ADEM REFORM WORKSHOP SUMMARY: Mobile Bay Watch Executive Director, Casi Çallaway, introduced workshop attendees to reform priorities for the Alabama Department of Environmental Management recommended by the ADEM Reform Coalition.  Representatives of over 25 diverse grassroots and statewide citizens' groups who make up the ARC joined forces to develop the reform proposals.

ARC asks the Alabama Department of Environmental Management to change its mission from management to protection of the environment and calls for geographic representation on the Environmental Management Commission.  A paraphrased summary of ARC's priority reform proposals follow.

1.  Review and improve enforcement procedures. Ensure timely compliance of permit holders with permit requirements.  Keep Alabama records updated in the EPA database.  Provide a state database of permit holders that is accessible to the public.  Improve effectiveness of field inspections and enforcement programs. Implement recommendations of the Environmental Management Commission's Enforcement and Administrative Penalties Stakeholder Committee. 

2.  Change the culture of the Department.  Focus the Department toward a public service mindset that understands that its clients are all of the citizens of the state and not just the regulated community.  Create a can-do agency willing to seek creative solutions and new partnerships.   Review and evaluate existing Memorandums of Understanding and Memorandums of Agreement.

3.  Increase public access of the Department to citizens and the environmental community.  Meet regularly with the environmental community.  Get the workforce out of Montgomery and into the field.  Hold regular town hall meetings to bring the Department more in touch with the citizens it serves. Improve public access to agency documents.

4.   Create a Division of Environmental Justice and Health. Appoint a qualified Environmental Justice Ombudsman who has the support of the Environmental Justice community. Work with environmental groups and the Environmental Management Commission to develop and lobby for environmental justice legislation to protect citizen health and the environment.  Develop a plan to increase diversity within the agency.

5.   Improve the fiscal health of the Department. Develop a plan to increase and diversify funding sources.  Conduct an annual financial audit. Implement greater transparency. Lobby for legislation financially beneficial to the agency and its programs.

For more information: See the ARC Coalition’s Blueprint for Reform at http://www.alabamarivers.org/news.htm.  See Alabama Department of Environmental Management at http://www.adem.state.al.us.