MORE ENVIRONMENTAL BILLS INTRODUCED: Adam Snyder, executive director of Conservation Alabama, is providing Green Space with regular updates regarding the status of key bills related to the environment during the current session of the Alabama legislature.
With the Alabama State Legislature now a third of the way through its regular session, more environmentally related legislation is being considered.
For years, citizens around the state have sought some sort of local control over the siting and operation of granite and limestone quarries. Currently, a quarry operation needs to get a permit from the Alabama Department of Industrial Relations and air and water permits from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM). No local or county input is required, even though local residents are the people most affected by quarry operations.
HB547 would change that. Introduced by Reps. Jeff McLaughlin (D-Guntersville), Butch Taylor (D-New Hope), Elwyn Thomas (R-Oneonta) and Barry Mask (R-Wetumpka), this bill would create a process giving local governments some say in how and where a quarry would operate. HB547 is assigned to the House commerce committee.
HB547 is similar to HB36/SB96, which would give local governments a greater say over landfill siting and operations. Such a bill passed several years ago but included the provision that if the local government didn’t take action on the landfill application within a certain timeframe, it would automatically be approved. HB36/SB96 seeks to reverse that by denying a landfill permit if the local government has not taken action within 180 days.
Another bill introduced last week is HB511, introduced by Rep. Patricia Todd (D-Birmingham). Currently, one member of the Alabama Environmental Management Commission (AEMC), the board that oversees ADEM, must have been certified by the National Water Well Association. The problem is there are only a handful of Alabamians who qualify for this position on the seven-member AEMC board. HB511 expands the qualifications for this position to include professionally certified geologists and hydrologists. This bill has been assigned to the House boards and commissions committee.
To learn more about Snyder’s organization, which is Alabama’s only full-time environmental lobbying group, visit www.conservationalabama.org.
With the Alabama State Legislature now a third of the way through its regular session, more environmentally related legislation is being considered.
For years, citizens around the state have sought some sort of local control over the siting and operation of granite and limestone quarries. Currently, a quarry operation needs to get a permit from the Alabama Department of Industrial Relations and air and water permits from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM). No local or county input is required, even though local residents are the people most affected by quarry operations.
HB547 would change that. Introduced by Reps. Jeff McLaughlin (D-Guntersville), Butch Taylor (D-New Hope), Elwyn Thomas (R-Oneonta) and Barry Mask (R-Wetumpka), this bill would create a process giving local governments some say in how and where a quarry would operate. HB547 is assigned to the House commerce committee.
HB547 is similar to HB36/SB96, which would give local governments a greater say over landfill siting and operations. Such a bill passed several years ago but included the provision that if the local government didn’t take action on the landfill application within a certain timeframe, it would automatically be approved. HB36/SB96 seeks to reverse that by denying a landfill permit if the local government has not taken action within 180 days.
Another bill introduced last week is HB511, introduced by Rep. Patricia Todd (D-Birmingham). Currently, one member of the Alabama Environmental Management Commission (AEMC), the board that oversees ADEM, must have been certified by the National Water Well Association. The problem is there are only a handful of Alabamians who qualify for this position on the seven-member AEMC board. HB511 expands the qualifications for this position to include professionally certified geologists and hydrologists. This bill has been assigned to the House boards and commissions committee.
To learn more about Snyder’s organization, which is Alabama’s only full-time environmental lobbying group, visit www.conservationalabama.org.
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