November 7, 1998
1. Sierra Club Endorsed Candidates Win
2. Alabama Election Surprises and Outcomes
3. BARTA Loses at Polls and with McNair
4. Six Alabama Freshwater Snails Listed Under ESA
5. Important Upcoming Alabama Forest Service Meetings
6. Must Read: US News Article on Clean Water
7. Scientists Issue Global Warming Warning
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1. Sierra Club Endorsements Successful - Six out the
eight candidates the
Alabama Chapter of the Sierra Club endorsed during this election
cycle went
on to victory November 3rd. The winners included, Governor-elect
Don
Siegelman, Secretary of State Jim Bennett, State Senators Tom
Butler, Roger
Bedford, and Rodger Smitherman (The Club endorsed Smitherman in
the primary.
He ran unopposed in the general election), and Representative
Bill Fuller.
Sierra Club endorsed Attorney General candidate Terry Butts lost
by less
than 1% out of 1.2 million votes cast, while U.S. House candidate
Joe Turnham
put up a couragous fight against incumbant Bob Riley, who outspent
Turnham at
last count nearly 4 to 1.
2. Election Surprises and Amendments - Surprises and
outcomes this election?
ADEM Reformer Representative Ralph Burke lost his re-election
bid 52%-48%...
Former State Rep. and author of many environmental protection
laws Jimmy
Holley defeated State Senator Dwight Adams by less than 100 votes
... 6 women
(at last count) won their election on Tues. nearly tripling their
ranks (this
includes unopposed primary winners) in the next Legislature...
The
Amendments: The Parks Bond issue won nearly 80% of the vote...
The Unfunded
Mandate Amendment passed... The proposed Birmingham Water Works
Board Sale
went down to defeat nearly 2 to 1... BARTA Public Transportation
vote lost
51% to 49%.
3. BARTA Vote: A Setback For Public Transit - There
were hopes Tuesday night
that despite the razor thin defeat of BARTA, the Jefferson County
Commission's Commissioners would still take this "Advisory
Vote" and vote on
the basis of how well the referendum did in their district. On
this premise,
BARTA won 3 out of the 5 Commission Districts, including almost
3 to 1
margins of victories in Jeff Germany's and Chris McNair's districts
and a
4,000 vote win out of almost 48,000 votes cast in Gary White's
district.
BARTA proponents were disappointed on Thursday when Commissioner
Chris
McNair, a longtime opponent to sales tax increases, stated that
he will not
support the BARTA proposal despite the nearly 3 to 1 approval
of the system
in his district. Commissioners Germany and White had already indicated
they
would follow the vote of their constituents. McNair's position
effectively
kills the current BARTA proposal.
Advocates for Public Transit are regrouping after this hard fought election.
4. Six Freshwater Snails Listed - The U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service listed
six Alabama freshwater snails in East Alabama to the federal list
of
Threatened and Endangered species this week. Two of the species,
the lacy
elimia and the painted rocksnail are found in Calhoun and Talledega
counties.
Last year a small grassroots group was coordinated by the Jacksonville
State
Environmental Policy and Information Center to find innovative
community
ecosystem protection approaches to save the species. For information
about
the listing and the new approaches call JSU at 256-782-5681.
5. "Must Attend" Upcoming Forest Service Meetings
- Next week citizens will
have opportunities all over Alabama to express how they think
the National
Forests of Alabama should be managed. These meetings will help
decide what
direction the Forest Service will take in creating its National
Forest
Management Plan. Management Alternatives Development Participation
Meetings
will be held at the following sites:
November 9, Mobile - at the University of Mobile Harrigan Forest
Learning
Center Auditorium
November 10, Montgomery - at the Richard Beard Building Auditorium
November 12, Huntsville - at the Holiday Inn Research Park
November 13, Birmingham - at the Best Western Civic Center
All meetings start at 5:30 and end at 8:30. For more information
about "What
You Can Do", contact Ken Wills at the Alabama Environmental
Council -
205-322-3126.
6. Important Clean Water Act Article - U.S. News and
World Report wrote a
stunning article on September 28th about the need for a stronger
Clean Water
Act. The article's title is "Very Troubled Waters - Despite
the Clean Water
Act, the quality of rivers worsens". You can access this
article off the
"net" at:
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/980928/28rive.htm
7. Global Warming Unsound Science? Not According to Noted
Science Publication
- Despite claims by members of the Alabama Congressional delegation
that
Global Warming is based on "unsound science", the noted
scientific journal
"Nature", recently published a paper written by 11 scientists
from North
America and Western Europe predicting that global warming will
soon become
the "environmental equivalent of the Cold War". The
scientists called for a
crash program to develop clean energy that would rival the Manhatten
Project
and the Apollo mission to the moon.
"The Nature global warming paper is unusual because it
contains broad policy
recommendations. Normally, the journal publishes straightforward
scientific
studies." according to the AP story.
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
