Alabama

ALABAMA

Alabama has a population of 4.9 million and the state spreads across more than 50 thousand square miles, making it the 30th largest state by area. Alabama is known for its iron and steel natural resources, and, less commonly, for being the home of the largest snail population in the US. Of all the snails in the country 43% can be found in Alabama!

Warmer waters and winters are contributing to a rise of invasive species and pests in Alabama threatening the state’s ecosystems and consequently its economy — agriculture and forestry account for 22% of the workforce — and the health of its citizens. Extreme heat, insect-carried diseases, and air and water pollution disproportionately affect the elderly, as well as people living in poverty and folks of color. For Alabama, ranking 42nd in the country for healthcare, climate-related health risks are particularly concerning.

As a coastal state, Alabama is also impacted by sea level rise directly resulting from climate change. Experts project that by mid-century, floods are likely to exceed six feet beyond the high tide line, exposing $8 billion worth of property value and the homes of more than 13,500 people. In a ten-foot increase scenario, the number of people vulnerable to displacement will more than double. More frequent, more severe rainstorms compound these issues.

Alabama ranks among the top 15 states in energy use per capita, primarily due to the industrial sector, but its production of energy still exceeds its consumption. The state ranks 6th in net energy production and 5th in nuclear power production. While Alabama has sizeable deposits of coal, the proportion of coal contributing to the state’s net generation has been halved to 19% since 2009. Nuclear contributes 31%; gas 40%; coal 19%. Renewable resources are growing in Alabama, with 8% of in-state electricity coming from hydroelectricity and 2% from biomass, thanks to the state’s vast forests.

Alabama lacks a comprehensive climate change plan, and state officials have historically been resistant to confronting the issue. From 2009 to 2011, calls for action within a Democratically-controlled legislature devolved into prohibitions on the EPA’s regulation of greenhouse gases led by the then Republican majority. Despite bureaucratic lethargy, however, Alabama’s residents are calling for action. 63% of Alabaman’s believe climate change is happening, 70% support regulation of CO2, and almost 80% support funding renewable energy research.

Hurricane Sally makes landfall near Gulf Shores, Alabama

CURRENT NEWS

In the name of science: How Alabama schools discredit evolution, climate change

By John Archibald 11/21/23
The very first sentence in Alabama schools Superintendent Eric G. Mackey’s message to teachers about the state’s new proposed science standards begins with an undeniable truth:
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Alabama governor issues statewide no-burn order because of drought conditions

11/09/23
Persistent drought conditions in Alabama prompted Gov. Kay Ivey on Wednesday to issue a statewide ban on any outdoor burning. Ivey’s order prohibits all outdoor burning across the state because of dry conditions that have…
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An Alabama Coal Plant Once Again Nabs the Dubious Title of the Nation’s Worst Greenhouse Gas Polluter

By Lee Hedgepeth 10/29/23
In West Jefferson, everything happens in the shadow of Alabama Power. Fewer than 500 people live in the town of under one square mile, located just a 20-minute drive northwest of Birmingham. There’s little in…
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Alabama’s John Christy may be the country’s best known and most criticized climate change skeptic

By Richard Banks 09/01/23
Alabama’s State Climatologist John Christy is considered an outsider, if not a pariah, among most climate researchers. His critics say his work has been plagued by errors and many of his conclusions dismissed. Yet he…
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The connection is growing between climate change and big storms

By Richard Banks 08/31/23
On January 12, 2023, Selma took a direct hit from a tornado. Aaron Roper was at work that morning. “It went from being just a nice, warm day,” he said. “Then all of a sudden,…
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From drought to heavy rain, climate change means more of both

By Richard Banks 08/30/23
Yoruba Butler remembers the night when her cousin Myles Butler got caught in a flash flood in Hoover. It was October 6, 2021. It had been raining for hours.
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Alabama has escaped the worst of climate change. Is our luck about to run out?

By Richard Banks 08/28/23
The smell of peaches stretched to the parking lot at Mountain View Farms in Jemison. Early summer is prime season for Alabama’s signature stone fruit, and the breezeway that serves as the farmstand is packed…
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Discover the Hottest Temperature Ever Recorded in Alabama

By Kyle Glatz 08/15/23
Alabama is a state in the Deep South, a region that is well-known for its hot, humid summer temperatures. Although the long, muggy days can make people miserable, the area is not known to get…
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A Tree Grows in Birmingham

By Lee Hedgepeth 08/09/23
Jackson, 65, said if there’s been a hard rain, water covers her entire street, leaving her no choice but to call her supervisor at Drummond Coal and tell him she can’t make it in.
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Plagued by Floods and Kept in the Dark, a Black Alabama Community Turns to a Hometown Hero for Help

By Kristoffer Tigue 07/28/23
Robert Bullard is on a mission to bring environmental justice to his hometown of Elba, Alabama. The distinguished professor at Texas Southern University has made a name for himself as a pioneer of the environmental…
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Coastal Alabama to receive $43M in climate change resiliency grants

By Dennis Pillion 04/25/23
Alabama is set to receive $43 million in federal grants to make the state’s coastline more resilient to sea level rise caused by climate change.
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How Mississippi’s tornadoes unfolded overnight and why they were so deadly

By Jason Samenow 03/25/23
At least 23 people are dead in Mississippi following a terrifying Friday night in which large, destructive tornadoes tore across the state. The violent twisters formed amid a severe weather outbreak that unleashed damage from…
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PLANS TO ACCELERATE RENEWABLES

Companies investing in solar energy production to power Alabama forward

09/09/23
Ingka Investments is in the early stages of establishing three to five 500-acre solar farms in Walker County with a final investment decision expected in 2025. Orsted has the state's largest solar farm in Colbert…

West Alabama to welcome largest wood pellet facility in world, construction underway

08/04/23
A Maryland-based renewable energy company is bringing hundreds of new jobs to West Alabama. Enviva is the largest producer of sustainably sourced wood pellets in the world, and construction is underway for the company’s latest…

NEW: 279-megawatt solar project coming to Lawrence County

07/26/23
All the sunshine that we’ve been getting in North Alabama is about to be put to work. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) announced today that the Lawrence County Solar Project is getting a lot of…

First Solar secures order for Alabama project

07/23/23
Public power supplier The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has secured 279MW (dc) of thin film solar panels from First Solar for a solar project in Alabama.

Walker County Commission approves incentives for half-billion dollar solar farm project

07/19/23
The Walker County Commission recently approved an incentive package for Ingka Investments, a company looking to build three to five solar farms in the southern part of the county. The incentive package for what's known…

Vertex begins sales of renewable diesel from Alabama renewables plant

07/11/23
Vertex Energy Inc. has started commercial sales of renewable diesel from the recently completed first phase of its renewable diesel conversion project at subsidiary Vertex Refining Alabama LLC’s 75,000-b/d refining and petrochemical complex in Mobile,…

‘This will destroy our town.’ Residents fight Alabama Power on new dams, reservoirs

07/02/23
People in St. Clair County packed a meeting on Monday to oppose the plan to build a lake as a so-called power storage facility atop Chandler Mountain, a plan they say could drive people from…

Alabama Starts Its First Renewable Biodiesel Production

05/17/23
Alabama has taken steps toward building the state’s first renewable diesel production facility in Mobile using soybean oil from state farmers to make low-carbon fuel.

Collaborating for Clean Energy at Toyota’s North Alabama Engine Plant

04/25/23
More than 70 percent of Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Alabama's power will soon be generated by the sun. Today, Huntsville Utilities, Toyota Alabama and Toyota Tsusho America, Inc. (TAI) announced a power purchase agreement (PPA) to…

Collaborating for Clean Energy at Toyota’s North Alabama Engine Plant

04/05/23
More than 70 percent of Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Alabama's power will soon be generated by the sun. Today, Huntsville Utilities, Toyota Alabama and Toyota Tsusho America, Inc. (TAI) announced a power purchase agreement (PPA) to…

Vertex Energy says Alabama renewable diesel unit poised to start production

04/04/23
Vertex Energy (NASDAQ:VTNR) -12.5% in Tuesday's trading after saying it had completed mechanical work of its renewable diesel unit at its Mobile, Alabama, refinery, and it plans to begin production of initial volumes of renewable…

Analysis finds Renewables cheaper than all Southeast coal plants

By Maggie Shober 03/02/23
Energy Innovation has released updated analysis comparing the cost of continuing to operate coal plants to replacing them with solar, wind, or batteries. The results are clear: continued reliance on coal is expensive, and each…

Nucor (NUE) to Build New Tower Production Plant in Alabama

03/02/23
Nucor Corporation NUE recently announced that its Towers & Structures business will construct a new state-of-the-art transmission tower production plant — the first of two new tower production plants the company plans to build. It…

Deep Red Alabama Dives Headlong Into Green Energy

03/21/22
Renewable energy can make strange bedfellows along the political divide, and the latest example is Alabama. The state without an official nickname has been wandering in the doldrums of the green energy revolution while others…

How can Alabama create jobs and fight inflation? By supporting solar power. Find out more.

03/03/22
“I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that.” ~Thomas Edison confided…

Lightsource bp secures funds for 100-MW Alabama solar project

12/21/21
Lightsource bp, the UK solar company half owned by BP Plc (LON:BP), on Monday said it has closed a financing package of USD 100 million for a 130-MW direct current (DC)/100-MW alternating current (AC) solar…

Alabama Power gets thumbs up for 80-MW solar project

12/08/21
Alabama Power, a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE:SO), said yesterday it has obtained approval for an 80-MW solar project that will help Mercedes-Benz Cars meet its sustainability goals.

Alabama Coal Plant Tops List of Emitters

By Darrell Proctor 04/30/21
A report from a Colorado-based group that provides analysis and market reports to the energy industry says an Alabama power plant has the highest emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) of any coal-fired facility in the…

KEY RESOURCES

Alabama State Profile and Energy Estimates

09/23/21
Alabama has a wide variety of energy resources, with deposits of coal, as well as some crude oil and natural gas reserves. Located along the Gulf of Mexico, southern Alabama consists of a coastal plain…

Energy State Bill Tracking Database

09/10/21
The searchable Energy Storage Legislation Database displays information in interactive maps and charts, tracking state activity from 2017 to the present.

The First National Flood Risk Assessment

10/06/20
The First Street Foundation Flood Model represents the culmination of decades of research and development made possible by building upon existing knowledge and frameworks regularly referenced in the identification of flood risk.

The Impacts of Climate Change and the Trump Administration’s Anti-Environmental Agenda in Alabama

09/19/20
Between 2017 and 2019, Alabama experienced nine severe storms, three tropical cyclones, one flood, and one freeze. The damages of each event led to losses of at least $1 billion.

Alabama and the surging sea

08/13/20
A vulnerability assessment with projections for sea level rise and coastal flood risk.

State-by-State: Alabama

07/31/20
Alabama is vulnerable to sea level rise, flooding, coastal storms and increasing temperatures – all which threaten the state’s agriculture and energy industries as well as human health

Alabama Solar

05/06/20
Data Current Through: Q4 2019

Going Solar in Alabama

05/06/20
Every day, the sun channels energy onto your roof. Solar panels let you capture some of that energy and use it to power your home, business, or electric car while lowering your electricity bill. By…

What you can do to protect Alabama’s natural health and beauty

05/06/20
From our previous two stories in this series, we looked at how Alabama’s changing climate is giving us more extreme weather and pests. In this, our final installment, we’ll share an important way you can…

Wind Energy in Alabama

05/06/20
Find wind data and information in Alabama, including maps, capacity, ordinances, and more in these areas:

Utility-scale solar projects brighten Alabama’s tech recruitment efforts

05/06/20
In the last three months alone, the Tennessee Valley Authority has announced plans for large solar installations in North Alabama tied to data centers being constructed by Google in Jackson County and Facebook in Huntsville.

Renewable energy options will boost Alabama competitiveness

05/06/20
This year, TVA entered into a 20-year agreement to purchase 80 megawatts of solar power from NextEra’s solar facility near Florence, and just last month Google and TVA reached a deal to develop a data…

Untax the Sun — Solar For ALL of Alabama

05/06/20
Alabama Power places an unfair tax on customers that use solar power. Solar power should be available to ALL of Alabama – free from unfair taxation!

About Energy Alabama

05/06/20
Energy Alabama is accelerating Alabama’s transition to sustainable energy. We are a nonprofit membership-based organization that has advocated for clean energy in Alabama since 2014. Our work is based on three pillars: education, advocacy, and…

Alabama and Walmart in Solar Farm Deal

05/06/20
Community and business leaders, as well as representatives from Walmart, Alabama Power and Clenera, gathered at the new 72-megawatt AL Solar A project in east Alabama on Thursday, March 15, to celebrate its successful launch…

Southern Research, energy companies, researchers join to open Energy Storage Research Center

05/06/20
Industry leaders joined Southern Research officials to formally open the Energy Storage Research Center (ESRC), a facility on Southern Research’s engineering campus where collaborative efforts will aim to accelerate the development and deployment of next-generation…

Alternative Fuels and Renewable Energy

05/06/20
This program encourages and promotes the use of alternative transportation fuels as a way to increase the overall efficiency of the transportation system, improve air quality and promote energy independence.

Energy policy in Alabama

05/06/20
Energy policy involves governmental actions affecting the production, distribution, and consumption of energy in a state. Energy policies are enacted and enforced at the local, state, and federal levels and may change over time.

MORE NEWS

Alabama landfill fire raises questions about how landfills are regulated

By Mary Scott Hodgin   03/02/23  
You know that smell when you're passing by and somebody is burning trash in their backyard? I can remember the first time I ever smelled it. It's memorable. And apparently, it happens on a giant…
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Biden-Harris Administration Announces $25,945,000 for Clean Water Infrastructure Upgrades Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in Alabama

02/26/23  
Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced over $25,945,000 to Alabama from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure through this year’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF). The funding will support Alabama communities in upgrading essential…
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Big profits, big bills: Alabamians pay some of the nation’s highest electricity costs

By Patrick Wilson   02/07/23  
Joshua Remley and his wife Elizabeth were shocked last year when their monthly power bill topped $700, well above the $170 to $250 or so they paid when they moved into their house four years…
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GAO: Severe weather has repeatedly interrupted TVA power production across Alabama, other states

By Paul Gattis   02/02/23  
Severe weather events in the past have restricted TVA’s ability to provide electricity and more proactive steps are needed to avoid future outages, a government report said.
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How bad will 2023 tornado season be? Climate change may have fueled Alabama storms, experts say

By The Associated Press   01/13/23  
A La Nina weather pattern, warm moist air coming from an unusually toasty Gulf of Mexico, likely juiced by climate change, and a decades long eastward shift of tornadoes came together to create the unusually…
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Justice Dept. Tries to Shift Environmental Justice Efforts From Symbolic to Substantive

By Glenn Thrush and Lisa Friedman   05/12/22  
The Biden administration’s choice of Lowndes as the site of its first big environmental justice inquiry was based on the magnitude of the county’s problems. But it also sent a message. The county was a…
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Damaging storms, tornadoes sweep across Deep South

By Matthew Cappucci and Jason Samenow   03/31/22  
A substantial severe weather outbreak swept across the Deep South Wednesday and Wednesday night as intense thunderstorms barreled across the region. Numerous tornadoes touched down amid scores of reports of wind damage.
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Mysterious methane clouds reported over Alabama coal mines

By Dennis Pillion   03/30/22  
European satellites have detected significant plumes of methane gas hovering over Alabama’s most productive coal region, leaving state environmental authorities and mining industry representatives stumped as to how so much gas is getting into the…
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3 Gulf Coast states get $1.9B in HUD disaster grants

03/23/22  
Three Gulf Coast states are getting $1.9 billion in federal grants to help recover from hurricanes and floods over the past two years and become more resilient to climate change, the U.S. Department of Housing…
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Deep Red Alabama Dives Headlong Into Green Energy

By Tina Casey   03/21/22  
Renewable energy can make strange bedfellows along the political divide, and the latest example is Alabama. The state without an official nickname has been wandering in the doldrums of the green energy revolution while others…
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Mercedes opens a battery plant in Alabama, part of a Southern wave.

By Jack Ewing   03/16/22  
The auto industry’s shift to battery power is expected to lead to job losses because it takes fewer workers to build an electric vehicle than it does to build a car with a gasoline engine.…
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New report focuses on how climate change affects Gulf of Mexico

By Pat Duggins   03/09/22  
A United Nations report paints a grim picture for the future of the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricanes that impacted the Mobile area are considered one sign. The United Nations’ report focuses on global warming and…
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Research shows rising greenhouse gases have little influence on Alabama’s weather

By Ray Garner   02/11/22  
Alabama State Climatologist Dr. John Christy has released a report that shows that increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have had essentially no impact on the weather and climate in the state of Alabama.
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NOAA report: Climate change to bring more extreme rainfall to Alabama

By Siri Hedreen   02/06/22  
A recent report on the impacts of climate change state by state suggests that Thursday's weather could become commonplace.
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New records suggest Alabama Power paid millions to shadowy consulting groups

By Daniel Tait   01/13/22  
Documents recently posted online suggest that Alabama Power engaged in a multi-million dollar effort to monitor environmental groups, exert pressure on regulators, and conduct other political activities.
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Quietly, Alabama scientists are preparing for a changing climate

By Pat Byington   12/17/21  
In Alabama, we know the drill. Whenever stormy tornadic weather happens, which these days is far too often, we pull out the weather radio or tune in to our favorite weather station. We remind our…
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Alabama Power to buy Calhoun plant despite rising gas prices

By David Pomerantz   11/22/21  
Alabama Power has petitioned the Alabama Public Service Commission to buy a 743 MW gas-fired power plant in Calhoun County, Alabama, despite its parent company’s net-zero emissions target and sharply rising gas prices that risk…
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How climate change has affected each state

By Stephanie Parker   10/22/21  
The latest United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report is yet another reminder of the dire effects of climate change. While climate projections often look to the future when discussing the worst impacts…
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Alabama flash flooding kills 4 and spurs rescues from homes and cars

By Jason Hanna and Gregory Lemos   10/07/21  
Heavy rain sparked deadly flash flooding in parts of Alabama from Wednesday into Thursday, killing four people -- including a 4-year-old girl -- as crews rushed to rescue people from cars and homes, officials said.
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Climate change tops talk during Sen. Michael Bennet’s telephone town hall Sept. 3

By Katie Roth   09/11/21  
U.S. Senator Michael Bennet held a telephone town hall event on Friday, Sept. 3 to answer questions and address concerns for Coloradoans. Though Bennet spends a lot of time in Washington D.C., he has been…
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Sally, Zeta, Ida: Recent hurricanes are driving change with Alabama utilities

By John Sharp   09/08/21  
Hurricane Ida’s 150-mph winds were a powerful oddity few storms that blow into the Gulf of Mexico can match.
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Counties most concerned about climate change in Alabama

By Stacker   09/06/21  
Nationally, 72% of Americans believe global warming is happening. But when public opinion researchers zoom in on Americans, they find that attitudes and opinions about climate change can vary drastically from county to county—even when…
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Rural Electric Co-ops in Alabama Remain Way Behind the Solar Curve

By James Bruggers   08/25/21  
When members of a small rural electric cooperative in southern Alabama were asked in a survey whether they would support a community solar project, they said yes and the co-op board went on to authorize…
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White House says Alabama will benefit from infrastructure bill

By Jonathan Grass   08/11/21  
In a show of bipartisan support, the U.S. Senate passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in a 69-30 vote Tuesday. The $1 trillion infrastructure bill, a priority for President Joe Biden, includes around $550…
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Alabama gets $27.2 million to reduce effects of climate change

By Eddie Burkhalter   08/09/21  
President Joe Biden on Thursday approved $27.2 million to Alabama to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
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Conservative Climate Caucus? Not for Alabama

By John Sharp   07/18/21  
Alabama is becoming warmer, its soils drier, annual rainfall amounts increasing and sea levels rising about once inch every year, according to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report release five years ago.
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Alabama Power receives approval for Butler County solar facility

By William Thornton   07/13/21  
Alabama Power today received approval for a large scale Butler County solar project that it says can put out enough electricity annually to power almost 15,000 homes.
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Floods Are Increasing in Supposedly Low-Risk Areas

By Thomas Frank   04/13/21  
The federal flood insurance program paid $1.2 billion in claims in 2020, breaking the $1 billion threshold for a record sixth consecutive year, according to an E&E News analysis of federal records.
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Homeowners, group seek action on Alabama Power’s solar fee

By Kim Chandler   04/11/21  
 Homeowners and an environmental group are asking federal regulators to step in over Alabama Power’s fees on home solar panels, fees they argue purposely discourages the use of solar in the sun-rich state.
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Alabama Reports $4.8B Invested into State in 2020

By Nayeli Pineda   04/09/21  
Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, Alabama’s economic development continues to grow.
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Explained: Why Joe Biden’s presidency could be critical for a 60,000-year-old underwater forest

By Dipanita Nath   01/24/21  
Among the petitions before United States President Joe Biden from environmentalists is one to save a unique forest off the coast of Alabama. Unique because the entire forest is underwater — 10 fathoms (60 feet)…
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Book Review: A Fervent Call to Protect ‘America’s Amazon’

By Lina Tran   01/22/21  
When the sun warms Tombigbee River, chubby mussels the color of caramel know it’s fishing time. The lady fisher mussel — one of Alabama’s many endangered species — unspools a tenuous line of mucus. At…
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5 trends powering Alabama’s economic recovery and growth in 2021

By Jerry Underwood   01/21/21  
The COVID-19 pandemic threw a monkey wrench in Alabama’s economy last year, interrupting a golden period of substantial growth and casting doubt on whether the momentum could be regained.
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‘One of a kind’: calls to protect Alabama’s 60,000-year-old underwater forest

By Paola Rosa-Aquino   01/20/21  
When divers jump into a particular stretch of water off the coast of Alabama, they travel back to a time before humans arrived in North America. Submerged below the waters are the remains of a…
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A Ray of Hope in a Slimy Southern Cave

By Michael Ray Taylor   01/16/21  
One day in 2019, back when crossing state lines to go caving seemed perfectly safe, I drove eight hours from Arkansas to central Tennessee and soon found myself in a muddy belly crawl. Pushing a…
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Alabama Power hydro generation benefits from 2020 rainfall

By Michael Sznajderman   01/12/21  
Lots of rain in 2020 meant lots of clean, renewable, low-cost hydropower for Alabama Power customers. Preliminary figures show the company produced significantly more hydropower in 2020 than projected, placing 2020 as the eighth-best year…
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Partners Working Together to Help Landowners Restore and Manage Longleaf Pine Forests in Mississippi and Alabama

By Enviva   01/06/21  
Around Lucedale, Mississippi, an unusual mix of partners is working together to restore one of the South’s iconic forests. The Longleaf Alliance (LLA), Wildlife Mississippi, the Mississippi Forestry Association, Enviva, and other partners are working…
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Top 10 environmental stories of 2020 in Alabama

By Dennis Pillion   12/31/20  
From coal ash and solar panels to whales and snakes, Alabama saw plenty of environmental stories in 2020 that had nothing to do with COVID-19. Well, almost nothing. Here’s a rundown of the biggest non-COVID…
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The environmental justice issue no one wants to talk about

By Angely Mercado   12/29/20  
Environmental justice is having a moment. The term, which encompasses the many ways by which low-income people and communities of color suffer an unequal burden from pollution, contamination, and climate change, has seen a surge…
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As COVID Spikes Again in Alabama, Environmental Injustice Prompts a “Moral Moment”

By Ashira Morris   12/16/20  
In Tuscaloosa’s predominantly Black West End neighborhood, an oil refinery, a Michelin tire plant, and a train yard full of oil cars pollute the air with toxins. People in the area face a higher risk…
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Why the South Is Organizing Its Own Green New Deal

By Casey Williams   11/30/20  
“How do you shel­ter in place with no shel­ter?” KD Minor, a com­mu­ni­ty orga­niz­er from Lake Charles, asked dur­ing a vir­tu­al con­fer­ence in August. Minor began coor­di­nat­ing relief before Lau­ra hit, pro­vid­ing res­i­dents with gas…
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Too Many Storms, Not Enough Names

By Greg Allen   11/30/20  
The last hurricane of the season, Iota, was the latest in the year that any storm has reached Category 5 status. It slammed into Nicaragua and Honduras in mid-November, killing dozens of people. That was…
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Alabama high schoolers making state a little greener

By Dennis Pillion   11/29/20  
Even during a pandemic, a group of Alabama high schoolers from across the state are joining together to help make their state a little bit greener.
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This Fixer wrote the book on addressing poverty, wastewater, and climate change in rural America

By Chip Giller   11/25/20  
As the founder of the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice, Flowers works toward health and economic equity through the lens of climate justice. She was recently awarded a MacArthur “Genius” Grant and is…
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‘Waste’ Activist Digs Into The Sanitation Crisis Affecting The Rural Poor

By Dave Davis   11/23/20  
It was Flowers' activism that spurred scientists to conduct the hookworm study. For 20 years, she's worked with advocacy organizations, philanthropists, business leaders and elected officials to shed light on the gaps in access to…
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Farmers Are Warming Up To The Fight Against Climate Change

By Daniel Charles   11/20/20  
Farmers swarmed Capitol Hill wearing caps with the words "Don't Cap Our Future." And it worked. The legislation died, derailing the boldest plan Congress had crafted to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
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Governor announces National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Projects in Alabama

By Brandon Moseley   11/20/20  
“These projects represent a continuation of Alabama’s coastal recovery from the 2010 BP Oil Spill,” Ivey said. “They will restore some of what was damaged, while at the same time making our coastal communities more…
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Mold, Possums and Pools of Sewage: No One Should Have to Live Like This

By Catherine Coleman Flowers   11/14/20  
My story starts in Lowndes County, Ala., a place that’s been called Bloody Lowndes because of its violent, racist history. It’s part of Alabama’s Black Belt, a broad strip of rich, dark soil worked and…
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Google secures 100% solar energy for Alabama and Tennessee data centers

By Mason Adams   11/10/20  
Google’s data centers in Alabama and Tennessee will be powered by a 100 MW Tennessee solar farm built by Florida-based Origis Energy and facilitated by the Tennessee Valley Authority.
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Alabama Mussel Proposed for Endangered Species Act Protection, Protected Critical Habitat

By Tierra Curry   11/02/20  
In response to a petition and 2016 lawsuit from the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed today to protect the Canoe Creek clubshell under the Endangered Species Act, with 36…
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