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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Environmental groups call for EPA to take away state’s authority over water permitting program
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 15, 2010
Contact: Mitch Reid, Program Director
Alabama Rivers Alliance
w. 205-322-6395 c. 205-792-7937
Cindy Lowry, Executive Director
Alabama Rivers Alliance
w. 205-322-6395 c. 205-365-5576
Environmental groups call for EPA to take away state’s authority over water permitting program
Birmingham, AL—Fourteen Alabama environmental organizations (list attached), led by the Alabama Rivers Alliance have officially filed a petition to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to withdraw the state’s authority over Alabama’s water pollution permitting program because it does not meet the minimum requirements of the Clean Water Act.
“The water pollution permitting program administered by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) is fundamentally broken and does not meet minimum federal standards,” stated Alabama Rivers Alliance Program Director Mitch Reid. “This failure is a systemic, statewide problem. From funding to implementation to enforcement, the failures of the current system are leaving the citizens and environment of Alabama unprotected.”
The water pollution permitting program, known as the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) is a part of the federal Clean Water Act. Each state is required to implement at least the minimum standards required in the federal law.
For more than a decade, environmental and citizen organizations have worked with state agency leaders to find ways to improve this program. When that failed, the petitioners sought relief through the Alabama Environmental Management Commission (EMC), a seven-member governing board of ADEM appointed by the Governor of Alabama. Solutions have also been sought, when necessary, in the courts.
While there have been modest gains on a few individual issues, these have not addressed the substantial systemic failures of Alabama’s water pollution permitting program. Intervention by the Environmental Protection Agency is the only relief left available to the environmental community to ensure the proper actions are taken to fix this defective program.
The petition initiates a legal process that is expected to engage EPA, ADEM, and all interested parties in developing concrete solutions to reform ADEM’s water pollution permitting program.
The goal of the petitioners is for Alabama’s water pollution permitting program to meet or exceed minimum federal standards under the Clean Water Act in order to protect human health and the environment for the citizens of Alabama.
View the petition online: www.alabamarivers.org/epa-petition
About the Alabama Rivers Alliance
Formed in 1997, the Alabama Rivers Alliance is Alabama’s statewide nonprofit river-protection organization. Our mission is to protect Alabama's rivers through water quality and quantity policy advocacy, grassroots organizing, and the providing of information to citizens in order to achieve clean and healthy watershed ecosystems, healthy people, strong economies, and a functioning democratic system of government in Alabama. Read more at www.alabamarivers.org.
List of Petitioners:
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Alabama Rivers Alliance, Inc. Cindy Lowry, Executive Director 2027 Second Avenue North, Suite A Birmingham, Alabama 35203 Telephone: (205) 322-6395
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Friends of Hurricane Creek John Wathen, Creekkeeper P.O. Box 40836 Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35404 Telephone: (205) 507-0867
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Conservation Alabama Foundation, Inc. Adam Snyder, Executive Director P.O. Box 130656 Birmingham, Alabama 35213-0656 Telephone: (205) 533-6178 www.conservationalabamafoundation.org
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ADEM Reform Coalition Adam Snyder, Co-Chair Casi Callaway, Co-Chair |
Choctawhatchee Riverkeeper, Inc. Mike Mullen, Riverkeeper P.O. Box 6734 Banks, Alabama 36005-6734 Telephone: (334) 807-1365 http://sites.google.com/site/chocrivkeeper/
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Mobile Baykeeper, Inc. Casi Callaway, Baykeeper Executive Director 300 Dauphin Street, Suite 200 Mobile, Alabama 36602 Phone: (251) 433-4229
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Black Warrior Riverkeeper, Inc. Nelson Brooke, Riverkeeper 712 37th Street South Birmingham, Alabama 35222 Telephone: (205) 458-0095 |
Cahaba Riverkeeper Myra Crawford, Riverkeeper 4650 Old Looney Mill Road Birmingham, Alabama 35243 Telephone (205) 967-2600
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Coosa River Basin Initiative, Inc. Joe Cook, Riverkeeper 408 Broad Street Rome, Georgia 30161 Telephone: (706) 232-2724
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Friends of the Locust Fork River Sam Howell, President P.O. Box 245 Hayden, Alabama 35079 Telephone: (205) 681-4751
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The Friends of Big Canoe Creek Doug Morrison P.O. Box 10 Springville, AL 35146 Telephone: (205) 467-7620 |
Alabama Environmental Council Michael Churchman, Executive Director 2431 Second Avenue North Birmingham, Alabama 35203 Telephone: (205) 322-3126
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Sand Mountain Concerned Citizens, Inc. Willard Jones, President P.O. Box 428 Ider, Alabama 35765 Telephone: (256) 657-5704
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The Sierra Club-Alabama Chapter Robert W. Hastings, Vice Chair 141 North Northington Street Prattville, Alabama 36067 Telephone: (334) 491-0780 |
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