For starters, I don't love or hate the EPA. But in Alabama they tend to have more effect than the state and local regulatory bodies, which I appreciate.
But I could fill a book with sad facts about pollution. The latest one that hit me was the local fish consumption advisories. All the areas I fish have a 0 consumption advisory for bass and no more than 3 meals a month for catfish. Panfish aren't listed, and if I understand correctly they aren't tested.
It's frustrating. Alabama is stuck 50 years behind everybody due to the Civil War and Reconstruction, so we are behind on the industrialization curve and have some really wonderful natural resources. But...despite being able to look around and see what happened somewhere like...oh...Chesapeake Bay...and ask ourselves how we don't get there, we're hell-bent on making that sweet, sweet money. We advertise as a tourist destination and talk about "eco-tourism" to make a buck off the beaches and rivers, while simultaneously writing permission slips to anybody who wants to pollute them as long as they make a little money.
Gulf Shores built a conference hall on state park land. Dunes that I couldn't play on as a kid because they were a delicate ecosystem and home to the endangered beach mouse and all that. No foot traffic. Then they build a conference hall, give management to Hilton, and award themselves an "environmentally conscious building" award for the structure. All with money from the BP spill settlement that is supposed to offset cleanup costs, which we pretty much have abandoned.
The beaches are about ruined with condominiums and bulkheads. They're moving up the river now.
