In an article published on Feb. 17, 2017 in the Birmingham Business Journal, Ron Farley provides insight on how Trump's environmental policy could impact Alabama's environmental plans and companies. The administration could change the nation's environmental policy in a way that could loosen regulations on businesses and potentially create more opportunities for manufacturers, including Birmingham's large building materials sector. Farley says that federal actions Trump takes may or may not make it to the state level because states are allowed to enact their own statutes and enforce their own regulations. "Any real changes in substantive programs that the president or the current EPA develops going forward are going to take a while to get reflected at the state level because of the regulatory processes," Farley said. "Generally if EPA were to adopt a new emissions standard for air emissions, Alabama generally has, under the agreement with EPA, a period of up to 18 months to adopt that same regulation or one that is more stringent in order to maintain its authorization to run its own programs."