, an assistant regional
director for
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said that the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers
agrees that a sturgeon listing would not negatively affect maintenance
of
navigation channels. Efforts to preserve the Gulf sturgeon, a
threatened
species that has similar habitat requirements and occupies the
same stretches
of river, have had no such consequences over the last nine years."
he said.
- Mobile Register June 25th
"The navigation will not cease or be impaired on the Alabama
River or
anywhere else," Paul Hartfield a wildlife service biologist
said. "It would
go on as it always gone on."
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would still approve maintenance
dredging of
the rivers, power costs would remain where they are and the feared
impact
would not materialize, he said.
Endangered mussels and the threatened Gulf sturgeon already
have been given
protected status in the Alabama River, and commerce has not suffered,
he
said. The Endangered Species Act already protects 90 species in
Alabama,
including 40 aquatic species in the Mobile River Basin. - Mobile
Register
June 23rd
Editor's Comment - Five years ago, industrial, governmental,
and
environmental leaders met to form the Mobile River Basin Coalition.
Our
first initial goal was to build bridges of trust; and the vehicle
used to
build that trust was the approval of a massive recovery plan for
15
endangered and threatened species in the Mobile River Basin by
the
participating groups. That mission was accomplished. Imagine...
several
years after the heated debate over the Alabama Sturgeon, we were
able to list
species within the Mobile River Basin and develop a recovery plan!!!
That
was Alabama leadership at its best.
Last week, we fell back to old habits. Instead of debating
the merits of the
Alabama Sturgeon listing, such as whether it is a distinct species
or whether
the listing would severely hamper the state's current sturgeon
recovery plan,
the public debate was "soiled" with fear mongering and
doomsday predictions
about the imaginary loss of people's jobs. It begs the question
- What makes
the Alabama Sturgeon any different or special from the 40 endangered
and
threatened species including the Gulf Sturgeon, already listed
in the Mobile
River Basin, that warrants the enormous fear associated with its
proposed
listing?
Last week was a sad chapter in Alabama Conservation history.
- PB
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
