1) Governor Siegelman Announces Support of Initiatives
2) Green Scissors Report Identifies 2 Alabama Projects For Cutting Block
3) USA Today Features Sprawl: Check Out How Alabama Cities Rank
4) Anniston Star Profiles the Region's PCB Legacy
5) BEN Notes - Earth Creations T-Shirt Sale, Huntsville Green Power Update

1. Governor Siegelman Announces Support of Initiatives - At the February 28th meeting of the Governor's Commission on Environmental Initiatives (ACEI), Commission Chair Pete Conroy announced that Governor Don Siegelman had reviewed the recently released ACEI report and has begun work on related legislative and administrative recommendations. Conroy reported that the Governor has already taken up four of the Commission's top recommended priorities. They include:

Water - Via the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the governor is supporting SB-312 Anti-Vessel Dumping legislation. This much needed and common sense bill will regulate and prevent vessels and boats from discharging sewage and littering into Alabama's lake and rivers.

Air - The Governor's office will introduce or support the introduction of Inspection and Maintenance legislation for vehicles, as advised by ACEI and the Governor's Commerce Commission. An emissions testing bill will help address Jefferson and Shelby counties chronic ozone pollution problems.

Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) Funding - The Governor supports the concept of ADEM Compliance Assurance legislation. Such a bill would provide much needed financial assistance to ADEM.

ADEM Appeals - The Governor supports the recent Alabama Environmental Management Commission (ADEM's governing body) decision to transfer legal appeals to the office of the Attorney General.

Along with the Governor's efforts (Conroy also stated that the Governor is still studying some of the recommendations for further action), ACEI made significant strides at this week's meeting toward addressing environmental education and water withdrawal/water quality issues. To learn more about ACEI, visit the Commission's website at http://www.jsu.edu/depart/epic.

2. Green Scissors Report Identifies 2 Alabama Projects For Chopping Block - Two Alabama federal projects have been identified for the "chopping block" in the recently released "Green Scissors 2001" report. The report, which is endorsed by 24 taxpayer, consumer and environmental organizations, targets 74 federal programs whose elimination could protect the environment and save taxpayers $55 billion.

The following is a short description of the two Alabama federal projects.

Army Chemical Weapons Incinerator Program - The Green Scissors report proposes to cut funding for incinerator process design services and equipment purchases for the Anniston, Alabama site pending a final report to Congress on Alternative Technologies Demonstration that is scheduled for March 2001. Construction at the Alabama site should be limited to non-incineration specific activities.

Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River Navigation - According to the Green Scissors report, the ACF River System, which winds through Georgia, Alabama and Florida, is an inland waterway system used for ships and barges that has been virtually unused for years. Despite this fact, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, spends nearly $20 million a year maintaining the system. The report cites several environmental benefits from the decommissioning of the navigation system, including preventing the decline of gamefishing populations near dredge material disposal areas.

To read the entire Green Scissors report and proposals visit their website at http://www.greenscissors.org.

3. USA Today Features Sprawl: Check Out How Alabama Cities Rank - Last week, USA Today tackled the issue of "urban sprawl" with a front page story titled "Wide Open Spaces." Along with numerous stories about sprawl and its impacts
on the natural environment, USA Today published an "Index of Sprawling Metros by State." The following are the "ranking" and scores of Alabama cities.

For cities with populations between 250,000 to one million - Mobile ranked 11th (433 index score), Huntsville ranked 20th (381), Birmingham ranked 41st (323), Montgomery ranked 42nd (322)

Scores of other Alabama cities - Anniston - 320, Dothan - 255, Decatur - 252, Florence - 220, Gadsden - 170, Auburn-Opelika - 157, Tuscaloosa - 129.

For more information about the index and access to the "Wide Open Spaces" series of articles, visit the USA Today website at
http://www.usatoday.com/news/sprawl/states.htm.

4. Anniston Star Profiles the Region's PCB Legacy - "It will take at least three years before most PCB-contaminated properties in Anniston are cleared for cleanup," stated EPA officials in a recent Anniston Star article. Within a year, the EPA anticipates the Anniston properties to be added to the National Priority List for toxic cleanup sites.

On February 25th the Anniston Star published an impressive series of articles, highlighting Calhoun county's struggle and legacy with PCB contamination. Included among the series of articles is an op-ed by John Peterson Myers of the W. Alton Jones Foundation, about the long term impacts of PCB pollution, not only here in Alabama, but on a global scale. Here are the links to the Anniston Star series of articles.

PCB's Where Do We Stand?
http://www.annistonstar.com/opinion/opinion_20010225_4126.html

The Evolution of Anniston's 72 Year History
http://www.annistonstar.com/opinion/opinion_20010225_8939.html

Montsano's PCB's To Be Here A Long Time / Op-ed by John Peterson Myers
http://www.annistonstar.com/opinion/opinion_20010225_1478.html

Administrative and Legal Tasks slow Process
http://www.annistonstar.com/opinion/opinion_20010225_7824.html

5. BEN Notes - Earth Creations T-Shirt Sale, Huntsville Green Power Update

Earth Creations T-Shirt Sale - Earth Creations, the Alabama company that produces creative and environmental "Alabama mud" t-shirts, is having a warehouse sale Friday, March 9th from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. There will earth friendly t-shirts and women's clothing available. Please call 205-426-2302, ext. 101 or 1-800-792-9868 for directions to Earth Creation's warehouse in Bessemer.

Huntsville Green Power Update - As of January 16th, the city of Huntsville had 389 residential customers signed up for 756 blocks of Green Power, and 3 commercial buying customers buying 775 blocks. If you live in the Huntsville area and would like to sign up for the Green Power program (you must be a Huntsville Utilities customer), contact Joy McKee, Operation Green Team at 256-532-5326.

Please share BEN with friends and fellow conservationists. If you have any questions or comments about this publication, contact Pat Byington, the author and publisher of BEN at 205-226-7739 or pkbyington@aol.com To receive back issues of BEN, please go to our website at: http://www.BamaNews.com