The Alabama Environmental Council is wondering why the Riley administration is trying to roll back a 29-year-old air pollution law, given that five counties in Alabama have been certified as failing national air quality standards for soot.

“Air pollution control technology has improved so much in the past 29 years that compliance now should be easier, not harder,” says Jenny Dorgan, program coordinator for umbrella environmental group, in a press release issued Tuesday.

The state’s environmental regulatory agency, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, will be asking the Alabama Environmental Management Commission to rollback a long-standing soot control rule in a public hearing scheduled for Friday in Montgomery.

In the past few weeks, members of the group have met with a number of the Commissioners explaining why this rollback is “neither necessary nor sound policy,” according to the release. “Several Commissioners found our arguments persuasive, but they also know that Alabama’s regulated community (read corporate polluters) really wants this rollback. ”

So the Commissioners asked, Dorgan said, “Why isn’t the public more interested in this issue?”

They also asked: “Why there weren’t more people at the recent Public Hearing regarding the proposed changes to our Opacity Standards?”

The group explained that people have jobs that prevent them from driving to the state capital during the week, as opposed to industry representatives that are paid to attend these meetings.

“We don’t think they were convinced,” she said.

So the group is asking people to turn out.

“We think a big turn out could tilt the scales in our favor,” she said.

Public comments will not be allowed, she said, “but our presence will speak volumes.”

The meeting will take place in the Main Hearing Room at ADEM’s Central Office at 1400 Coliseum Blvd., Montgomery, beginning at 10 a.m.

In Birmingham, carpoolers will meet at the AEC office at 8 a.m. Contact Dorgan if you will be able to attend at: Jenny@aeconline.org.

For more information, consult the group’s Website at www.aeconline.org or www.blackwarriorriver.org.

Tags: Riley to Rollback Air-Pollution Law

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 at 4:37 pm and is filed under Alabama Politics, Black Warrior Riverkeeper, Environment News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.