Ala. legislature makes modest green gains

Adam Snyder, executive director of Conservation Alabama, has provided Birmingham Weekly with regular updates regarding the status of bills related to the environment during the current session of the Alabama legislature. This week, with the legislative session concluded, Snyder recaps the environmental progress made this year. He also looks forward to the 2010 general elections and to the environmental priorities for the legislature in 2011.



It is hard to believe that it was just three years ago—at the close of the first legislative session of this quadrennium—that a fistfight broke out on the Senate floor. At the end of the final session of this four-year cycle, there were no punches thrown, but some progress was made on environmental policy.

Now that the legislature’s votes on the environment have been tallied, there is only one vote that matters: yours. Your vote can determine whether the next legislature is greener than this one. As we ready ourselves for Election Day, let’s review where environmental policy ended up when the session was gaveled sine die on Earth Day.

—The $1 billion for roads proposal will be on the ballot in November after 11th-hour negotiations between the House and the Senate. Jefferson and Shelby County legislators were able to wrangle $2 million a year for the next 10 years for mass transit in the Birmingham region should the constitutional amendment receive majority support from the people of Alabama this fall.

—While roads were the focus of the $1 billion proposal, Alabama’s walking, bike and water trails were promoted through the adoption of the Alabama Trails Commission legislation, which was signed into law late in the session.

—Despite an early threat from special interests looking to divert funding, the state land-purchasing program remains intact. However, Forever Wild, which was approved by about 83 percent of the Alabama electorate 18 years ago, is set to expire in 2012 if legislators and the people of the state don’t reauthorize it, one of the most successful programs in state history.

—The Joint Legislative Committee on Energy Policy passed a handful of its bills related to energy efficiency and energy research. The most notable legal changes upgrade Alabama’s residential energy code to match federal energy codes.

—After nearly 10 years of trying, Alfa passed its “Family Farm Preservation Act” in order to limit nuisance lawsuits against farm operations. However, thanks to the tireless efforts of such citizen groups as Sand Mountain Concerned Citizens, the legislation that passed is a shadow of what was originally proposed, and it won’t protect new or expanded hog farms from nuisance lawsuits.

Also worthy of mention is the legislation that did not get passed this session.

—Due to tough economic times and strong resistance from the Alabama Education Association, no energy legislation that would have reduced state revenues received a vote in committee. This includes bills that would have established a state sales tax holiday on Energy Star appliances and provided a tax credit for the installation of energy-efficient equipment in homes and businesses.

—Legislation to establish a commission to oversee the policies of the Alabama Department of Transportation lost its momentum midway through the session, despite having moved further this year than in the past.

—Legislation to further clarify the role of local governments in permitting landfills received committee support but got no further. A similar effort on quarries was dead on arrival when the legislation was assigned to the environmentally unfavorable House Commerce Committee.

—Fortunately, an effort to prohibit state agencies from regulating greenhouse gas emissions got no traction.

Overall, this session and the four-year record of this Legislature show modest but marked improvements on the environment. Funding for recycling and landfill enforcement was passed. Solar opportunities were expanded with the elimination of certain insurance requirements. Energy legislation has been passed three of the four sessions. Most bad legislation has been defeated or amended to the point of making it palatable.

As they head to the polls this June for the primary and November for the general election, citizens should keep in mind the environmental records of elected officials at all levels of government. Have your elected officials been conservation-minded? Have they voted for policies that will improve public health and the environment while bolstering our lagging economy?

As Conservation Alabama prepares for the elections and the 2011 legislative session, we’ll be asking these questions and more as we interview candidates about where they stand on pressing environmental issues. As Alabama’s only full-time environmental lobbying organization, we will be endorsing conservation-minded candidates for the legislature in hopes of building a team that can pass more environmental legislation over the next four years.

In order to hold elected officials fully accountable, not only must we advocate, communicate and lobby for our positions, we must reward environmental champions with our vote and deny our support to anti-environmental candidates. When it comes to making the largest possible impact on environmental policy, the true Earth Day is Election Day. Do your part–live green and vote green.



Conservation Alabama is the state’s only full-time environmental lobbying group. To learn more, visit www.conservationalabama.org. You can contact Snyder at asnyder@conservationalabama.org