About Us

The Bama Environmental News or "BEN" was founded in August of 1998 by Pat Byington, former Executive Director of the Alabama Environmental Council. Initially, the BEN newsletter was a personal newsletter that was sent to leaders within the environmental community. Starting with an e-mail list of approximately 50 address, BEN's weekly news updates became popular among environmentalists, governmental officials and members in the business community. Weekly readership has risen to over 2500 as of January 2002. In October 1999, BEN launched its website www.BamaNews.com. Considered the "Library of Alabama's Environmental Movement" presently, more than 200 new visitors explore the site each week.

BEN is a free publication, produced and edited by Pat Byington. He has received some financial support from the Curtis and Edith Munson Foundation and his base of operation is at the Southern Environmental Center on the Birmingham Southern College campus.