LNG

Mobile Baykeeper has been heavily involved with several proposals for LNG facilities to be located on Mobile Bay. In 2003, by working with our then 2000 members and gathering community support, we were able to successfully prevent Exxon from establishing an onshore LNG terminal. Our opposition was due to the substantial threat to public safety such a facility would pose to the residents of Theodore. Since then we have also successfully prevented three offshore open loop terminals from entering the Alabama Gulf Coast. While offshore facilities reduced the threat of deadly “explosion” hazards to citizens as compared to an offshore facility, we opposed the open loop terminals due to the vast amount of fish larvae and small organisms that would have been destroyed through the intake of millions upon millions of gallons of seawater into these terminals to aid the regasification of the liquefied natural gas. The potential detrimental impact to our fisheries was such that we allied with several environmental and community and recreational and commercial fishing interests to form the Gulf Fisheries Alliance as a coalition to oppose open loop LNG terminals. In 2008, after our efforts to stop a bid by TORP LNG to build an open loop LNG terminal in the Gulf were successful, we formed a relationship with TORP which aided them to arrive at a solution that addressed our concerns with LNG facilities in our waters. TORP has now redesigned their proposed terminal to use “closed loop” ambient air technology for vaporization, which is a favored solution by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

MOBILE BAY CAUSEWAY

Mobile Baykeeper, the Nature Conservancy, the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, and the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program and several others partnered together in 2001 to study the effect that hydrological modifications have had on the natural flow of the fourth largest drainage basin by volume in North America – Mobile-Tensaw Delta. Approximately twenty large dams and water control structures have been built on the Delta’s primary feeder streams (the Alabama/Coosa/Tallapoosa and the Tombigbee/Black Water systems) since 1923. Within the Delta proper, the Causeway prevents the exchange of water between a number of once open bays and the Gulf of Mexico. These modifications have altered the seasonal variation and volume of water flows. Scientists also believe that the modifications may have altered the ecological function and biodiversity of the Mobile-Tensaw Delta. Among the suspected effects of the hydrological modifications is the decline of commercially and recreationally important species such as white shrimp and speckled trout. Results of past monitoring have led us to see the real possibility of replacing the land dam of the Mobile Bay Causeway with flow through bridges. Research onto the impacts of removing sections of the Causeway with bridging is ongoing, but interest in the project is strong with state officials, and we will continue to work to better understand the impacts made by the Causeway and the best way to promote a healthy bay and estuary.

SEWER

AUTOMOBILE SHREDDERS

Mobile Baykeeper convinced the City of Mobile to insist on stricter regulations on Automobile Shredders with the creation of a mercury switch removal ordinance. Mercury is found in the light switch that comes on when you open your trunk or the hood of your car. If mercury is still present when an automobile goes through the shredders, it is released to the air, ground and nearby waterways. The contaminants that remain in the scrap end up going to the steel mill where it is super heated and goes up through the smokestack and back out into the environment. We convinced two local companies, Alter Shredding Corporation and David's Automobile Shredding to adopt operating principles that would either insist upon removal of the contaminants prior to coming onto their site or have the companies remove them onsite and properly dispose of the waste.

STUDIES

• Completed a Water Quality Monitoring Database to track pollution hotspots in Mobile County’s bodies of water, and a study to evaluate mercury levels in Mobile and Baldwin County residents using hair testing and tracking the source of that mercury.
• Mobile Baykeeper is a founding member of the Mobile County Air Quality study – a voluntary and collaborative effort with City and County government, The Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce, and The Forum of Industries – to identify toxics in the air and correct the problems identified.
• Mobile Baykeeper is one of the original founders of the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) Reform Coalition – a statewide coalition charged with encouraging the state environmental protection agency to do its job to enforce the laws and protect our resources and public health.