Our political leaders won't help save this river for future generations as we have pointed out, so it is up to the grassroots efforts of concerned citizens to be the guardians for Alabama's environment and natural resources. We are honored to assist them in their efforts for the Cahaba River.
Smithsonian Magazine August 2009 "The Cahaba: A River of Riches"
Cahaba River and Northern Beltline
Save Our Unique River, Communities and Environment (SOURCE) is a grassroots group of citizens who have serious concerns about adverse impacts of the Northern Beltline on our natural environment; especially the Cahaba River; and our neighborhoods and communities.
SOURCE was initiated by Clay and Trussville citizens, but, has grown to include citizens of other communities and has broad based support throughout Jefferson and surrounding counties, primarily because of a concern for the Cahaba.
The Fight Against the Northern Beltline from UA, Telecommunication and Film
The route of the Northern Beltline has received much valid oppostion from citizens across the state. Yet elected officials continually choose to ignore these concerns in favor of pressure from big business. Drinking water sources should not be sacrificed to fill the coffers of a wealthy few (large corporate landowners). This article presents the facts. The US EPA did not recommend the route and no one should have to give up their private property for something that is not a priority and was not recommended. Jefferson County and local city governments do not have the funds to develop the secondary infrastructure necessary (i.e. sewers, roads, water). This project is a misuse of taxpayer dollars across the country.
ReplyDeleteIn some parts of the American West, I believe that trashing the headwaters of a drinking water source is a hanging offense, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteSeriously, this is insane.
Here's how far we have fallen as a country on matters of pollution and thanks to the poisonous influence of big polluters in our political and legal systems:
ReplyDeleteOver a century ago, a regional polluter that became known as Tennessee Copper Company was so heavily poisoning North Georgia that the state had threatened to send the National Guard into Tennessee to shut down the polluter. The matter was pursued before the US Supreme Court, as it's first air pollution lawsuit, starting in 1907.
With a ruling in 1915, Georgia won.
The majority opinion was written by Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes:
"It is a fair and reasonable demand on the part of a sovereign that the air over its territory should not be polluted on a great scale by sulphurous acid gas, that the forests on its mountains should not be further destroyed or threatened by the act of persons beyond its control, that the crops and orchards on its hills should not be endangered." -- Georgia v. Tennessee Copper Co. and Ducktown Sulphur, Copper & Iron Co, 206 U.S. 230 (1907)
How far our standards have fallen in the times since, both for our air quality, and in the quality of our Chief Justice's rulings. Industry trivializes the matter of safe air.
And water for that matter.
MAX
Can we spell "waste" in every sense? Natural resources, farm land, and tax dollars. And this qualified for Appalachian Highway Development funding. Geez.
ReplyDeleteThere was a report a year or so ago on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer about the Birmigham Northern Beltline. If you didn't catch it, you might want to watch it online. It was a real eyeopener. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/blueprintamerica/reports/zombie-highways/overview/782/
ReplyDeleteFor one thing, it was reported that the Appalachian Regional Commission did not approve this road project. Somehow Alabama Senator Richard Shelby got it through without going through the correct process. Another thing - Alabama will get much more than its share of Appalachian funds if this highway is built.
Here are some comments from the one of the PBS reports: (Wiedmeyer apparently works with some group that is trying to get this highway built.)
Wiedmeyer implies that the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) “designated” the Northern Beltline project –- in other words, that bureaucrats or experts in Washington vetted the idea of building a 52-mile loop of highway through the countryside north of Birmingham and added it to the Appalachian Development Highway System (ADHS). That’s false. ARC experts didn’t evaluate the need for the road, according to spokesman Louis Segesvary. “It was added to the system by legislative fiat,” he said –- that is to say, when Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) added the designation to a 2004 appropriations bill, as we report in our story.
When Wiedmeyer refers to “a formula”, he’s talking about how the ARC divvies up its budget –- how much each state eligible for subsidies receives.And the Northern Beltline’s $3.327 billion budget threatens to overwhelm that formula, according to a Capitol Hill staffer with detailed knowledge of the dispute who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to comment publicly. Alabama’s share of ADHS funds prior to the authorization of the Beltline was six percent, according to the Hill staffer; with the Beltline added to the list of ADHS projects, Alabama will get 34 percent of that money. In other words, of the 13 states that are eligible for ADHS funds, one of them –- Alabama –- will eat up more than a third of the program’s available money. And again, most of that money is provided by taxpayers who live outside of the Appalachian region.
If it’s built, the Northern Beltline “will suck a lot of air out of the ADHS,” the Hill staffer said. “It’ll eat up project funds and keep other states from completing their own projects.”
That may be why House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN) proposed capping the Northern Beltline’s federal funding at $500 million in his draft of the Transportation Reauthorization (PDF; see page 168). The Hill staffer said that would force Alabama officials to seek the remainder of the funding through regular Federal Highway Administration channels, which would bring more federal oversight to the project. “The idea is to put Corridor X-1 [the Northern Beltline] back into the regular order” of federal highway programs, the staffer said.
Andi--
ReplyDeleteYou make some great points and we did cover the PBS Blueprint For America "Zombie Highways" in a few previous postings, the most recent:
http://alabamacorruption.blogspot.com/2010/09/obama-hands-republican-machine-big-bowl.html
We find it interesting that BARD was going to do the interview, but at the last minute they decided to trot out Wiedmeyer.
He did not do well as evidenced by PBS carving up what he was claiming, which is probably why he was put up to do the interview--typical for BARD, let someone else fall on the sword.
MAX