MONTGOMERY
A judge halted new environmental rules Wednesday, saying there was no emergency that would require a state agency to grant pollution permits to industry without public input.
The decision was a victory for environmentalists who said the new rules left the public out of the decision-making process when the agency issues pollution permits to sewage and mining companies.
Circuit Judge Gene Reese issued the preliminary order prohibiting the Alabama Department of Environmental Management from granting pollution permits until the case goes to trial.
"The court is not persuaded that this is a case of immediate danger to the public health, safety or welfare," Reese wrote in the order.
The rules were enacted by the agency last week so it could continue licensing new companies despite an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that invalidated ADEM's old procedures, which were put in place without public comment.
Reese's decision prevents the environmental rulemakers from implementing the new rules. Those rules, nearly identical to the ones invalidated by the Supreme Court, are described as emergency rules allowing pollution permits with little feedback from the residents who could be affected by strip mining operations or smelly sewage plants.
The judge rejected the argument that those mining and sewage projects are so vital to the public welfare that regulators should not be forced to wait more than three months while receiving public comment.
Environmental lawyers told Reese earlier Wednesday there was no threat to Alabama residents and that ADEM is breaking the law.
"We fail to see how not being able to issue permits for more pollution is a threat to the public welfare," said Ray Vaughan, an attorney for WildLaw in Montgomery, which filed the suit against ADEM. "These are public agencies, these are public waters ... we want our chance to have input into the decision-making process."
WildLaw represents a group of Lee County residents trying to keep a quarry from being built in their community.
State's attorneys, contending there was an emergency, said regulators needed to give water permits to sewage plants and mining companies, partly for the agency to comply with state law and partly to keep people from losing jobs.
James Wright, an ADEM attorney, said in court Wednesday that Alabama residents need these projects to go forward, and that couldn't happen without the emergency rules that allow the agency to issue water and pollution permits. He said people depend on new sewage plants and the jobs brought to communities by mining operations.
"The greatest threat to the public welfare ... is endemic poverty," Wright said. "More people won't be able to work."
The Alabama Supreme Court last month invalidated the state's environmental procedures for distributing water permits, which define how much pollution is allowable in waters that may be affected by incoming industries. The emergency rules were then enacted in response to the court's ruling.
