Headlines from around the state
Up one levelFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE from Friends of Hurricane Creek/Hurricane Creekkeeper: Circuit Court orders $120,500 minimum penalty for developer’s stormwater violations
Friends of Hurricane Creek / Hurricane CREEKKEEPER filed multiple complaints concerning the Williamsburg Subdivision, owned by SDW, Inc., for stormwater violations that resulted in sediment and other pollutants leaving the Buttermilk Road development. (for more info on stormwater violators visit http://mudbuster.blogspot.com )
Black Warrior Riverkeeper Wins River Hero Award at Alabama Watershed Leadership Conference
Montgomery - Nelson Brooke, the staff Riverkeeper at Black Warrior Riverkeeper, received the 2010 River Hero Award at the Alabama Rivers Alliance's Watershed Leadership Conference.
Solar Today: An Alabama neighborhood proves there's more than one way to go solar.
Tucked away in an idyllic tract of woodland in central Alabama is a unique neighborhood of energy-efficient houses. It began 30 years ago as a dream in the minds of a few people. They wanted to build a sustainable community of like-minded individuals. Today that dream is a neighborhood near Blountsville, Ala., with half a dozen eco-friendly homes, three of them powered by the sun. Although the homeowners share a commitment to solar power as part of a sustainable lifestyle, their house designs are as different from each other as are the owners themselves. Truly, there's more than one way to skin a cat, or save a kilowatt! A quick tour of the three solar-powered homes shows some of the many ways in which solar panels can be incorporated into an energy-efficient lifestyle.
Birmingham Weekly: Alabama Rivers Alliance hosts water conference
PROTECTING ALABAMA’S WATER: Environmental leaders from across Alabama will gather in Montgomery for the 12th-annual Watershed Leadership Conference hosted by the Alabama Rivers Alliance from Feb. 27 to Mar. 2.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Environment America Warns that Alabama’s Waterways are at Risk of Increased Pollution
Streams and wetlands in Alabama are at risk of unlimited pollution, according to a report released today by Environment America, Courting Disaster: How the Supreme Court Has Broken the Clean Water Act and Why Congress Must Fix It. The case against McWane, a manufacturing company, discharging pollution into Avondale creek is one of the 30 case studies that highlights how the federal Clean Water Act is broken.
Mary Ivy Burks of Birmingham, Margaret C. Smith of Eutaw named to women's hall
Mary Ivy Burks, shown here with her husband Robert, was a leading figure in the Alabama environmental movement during the 20th century and will be inducted in the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame.
Baldwin County Times: New feature added to watershed conference Mobile Baykeeper to lead session on local water protection issues; registration deadline is Feb. 12
FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Environmental leaders from across Alabama and around the nation will gather three weeks from today in Montgomery for the 12th Annual Watershed Leadership Conference.
Locust Fork News-Journal: TVA Coal Ash Cleanup Hits Snag in Alabama
he Tennessee Valley Authority’s massive cleanup of a coal ash spill from last Christmas at the coal-fired power plant in Kingston, Tennessee, “has hit a snag 500 miles away, just before the treated wastewater reaches Mobile Bay,” according to the Associated Press.
Wetumpka Herald editorial: Will feds take over environmental regulation?
State conservation groups are asking the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency to assume Alabama’s regulatory authority over the federal Clean Water Act, charging that the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) is failing to enforce provisions of the act.
InsideEPA.Com: Activists’ Petitions Forcing Stricter EPA Oversight Of State Water Rules
nvironmentalists are increasingly petitioning EPA to withdraw states’ authority to administer the Clean Water Act (CWA) in a tactic that is already winning stricter agency oversight of some states’ water quality programs -- and may even bolster Obama administration vows to strengthen state programs.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Water advocates rally at Alabama’s capitol during election year
MONTGOMERY, AL—Environmental leaders from across Alabama and beyond will gather in the state’s capitol for the twelfth annual Watershed Leadership Conference hosted by the Alabama Rivers Alliance on February 27-March 2. This year’s conference will feature the first ever Alabama Water Rally, a four-day event geared toward informing citizens about key water issues affecting our state and ways that citizens can become involved in protecting their waters.
Shelby County Reporter: Environmental group opposes the quarry
Following is a copy of the Jan. 26 letter presented by the Alabama Rivers Alliance to the Town of Vincent regarding the proposed quarry. The letter was written by Program Director Mitch Reid. I find it very telling, don't you?
Hurricane Creekkeeper: Toxic dumping must stop in Perry County
It is time to quit dumping on Perry County. If complaints of health issues and allegations of improper disposal from the Arrowhead Landfill aren’t enough, a bankruptcy filing should be the wake-up call.
Tuscaloosa News: EPA petition could mean tighter rules
TUSCALOOSA | Municipalities and industries across Alabama would see tougher regulatory enforcement if the federal Environmental Protection Agency sides with a coalition of state environmental groups.
EPA Launches New Rulemaking To Strengthen Water Quality Standards
Wednesday, January 27, 2010 (InsideEPA.com) -- EPA is launching a new rulemaking to strengthen its water quality standards program, which serves as the foundation for a major portion of pollution controls under the Clean Water Act (CWA), that will include revisions to the agency's "antidegradation" policies to preserve pristine waters and strict new milestones for reaching permit limits.
al.com: No vote needed under Alabama law for landfill approval
In Alabama, all it takes to stop a landfill from being built is for local politicians to say no. And about all it takes to get one approved is for local politicians to say nothing at all.
Cullman Times: Mining opponents heading to Montgomery
CULLMAN — A delegation of concerned citizens and leaders of organizations opposed to strip mining on Smith Lake will travel to Montgomery on Tuesday to express their concerns before a senate committee and lend their support to a bill sponsored by Sen. Zeb Little (D-Cullman) that would halt a coal company’s effort to begin strip mining in the Brushy Pond area.
Miami Herald: EPA's plans to set water quality standards in Florida a national first
In a move cheered by environmental groups, the federal government on Friday proposed stringent limits on ``nutrient'' pollution allowed to foul Florida's waterways. The ruling -- which will cost industries and governments more than a billion dollars to comply -- marks the first time the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has intervened to set a state's water-quality standards.
Birmingham Weekly: Environmental groups request federal takeover of ADEM
A BOLD MOVE BY ALABAMA ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS: Fourteen Alabama environmental groups took a step last Friday that ought to send a chill up the spine of polluters that benefit from the state’s lax enforcement of water pollution regulations. The groups, led by the Alabama Rivers Alliance, filed a petition with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asking that the EPA take over water pollution permitting and enforcement in the state from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.
Whit Gibbons: Who can complain about lack of environmental stewardship?
How long will the process take? According to Cindy Lowry, executive director of the Alabama Rivers Alliance, the timeline is uncertain. She hopes discussions with the EPA will occur within a couple of months. Future actions, such as possible hearings, are yet to be decided. For now, the petition provides an extensive list of country clubs, residential subdivisions, landfills, wastewater treatment plants, coal mines and so on that are said to be affecting what flows into certain streams.