1) Governor's Commission on Environmental Initiatives Named
2) 10,000 Ton-a-Day Landfill Proposed In Macon County
3) Landfills In Alabama: Do We Have Too Much Capacity?
4) Water War Talks Extended
5) Governor Issues Executive Order to Improve Water Quality

BEN Notes:

Land Trust of Huntsville & North Alabama's Madison Campaign met and exceeded their goals for the summer. The final numbers: The Land Trust preserved more than 236 acres and raised $145,200. For more info on the Land Trust visit them on the web at: http://www.landtrust-hsv.org

Despite 60 mile per hour winds and a torrential downpour, the "Seeing the Light - A Celebration of Rivers" fundraiser netted approximately $16,000 last Thursday (July 20). If you missed the event, you can still purchase copies of Beth Maynor Young's first limited edition Southern Rivers Portfolio, by visiting her website at http://www.cahabariverpublishing.com or call
205-969-1800.

Learn how to buy a block of "Green Power" from your local utility in the TVA region. Huntsville Utilities is currently the only Alabama company offering this program. For more information about Green Power visit http://www.TnGreen.com/greenpower or contact the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy at : 865-637-6055.

New! Calling all environmental organizations who would like to get their scheduled events and activities published in BEN. We are asking groups to send us information on their scheduled events by August 10th, so we can publish a Fall Calendar. Submit events and activities to pkbyington@aol.com. Do not send files. If you have any questions, call 205-226-7739. - PB.

1. Governor's Commission on Environmental Initiatives Named - When Governor Don Siegelman announced the formation of the Alabama Commission on Environmental Initiatives (ACEI) in late April, no one ever expected a barrage of resumes to flood the Governor's office. It did. According to the Governor's office more than 400 resumes and nominations were delivered and sent to the Governor, easily becoming one of the most sought after volunteer task force in Alabama state government history.

After months of deliberation, the Governor's office and ACEI chair Pete Conroy announced that they have named 56 people to the commission. The commission is dominated by some of Alabama's leading environmental advocates and includes at least 20 environmentalists, 10 representatives of industry and several heads of state agencies.

The following is a list of the 56 Commission members:

Pete Conroy- Chair of ACEI, Riley Smith - DCNR Commissioner, Jim Warr - ADEM Director, Tim Boyce - State Forester, Jim Hayes - Head of ADO, Nick Bailey Head of ADECA, Mack Roberts - Commissioner of Transportation, Donald Williamson - State Health Officer, Lori Allen Siegelman - First Lady, Pat Byington - Forever Wild Board/Publisher of BEN, Wendy Allen - Former Balwin County Commissioner, Casi Callaway - Mobile Baywatch, Rick Kuykendall - Lawyer, State Rep. Thomas Jackson - House Agriculture chair, George Crozier - Dauphin Island Sea Lab, Cameron Vowell - Former ADEM
Commissioner/NatureConservancy, Larry Watts - Regional Planning, Scott Tew - Ciba Chemicals, Billy Bond - Alabama River Woodlands, Lisa Adams - Alabama Coastal Foundation, Lucy Buffett - Mobile Estuary Program, Lanny Young - Landfill Owner, David Roberson - Business Council of Alabama, Rebecca Pritchett - Alabama Wildlife Federation, Craig Kneisel - Attorney General's Office, Thomas Morgan - Montgomery Water Works, Ann Smith - Ashurst Bar/Smith Community Organization, Wade Perry - Alabama Democratic Party, Sabra Barnett - Governor's Policy Director, Bill Deutsch - Auburn University, Joe Turnham - ALALEAVS, Doug Ghee - Former State Senator, Jerry Roberts - Sweet Valley/Cobbtown Environmental Justice Task Force, David Newton - Sierra Club, Conner Bailey - Auburn University, Mark Johnston - Camp McDowell, Dorman Grace - Farmer, Don Spurlin - Spurlin Construction, Bruce Windham - Drummond Company, Sue Schmitz - State Senator, Greg Cauthen - Boeing, Jeff McCollum - Forever Wild Board Member, Vivian Vines Campbell - Lawyer, Willard Bowers - Alabama Power, Beth Stewart - Cahaba River Society, Bob Tate - Audubon Society, Bob Chandler - Alabama Geological Society, John Stewart - United Mine Workers, Margaret Wade - AIBO, Kirsten Bryant - Alabama Environmental Council, Doug Phillips - Discovery Alabama, Mary Thompson - Lawyer, Mable Anderson - Village Creek Environmental Justice Society, Kathy Freeland - Nature Conservancy, Whitlynn Battle - Mother's Environmental Coalition of
Alabama, Mike Higginbotham - Jefferson County Department of Environmental Protection

For more information about ACEI, contact Pete Conroy at: 256-782-5681 or pconroy@jsucc.jsu.edu

2. 10,000 Ton-a-Day Landfill Proposed In Macon County - Last week, according to the Montgomery Advertiser, a 10,000 ton a day landfill is being proposed in Macon County, Alabama by Macon County Environmental Facility, Inc., a
local solid waste company. Financially backed by dog track owner Milton McGregor of Montgomery, the landfill would be available to take waste from all states east of the Mississippi River and those states that border the river on the west.

Russell Kelley, chief of the Alabama Department of Environmental Management Solid Waste Branch noted in the published report, "We've had a rash of proposals to build solid waste landfills in the last few years." The Macon County proposal comes on the heels of a recent ADEM approved 1,500 ton a day facility west of Montgomery in rural Lowndes County.

The Macon County Commission will be holding public hearings on the proposed landfill on August 28th, 6:00 p.m. at the Macon County Courthouse and on September 6th, 6:00 p.m. at the Shorter Town Hall.

3.Landfills In Alabama: Do We Have Too Much Capacity? - To put the 10,000 ton a day Macon County Solid Waste proposal into perspective, the Bama Environmental News gathered some interesting statistics about Alabama's solid
waste from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management Solid Waste Branch.

Alabamians throw away approximately 4 to 4.5 million tons of municipal solid waste away per year. That amounts to 11,000 to 12,000 tons of garbage a day.

There are currently Thirty (30) permitted Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Landfill facilities in Alabama. Twenty - five (25) of the facilities are in operation.

Alabama's MSW landfills have a permitted volume capacity of 28,460 tons a day. (This figure does not include Huntsville's 750 ton a day MSW incinerator)

There are 12 landfills in Alabama with a permitted capacity of 1500 tons a day, with the largest located in Escambia County. The Escambia site is permitted for 2500 tons a day. (This figure does not include the recently ADEM approved Lowndes County 1500 a day landfill)

According to ADEM there are 6 additional landfill/MSW facilities that are going through either the local approval process or ADEM permitting process.

4. Water War Talks Extended - For the fifth (5) time the governors of Alabama, Georgia and Florida have agreed to extend the deadline for deciding how to share water from rivers the states share.

The water negotiators from each state now have until December 29th to come to an agreement on water allocation for the Alabama/Coosa/Tallapoosa (ACT) and the Apalachicola /Chattahoochie/Flint river basins.

5. Governor Issues Executive Order to Improve Water Quality - On July 31st, Governor Don Siegelman signed an executive order (#33) encouraging the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) to adopt new water
quality standards for the state's lakes.

The order calls for ADEM to utilize all available sources of data and information to adopt appropriate numerical nutrient standards for Alabama lakes. This move will help improve water quality for the state of Alabama and strengthen Alabama's position at ACT/ACF River basins "Water War" negotiations. For more information about this very important executive order
contact the governor's office at: 1-334-242-7100.

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