Montgomery, AL – The Alabama Environmental Management Commission (AEMC) has voted to begin rulemaking that will update the state’s human-health toxicity criteria for 12 priority pollutants, including arsenic and cyanide.
The decision answers an April petition filed by seven conservation nonprofits—Alabama Rivers Alliance, Black Warrior Riverkeeper, Cahaba Riverkeeper, Choctawhatchee Riverkeeper, Coosa Riverkeeper, Environmental Defense Alliance, and Mobile Baykeeper—who supplied extensive scientific data showing Alabama’s criteria lag behind current federal guidance.
Under the Clean Water Act, states must revisit water-quality criteria for toxic pollutants at least every three years, but Alabama’s values for pollutants such as trichloroethylene and pentachlorophenol have not been revised in a decade or more. Petitioners argued the outdated numbers put people who consume fish, shellfish, and drinking water from affected waterways at risk.
“Alabama failed to update toxicity values … for ten or more years despite information indicating these pollutants are more toxic than previously thought,” said petitioners’ attorney David Ludder. “We are pleased the Commission ordered a formal rulemaking.”
Justinn Overton, Coosa Riverkeeper’s executive director, welcomed the move: “Fishing is a way of life for families in the Coosa basin. Updating these values better protects those who rely on the river for food.”
AEMC has directed the Alabama Department of Environmental Management to draft amendments that incorporate the latest U.S. EPA oral Reference Dose and Cancer Potency Factor recommendations. Once published for public comment and adopted, the stricter criteria are expected to lower allowable pollutant concentrations statewide and improve long-term public-health protections.
