1) More Than 200 Citizens Express Outrage Over Huntsville Port/Refuge Issue
2) ADEM & EPA Enter Into Agreement Over Coastal Monitoring
3) New Website Highlights Alabama Environmental Eyesores
4) Dauphin Island Sea Lab Receives Much Needed $100,000 Grant
5) TVA Blowing In The Wind (Really)
6) BEN Notes: CRS Cajun Feast, Ruffner Fall Festival and Employment Opportunities, Outdoors Woman Adventure Workshop, Dugger Mountain Wilderness Vision Meeting, Friends of Terrapin Creek Festival, Public Lands Meeting in
Florence, Sierra Club Compares Gore & Bush

1. More Than 200 Citizens Express Outrage Over Huntsville Port/Refuge Issue - The City of Huntsville's plan to build a port on the Tennessee River by crossing the Wheeler Wildlife Refuge faced strong opposition at a public meeting on September 5th. Most of the 200 - plus people who packed the meeting opposed the city's plan to build a road or barge across the Wheeler Wildlife Refuge.

After the emotionally charged hearing, two of the five city council members publicly reversed their position on the Port/Wildlife Refuge issue. City Council members Bill Kling and Sandra Moon both stated that they were troubled by the process in which the land for the port was bought and they believe opening up the Refuge's boundaries could lead to a national battle, possibly hurting other refuges in the process. Kling stated that he wants the city to cancel the land purchase or if the sale of the land cannot be undone, he said the city should try to sell the land to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Council President Glenn Watson stated in a Sept. 7th Huntsville Times article, "Nothing's going to happen on it (the port) for an awful long time." Despite the Council President's comment, Councilman member Dick Hiatt was quoted in Times article that he is ready to "go to the mat with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service" over the issue.

2. ADEM & EPA Enter Into Agreement Over Coastal Monitoring - Here is some good news. ADEM and the EPA have entered into a cooperative agreement to help fund additional monitoring of Alabama's coastal water environment. Alabama will receive a little over $1 million over the next five years to expand its existing monitoring efforts. The initiative promotes the collection of water quality, sediment quality and biological data from Gulf estuaries through partnerships with the states. The agreement is part of a Gulf-wide monitoring initiative by EPA's Office of Research and Development and the Gulf of Mexico Program.

For more information about EPA's coastal monitoring programs, and their efforts with Alabama visit the EMAO Coastal 2000 project website at http://www.epa.gov/emap/

3. New Website Highlights Alabama Environmental Eyesores - Websites can be a powerful advocacy tool.Please check out http://www.Bamasores.com and bookmark it. This site gives the visitor pictures of places in Alabama that are environmental eyesores via poor planning and sprawl. Along with the bad and the ugly, the site also treats viewers to "planning and development done right."

4. Dauphin Island Sea Lab Receives Much Needed $100,000 Grant - As reported in BEN earlier this summer, the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, Alabama's marine education and research center, received a $200,000 budget cut in its FY 2000-2001 appropriation.

Last week, Governor Don Siegelman contributed a one-time $100,000 grant from the governor's office to help the Sea Lab rebound from a reduction in state funding. Sea Lab's director credited Mobile County Commissioner Gary Tanner and Conservation and Natural Resources Commissioner Riley Boykin Smith in the effort to obtain the grant. The grant will go toward operational expenses according to Crozier.

5. TVA Blowing In The Wind (Really) - This fall, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) will finish construction of a $3.4 million electricity generating facility atop Buffalo Mountain in east Tennessee. What makes the plant special? The plant will be powered by wind turbines constructed on the site of a reclaimed strip mine - In other words, TVA will have completed a
renewable "wind power" energy source.

By 2003, TVA wants 30,000 homes in the valley to be "green power" participants. In addition to harnessing the wind, TVA will be increasing their use of solar and landfill gases for power. This is all made possible TVA's Green Power program which is available in Huntsville. If you are interested in participating or learning more about the TVA program, contact the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy at sasmith@tngreen.com or visit their new website at http://www.tngreen.com/cleanenergy

6. BEN Notes: CRS Cajun Feast, Ruffner Fall Festival and Employment Opportunities, Outdoors Woman Adventure Workshop, Dugger Mountain Wilderness Vision Meeting, Friends of Terrapin Creek Festival, Public Lands Meeting in Florence, Sierra Club Compares Gore & Bush

CRS Cajun Feast - Mark your calendars! The Cahaba River Society will be holding their Annual Cahaba Cajun Feast on Friday, September 22 at the Zamora Shrine Temple in Birmingham. There will be authentic Cajun cuisine, music and an auction. For more information contact the CRS at 205-32-CLEAN

Ruffner Fall Festival and Employment Opportunities - After you are through "feasting" the night before at the Cajun Feast, you should join the fun and excitement at Birmingham's Ruffner Mountain. On Saturday, September 23, Ruffner Mountain will be celebrating their "Fall Festival." The event starts at 1:00 and last till dark. For more information call - 205-833-8264.

*** In addition to the Festival - Ruffner Mountain is expanding its teaching staff and is looking for a full or part time environmental educator. Contact Ruffner's Sheryl Bishop at 833-8264 for more details.

Outdoors Woman Adventure Workshop - Our friends at the Department of Conservation are holding a "Becoming An Outdoors Woman, An Adventure Workshop" October 6-8 at the Alabama 4H Center. For more info visit the BOW
website at http://www.dcnr.state.al.us/agfd/bow.html

Dugger Mountain Wilderness Vision Meeting - We passed the law ... Now we need to implement it. Please join the USDA Forest Service on September 12, 6:00, p.m. at the Anniston Meeting Center. The purpose of the meeting is to identify what the public envisions for the Dugger Mountain Wilderness. For more information about the meeting contact Kim Smith at 256-463-2272.

Friends of Terrapin Creek Festival - Please join the Friends of Terrapin Creek, as they celebrate their 3rd Annual Awareness Day on Saturday, September 16th, from 11:00 to 5:00. This is great grassroots group in east Alabama. For directions to the festival visit the friends website at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Rhodes/5980/fotc.html

Public Lands Meeting in Florence - The League of Women Voters of the Shoals, and the Alabama Land Association will be co-hosting a meeting September 18th at the Environmental Lab of the Bevill Center at the Shoals Community College. The meeting time is 6:30. The objective of the meeting is to identify potential public lands in Northwest Alabama and develop a plan of action for the region. If you plan to attend or want more info, contact Jackie Tipper at jactip@peoplepc.com .

Sierra Club Compares Gore & Bush - Want to compare Gore's and Bush's environmental records? The Sierra Club has a presidential voter guide on their website. With the election just a little less than two months to go - this site could help inform you where the candidates stand on specific enviro issues. The voter guide can be found at: http://www.sierraclub.org/voter_education/president/voterguide.asp

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