August 17, 2018 Alabama Environmental Management Commission Meeting

I attended the Alabama Environmental Management Commission (AEMC) meeting today in Montgomery, Alabama.

The most significant agenda items were: (a) whether ADEM should initiate rule making to establish additional public notification requirements for Separate Sanitary Sewer Overflows, and (b)  public comments made by several parties at the end of the meeting regarding North Birmingham.

The AEMC Rulemaking Committee addressed the Separate Sanitary Sewer Overflows rule making matter that began with a rule making petition in 2017. The committee found that additional rule making was not warranted and the AEMC accepted the committee's recommendation to not proceed with rule making.

A number of useful updates on a wide range of issues discussed at the AEMC meeting today can be found on ADEM's website at http://app.adem.alabama.gov/eFile/Correspondence.aspx  These updates include plans to construct a new Mobile Field Office, the status of the Eight Mile Mercaptan Release, a discussion of ADEM's role in the proposed EPA Superfund Listing of the North Birmingham 35th Avenue Site, and ADEM Separate Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSOs) requirements.

The North Birmingham public comments made at today's AEMC meeting are not summarized in any significant detail within this blog post other than to say that an attorney on behalf of certain environmental advocacy interests made a number of serious allegations and requested that ADEM change its position on the North Birmingham 35th Avenue Site and take a number of other actions. This aspect of the meeting will more than likely be discussed in some detail within public media sources in the days ahead.

Perhaps a better summary is to say that it was a hot day - both inside and out.

The next AEMC meeting is scheduled for October 19, 2018.