A wastewater discharge permit for a coal mine proposed for Shepherd Bend Mine along the Black Warrior River’s Mulberry Fork, right across the river from the Birmingham Water Works Board’s drinking water intake, will be considered by the Alabama Environmental Management Commission Friday. It’s ninth on the agenda of a meeting starting at 11 a.m.

“Putting a massive 1,773 acre strip mine adjacent to one of Birmingham’s major drinking water intakes is ludicrous,” Nelson Brooke, the Blackwarrior Riverkeeper, said in a statement. “This mine proposes 29 wastewater outfalls into the river and its tributaries.”

Native Americans used the river here for centuries while respecting it and the land. Six known archaeological sites dot Shepherd Bend. The Alabama Historical Commission has asked for continued study prior to disturbance of any kind.

The Mulberry Fork supplies Birmingham with tens of millions of gallons of water each day. He said the Birmingham Water Works is concerned about this mine’s potential to pollute the water and raise treatment costs.

“Watershed protection is the key component to a healthy water supply, especially for the land immediately adjacent to the water intake. Once watershed protections are lost and pollution is inevitable, chemical treatment of the water becomes necessary,” Brooke said. “It is much more costly to treat polluted water than clean water.”

The entity applying for this mine’s wastewater discharge permit through ADEM is Shepherd Bend, LLC. Its Managing Member, Donald M. Baxter, is also the Managing Member of Quinton Mining, LLC, which violated its discharge permit at another mine in the same area over 200 times in 2005 and 2006.

“ADEM’s fine was a mere slap on the wrist,” Brooke said. “Paying ADEM’s meager fines is a small cost of doing business compared to the cost of installing proper pollution controls.”

He said there is every reason to believe permit compliance will be an issue at Shepherd Bend Mine.

“When a coal strip mine violates its permit, high amounts of total suspended solids, or muddy water, and heavy metals such as iron, aluminum, and manganese, among other pollutants, are discharged. If there is a location where a coal mine should be denied a permit, this is it,” Brooke said. “Our drinking water is too important.”

In comments on the ADEM National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System wastewater discharge permit, during the public comment period, Brooke said they included a request for an ADEM public hearing on behalf of members and more than 50 individuals in the area.

Property owners on Shepherd Bend who were listed in the application are as follows: Ala-West LLC, The University of Alabama, Dr. Heaton, Soterra LLC, Paul Blalock, Nathaniel Key, Ralph Brasfield, John Hollis, and Gail Beaird. The University of Alabama owns a large chunk of the proposed area, believed to be near 1,300 acres.

“We urge these property owners to consider a use which will be more protective of our drinking water supply and local communities. Many locals see opportunities for community revitalization, embracing the river as an asset,” Brooke said. “Allowing this mine to destroy a major bend of the river would be a devastating blow to such plans.”

Alabama Department of Environmental Management Schedule, Oct. 6, 2009

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Tags: Alabama Environmental Management Commission, Shepherd Bend Mine

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 15th, 2009 at 8:15 pm and is filed under Black Warrior Riverkeeper, Clean Coal is a Dirty Lie, Environment News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.