October 20, 1998
1) TVA's Non-Power Budget Saved - and Nearly Doubled
2) Paper Mill Looking at Northwest Alabama Site
3) ADEM's Gives Stronger Status to Part of the Tensaw
4) New Article on "Pulp Mills and Public Schools"
5) ADEM Sets Gold Mine Hearing in Piedmont
6) Alabama Rivers Alliance Job Opening
7) Alabama Voter Registration Deadline
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1. TVA Non-Power Budget Saved - In a remarkable turnabout,
TVA's Non-Power
appropriation has been rescued from extinction. According to a
report
written by Huntsville Times Washington Correspondent Brett Davis,
the White
House and congressional leaders agreed to a provision, put forward
by
Tennessee's senators, to refinance $3.2 billion in debt held by
the Federal
Financing Bank. This would free up an estimated $100 million a
year that
will be earmarked for the non-power budget. In another surprising
move, Rep.
Zach Wamp (TN), Robert Aderholt (AL) Bud Cramer (AL) and others
worked to put
$50 million in the end of the year spending bill. At last count,
the
additional $50 mil. is in the budget. In a nutshell the TVA Non-Power
budget went from $0 to potentially $150 million in two weeks.
2. Alabama in the Running For a Tissue Mill in Shoals
- The Chesapeake Corp.
announced last week its plans to consider a Shoals location for
a new $160 to
180 million dollar tissue plant. Jeff Johnson, public relations
director at
Chesapeake stated in the Times Daily - "the plant will be
a 100% recyclable
mill which means recyclable paper will be used to produce tissue."
Local and
state officials are pushing the "the Barton site" a
1,284 acre riverfront
property in Colbert County as the site for the new mill. Currently
Alabama
is in the running for the plant along with a site in North Carolina.
3. Parts of Tensaw Named OAW - Last week the Alabama
Environmental Commission
designated portions of the Tensaw River as Outstanding Alabama
Waters (OAW),
giving parts of the river one of the strongest water quality protections
in
the state. Proposed by the Baldwin County Commission and Friends
of the
Tensaw for the "entire" Tensaw river, the Alabama Environmental
Commission
acting on ADEM staff advice weakened the designation to only certain
segments.
4. Pulp Mills and Public Education - Researchers at
Auburn University's
School of Forestry and the Department of Agricultural Economics
and Rural
Sociology, recently assessed impacts upon public education funding
of
property tax abatements granted to the pulp and paper industry
in the state.
A synopsis of this study can be found in "Highlights of Agricultural
Research" under an article titled "Pulp Mills and Public
Schools - The Tax
Abatement Connection". In the study it was found that of
7 "pulp mill"
counties in Alabama; 2 counties were found to have school tax
abatements to
pulp mills that exceeded total school revenue. As a whole, the
abated school
revenue in the "pulp mill" counties and region represented
about one-half of
the current school revenue generated from property taxes. Written
by
Mahendra Joshi, John Bliss and Conner Bailey this article is a
forceful and
useful document for people advocating Alabama's need for Tax Reform
and
better funding of our public schools. You can access the article
at:
http://www.ag.auburn.edu:80/aaes/information/highlights/fall98/pulpmills.html
5. Gold Mine Permit Hearing Set - The controversial HarGal
ADEM NPDES permit
hearing is set for November 30th, 7:00 at the National Guard Armory
in
Piedmont Alabama. This proposed mining operation has been actively
opposed
by friends of Terrapin Creek and several environmental groups.
For more
information about the permit please call the Alabama Rivers Alliance
at
322-6395.
6. Rivers Alliance Seeking Administrative Assistant
- The Alabama Rivers
Alliance is seeking an Administrative Assistant. Some of the qualifications?
* Highly organized and detailed individual ** At least 2 years
experience in
administration required *** Computer literate **** Two year commitment
to the
job preferable. Please send resumes and references to Brad McLane
at the
Alabama Rivers Alliance 700 28th Street South, Suite 202G, Birmingham,
Al.
35233.
7. Don't forget to Register to Vote - Just a reminder
for Alabamians - The
last day you can register to vote is Friday, October 23rd. You
can register
in person at the county courthouse or by mail, by completing a
voter
registration form (these forms are located at any county library).
The forms
must be received by Friday the 23rd to be valid. We have got to
turn out
the GREEN VOTE this year!
Please share BEN with friends and fellow conservationists.
If you have any questions about BEN, contact Pat Byington at
205-226-7739 or pkbyington@aol.com
