Senator Lance Bell: Camaraderie in the People’s House & our immigration crisis
June 6th marked the last day of the 2023 legislative session and the end of my first session as your State Senator in District 11. I realized from the beginning that this session would be a valuable learning experience. Despite being new to the Senate, I believed that I could have a meaningful impact on the legislative session. Support from the sophomore class of legislators was immediately evident, inspiring, and invaluable. Despite the competitive nature often associated with politics, these now-seasoned legislators graciously took the rookies under their wing, offering guidance and mentorship. Their willingness to share their knowledge and experiences planted a solid foundation for me and the other freshmen to navigate the world of state government. This guidance allowed me to make an impact in my first session. When I compare the Alabama Legislature to the dysfunction in Washington, D.C., I learned to admire our state’s approach. I often express my belief that if D.C. worked like Montgomery, we could actually fix the problems our great nation faces. In Alabama, we collaborate, find common ground, and prioritize the needs of our constituents – I am proud to be a part of this model. During this first session, I had the privilege of joining various leaders from around the state on a trip to see our nation’s southern border. This visit caused my perspective on governance to be changed forever. While we were there, we saw countless human rights violations and total chaos. We learned how the cartels are using aerial drones to spot gaps in the border patrol for their drug mules to pass. The wall needs to be finished, and the border needs to be closed. As everyone knows, illegal drugs are a menace to our hard-working families. This mayhem compelled me to act. Motivated by the horrors and human rights atrocities I witnessed, I returned home with a sense of purpose. Collaborating with colleagues, I introduced legislation that offers practical solutions for the challenges faced by the border crisis. My bill, SB320, mandates that any criminal alien must have a fingerprint and DNA swab on file if they are to be released. My bill will be a tool to aid law enforcement. This adds a level of security for our law enforcement officers and allows us to keep a database for future investigations. Unfortunately, as fast-paced as Montgomery can be, we were not able to pass my bill before the session ended. This setback has not slowed me down but rather fueled my determination to make a positive difference. As a legislator, I find inspiration in my 14- and 11-year-old children. They, as well as other children, deserve the best our state has to offer, and I will do everything in my power to provide that to them. The responsibility to spark change lies within each of us. Engaging with my community and listening to my constituents’ concerns are integral to my job as a Senator. While we could not pass SB320 this session, I am committed to enhancing and strengthening its provisions. I am diligently working to ensure that when the 2024 legislative session arrives, I will be fully prepared to reintroduce the bill with an even greater determination to make it the law. I am here in the present, ready, willing, and able to make positive and meaningful changes to give everyone opportunities to be successful. Lance Bell represents Senate District 11 and is life long St. Clair County resident.
NOAA releases study on protecting endangered species while building offshore wind developments in Gulf of Mexico
The Biden administration is looking at offshore wind farms in the Gulf of Mexico to reduce American dependence on fossil fuels. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Division wants to be able to do this without negatively impacting the endangered marine species which it manages. On Monday, a new peer-reviewed study, “Protected species considerations for ocean planning: A case study for offshore wind energy development in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico,” was published in Marine and Coastal Fisheries. The study details NOAA’s efforts to accomplish both goals. It is part of a special theme issue of the online journal entitled “Offshore Wind Interactions with Fish and Fisheries.” The issue will feature several more NOAA Fisheries-authored papers on offshore wind energy topics as they are published. This paper details NOAA Fisheries’ development of scoring methods to assess potential protected species conflicts with offshore wind. NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management developed spatial models used in the study. The generalized scoring approach considers species conservation status and demographic information. In the spatial models, a score of one reflects an area with low siting conflicts. A score of zero reflects an area with high siting conflicts. The paper evaluated the spatial distributions for 23 species listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act, identifying high-use and low-use areas for each species and scoring these areas from 0.1 to 0.9. A score of 0.1 reflected a high-use area for an endangered species with a small and declining population; a score of 0.9 reflected a low-use area for a non-strategic MMPA stock. NOAA said that the researchers combined these layers spatially and integrated them into the siting model. The NOAA Fisheries combined layer informed relative risk for siting wind energy activities in a given area while accounting for the overlap of different protected species. This integration resulted in a 70 percent reduction in potential siting conflicts with protected species within the final selected wind energy area. These estimates are based on current and expected species occurrence and distribution patterns. This work represented a successful collaboration between NOAA Fisheries, NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The goal was to proactively minimize potential interactions between renewable energy development and protected species. The approach is straightforward, repeatable, and transferable to other regions, to other sensitive or protected species, and to other marine spatial planning applications. However, these are static models. NOAA Fisheries needs continuous monitoring data to ensure models can be adapted to shifting species distributions due to climate change or ecosystem perturbations. NOAA hopes that this collaborative work will provide a foundation for early engagement and strategic marine spatial planning for offshore wind energy to reduce potential adverse effects on protected species. It also provides a reference for work conducted to inform this process and a template for other regions as these efforts expand. Last year the Biden Administration announced that the first two of its planned wind farms will be off the coast of Galveston, Texas, and Lake Charles, Louisiana. The Galveston wind farm will be developed 24 nautical miles off the coast of Galveston, covering a total of 546,645 acres and will power 2.3 million homes, according to the U.S. Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The Louisiana wind farm will be about 56 nautical miles off the coast of Lake Charles, Louisiana, and will cover 188,023 acres with the potential to power 799,000 homes. The Biden Administration has not yet announced its plans for the Alabama Gulf Coast. There are concerns that wind farms in the Gulf of Mexico will be cost-prohibitive and that hurricanes will do substantial damage to offshore wind farms making recovery from future hurricanes even more protracted. This is on top of the environmental concerns that the NOAA study seeks to address. There is also a significant cost element to this. One researcher estimates that it would cost four times as much money to produce electricity from Gulf of Mexico wind farms as it does to produce it from natural gas in Louisiana now. Producing more green energy will almost certainly result in substantially higher electric bills for American consumers. There are currently only two operational offshore wind farms in the U.S. – one off of the coast of Rhode Island and the other off of the coast of Virginia. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Sen. Katie Britt joins colleagues in introducing bicameral bill to protect American businesses from SEC overreach
U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Alabama) joined Sen. Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota) and eight of their Senate colleagues in reintroducing legislation to only allow the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to impose future disclosure requirements on publicly traded companies if the information is important for investors’ decisions. “If this Administration continues to try and enforce its radical Green New Deal policies on every corner of America, this reckless, partisan overreach is going to result in fewer American jobs, higher inflation, and more competitive advantages for foreign competitors in the marketplace,” said Sen. Britt. “American companies should not be held hostage by unelected bureaucrats. I’m proud to support this commonsense legislation that would uphold fiscal sanity and free-market values in our economy.” “The heavy hand of government is hampering the growth of our businesses and economy,” said Sen. Rounds. “This legislation would seek to depoliticize the SEC by preventing the agency from requiring reporting of unnecessary information and instead focus on protecting investors, maintaining fair and efficient markets and facilitating capital formation.” In March 2022, the SEC issued a rule requiring any public company to disclose its direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions, including reporting by downstream suppliers like farmers and ranchers, even if that information is not relevant to investors. This rule would potentially limit access to capital, discourage new companies from going public and result in onerous reporting requirements that will be borne by farmers and small businesses. The Mandatory Materiality Requirement Act would refocus future SEC disclosure requirements on what is important: the information investors need to make smart investment decisions. Specifically, it would amend both the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by inserting statutory language directly into both acts saying an “issuer is only required to disclose information in response to disclosure obligation adopted by the Commission to the extent the issuer has determined that such information is important with respect to a voting or investment decision regarding such issuer.” Sens. Britt and Rounds were joined by Sens. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), Bill Hagerty (R-Tennessee), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyoming), Steve Daines (R-Montana), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), John Boozman (R-Arkansas), Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota), and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) in introducing this legislation. SEC chair Gary Gensler advanced the SEC rule. Gensler has advocated for the SEC to consider climate-related and social issues in its regulatory policy since he took office in 2021. Gensler said climate reporting rules are a concern for investors and fit in with a tradition of disclosure requirements dating back to the Great Depression. Katie Britt was elected to the Senate in 2022. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Adam Thompson named to lead Alabama chapter of Americans for Prosperity
Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is expanding its broad-based grassroots advocacy efforts in Alabama. This expansion marks the 37th state where AFP is actively working to advance liberty and economic opportunity for all Americans. The AFP Alabama office will open this summer. The chapter will be led by Adam Thompson, who, for the past two years, has been leading a national AFP policy team focusing on foundational education, post-secondary education, criminal justice, and free speech. Thompson brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the role and will be responsible for leading AFP’s efforts to hold state government officials accountable to the people they serve and to advance freedom and opportunity through broad-based grassroots outreach. “I am thrilled to lead AFP’s Alabama chapter as we work to cut regulations, expand access to economic opportunity across our state, and fight for educational freedom for every child,” said Thompson. Thompson is a state government veteran, having served as deputy commissioner of a state cabinet agency as well as in senior roles for Governor Kay Ivey, a state auditor, and three secretaries of state. Thompson also was a Republican candidate for state auditor in 2014. “As a lifelong Alabamian, I’m proud to lead AFP’s expansion into Alabama. AFP is driven by a core belief: every person has unique gifts that enable them to realize their American Dream. Our vision is to remove the barriers preventing people from using those gifts and achieving that dream by elevating the voices of everyday Alabamians to advocate for the principles and policies of a free and open society,” Thompson concluded.
Gas prices down 3 cents from month ago, third-lowest in nation
Alabama’s gasoline prices are down 3 cents from one month ago and nationally are the third-lowest at $3.08 for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline, according to Friday morning updates. That’s down 29.1% from the same time last year, when prices soared to $4.35 per gallon, says data from the American Automobile Association. Among county averages, the highest ($3.18) are Coosa County in the northern part of the state and Winston County in the northwestern area. Marshall County, in the northeast, is lowest ($2.94). Among metros, the highest are Daphne-Foley ($3.15), Muscle Shoals ($3.12), Mobile ($3.11), and Huntsville ($3.10). The lowest are Gadsden ($2.98), Decatur ($3.02), Auburn ($3.04), and Birmingham and Tuscaloosa ($3.05 each). “Gas prices may rise over the next few days based on slightly higher demand,” AAA spokesman Andrew Gross said in a release. “But it could be more of a blip than a trend, and demand may retreat once the holiday is further in the rearview mirror.” Saudi Arabia and Russia have announced production cuts, with the Saudis extending their July cutback of 1 million barrels per day through August and the Russians saying they’ll cut production by 500,000 barrels a day in August. According to the American Petroleum Institute, Alabama taxes and fees add up to 31.31 cents per gallon, higher than Mississippi (18.79 cents per gallon) and Tennessee (27.4 cents), but lower than Georgia (37.55 cents) and Florida (43.55 cents). Mississippi has the lowest average at $2.97 per gallon of regular unleaded. Louisiana ($3.08), Arkansas ($3.10), and Tennessee ($3.11) join Alabama in the lowest five. The highest as of Friday morning are Washington ($4.97), California ($4.85), Hawaii ($4.72), Oregon ($4.62) and Alaska ($4.31). Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
