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e-River Ties, January 2008
Happy New Year and welcome to the first edition of e-River Ties, the online newsletter of the Alabama Rivers Alliance.
Save the date: Rivers Alliance tenth annual Watershed Leadership Conference, March 14-16 at Camp Beckwith on Weeks Bay in Fairhope, AL.
Inside this issue:
• Alliance contributes to important victory against carcinogens in Alabama's waterways
• Alliance wins court case, sets statewide precedent
• Introducing Alliance's new website
• Alliance unveils River Protection Essentials
• New interactive website: Dam Effects
• Watershed Leadership Program
• Choctawhatchee Riverkeeper's victory against dam proposal
• Hurricane Creekkeeper's early success in 2008
• 2008 Watershed Leadership Conference
• Volunteers, sponsors, and donors needed for 2008 Watershed Leadership Conference
• Shop to support the Alliance
Highlights of 2007:
2007 has been a year of big successes for the Alabama Rivers Alliance. Read below to learn about some of our victories:
Alabama Water Agenda
In 2007, the Alliance officially launched the Alabama Water Agenda, a multi-year statewide campaign to address the greatest threats to Alabama's rivers and water resources. To date it has been endorsed by more than 350 individuals and more than thirty organizations. If you have not yet endorsed the Agenda, click here to show your support for long-lasting water policy change.
The Water Agenda addresses six priority threats to our state's waters. In this first year, we focused on Instream Flow, working with state agencies, concerned citizens, and the media to bring the lack of statewide water policy to the forefront of conversations regarding the drought, future water needs, and water wars. Check out the website at www.AlabamaWaterAgenda.com for more information on instream flow and Agenda action alerts. You can also sign up as a volunteer. Please contact us for a copy of the brochure or to schedule a presentation to your group or civic organization.
Alliance contributes to important victory against carcinogens in Alabama's Waterways
On December 14, 2007, the EMC voted to move forward and initiate rule-making regarding the allowable level of carcinogens in Alabama waterways, a first step toward making water cleaner and safer across Alabama.
This victory is important to all Alabamians. While cancer is currently the second leading cause of death in our state, killing about one in five of every Alabamian who dies each year, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management still issues permits allowing industries to discharge cancer-causing chemicals into our waterways at a rate ten times higher than our neighboring states. Thanks to the efforts of ARA and the other organizations that brought this situation into the public view, ADEM has agreed to revisit this policy.
Alliance wins court case, sets statewide precedent
After more than six years of administrative appeals and court battles, the Alliance and partner organization Friends of Hurricane Creek have achieved another victory for Alabama’s waters.
This December, the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals upheld the April 2006 ruling of the Montgomery Circuit Court that overturned the decision of the Alabama Environmental Management Commission to issue an NPDES permit authorizing the discharge of pollutants into tributaries of Hurricane Creek.
The permit was initially appealed on the grounds that ADEM cannot issue a discharge permit to a water body that is already impaired for the pollutant proposed in the discharge. In the case of the permit for Tuscaloosa Resources Inc, ADEM had issued a permit to the coal mining operation that would allow discharges of metals to a stream already polluted with aluminum and iron. This ruling in the appeals court helps protect impaired waters from becoming more polluted. The media is reporting that ADEM does not plan to continue their appeal of the Circuit Court decision. The Alliance is currently appealing the second permit ADEM has issued to this facility.
Many heartfelt thanks go out to our attorney, Edwin Lamberth, for his incredible perseverance over the past several years to protect our valuable natural resources and ensure that our state agencies adhere to environmental laws.
New for 2008:
Alliance starts New Year with a fresh new website
We are pleased to begin 2008 with the unveiling of a brand new website. With frequently updated content including news items, event announcements, river protection resources, and more, the site is destined to become a helpful resource for river advocates all across Alabama. Check back often at www.AlabamaRivers.org to see what's new!
Alliance unveils new collection of River Protection Essentials
The Alliance’s new collection of River Protection Essentials (RPEs) is now available to all River Activists, free of charge, on the ARA website. These short, printable brochures contain helpful information on topics useful to river activists, such as "How to file a Water Quality Complaint with ADEM" (already available) and "How to Conduct a File Review" (coming soon.) More and more helpful publications will be added to the collection over the coming months.
To access these brochures, just visit www.alabamarivers.org and click the link to "River Resources" on the side bar, or click here for a direct link.
New interactive website: Dam Effects
The Hydropower Reform Coalition recently launched a new interactive website, www.dameffects.org, to illustrate how dams impact our environment. The site features illustrations of a free-flowing river, poorly run hydropower dam, and a well run dam. The Alliance is a member of the HRC Steering Committee and works on hydropower relicensing projects as well as watchdogging new dam proposals. See the Alliance’s fact sheet about impacts from dams for additional information.
Grassroots Highlights:
Alliance's Watershed Leadership Program
The Alliance's Watershed Leadership Program is rockin’ and rollin’ with its own electronic newsletter, new this summer and available only to our grassroots groups. To become a grassroots members and gain access to our grassroots resources, click here to email our Watershed Organizer, Elizabeth Salter.
We are planning for our 2008 Watershed Leadership Conference, March 14-16th off of Weeks Bay, near Fairhope, Alabama. This dynamic conference brings together over 100 citizens and grassroots watershed leaders annually for a 3-day weekend of learning and networking on topics in watershed science, policy, and leadership.
Choctawhatchee Riverkeeper's victory against dam proposal
Thanks to the efforts of Choctawhatchee Riverkeeper, the City of Dothan has chosen to pursue water withdrawal from the Chattahoochee instead of constructing a reservoir on the Little Choctawhatchee River. This illustrates sound environmental priorities when a city asked to choose between $250,000 from an EIA for a dam that would kill a river and only $25,000 offered for water conservation chooses conservation. Hats off to the Choctawhatchee Riverkeeper!
Early victory for Hurricane Creek in 2008
Kudos to Hurricane Creekkeeper John Wathen and Friends of Hurricane Creek for enlightening the city council with a multimedia presentation exposing stormwater violations. As a result, the City of Tuscaloosa has issued Stop-Work Orders on a number of construction sites. This victory illustrates just what a concerned citizen with a camera can do!
Hurricane Creekkeeper John Wathen's videos can be viewed below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7thaMqc9RJc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ai14oil2IGw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN-glcs5bbM
Upcoming Alliance Events:
2008 Watershed Leadership Conference
Mark your calendars! This year's Watershed Leadership Conference will take place at Camp Beckwith on Week's Bay in Fairhope, Alabama, March 14-16.
We feature many great sessions covering topics such as:
• Putting your local government to work for you
• Beyond websites: how to make the most of your online resources
• State Agency panel
• Youth education
• Fish consumption advisories: how and why
• Stream restoration
Other fun activities will include:
• Saturday night ho-down with Dread Clampitt
• Friday night River Jam
• Silent auction
• Exhibits and networking
• Hiking and boating in and around Week's Bay
Register for the conference online by clicking here.
River Action Day
This Alliance was proud to sponsor the first annual River Action Day in 2007, providing more than thirty citizens with the opportunity and the tools needed to meet face-to-face with their state legislators and to learn more about how decisions are made in the Alabama Legislature. River Action Day was centered around educating legislators about the Alabama Water Agenda. Mark your calendars for April 8 and join us in Montgomery to promote legislation and policy that will protect Alabama's rivers.
Support the Alliance:
Sponsors, volunteers, and auction items needed for 2008 Watershed Leadership Conference
This year the Alliance will host its 11th annual Watershed Leadership Conference. This dynamic conference brings together citizens and grassroots leaders for a dynamic three-day weekend of learning and networking. The production of this wonderful education opportunity would never be possible without the support of our wonderful volunteers, donors, and sponsors--so let us know now if you can help.
Sponsor
Would you, your organization, or someone that you know be interested in sponsoring the conference? Make your name known among our state's most involved grassroots leaders and citizens with a sponsorship. Contact Katie Shaddix for more information.
Volunteer
The Alliance needs volunteers for our 2008 Watershed Leadership Conference to help with activities like registering guests, facilitating conference sessions, serving refreshments, and setting up displays of auction items. If you would like to help, contact Katie Shaddix.
Donate an auction item
Our annual auction is not only entertainment for our conference attendees; it is a source of funding that keeps the conference going from year to year. Would you, your business, or a person or business you know be interested in donating an item for our auction? Get your business and your merchandise into the public eye. Contact Katie Shaddix for more information.
Buy eco-friendly, socially-conscious merchandise while supporting the Alliance
We are proud to announce our guide to Eco-friendly, Socially-Conscious retailers. Do you know of a business that you'd like to see included on the list? Email us and let us know.
Did you know that you can support the Alliance just by purchasing Higher Ground Roaster's delicious River Blend Coffee? Or that 25% of purchases from www.LetsGoGreen.biz will benefit the Alliance when you travel to the store through the links on our website?
To shop with our fundraising partners and other Eco-friendly, fair trade retailers, click here.
Donate to the Alliance
None of the Alliance's good work would be possible without the support of our members and donors. The Alliance is now accepting donations online through Paypal for those of you with Paypal accounts and also through www.Groundspring.org. Visit our Donate page to contribute or to renew your membership today!
For more information about current happenings with the Alabama Rivers Alliance, read our print newsletter online in a pdf format by clicking here.
To subscribe to our e-newsletter, email Katie Shaddix.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE from Friends of Hurricane Creek/Hurricane Creekkeeper: Circuit Court orders $120,500 minimum penalty for developer’s stormwater violations
ARTWORKS by Melanie Townsend Colvin