Blounty County Citizens Oppose Coal Mine
September 15th, 2009
by Glynn Wilson
ONEONTA, Ala. — More than 102 people packed the Frank Green Building auditorium Tuesday night to protest a proposed coal mine by a Canadian company near the banks of the Locust Fork of the Black Warrior River.
Dr. Randall C. Johnson, the director of the Surface Mining Commission and a wildlife biologist with a Ph.D. from Auburn University, would not say whether the overwhelming opposition might sway the commission to deny the permit. But he said the commission did deny one recently in Lamar County.
Nelson Brooke, executive director of the Black Warrior Riverkeeper, said the Alabama Department of Environmental Management illegally granted the water discharge pollution permit and broke the law when passing the ultimate responsibility for the coal mine approval to the Surface Mining Commission, an agency that is not equipped to perform environmental impact assessments under the Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.
“They broke the law,” he said.
Sam Howell, president of the Friends of the Locust Fork River, urged the commission to consider the “cumulative” impacts of the mine on the ecosystem, the watershed and the community.
One by one, residents of the area went to the microphone to urge the commission to deny the permit.
They based their reasoned arguments on the negative impact of the mine’s 62 discharge points on water quality, air pollution from coal dust which will effect the health of the area’s citizens, noise from the auger mine and dangers to school children from the traffic of coal trucks on winding, narrow county roads.
Business owners complained about the coming loss of business due to the mine. Land owners protested the potential loss of property values. Some residents worried about subsidence of the land once the coal is removed. Others worry their well water will be contaminated or that the mining will hit an aquifer and dry up their wells completely, especially farmers in the area who depend on well water to irrigate crops.
Several people came all the way from over the mountain in Birmingham to oppose the mine because they often use the Locust Fork for recreation that depends on clean water, including white water kayaking, canoing, fishing and swimming. Others cited native American remains and sites in the area as a reason to deny the permit. Others cited endangered species such as the flattened musk turtle, the Cahaba shiner and Tuscaloosa darter.
Officers from the MCoal mining company say if the permit is granted, they plan to hire only about 25 employees to discover about 5 million tons of metallurgical coal in about 500 acres of the 3,200 acre site over the next five to seven years. The coal will be cooked into coke to use in making steel. The state will receive only .33 cents a ton in severance taxes in return.
The company will only be required to put up $100,000 in liability insurance per incident and $250,000 total, and the commission would not say how much of a reclamation bond would be required in the event the mine fails and the company goes bankrupt.
A number of residents talked about the beauty of the area and how it will be destroyed by the coal mine, including one woman who only recently moved to Blount County from Oregon.
“They say that’s God’s country,” she said. “But I think this place really is.”
She said she was concerned mainly about heavy metals in the coal mine discharge.
“I’ve suffered from mercury toxicity and hate to see others have to go through that experience and the expense it takes to recover from it,” she said.
Mike Murphy, who owns 80 acres and two homes on the top of the mountain very near the mine site, said he worried about the coal dust that will inevitably pollute the cool breeze he now gets in the “quiet, peaceful place” he moved to a few years back to escape the air pollution of Birmingham. And he worries about something going wrong at the mine, since he has lived “Murphy’s Law” all his life.
Murphy’s Law is the advertising slogan that says if something can go wrong, it will go wrong.
Commissioners gave no indication when they will make a decision on the permit.
We urge everyone who submitted comments to post their comments here…
September 15th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
After the meeting, I made it clear to director Johnson that The Locust Fork News-Journal stands editorially against the permitting of this destructive coal mine in such close quarters to residents and the river. I also made it clear we will be watching to see that the commission does the right thing by denying the permit in this case.
There is nothing to prevent us from launching a full-scale investigation of the commissioners themselves, as well as elected officials in Blount County who clearly did not do their jobs by notifying citizens of this permit application in time to oppose the ADEM permit.
September 16th, 2009 at 10:52 am
Good show, Glynn. Keep the heat on these guys.
September 16th, 2009 at 10:58 am
Thanks Glynn. Good to know there are some reporters out there still willing to investigate!
September 16th, 2009 at 11:15 am
This just in via e-mail:
I thought many of the comments at the meeting last night were based upon fact rather than a “not in my backyard” position … although there was a fair share of that. The Rosa Coal Group really did their homework prior to drafting their comments. I was really impressed.
My comment to the Alabama Surface Mining Commission (ASMC) was based upon the fact the Yoakley Environmental Assessment for some strange reason informed the Cold Branch Creek (largest trib to pass through the proposed mining area) and other tributaries in the area were absent of aquatic life … a statement proven to be false by evidence brought forth by a concerned citizen that spoke after me.
Dr. Yokeley and his people are very reputable in their field which tells me something unknown was wrong with the assessment. The Locust Fork River that will receive the contaminated waters from the mining property is the home of several endangered or threatened species such as the Flatten Musk Turtle, Plicate Rocksnail, Cahaba Shinner, and several mussels. Some of these critters have been actually seen in the LFR and streams in that area by some citizens that spoke at the ASMC comment meeting. The property needs to be accessed again before granting the permit.
The 5 year permit will probably be “revised” as work proceeds to address changing conditions, an action that is not required to be brought to the public’s attention, prompted me to remind the commission to weight the requested revisions cumulatively to see what the overall effect will be on the tributaries and Locust Fork River water quality… i.e. adding one more domino to a precarious stack might then make it collapse where the single domino would not.
Sam Howell
September 16th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Great article Glynn. Thank you for staying on the coal issue.
Clean Coal Is A Dirty Lie!