Wednesday 1/23/2008 DAILY NEWS DIGEST

Birmingham News – Chief Justice says judicial system will be forced to layoff 300 employees without budget increase.

Birmingham News – The Birmingham News contends that Alabamians will face reduced cancer risk under proposed rules change by ADEM.

Huntsville Times – State Board of Education member accuses AEA of trying to oust members, change board responsibilities.

Huntsville Times – The Huntsville Times views recent statements by GOP and Democratic officials regarding control of the legislature after 2010 elections as “simply turning governance into a game in which a select few in either party have vested interests in terms of power and money in the outcome.”

Senate Sketches – “Senate Sketches,” the weekly column by Sen. Hank Sanders (D-Selma) for his constituents.

Tuscaloosa News – Lt. Governor predicts increased bipartisanship will lead to more productive legislative session in 2008.

Tuscaloosa News – Mental Health commissioner wants to protect capital account of almost $20 million.

Tuscaloosa News – Chief Justice urges legislature not to try to meet shortfalls in General Fund by raising court costs.

Tuscaloosa News – Riley picks former FEMA staffer as new director of Emergency Management Agency.

Tuscaloosa News – The Tuscaloosa News calls state’s ban on sex toys “one of the stupidest laws on the books” and urges that it be repealed.

Tuscaloosa News – The Tuscaloosa News says that facts, not emotion, should guide the recommendations of commission on immigration.

Anniston Star – The Anniston Star calls for changes to state’s tax code as a way of addressing current fiscal crisis.

Gadsden Times – The Gadsden Times comments on upcoming public hearing on proposed ADEM rule to limit carcinogens in state’s waterways.

FROM TODAY’S ANNISTON STAR:

State panel spells out green goals

MONTGOMERY — A fleet of hybrid and alternative-fuel vehicles served as a backdrop for the announcement of a package of proposed laws that could form the basis of the state’s energy plan, if passed.

Some of the cars and trucks run on gas and electricity. Some run on bio-diesel or propane.

One ran on solar power.

Any of the vehicles could be coming to a state agency near you as more cost-efficient ways of developing them are born.

With the cost of oil up and the economy slowing down, many of the 13 bills and two resolutions proposed by the Permanent Joint Legislative Committee on Energy focus on producing alternatives to petroleum products, and transforming state vehicles into greener versions of themselves, using resources made in Alabama.

Rep. Greg Wren, R-Montgomery, the committee’s vice chairman, said the package is aggressive in pressing support for the research and development of alternative and renewable sources of energy because it’s an area in which the state needs to move forward.

Department of Agriculture and Industries Commissioner Ron Sparks said if the bills pass, they would go a long way in developing the infrastructure needed to sustain alternative energy and boost economic development in agriculture.

“Moving alternative energy to the front is something that is important to the state of Alabama,” he said.

Steve Taylor, director of the Auburn University Natural Resources Management and Development Institute’s Center for Bioenergy and Bioproducts, said between the state’s agricultural and forestry resources, it has the potential to spawn new technologies and new industries for local economies.

The center, with the help of Alabama Power, will be touring the state with a mobile gasification power generation unit that demonstrates how electrical power and heat can be generated cost-efficiently from the feed stocks of the state’s multibillion-dollar row-crop, forestry and poultry industries.

Charles Markert, engineer for the Calhoun County Highway Department, said anything the state can do to advance alternative fuels and energy would be beneficial to counties.

“The more people involved, the better the program will be,” he said in a phone interview Tuesday. “We have a responsibility to try not to destroy our environment, and anything that we can do that doesn’t kill us financially, we need to be doing.”

The county Highway Department’s new building on 38 acres of the former Fort McClellan will be certified by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), and some of its vehicles will run on bio-diesel fuel.

Committee member Sen. Kim Benefield, D-Woodland, said she is excited to see bipartisan support to address what amounts to an energy crisis in the country.

Benefield said she had an opportunity recently to attend an energy conference, and several states such as Vermont are doing innovative work in alternative energy production. Vermont has been working successfully with dairy farmers to turn cow manure into electricity.

“That’s why the work that Auburn and the other universities are doing is so exciting,” she said. “Every bit of power that we can generate in this state without using foreign oil is good for our state and for our farmers.”