By Ben Montgomery
North Jefferson News
Jan. 8, 2011 —
Although the Alabama Green Initiative has shown little progress since its inception since 2009, both the project leaders and Fultondale Mayor Jim Lowery are still hopeful that it will see new life in 2011.
The Alabama Green Initiative (AGI) is a cooperative project that is intended to help small municipal governments score grant money by working together to create a larger area for the grant to go towards.
“The concept of the whole philosophy was that a bunch of cities get together, which gives them a better chance of winning the grant,” said Fultondale Mayor Jim Lowery.
It was created to help communities in Jefferson, Shelby, Walker and Blount counties get grant money from the federal stimulus programs for projects in reducing pollution and investing in environmentally conscious programs, but only a few cities, including Fultondale, opted to join.
“It could still be something that could be very productive,” said Lowery. “We’re still very optimistic... It’s not a failure, yet.”
New appointed AGI executive director Danny Patterson said the initiative stalled because of some misguided policies, most of which involved too much reliance on government stimulus money.
“It wasn’t the right approach. The stimulus money would only go to certain things, it wasn’t just being thrown out there... It wasn’t like a piece of pie that you could just grab,” said Patterson. AGI underwent a complete audit, and he said it came out clean.
Patterson said AGI hasn’t pinned down specific projects for Fultondale, but that all the communities involved are interested in programs to improve the air quality in Jefferson County. One such project involves looking at several pipe construction plants that recently closed in north Birmingham.
“Each community has its own needs, and we’re looking at those,” said Patterson. “It all comes down to educating communities and getting the information out there.”
Patterson says the air quality in the county barely meets Environmental Protection Agency standards, and that the EPA will probably raise the bar in the coming year.
“That will affect jobs in this area,” said Patterson. “We’ve got to make some economic development to go along with the environmental improvements. Otherwise, people aren’t going to be interested in the environment.”
Fultondale chipped in $4,500 (the fee is based on area population) to become part of the initiative. Lowery also served on the AGI board as treasurer.
"It’s worth $4,500 just to work together,” said Lowery. “Anything to help make the air more pure. That’s good for all of us.”
The city has experimented with other “green” projects before, including receiving a $150,000 ADECA grant for a project to turn yard waste into usable fuel in 2008.
Gardendale Mayor Othell Phillips has also said the city is planning to join the cooperative.
