Associated Press
December 6, 2002

ADEM plan limits input

By Dave Bryan
The Associated Press

The state environmental agency has proposed a rule change on citizen input at meetings, drawing criticism from an environmentalist who said the rule would not allow enough public access into how the agency is run.

A subcommittee of the Environmental Management Commission, which runs the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, had been asked to revamp its proposed rule on how the public can address commissioners at their meetings.

The commission could vote on the rewritten rule -- which requires residents who want to address the board to write the commission within 14 days of a meeting and then receive approval from the commission chair or a designee -- at a Dec. 17 meeting.

Commissioners said the rule was needed to ensure that they are not biased by public opinion in some cases, while accommodating environmentalists that have long said the agency is pro-industry.

The commissioners regularly rule on issues for which the public by law cannot have input, such as cases in the court system and administrative issues that develop out of the agency's various departments.

"We don't want people coming up here talking about cases before the courts or cases that may be appealed," said Commissioner Sam Wainright, who also sits on the rulemaking subcommittee.