One of Alabama’s oldest coal-fired power plants will close next year. PowerSouth Energy Cooperative’s chief executive blamed the closure on “extremist environmental ideologies” and “environmental activists” in announcing that the Charles R. Lowman electrical generation plant on the Tombigbee River would be shuttered.
The public has 60 days to comment on an EPA proposal that would limit which waterways are protected under the Clean Water Act. In Alabama, environmental groups say the change would have a significant impact.
Drummond Company has agreed to pay a $775,000 civil penalty as part of a settlement contained in a consent decree relating to alleged violations of environmental laws at its ABC Coke Plant in Tarrant.
The city of Uniontown is set to receive more than $31 million in mostly federal money to address a decades-old sewage issue. But some say the problem should have already been fixed.
The EPA Superfund cleanup and ABC Coke’s proposed air emissions permit have dominated health concerns of residents in northern Birmingham neighborhoods for months. Now officials and residents of several neighborhoods there are attempting to form a coalition to broaden the concerns to other sources of possible pollution.
Wetumpka began what will likely be a long road to recovery on Sunday, one day after a powerful tornado ripped through the town causing extensive damage to a number of buildings and homes.
Months after testifying in the North Birmingham bribery trial, the state’s top environmental regulator is firing back at watchdog groups calling for his dismissal or resignation.
The action principally would remove oversight for small tributary headwaters that do not flow year-round and for wetlands not clearly connected to flowing streams.
All of Alabama Power Company’s open coal ash ponds sit within five feet of an aquifer, or groundwater reservoir, in violation of federal standards, recent company filings confirm.
Trey Glenn resigned Sunday as EPA Region 4 administrator for Alabama and seven other southeastern states following his indictment on multiple felony ethics charges last week in Jefferson County.
Speakers at the first hearing Thursday asked the Jefferson County Department of Health not to renew the emissions permit for ABC Coke. Companies with air emissions are required to have permits renewed every four or five years, the health department says.
A former director of the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, who’s now the regional administrator for the EPA, has been indicted on state ethics charges related to the case in which an executive of Drummond Corporation and a partner in the Balch and Bingham law firm were convicted earlier this year.
The Birmingham City Council appears set to oppose construction of the controversial Cahaba Beach road and bridge project across the Little Cahaba River.
A research team led by the University of Alabama has received $1.8 million to study biodiversity of freshwater mussels. The National Science Foundation announced the award Thursday. Carla Atkinson, an assistant biology professor at the University of Alabama and one of the principal investigators on the study, says Alabama has an abundant variety of mussels. […]
Chimney swifts are a common sight in Birmingham. You might notice large numbers of them as they funnel into chimneys. Many people mistake them for bats. But as new development replaces old buildings and their chimneys, the chimney swift population is at risk. Birmingham Audubon is working to reverse the decline by constructing “swift towers” throughout the city.
Former State Rep. Oliver Robinson is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday in federal court. Federal prosecutors asked the judge in a filing earlier this week to give Robinson a lighter sentence because he pleaded guilty, accepted responsibility for his actions and cooperated with investigators.
Antarctica happens to be a perfect place to study the impacts of climate change. A UAB researcher has devoted his entire career to just that. This weekend, Professor Jim McClintock brings the issue to the stage, along with a love story. "Ushuaia Blue" explores the issue of global warming through the story of two marine biologists trying to save their relationship.
The national office of the NAACP has suspended the organization’s local Birmingham President Hezekiah Jackson IV. The NAACP issued a statement Wednesday evening saying it is investigating whether Jackson advised residents not to have their soil tested for potentially damaging toxins and if he received payment for those activities.
The Jefferson County Department of Health extended the deadline for comments on the proposed renewal of an air emissions permit for ABC Coke. The move comes at the request of residents and environmental groups. Two public hearings are set for November at the Department of Health at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. Residents may also submit comments online.
It’s now official. Monday, Alabama Power Co.’s license to operate its seven Coosa River dams was taken away under terms of a federal court order issued a month ago. The power company will now operate under its prior license.
Thirty-one industries, businesses and other operations in Jefferson County are considered possible large sources of pollution and issued operating permits that recognize that.
By Hank Black The Oliver Robinson bribery trial, in which guilty verdicts were issued for officials of Drummond Coal Co. and its law firm, Balch & Bingham, revealed a gritty episode about avoiding environmental cleanup in North Birmingham. But there’s a bigger dirty picture. The vast majority of Jefferson County’s 31 major sources of pollution […]
Environmental groups have asked Gov. Kay Ivey to take steps to remove from office state environmental officials who were implicated during the recent bribery trial over a plan to block the expansion of a Superfund toxic waste site in Tarrant and Inglenook.
Traffic authorities seeking to extend a road across the Little Cahaba River in southern Jefferson County promised Tuesday to make it a controlled access road and prevent adjacent development in the watershed that protects metropolitan Birmingham’s drinking water supply.
By Hank Black The ongoing fight over extending Cahaba Beach Road from U.S. 280 across the Little Cahaba River will heat up with another public meeting scheduled for Tuesday. Highway engineers will present an update from a meeting a year ago concerning the project’s impact on the river. The Little Cahaba is a vital link […]
The local NAACP president says he’s not stepping down amid calls for his resignation. Testimony and emails presented in a recent federal bribery trial showed Hezekiah Jackson through his contacts worked to convince North Birmingham residents not to have their soil tested for contamination.
Two waves of severe weather are expected today around the state, including supercell thunderstorms, according to the Alabama Emergency Management Agency.
The Trump administration announced Thursday it’s planning to allow new offshore oil and gas drilling in more than 90 percent of U.S. waters, including the Gulf of Mexico. The administration would also offer a record number of leases to energy firms. Of those 47, 12 would be in the Gulf if the plan is approved.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Tuesday that it would protect a rare Alabama salamander under the Endangered Species Act. The Black Warrior waterdog, sometimes called the Alabama mudpuppy, is large, strange, and found only in the state.