Major Lawsuit, Penalties Expected in Roebuck Fish Kill
September 24th, 2008by Glynn Wilson
ROEBUCK SPRINGS, Ala., Sept. 24 — It may take a lawsuit to get to the bottom of why and how the director of a city park came to destroy a dam in the habitat of endangered fish and illegally order the excavation of wetlands without a permit on Village Creek, since Birmingham officials are now mum in the growing controversy over the watercress darter fish kill.
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| Stock Photo/Glynn Wilson |
| No sign of the yellow-crowned night herons in Village Creek on Wednesday |
Regina Nummy, the director of Roebuck-Hawkins Park, has not been seen in her office at the newly renovated gym in East Birmingham for the past two days. A secretary-receptionist referred media inquiries to Kenneth Blackledge at Legion Field, strangely, since he has apparently now taken over as head of the park and as the chief point of contact for the major controversy now receiving a widening circle of news coverage.
He did not return a phone message to contact us Wednesday afternoon.
The Roebuck Springs fish kill was the top story at 6 p.m. on Fox 6 News Wednesday night. And indications are that other national news organizations are researching the story.
Tom MacKenzie, the spokesman in Atlanta for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, told me Wednesday that the federal agency issued an emergency order Tuesday and applied for a permit for city workers in Birmingham to build a temporary dam out of sand bags to begin restoring the pond on Village Creek, the healthiest of four locations where the darters exist in Jefferson County.
The agency told city officials not to use any more heavy equipment near the pond or do anything else to cause more damage to the ecologically sensitive area.
“We’re still in the middle of the investigation,” MacKenzie said. “But judging by the before and after pictures I’m seeing, it’s a real tragedy.”
During the day on Wednesday, after bringing in a load of sand to begin the sand-bagging repair operation, agency scientists determined that damming the creek back up may cause more damage. Dying vegetation upstream would release an excess of nutrients into the water and cause a low oxygen situation, which could kill more fish.
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| Glynn Wilson |
| A pile of sand for sand bags behind the Roebuck tennis courts. |
MacKenzie said both civil penalties of $1,000 for each dead fish — which could be as high as 10,000 fish and $10 million — as well as criminal penalties for those responsible, are still possible recommendations in one of the worst fish kills in the region that can be directly traced to specific human activity.
Aquatic kills in the past have resulted in fines and restitution of between $25,000 and $1.5 million for private individuals and companies. Apparently there are not that many examples of local government officials so blatantly and moronically running afoul of the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
Meanwhile, the Alabama Rivers Alliance and the Black Warrior Riverkeeper environmental groups are considering their legal options, sources say, and will issue statements soon. A lawsuit and judgement against the city could provide funds for local habitat restoration work.
The Birmingham News once again published the false cover-story Wednesday saying the beaver dam and man-made berm were destroyed to stop the tennis courts from flooding. But another close inspection of the tennis courts and the surrounding area today revealed no evidence of flooding or damage from flooding.
Some local bloggers have passed around an old Google map satellite photo showing what appears to be mud on the courts that presumably came from water overflowing the pond. It was published in our comments section Tuesday.
But an in-person, on-the-ground inspection today shows those dark markings to be dirt gathered in low spots on the courts where water tends to stand in pools when it rains. The courts are not used that much and no one sweeps the pools of water away after it rains, so over time, the spots become dirt-stained.
The tennis courts are actually on a high point on the property. One observer pointed out that if the tennis courts had flooded, the entire parking lot would have been under water, since it is several feet lower. And there have been no such floods in the past five years since the Birmingham area has faced drought conditions.
Joe Eldridge, who has been playing tennis at the Roebuck courts periodically for the past seven years, said he has never known the courts to flood.
I asked him Wednesday while he was hitting balls with his young son, “Have you ever seen the courts flood?”
He smiled slyly and said, “Uh, nope. Never. Not sure where that’s coming from.”
The bright blue-green watercress darter with striking red and orange markings can grow up to about two inches long. They are found in Powderly’s Seven Springs, the Watercress Darter National Wildlife Refuge in Bessemer and Glenn Springs, also in Bessemer, as well as the Roebuck Springs pond on Village Creek.
According to this history published in the BhamWiki online encyclopedia, there have also been sightings in Pinson.
Scientists say the Roebuck location was the largest and healthiest site, until Friday, when the unauthorized destruction of the dam by city workers killed at least 1,000 and perhaps as many as 10,000.
Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford and Don Lupo of the Mayor’s Office of Citizens Assistance were overheard Wednesday saying the city could not comment due to the expectation of “a major, massive lawsuit.”
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| Glynn Wilson |
| A new view from Wednesday of the fish kill zone in Roebuck Springs on Village Creek. |
Tags: Birmingham, Major Lawsuit, Penalties Expected in Roebuck Fish Kill, Watercress Darter
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