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Alabama Ranks 48th on Green Efforts

December 28, 2007

An article from the Press-Register yesterday outlined why Alabama is near the bottom (48th) in a ranking of how states are taking care of God's creation. According to a report from Forbes, the five states at the bottom (West Virginia, Indiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana) of the list "all suffer from a mix of toxic waste, lots of pollution and consumption and no clear plans to do anything about it."

One part of the problem is that Alabama invests $0 in mass transit and all our gas tax revenue is dedicated to funding roads and bridges. Right now there are millions of federal dollars on the table from Congress to match state funding for a transit system in Birmingham, yet elected officials have yet to act.

Another problem is that our environmental enforcement agencies lack the teeth they need to go after big-time polluters.  Energy companies, chemical companies, large animal farms, paper plants and more share a great deal of the responsibility, and they have yet to clean up their own act.

But, perhaps the biggest problem with our environment in Alabama is a lack of leadership on the issue. Non-profit organizations like Conservation Alabama and the Cahaba River Society do a yeoman's job fighting for our state's natural wonders, but the reality is they don't hold the reigns of power. They need leadership in a big way, and Democrats are the only party devoted to protecting our environment.

Some on the other side still have there heads in the sand on global warming and call Nobel Laurette Al Gore a loony-toon. Establishment Republicans even demonize their own party's candidates for accepting the support of environmental organizations, just ask State Senator Trip Pittman (R) of Baldwin County, who was attacked in his primary for getting an environmental endorsement.

The priorities of our government have got to change and citizens must demand environmentally conscious representation, or Alabama "The Beautiful" will be no more.  Again, we are the party to trust.

By
jmcdaniel
on December 28, 2007 12:38 PM | | Comments (2)
Comments
"...and Democrats are the only party devoted to protecting our environment." I don't think that's true at all. How can you lump folks together like that when no real effort is being made on either side? By the way, I voted for this on NewSouthNews' Alabama News, but it needs 1 more vote to be published to the frontpage. Gaston

Posted by: Gaston on January 3, 2008 11:04 PM

It's a shame what people are doing out of greed and selfishness! Most of the people here in Alabama that I work with and know are opposing even the fact that global warming exists. They see it as a myth made up by paid scientists. There are areas all over the world that are proof enough that the earth is warming up. How can they stick to their opinions? I guess the need to drive a big SUV and keep the wasteful lifestyle they have is the reason. How selfish!

Posted by: CJ on March 6, 2008 9:49 AM

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