Home Page Front Page E-Mail October 17, 2000

Pound by Pound and Category by Category,
Mobile County Led Alabama Counties in Toxic Emissions in 1998

Michael Ludder of the Legal Environmental Assistance Foundation (LEAF) said he used the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) data that were released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last spring, and he has the 1998 data broken down to the county level. He then sent the results to environmentalist groups as well as the media to alert them to the state of the environment in Alabama. LEAF is based in Tallahassee, FL.

According to Ludder, in 1998 Alabama ranked 12th in the nation in total toxic releases, and first among the southeastern states of Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi. "Alabama is considered a rural state," said Ludder in a telephone interview last week. "This is certainly a cause for concern." Mobile County ranked 32nd among counties in the U.S. in total toxic releases, Ludder said.

In Mobile County, the total amount of toxic releases has been declining in the past decade, from 60.6 million pounds in 1989 to 27.3 million pounds in 1998. (See the chart) The 1998 data represented an increase from the previous year, because beginning in 1998, utilities such as Alabama Power Company, which previously were exempted from reporting TRI, were required to follow the federal environmental legislation. When the 8.58 million pounds of toxic releases from the Barry Plant of Alabama Power Company were subtracted from the 1998 data, then a total of 18.8 million pounds of toxic substances were released, which was lower than the 1997 toxic releases of 23.5 million pounds.

Casi Callaway, executive director of Mobile Bay Watch, Inc., an environmentalist group, told The Harbinger in a telephone interview last week that "while the numbers are declining slightly, it is still a concern to see smoke-stack industries being recruited that add to toxic emissions." Mobile Bay Watch, Inc. is calling for a moratorium to adding polluting industries until a countywide air quality study has been completed.

"The air quality study is going to happen soon," Callaway said. "A request for proposal for the entire project will be announced within the week, and a vendor chosen by December 1. We expect air monitoring will begin on March 1, 2001."

Accordis Cellulosic Fibers, formerly Courtauld Fibers, lead Mobile County in toxic releases, as it did in years past, when the community-right-to-know portion of federal environmental legislation became effective in 1989. In 1998, 10.6 million pounds of carbon disulfide, a neuro toxin, was released by Accordis. Second on the list of top toxic releases in 1998 is Alabama Power Company, which released 5.6 million pounds into the air, 20,000 pounds into the surface water, and 2.9 million pounds into the land of Mobile County.

In 1998 in Mobile County, a total of 21.2 million pounds of toxic substances were released in the air, 724,000 pounds in surface water, and 3.5 million pounds on land, with an additional 1.96 million pounds of toxic releases transferred to sites outside of Mobile County.

TOP TEN COUNTIES IN ALABAMA
RANKED BY TOTAL TOXIC RELEASES, 1998

Prepared by LEAF based on US EPA TRI Data

TOP TEN FACILITIES, MOBILE COUNTY
RANKED BY TOTAL TOXIC RELEASES, 1998

Prepared by LEAF based on US EPA TRI Data

TOP 13 TOXIC RELEASES IN MOBILE COUNTY - AIR, 1998

TOP 15 TOXIC RELEASES IN MOBILE COUNTY - SURFACE WATER, 1998

Compiled by The Harbinger based on data provided by LEAF from US EPA TRI Data, 1998.

TOP 10 TOXIC RELEASES IN MOBILE COUNTY- SURFACE LAND, 1998