Montgomery, Alabama, Paying State Environmental Fines

By Francis X. Gilpin
Montgomery Advertiser

Montgomery has forked over thousands to Alabama for violating state environmental regulations, including a $7,500 fine that a city official attributed to "simple miscommunication."

Local taxpayers have spent $87,500 in fines and expenses levied by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management in the past two years, the agency's records state.

The bulk of the money -- $80,000 -- went to ADEM for an air-pollution violation in 2004. The watchdog agency caught city employees burning tree stumps without state permission in a large, weekend-long fire at a municipal landfill. It levied a $5,000 fine and ordered the city to clean up illegal dumps. The cleanup costs totaled $75,000.

The most recent fine was $7,500 for improper control and removal of asbestos from Jasmine Garden Apartments, a vacant Midtown complex razed in the fall.

ADEM cited the city for failing to protect neighbors and even its own employees from potentially dangerous asbestos fibers. If inhaled while airborne, the tiny fibers can embed in the lungs and cause cancer.

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