The commission that oversees the Alabama Department of Environmental Management is seeking public input on the performance of ADEM Director Lance LeFleur.

The Alabama Environmental Management Commission — a seven-member board that oversees ADEM — has asked for the public to submit written comments on LeFleur’s performance as part of the director’s annual review.

People are asked to limit their comments to the time period from October 15, 2022 to July 31, 2023, an eventful time for ADEM.

That window includes the state’s actions in battling the Moody landfill fire, when state and local authorities faced confusion over who had the responsibility, ability and authority to battle the underground blaze, as well as the state’s lax regulations toward environmental or “green waste” landfills.

Control of the site was eventually handed to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which covered the fire site with thousands of tons of dirt and grass to tamp down the fire.

ADEM has formed a working group to examine the state’s response to the landfill fire.

The department is also tasked with distributing more than $1 billion in federal water and sewer infrastructure funds and awarding them to local utilities across the state, but is now the subject of a civil rights complaint that claims the state is withholding those funds from poor and minority Black Belt residents who are struggling with sewage overflows and wastewater treatment problems.

LeFleur said at the time that the complaint was “baseless” and pointed out that, per capita, ADEM had funded projects in the Black Belt at a higher rate than the rest of the state, including large grants for communities like Hayneville in Lowndes County.

Alabama Environmental Management Commission members are appointed by the governor to serve six-year terms, usually in addition to full-time jobs elsewhere. Members come from a variety of professions relevant to the commission, including attorney, physician, biologist and engineer.

The commission is tasked with establishing rules, regulations, and environmental standards in Alabama, generally by accepting or rejecting recommendations from the department. The commission also develops environmental policy, hears appeals of administrative actions and selects and evaluates the ADEM director.

LeFleur has served as ADEM director since 2010.

The commission says written comments can be sent by email to [email protected] with “ADEM Director Job Performance Evaluation” as the subject line, or mailed to:

John (Jay) Masingill, III

Alabama Environmental Management Commission

P.O. Box 301463

Montgomery, AL 36130.

Comments must be received by July 31 at 5 p.m.