1) Birmingham Fails Ozone Standards
2) Special Session Environmental Legislation
3) Alabama's First Brownfield Project Since Passage of New Law
4) AWF's Governor's Conservation Award Winners
5) BEN Notes : NWF's Campus Ecology Fellowship Program, "The Cliffs of Hurricane Creek," CoosaAid 2001, Flint River Clean-Up, CRS Cahaba Cajun Feast, Ruffner Mountain's Fall Festival 2001, Moon Over Three Caves Dance, Return of the Natives, The Green Earth Journal Website, It's a Boy!

1. Birmingham Fails Ozone Standards - Last Thursday and Friday were not good days for Birmingham's air quality. Ninety degree plus temperatures, cloudless days and virtually no breeze spelled doom for Clean Air advocates hoping Birmingham would escape the summer of 2001 without an outbreak of exceedances of the 1-hour ozone air quality health standards.

By exceeding the ozone health standard on Friday at the Helena monitoring station the Birmingham area experienced it's fourth such event at that station over the past three years. As a result of the violation, Birmingham's efforts to comply with the current 1-hour standard will be extended. If Birmingham had gone through the summer without a fourth exceedance at one of the monitoring stations, EPA could have considered lifting some of the area's current industrial restrictions and started efforts to help Birmingham come into compliance of the proposed and more stringent 8-hour standard.

2. Special Session Environmental Legislation - Earlier this summer, plans for Alabama's third Special Session of the 2001 was supposed to focus on just Congressional redistricting. What a difference a summer makes.

Nearly 150 bills were introduced during the first week of the session in both houses, many of them environmentally related. The following is a list and short description of environmental bills introduced this week. To read these bills online visit - http://alisdb.legislature.state.al.us/acas/ACASLogin.asp

HB 8 - Sponsored by Rep. Knight - Gulf State Park Authority - This bill creates an authority to issue bonds aimed at renovating Gulf State Park.

SB 11-14 and HB 175-178 - Sponsored by Sen. Butler, Rep. Mancuso and Rep. Schmitz - These bills prohibit petroleum tank farms and pipelines near schools in Limestone and Madison counties.

HB 17, 46 and SB 54 - Sponsored by Rep. Knight and Sen. Mitchell - WRATT Appropriation - This bill appropriates $75,000 to the Waste Reduction and Technology Transfer Foundation for FY 2001 and FY 2002. WRATT is a successful Alabama based pollution prevention program which uses the expertise of retired engineers.

SB 46 - Sponsored by Sen. Smitherman - An appropriation for the Village Creek Preservation Society, a grassroots watershed group in Birmingham.

HB 71 - Sponsored by Rep. Spicer - Scrap Tire Licensing - This bill cleans up language in the scrap tire licensing legislation that passed in 1999.

SB 71 and HB 74 - Sponsored by Sen. Biddle and Rep. Venable - Vessel Dumping Bill - This bill will regulate and prevent sewage discharge into our lakes and streams from recreational vessels and houseboats.

HB 82 - Sponsored by Rep. Ron Johnson - Compliance Assurance - This bill recoups environmental fees to cover inspection costs of regulated facilities.

3. Alabama's First Brownfield Project Since Passage of New Law - A new office building in Tuscaloosa will be the first project undertaken as part of the Alabama Land Recycling and Economic Redevelopment (Brownfields) Act, passed by the Legislature earlier this year.

The Alabama Department of Environmental Management and Renaissance L.L.C. have signed an agreement which will facilitate Renaissance's redevelopment of a former steel warehouse location and adjacent property, located at 22nd Avenue and 4th Street in Tuscaloosa. As part of the agreement, the company will investigate potential environmental problems at the site, create a plan to clean up or lessen the impact of those problems, carry out and complete the plan thereby allowing for commercial development of the property.

4. AWF's Governor's Conservation Award Winners - Last Friday, Governor Don Siegelman presented this year's Alabama Wildlife Federation (AWF) Governor's Conservation Achievement Award winners at AWF's Annual Meeting. Some of this year's most notable winners were:

Conservationist of the Year - Riley Boykin SmithLegislative Conservationist of the Year - Sen. Zeb Little and Rep. Jimmy
WarrenConservation Communicator of the Year - Dennis Sherer, Times DailyConservation Educator of the Year - Shirley West
Wildlife Conservationist of the Year - National Wild Turkey FederationConservation Organization of the Year - Mann Museum and OutdoorsForest Conservationist of the Year - Alabama Forests Forever FoundationAir Conservationist of the Year - Glidewell Specialties Foundry Company, CaleraWater Conservationist of the Year - Engelhard Corporation, Huntsville

5. BEN Notes : NWF's Campus Ecology Fellowship Program, "The Cliffs of Hurricane Creek," CoosaAid 2001, Flint River Clean-Up, CRS Cahaba Cajun Feast, Ruffner Mountain's Fall Festival 2001, Moon Over Three Caves Dance, Return of the Natives, The Green Earth Journal Website, It's a Boy!

NWF's Campus Ecology Fellowship Program - The National Wildlife Federation's Campus Ecology Program is seeking undergraduate and graduate students interested in making a difference on campus and within their community. The NWF Fellowship Program offers grants to students interested in conservation and a sustainable future. To learn more about the this program visit NWF's website at http://www.nwf.org/campusecology The deadline to apply for the fellowship is September 15th.

"The Cliffs of Hurricane Creek" - Students at Tuscaloosa County High School have produced a movie about Tuscaloosa's proposed eastern bypass through the M Bend of Hurricane Creek. The Movie "The Cliffs of Hurricane Creek" will air WJRD TV Channel 49 on September 9th and 16th at 9:00 am.

CoosaAid 2001 - Here is a great way to spend your Labor Day weekend. Join the Weiss Lake Improvement Association, the Coosa River Basin Initiative and the Alabama Rivers Alliance at CoosaAid 2001. The event will be held September 1st from 4:00 to 10:00pm at the Alabama Belle Resort on Weiss Lake. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for children under 12 and free for children under 5. For more info call the Alabama Rivers Alliance at 205-322-6395.

Flint River Clean-Up - Come join your neighbors in North Alabama and help clean up the Flint River. The Flint River Cleanup Day will be held Saturday September 8th. The event starts before 8:30am. make sure to call Doug Horacek
256-461-6392, Soos Weber 256-842-0019 or Dennis McGehee 256-858-2260 for more
info.

CRS Cahaba Cajun Feast - One of the most successful and fun fundraisers of the year is the Cahaba Cajun Feast held by the Cahaba River Society (CRS). This year's event will be held on September 21st, 6:00-9:00pm at the Zamora Shrine Temple. The $75.00 admission goes toward the operating fund of CRS.

Ruffner Mountain's Fall Festival 2001 - Ruffner Mountain will be holding a "Fall Festival 2001", Saturday, September 22nd. There will be a conservation fair, food, music, game and educational programs. The event is free. To participate in this new Fall tradition call Julie or Lisa at 205-833-8264.

Moon Over Three Caves Dance - Come celebrate the end of summer with the Land Trust of Huntsville and North Alabama "dancing under the moonlight" at their annual "Moon Over Three Caves" Dance. This wonderful event will be held Saturday, September 22nd, 7:30-11:00pm. Admission is $25.00 per person. For more details contact the Land Trust at 256-534-LAND.

Return of the Natives - Make sure to mark your calendars for the "Return of the Natives" Central South Native Plant Conference to be held at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, October 12-13. Registration is $85. If you have any questions contact the Birmingham Botanical Society at 205-414-3950.

The Green Earth Journal Website - Want more environmental news! Visit and bookmark the Green Earth Journal website at http://greenjournal.com This free environmental news report is published every Mon-Wed-Fri.

It's a Boy! - Congrats! Go out to former Executive Director of the Alabama Environmental Council Kirsten Bryant and her husband Jackson on the birth of their son William Jackson Bryant IV.

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