ADEM’s Response to ARA Petition
The Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) was required to file a response to the Alabama Rivers Alliance’s petition to the US Environmental Protection Agency to remove the state’s authority over its water pollution permitting program and they did so in April of 2010.
Both the Alabama Rivers Alliance and David Ludder have repeatedly attempted to schedule a meeting with ADEM in order to discuss the petition and the petitioners’ concerns. So far, these advances have been met with negative responses. Apparently the department has adopted a confrontational approach to the petition, choosing to “litigate” the issue through Environmental Protection Agency rather than try to find common ground with the petitioners.