State environmental department at odds with Legislature on budget future
Amid the ongoing budget fiasco has strained almost every relationship in Montgomery, you can add another pair of fiscal foes to the list: the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) and the state Legislature, particularly the House. The state governmental institutions are at odds over agency funding and the source and amount of fees collected by ADEM being transferred to the state’s general revenue fund to cover an expanding budget shortfall. As funding from the state general fund has bottomed out to zero in recent years – or even negative levels, like it’s expected to next year – at the request of Lance R. LeFleur the Director of ADEM, it has begun to implement a program that would cut their reliance on the state and be completely reliant upon funding from permitting fees granted to agricultural firms and other industry players who must pass muster with ADEM in order to do business with the state. In other words, the regulators are relying on the regulated for their existence. While ADEM also receives funding from federal EPA grants and fees levied on Alabamians for certain purchases to mitigate environmental damage, permits held by industrial interests provide by far the bulk of the agency’s budget. The Alabama Environmental Management Commission (EMC) must approve fee increases prior to them changing. Alabama Environmental Management Commissioner Terry Richardson sees an inherent conflict there. “We’re being asked to shift the burden of the people to the permit holders, again,” Richardson said earlier this month. “I see an agency whose primary function is to manage the environment for the people of this state, more and more, being funded by the people we’re managing or protecting this environment from. “I don’t see that as a good situation to get into. It almost seems that it makes us more beholden to these industries and these permit holders,” Richardson continued. While the Legislature by and large does not see that state of affairs as compromising the agency, ADEM faces a threat in the wake of the cuts nonetheless. The agency will almost certainly seek permission to raise even more revenue from permit holders when the EMC meets in December, a move that will likely prove unpopular aside from the fact that it may exacerbate ADEM’s dependency on private sector sources. ADEM permitting fees were raised by 19 percent in 2011, just raised by 50 percent back in 2013. Some fear that may damage their already-weakened leverage when it comes to dealing with polluters, easement holders and other actors the state agency regulates. The state’s current budget for FY 2016 – banged out over two contentious Special Sessions in Montgomery which saw Gov. Robert Bentley veto an early version of the plan, and lawmakers nearly overriding the veto right back – contains just $280,000 in appropriations for ADEM. Adding insult to injury, says agency administrators, is a requirement the department pay back into the state’s general fund some $1.2 million the department collected for scrap tire and solid waste disposal. The situation is stoking fears in Montgomery that the EPA will revoke Alabama’s state water permitting authority, a move Director LeFleur says would be catastrophic. “EPA taking over the program would have a devastating impact on both attracting new industry and retaining existing industry,” LeFleur said. LeFleur and Richardson have yet to indicate publicly that such move – called for by environmental activists in years past, who see the state incapable of managing its own land and water – is imminent anytime soon, it is raising what Alabama Environmental Management Vice-Commissioner W. Scott Phillips called “hard questions” about the viability of the agency going forward. Testimony by Terry Richardson earlier this month at a department meeting summed up the budgetary situation best. “Are we a critical state agency? Or aren’t we?” Richardson intoned twice during ADEM’s most recent confab. “It doesn’t seem like our colleagues in the Legislature believe that we are.”
Gov, Robert Bentley, his appointees see great success in Senate confirmations: See full list
While a lot didn’t go according to plan this session, Gov. Robert Bentley and his appointees have a lot to celebrate. Based on the list below Bentley and his appointments office had a very successful Legislative Session. Congratulations to everyone who saw their appointment confirmed. Below you will find a full list of 2015 Confirmations: CONFIRMED APPOINTMENTS Landscape Architect Board of Examiners Lea Ann Macknally Family Trust Board of Trustees Judy Shepura David Salter Lynn Campisi Athens State University Board of Trustees Senator Arthur Orr Macke Mauldin Ronnie Chronister State Board of Human Resources Dr. Phil B. Hammonds Alabama Firefighters’ Personnel Standards and Education Commission Gary Lenn Sparks Alabama Environmental Management Commission Houston Lanier Brown, II Scott Phillips Dr. Craig Elliott Martin Credit Union Administrator Sarah Moore Credit Union Administrators Board Ralph Altice Linda Cencula Greta Webb-Williams Harold Gregory McClellan Joseph R. Hand Charles Faulkner Port Authority Board of Directors Joseph S. McCarty Alvin Hope Algernon Stanley State Board of Education Al Thompson Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind BOT Frances E. Taylor Jackie L. Smith Ronald Lee Garrett Gerri W. Robinson Hope Curry Richard M. “Mitch” Kemmer, Jr. Board of Appeals for the Department of Labor Ray VanSchoubroek Public Accountancy Board Connie Sheppard-Harris Crime Victims Compensation Commission Billy Sharp Miriam Shehane Alabama Real Estate Appraisers Board Christopher Alan Baker Edmond Eslava Angela Frost Dennis Wayne Key Penni McClammy Department of Rehabilitation Services Jimmie Varnado Eddie C. Williams Court of the Judiciary Lucinda Samford Cannon Gwaltney L. McCollum Daryl Perkins Auburn University Board of Trustees David Gainer Lanier Alabama Commission on Higher Education Stan Pylant Gulf States Marine Fisheries Council Chris Nelson Securities Commission James L. Hart Forestry Commission Steve May Banking Board Larry K. Deason Ann Scott Yelverton Alabama Electronic Security Board John David Orr Sheriff Derrick Cunningham Alabama Educational Television Commission J. Holland Tijuanna Adatunji Real Estate Commission Authority Danny Sharp Drycleaning Environmental Response Trust Fund Advisory Board Jason Windham University of South Alabama Board of Trustees Sandy Stimpson Ken O. Simon Mike Windom Sheriff Bryant Mixon Captain Ron Jenkins (USN, Ret.) Chandra Brown Stewart University of North Alabama Board of Trustees William Trapp Marcus Maples Alabama Surface Mining Commission Jack F. Bergsieker Kenneth Ray Russell Keith Plott Alabama Community College Systems Board of Trustees Al Thompson, III Frank Caldwell Crystal Brown Milton A. Davis, P.E. Ron Fantroy Chuck Smith Blake McAnally, PE/PLS Susan Blythe Foy Alabama Trust Fund Board Edgar Pruitt Agriculture & Industries Board Emory Mosely, Jr. J.B. Turner, Jr. John Walker Phillip Hunter Fred Cespedes Joey Harris Reafield Vester Tuscaloosa County Civil Service Board Brock Jones Rev. Jefferey Cammon Alabama State University Board of Trustees Angela D. McKenzie Pamela J. Ware Ralph D. Ruggs Joe Whitt Darrell Hudson Textbook Committee: Science Claudia Thomas Mitchell David Vess Mary Hooks Ginger Montgomery Katherine Emmerson Jo Chambers Jacksonville State University Board of Trustees Tony Ingram Board of Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Contractors Heshmat Aglan Statewide 911 Board Wayne Hutchens Robert Smith Evelyn Causey Betty Sanders FAVORABLE COMMITTEE REPORT WITH NO FURTHER ACTION (APPOINTEES CONTINUE TO SERVE) University of Montevallo Board of Trustees Gary Ellis Board of Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Contractors Barrett S. Richard CARRIED OVER IN COMMITTEE (APPOINTEE CONTINUES TO SERVE) Alabama State University Board of Trustees Kimberly Kelley Rucker REJECTED BY SENATE Alabama State University Board of Trustees Lonnie A. Washington
