Environmental and Human Rights Organizations In Alabama Form an Alliance On Pollution Issues

For Immediate Release  

October 3, 2011

Birmingham-Metro Chapter NAACP Presents Grand Town Hall Meeting on the Environment

Panelists Will Focus on Local Pollution Threats: Shepherd Bend Mine and “DeadlyDeception”

Birmingham – The Birmingham-Metro Chapter of the NAACP will present a Grand Town Hall Meeting and Public Forum about the Environment on Friday, October 14th from 7:00 to 8:15 PM.   

Panelists will focus on two local pollution threats: the Shepherd Bend Mine proposal across the river from Birmingham’s drinking water intake facility and the recent “Deadly Deception” controversy in the Collegeville area.  The free public event will take place at Glen Iris Elementary School 1115 11th Street South Birmingham, AL 35205. 

Panelists will include representatives from the Alabama Rivers Alliance, Birmingham Faith in Action, Black Warrior Riverkeeper, Cahaba Riverkeeper, Citizens Opposed to Strip Mining on the Black Warrior River, Coalition of Alabama Students for the Environment, Collegeville area residents, GASP, Green Initiative at UAB, University of Alabama Environmental Council, and University of Montevallo Environmental Club.

“We are honored that the Birmingham-Metro Chapter NAACP invited us to join these esteemed panelists,” said Charles Scribner, Executive Director of Black Warrior Riverkeeper.  “The Shepherd Bend Mine poses a unique threat to Birmingham’s drinking water.  This forum presents an exciting opportunity to increase public awareness about the proposed coal mine and the University of Alabama’s potential role in stopping it.”

Click here to view event flyer:

www.blackwarriorriver.org/pdf/EnvironmentTownHall10.14.11.pdf

Click here for more information about the Shepherd Bend Mine proposal:

www.blackwarriorriver.org/news/help-protect-birmingham-s-drinking-water.html

 

Black Warrior Riverkeeper (www.blackwarriorriver.org) is a citizen-based nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect and restore the Black Warrior River and its tributaries. A member of Waterkeeper Alliance, Black Warrior Riverkeeper won Alabama Environmental Council’s 2007 Conservation Organization of the Year and American Canoe Association’s 2008 Green Paddle Award. Nelson Brooke, Riverkeeper, won Alabama Rivers Alliance’s 2010 River Hero Award.  In 2011 the Black Warrior became one of America's Most Endangered Rivers. For more information, contact:  Charles Scribner, Executive Director, Black Warrior Riverkeeper: (205) 458-0095 or Rev. Anthony Johnson, Community Relations Director: Birmingham-Metro Chapter NAACP: (205) 541-9719

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Colombia Reports--US Court Clears Former Paramilitaries to Testify Against Drummond Coal

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama ordered that the former paramilitaries alias "Bam Bam," "El tigre," "El samario," and Jesus Charris are to give testimony before representatives of the victims who claim that the multinational is responsible for the 600 murders.

Drummond allegedly ordered the assassination of rural dwellers who chose not to sell their land to make way for the company's railroad which transported carbon from the land-locked Cesar department to the Caribbean Sea.

Drummond is facing two lawsuits in the United States, one for the death of three trade unionists in 2002 and the other for the death of 18 rural dwellers in Cesar.

Read more here

Spanish speaking readers: Noticias Uno Colombia video report

Recent court filings against Drummond (C 2:09-cv-01041-RDP) indicate the legal team representing the company is being less than cooperative: exceeding production deadlines by months, pushing for a faster trial without the plaintiff's attorneys having all the needed evidence in hand, and blaming the other side for their own by design difficulties.

Depositions of the paramilitary witnesses against Drummond were set to proceed in September before the Colombian officials delayed. The next tentatively scheduled deposition dates, that must occur in Colombia, are in November 2011. Time is of the essence according to one of the plaintiff's lawyers in this sharply worded passage from the court records:

"It is simply not an option to wait a year or more for the letters rogatory process to advance when our key witnesses are being threatened, attacked and offered bribes to, in Duarte's (aka "Bam Bam") words, "Keep quiet about Drummond."

--Libardo Duarte was attacked in prison shortly after he made public statements to a television reporter about Drummond's relationship to the Colombian paramilitary unit AUC.

--"El tigre" has hidden his family away in Colombia after receiving repeated threats from would-be sympathizers of the AUC (and possibly Drummond) that they would "kill them all" if he testified against Drummond.

Details from the witnesses in the court documents describe events so evil and cold-blooded, we can't begin to fully describe it in detail at this time, but you can read it for yourself, and then decide what conclusions you may arrive to after viewing the recent activity in this case.

In our opinions, any further delay, particularly if it is a purposeful maneuver, to impede obtaining crucial testimony of these witnesses, who have first-hand knowledge about what really happened in Colombia, is a tactic of ominous intentions.

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Birmingham NAACP Chapter Enters Shepherd's Bend Coal Mine Controversy

NAACPShepherdBendMineLettertoUA

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Earthjustice August 2011 Report on Coal Ash Toxicity--"State of Failure"

Despite the Alabama legislature's attempts to appear like they were doing something beneficial for the citizens of Alabama's health and environment, with the passage of SB80, a bill designed to regulate dry coal ash disposal, it's a 'dam' shame the wet coal ash storage ponds, maintained at APCO utility plants around the state, remain unregulated. Was the exclusion of these dams that by accident or by design?

APCO registered twenty-six lobbyists for 2011, according to figures with the Ethics Commission, and they all worked hard on our lawmakers to pass the coal ash bill despite the impassioned outcries from the citizens of Perry County, Alabama. Those citizens have served as a test case of what SB80 will do to our communities, but no one on Goat Hill listened to their pleas--choosing instead to do what they were told to do on behalf of the small army of APCO lobbyists.

Landfills are a toxic soup in and of themselves. Adding coal ash to our landfills and promising that regulations from SB80 will safeguard our communities and groundwater from any untoward effects of that action is hubris personified, with a stench of possible payoffs and corruption wafting from the inception and process of that bill that's hard to ignore.

Our laws and regulations in Alabama were woefully lax on landfill monitoring, inspections and enforcement before this bill, and passing SB80 won't change what's inherently wrong with ADEM--their utter failure to protect the citizens of this state from big polluters and their waste products. Particularly the low income and minority communities where most of these industries and waste dumps are located.

Conspicuously absent from this legislation was any language to tighten controls on the existing wet coal ash ponds, and the problematic dams that surround them, located around Alabama and almost exclusively at the state's electric utility sites.

Wet coal ash storage remains unaffected and practically unmonitored and regulated, with the exception of the Rattlesnake Dam at the APCO Gorgas Plant. The EPA has that site on its radar, and APCO is employing its usual stance of we-would-rather-fight-than-comply to back them off of any future scrutiny, in addition to blocking the release of more detailed data by claiming CBI--confidential business information.

According to the EPA's website the final decision on whether to allow APCO's CBI request  is still in process. 

We noted at last count, the Southern Company, (SOCO) had spent at least *26,670,000 for the combined years of 2009-2010 on lobbying in Washington. Tracking their expenditures in Alabama is made more difficult by the unlimited contributions corporations can inject into Alabama's political system, combined with a non-requirement of lobbyists expenditure reporting.

*page 20 "Leadership We can Live Without" The Real Corporate Social Responsibility Report for Southern Company--May 2011, Green America

It boggles the mind that SOCO and APCO spend so much on lobbying and corporate legal attack dogs, but when they are asked to spend some of their enormous profits to upgrade their plants and reduce the overall risk *(est. to be $9 billion in increased health care costs) to hundreds of thousands of people from their toxic emissions, they complain 'if you make us improve we'll have stick it to the ratepayers' and "compliance costs jobs."

*pg 16 of Green America Report

It's a scare tactic argument that's successful on the masses who simply don't know any better and blindly accept the well-honed propaganda machine messages of these corporate behemoths.

Our state regulatory agency, ADEM, functions more as enabler than regulator by their refusal to enforce strict guidelines on APCO. They have grown dependent on the money they take in from the numerous fees they levy against APCO to operate. On smokestack emissions, ADEM charges APCO between $33-$37.00 per ton. The typical emission total per year is in the range of 180,000 tons, and frequently higher. More emissions equals more money. It's a diabolical arrangement in the best of circumstances.

ADEM also does not require any groundwater monitoring (GWM) at APCO's sites despite the enormity of their coal ash storage ponds and their close proximity to our rivers and groundwater supplies.

Dry coal ash is also stored at their sites in quantities that can only be estimated through aerial satellite photos because no records of any actual measurable amounts are available for public examination. It is entirely possible that no one but APCO really knows.

Alabama Power's Gaston Plant Wilsonville, Alabama. The Coosa River is on the right, one of the two wet coal ash ponds is wider than the river. Additional dry coal ash waste areas are in the immediate foreground.

 The state of Alabama set up ADEM in this manner with huge involvement from the utility giant in writing the rules. They hold onto this archaic arrangement in the same way aided and abetted by like-minded politicians eager to sweep the only thing green about APCO, their monetary influence, into their campaign coffers. This too is a diabolical arrangement that ends in predictable outcomes.

We suspect the utility companies, anticipating future problems from the EPA, sought the passage of SB80 to allow them to clean out their nearing capacity wet storage ponds, dry the waste, and ship it to landfills statewide, in addition to recycling the product for everything from road building to kitchen counter tops:

"This is a classic leap-before-you-look EPA initiative, where health and safety questions get asked only after the fact." Through Freedom of Information Act requests, PEER also recently found that the EPA had allowed the coal industry to edit information regarding coal ash use in products, including promoting "beneficial uses" while downplaying or completely eliminating mention of possible risks.

Burning coal for electricity generates more than 100 million tons of coal waste a year, but about half of that winds its ways back into consumer products, on food crops, or in structure- or road-building materials. Coal ash is routinely mixed into cement, drywall, kitchen counters, and carpet backing, and used in retaining walls and as ground fill. Because it is often laced with arsenic, lead, and other heavy metals, many toxicologists say more research is needed about what we're putting in the ground (and potentially the water supply) and in our homes. But as of now, industry is running wild—and making a pretty penny—possibly at the expense of our health. "We cannot and should not view agricultural lands as suitable waste-disposal sites for industrial or societal pollutants, just because it's cost-effective in the short term."

Earthjustice lays out the existing problems in their latest report appropriately entitled "State of Failure." Tables 2 & 3 (ppgs. 10 & 11) contain data detailing the failure of strict supervision and safeguards that should be required by our state regulatory agencies on coal ash disposal.

Page 14, in the report, labels Alabama the "worst of the worst" when it comes to coal ash disposal:

Alabama represents the worst of the worst when it comes to coal-ash disposal. 

First, Alabama has no laws or regulations on the books to specifically ensure the safety of the state’s coal ash dams.
It is the only state in the country without such laws. 
Because there are no federal laws to ensure dam safety, this essentially means that Alabama dams are completely unregulated. Until 2011, Alabama also completely exempted coal ash disposal in landfills. Consequently, coal ash from its ten coal-fired plants has been dumped mostly in unlined, unregulated, and unmonitored ponds and landfills. Given the historical absence of controls on coal ash disposal, it is outrageous that more than 5 million tons of ash from the Kingston TVA spill was shipped to Alabama for disposal.

State oversight of Alabama’s dangerous dams is also totally missing.

None of the state’s 15 coal ash dams have been subject to state regulatory inspections in the past five years. After inspections by the EPA and TVA contractors in 2009-2010, five of the dams were given poor ratings and two had to make immediate repairs to improve stability. Alabama dams are, on average, the tallest and largest coal ash dams in the 12 most dangerous states. The average height is nearly 7 stories tall (over 66 feet), and the average surface area is greater than 192 acres (about 151 football fields) more than twice the average of coal ash ponds in the other nine states. These large ponds pose high threats—two of Alabama’s dams are high hazard, and 11 are significant hazard dams. Lastly, these ponds are old-the average age of an Alabama coal ash pond is 40 years. According to the EPA, that’s the estimated lifespan, but Alabama utilities have announced no retirement plans.

Alabama’s coal ash ponds disproportionately impact low income communities and communities of color. The EPA statistics show that more than 40 percent of the citizen’s living near coal ash ponds in Alabama is non-white. Also, about 25 percent of nearby residents are below the poverty line, which is more than twice the national average poverty rate of 11.9 percent.

The facts and statistics are a sobering eye-opener into the serious risks that Alabama's governmental agencies and lawmakers stubbornly continue to ignore in favor of big business wants. A grim picture emerges of a system completely devoid of stringent accountability coupled with a total lack of consistent oversight. We, as citizens, have no choice but to live in a "state of failure" when it comes to the protection of our communities from corporate and political Alabama, and it's a risk we should not be forced to accept.

State of Failure

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In a League of His Own--Mayor William Bell

Birmingham Mayor William Bell is doing his level best to sidestep any taint from the Walter Energy contamination in north Birmingham by claiming that “until spring of this year he’d never been notified of soil contamination.” Bell’s coziness with the Birmingham Business Alliance (BBA), the entity who lured *Walter Energy away from Tampa where they had been headquartered since the end of WW II, makes us wonder if he’s being truthful about what he knew and when, or slyly covering for the generous corporate campaign and event sponsor at the direction of the BBA.

*entry #243--"I wish they were all this easy," said a beaming Jim Searcy, vice president of business and industry retention at Birmingham Business Alliance.

William Bell has always been a team player, but it's questionable whose team he has been a member of all these years--the one that benefits him or the one that steps up for his constituent's interests. Why isn't he going to bat for his citizens in north Birmingham? All we're hearing from him is excuses of why no one should put the bead on him for any responsibility in the toxic mess.

(On a side note, Walter Energy is up for takeover after their CEO of three months decided to call it quits. Watch for the next corporate owner to be hailed as yet another big bucks entity coming to Birmingham.)
 

In a recent CBS 42 “Deadly Deception” clip, Mayor Bell incredulously claimed that he was not permitted to even communicate with the EPA about the decades-old issue in north Birmingham or anything else EPA related:

“The EPA still had the Mayor of Birmingham, not William Bell, but the Mayor of Birmingham listed as being banned from being able to communicate any form, way shape or form, with the federal government, in particular the EPA.”

What Mr. Bell was referring to, and twisting to suit his purposes, is a move by the federal government in 2009 that came after former Mayor Larry Langford was indicted on bribery and conspiracy charges, which placed him on a federal “Excluded Parties List:”

Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford no longer has the authority to sign federal grant applications or enter into agreements that involve federal money as a result of his indictment on bribery and conspiracy charges.

Langford's name was placed on the federal government's Excluded Parties List -- a list of people and organizations barred from conducting business with federal agencies -- by the Environmental Protection Agency in March. Langford received a notice of the action in late February.

That action by the feds was to prevent Langford from having any more authority over federal grants and monies. It did not mean that Bell was "barred" from communicating with the EPA like he would have everyone believe with his recent statements. Unless he wants us to think that the EPA would not be willing to take a call from him that should have gone something like this:

‘I need help over here in my city Region 4, my residents are sick and dying because of a nearby coal plant. I'm hearing from them every day. We have three schools in the area and I am really worried about the children. Could you please send someone over here to do some testing and let’s see what we have going on over here?’

Bell never made that call and he’s never shown any concern for those residents until CBS 42 pulled back the curtain on the whole deal through their investigative reporting. Has anyone with CBS 42 put two and two together and questioned, among themselves, the validity of what Mayor Bell is now offering as an excuse?

Giving Bell the benefit of the doubt, that he really didn't understand, is not any more comforting because it suggests he isn’t sharp enough to comprehend the 2009 decision. The leader of a large metropolitan area should be quick on their feet in the critical thinking department and possess an ability to fully understand the detail and meaning of any federal actions directed at his city.

Blaming his inaction on Larry Langford's misdeeds is a lame ploy. And Bell knows it. He's a savvy political player who's well-versed in the game of misinformation and distraction.

We think he's playing the ‘I didn’t know’ card for political duck and cover in a publicly embarrassing situation while following the scripting of certain corporate interest coaches.

Much like the Birmingham News, who won't break themselves of the habit of protecting Walter Energy's misdeeds by continuing to use words like "voluntary cleanup," in addition to allowing Walter to continue the incessant parroting of their "good neighbor" and 'not our fault' nonsense.

We also find it ironic that Walter Energy teamed up with the Birmingham Barons and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute for Jackie Robinson Day earlier this year. The Mayor has an on and off reputation for favoritism to minority rights and figures when it seems to suit his own agenda, financial interests and publicity stroking.

It’s a proclivity he often forgets when it comes to the Big Mules and the BBA’s pie-in-the-sky ideas. He’s way too caught up in his chameleon-like changeability of ‘I’m for my people until someone else has an economic scheme that will bring in the money and elevate my importance.’ Luring the Barons to Birmingham is high on Bell's list of importance.

With the Robinson tribute he got the trifecta--he appears (albeit selectively) racially sensitive, Walter Energy grateful and Birmingham Barons bone-throwing all rolled into one. But what has he done for those north Birmingham residents who have been suffering for years so far? Absolutely nothing, because there's no glory in it for him, and he knows he'll get a sackful of angry corporate cats (aka Walter Energy and the BBA) if he gets too involved with the little people.

It's a shame really, because he could have had his own Robinsonesque moment, if only he'd managed to call up enough courage to get on the right team just once in his long and often controversial political career.

Jackie Robinson’s contribution to baseball and his people deserved to have that honor in April, we won’t disagree with that, but of all the sponsors who could have been approached for the event the city chose Walter Energy. The same company who is the number one alleged suspect primarily responsible for the toxic poisoning in the minority neighborhoods of Collegeville and Harriman Park since 1989.

What would Jackie Robinson have said about that choice?

He would have called it what it is: foul ball.

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EMC Hearing Officer's Report on Sheperd's Bend Coal Mine Allowing NPDES Permit Despite Legal Challenge From BWRK and Others

The following document is the record from the hearing on July 20, 2011 regarding the Shepherd's Bend Mine Permit. Black Warrior Riverkeeper issued a subsequent press release in response to the decision on July 22, 2011.

There is a lot to be troubled about concerning the decision of the EMC Hearing Officer, James F. Hampton, who's been a judge, a Special Assistant Attorney General for the State of Alabama and a hearing officer in the BARD Motion to Intervene regarding SWMA. Mr. Hampton has quite a long pedigree as a state inclined legal eagle and his conclusion about this controversial mine permit is not unexpected, but it is disappointing.

Page 7 Item 10 is also disappointing and allows a lot of wiggle room for what ADEM may or may not do if issuing this permit becomes problematic. The chances are high, if the history of mine discharge in Alabama is any indicator, that there will be problems and plenty of them:

"Permit does not contain limitations on chlorides, sulfide, total dissolved solids or aluminum, which are commonly associated with acid mine drainage. Under this permit, ADEM may modify the terms of the permit, if, in the future, it is shown to ADEM's satisfaction that the permit is not protective of water quality."

EMC Docket No 09-04-2011 07 20 Report of Hearing Officer

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CBS 42 Reports on the Jim Walter North River Mine Coal Slurry Spill and the First Round of Water Quality Tests

*Updated pictures of spill entering Lake Tuscaloosa BWRK July 28, 2011

CBS 42 continues their out-in-front of the pack environmental coverage of Walter Energy (WE) this time it's Fayette County and not north Birmingham.

The initial water testing results of the North River following WE's Jim Walter North River Steam Mine coal slurry spill are in, and as predicted, they aren't good.

The effects of the slurry spill don't resemble a benign event like the one described by Jim Walter spokesman Dennis Hall as nothing more serious than "mud and rocks after a heavy rain." Something much more ominous is revealed through this testing and raising suspicions of deliberate attempts to downplay the event.

Test results show:

---Levels of increased arsenic are being detected anywhere from a minimum of 3X to as high as 34X the limit of EPA levels

---Lead levels are coming at 3X EPA limits 

---Suspension of solids are registering at 4-5X EPA limits

---Turbidity is running at 8-12X higher than the water quality range limit 

Black Warrior Riverkeeper is conducting additional testing and will release their results soon. ASMC's Randall Johnson seems to be laying the groundwork for other direction finger-pointing by claiming that the elevated levels of toxins and pollutants are above and below the area of the spill. Maybe someone should remind him of the drifting nature of water columns.

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Black Warrior Riverkeeper "Remains Hopeful" Despite Hearing Officer's Decision on Sheperd's Bend Mine NPDES Permit

      PRESS RELEASE JULY 22, 2011

Contact:

Nelson Brooke, Riverkeeper, Black Warrior Riverkeeper: (205) 458-0095
Gil Rogers, Senior Attorney, Southern Environmental Law Center: (678) 891-0410

Shepherd Bend Mine Receives Favorable Recommendation

Birmingham – Yesterday, an administrative Hearing Officer recommended that the state Environmental Management Commission (“EMC”) uphold a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (“NPDES”) wastewater discharge permit previously issued to Shepherd Bend Mine by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (“ADEM”).  Black Warrior Riverkeeper is disappointed by the Hearing Officer’s report, which we believe is not in the public interest.

Now, the Hearing Officer’s report must go before the EMC on August 19, 2011, and the EMC must decide whether to adopt the Hearing Officer’s recommendations.  The EMC can make an independent determination about the adequacy of the Hearing Officer’s findings.  Southern Environmental Law Center’s (SELC) Managing Attorney in Alabama, Keith Johnston, states “I hope the EMC thoroughly considers the ramifications of issuing this permit.  It affects not only the Mulberry Fork, but 200,000 people who rely on the Mulberry Fork for a drinking water supply.”  

If the EMC chooses to adopt the Hearing Officer’s recommendations, Black Warrior Riverkeeper, together with the SELC, will appeal that decision.  Black Warrior Riverkeeper Nelson Brooke adds, “It is a shame that the Hearing Officer failed to understand that this coal mine permit is weak and will allow unacceptable levels of pollution to harm the river and drinking water for people in the greater Birmingham area.  We will continue to fight this permit until justice is served.” 

Black Warrior Riverkeeper and SELC first challenged ADEM’s  issuance of permit because, even if Shepherd Bend Mine strictly adheres to the terms of its NPDES permit, the permit will allow the mine to discharge a variety of pollutants—iron, manganese, total suspended solids, total dissolved solids, sulfates and chlorides—into Birmingham-area drinking water.

Black Warrior Riverkeeper supplied expert testimony in the permit challenge about how the discharge of these pollutants would harm drinking water. Moreover, the Birmingham Water Works Board (“BWWB”) has offered detailed information as to how the allowed discharge from the mine will introduce pollutants and sediment into the source water, leading to increased treatment costs (typically passed on to customers) and possible health risks.  The mine site is located on a bend of the Mulberry Fork approximately 800 feet across the river and upstream of a BWWB drinking water intake on the Mulberry Fork of the Black Warrior River which serves 200,000 area citizens.   

Despite these compelling facts, the Hearing Officer, while expressing reservations, found that “there is not a preponderance of evidence that the permit in question authorizes discharges of pollutants which, upon discharge, will cause or contribute to a detectable contravention of state water quality standards.”  According to the Director of SELC’s Georgia and Alabama offices, David Pope, “this decision is completely detached from the evidence presented, none of which the Hearing Officer’s report references.” 

Black Warrior Riverkeeper’s Executive Director, Charles Scribner states “No matter what, we remain hopeful that the UA System, a majority land owner at Shepherd Bend, will not lease their land for mining so close to a major Birmingham drinking water intake.”

# # #

Black Warrior Riverkeeper encourages citizens to continue sharing their views about the Shepherd Bend Mine proposal with Dr. Robert E. Witt, President, University of Alabama, (205) 348-5100

Black Warrior Riverkeeper (www.blackwarriorriver.org) is a citizen-based nonprofit environmental advocacy organization whose mission is to protect and restore the Black Warrior River and its tributaries.  The Southern Environmental Law Center (www.SouthernEnvironment.org) is a regional conservation organization using the power of the law to protect the health and environment of the Southeast (Virginia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama).  For more information contact Black Warrior Riverkeeper Nelson Brooke at 205-458-0095 or Gil Rogers, Senior Attorney, Southern Environmental Law Center, 678-891-0410.     

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Black Water Don't keep On Rollin'--Jim Walter Mine Coal Slurry Spill in Fayette County, Alabama

On Friday July 15, 2011, at the Jim Walter Mine North River Steam Coal Mine in Fayette County, Alabama, a sensor failed to shut off the coal slurry pumping system for an estimated four hours, resulting in toxic waste being discharged into Freeman Creek. The creek flows into North River and on downstream to Lake Tuscaloosa and into the drinking water supply for the City of Tuscaloosa.

Here's a picture of how the water in the *North River usually appears:

Here's how it looks *post spill:

The Alabama Surface Mining Commission's (ASMC) Randy Jackson is assuring viewers that the "sediment will not be harmful" and "it will wind up in Lake Tuscaloosa and settle out there." It should be noted that neither Mr. Jackson or anyone else at the ASMC have any authority over water issues. They're not experts, but they'll try and portray themselves as them on TV.

ADEM's spokesman Scott Hughes says he notified the Tuscaloosa Water Department to "monitor its water" and says "the water is safe to drink."

Dennis Hall, JW North Mine spokesman is quoted as saying this about the spill: "It's like it rained and piles of mud slid into the water."

Everybody involved is attempting to downplay the spill as nothing to be concerned about. 

They're dead wrong and what we should worry about is why they want to mislead us about the dangers of what is really in that 'harmless' slurry:

Below is a list of chemicals found in coal slurry and sludge:

Aniline Acenaphthene Acenapthylene Anthracene Benzidine Benzo(a)anthracene Benzo(a)pyrene Benzo(b)fluoranthene Benzo(ghi)perylene Benzo(k)fluoroanthene Benzyl alcohol bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate bis(2-chloroethoxy)-methane bis(2-chloroethyl)ether bis(2-chloroisopropyl)ether Butyl benzyl phthalate Chrysene Dibenzo(a,h)anthracene

Dibenzofuran Dibutyl phtalate Diethyl phthalate Dimethyl phthalate Dioctylphthalate Fluoranthene Fluorene Hexachlorobenzene Hexachloroethane Indeno(1,2,3-c,d)pyrene Isophorone N-Nitrosodi-n-propylamine N-Nitrosodiphenylamine Naphthalene Nitrobenzene Phenanthrene Pyrene

Acrilamide Hexachloro-1,3-Butadiene Hexa-Cl-1,3-Cyclopentadiene 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene 1,2-Dichlorobenzene 1,3-Dichlorobenzene 1,4-Dichlorobenzene 2,4-Dinitrotoluene 2,6-Dinitrotoluene 2-Chloronaphtalene 2-Methylnapthalene |2-Nitroaniline 3-3'-Dichlorobenzidine 3-Nitroaniline 4-Bromophenyl phenyl ether 4-Chloroaniline 4-Chhlorophenyl phenyl ether 4-Nitroaniline

Specific Elements and Compounds
Source: Kentucky Division of Water. DOW-DES Analytical Data File.
Electronic File: Martin Co.Coal.Co.Slurry Release Data.xls

Jim Walter Resources (aka Walter Energy) is not a small company bringing in peanuts for profit. In the first quarter of 2011, the company brought in higher than 2010 profits of $408.7 million. It's a hugely successful company with money to burn who springs generously for some hay bales, a few truckloads of gravel and near-site pumping to mediate their spill of 'no consequence' in Fayette County.

We would like to ask ABC 33/40 why they did not check out these claims of 'no big deal' before they ran their story on the incident. By not doing that, what we're left with is propaganda and half-truths, and even more reasons to view Walter Energy as an extensively problematic operation in Alabama.

Shame on all of them.
*Photo credits Tuscaloosa News and: psellers

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Churnalism, Inc. and the North Birmingham Walter Coke Contamination

In an editorial from the Birmingham News on July 9, 2011, once again the editorial board missed the mark of accuracy, and either failed to gather the known facts or purposefully spun the the issue of the Walter Coke contamination in north Birmingham. Either way, the idea of verify first and print second is absent in our state media.

The editorial started out in the right direction and raised the importance of testing new and proposed school sites before construction begins. It's unthinkable that the Birmingham School Board and the City of Birmingham would embark on erecting a new school, especially in an area of years of heavy industry, without doing an environmental assessment first. They were forewarned about the existing problems as far back as 1989.

An ounce of prevention would have been well worth the proverbial pound of cure for students attending the Hudson K-8 school in Collegeville. The CBS 42 series "Deadly Deception" (DD) has been following the Walter Coke contamination story in north Birmingham for months now, and once again, print media is slow to catch up to the fast moving train of hard-hitting investigative reporting that CBS 42 has led with.

What makes the mistakes by the BNED so disappointing is that CBS' series has done the work for them, and all it takes to run an accurate editorial is to spend a little time looking through the video reports from Sherri Jackson and Ken Lass, lead reporters for the DD series. We wonder if they even bothered, based on their editorial, and hope that they did not rely too heavily on press releases and conversations with Walter Coke and Birmingham officials in forming their print opinion.

Here's what they got wrong:

"Walter Coke has been under an EPA enforcement order since 1989, so the agency can require Walter Coke to perform testing and cleanup, which the company is doing voluntarily now."

When you are under an enforcement order, clean up is not voluntary. It's ordered, as in you have to do this. Walter Coke has spit out the same angle; "we are doing the remediation on our own motivation to be a good neighbor." 

"-- arsenic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or benzo(a)pyrene -- are associated with Walter Coke," said the EPA's Brian Holtzclaw, although a spokesman for the company said they can come from a number of sources, "even nonindustrial sources, other than us."

Still, Walter Coke is doing its part and voluntarily paying to replace soil at Hudson K-8 and residential properties in the area where high levels of contamination were found. 

'Voluntarily doing their part' is a repetition of repeating the illusion that the company is 'doing the right thing just because.' It's interesting they allow the company to slip in the possibility that 'something else' may be causing the contamination besides the coke plant that has been operating at that site since 1967. Walter Coke even went so far as to blame the residents in the area for some of the contamination in previous correspondence with the EPA, read: "non-industrial sources." CBS included those documents in their series, all it would have taken to find them was for someone on the BNED to bother to look.

While Birmingham school officials said they didn't know about the contamination and didn't conduct environmental tests, they should know better now.

Yes they should, but they did know and CBS 42 made that clear in their previous segments on DD. Birmingham School Superintendent, Dr. Craig Witherspoon knew about the contamination in 2010, according to a document from the EPA, and he did nothing to inform the parents despite being asked to do so. The City of Birmingham also had to know prior to construction because of the 1989 order from the EPA documenting the contamination in the area. Why is the editorial board unable to put two and two together and report it decorously?

The most recent soil tests at Hudson showed "unacceptable levels" of contamination, said Holtzclaw, which led Walter Coke to strip out six inches of soil, put down a vapor barrier, fill in with new soil and resod the contaminated area. Soil testing will continue. 

The contaminated soil can and should be replaced we agree, but if the source of the contamination persists recontamination of the 'new soil' is certain and inevitable. Considering that it took decades for action to begin on any remedial action, it's not a stretch to presume additional remediation will not be timely.

 "If the pollution is coming to the soil...you can clean up that individual soil. but it's still going to be getting dirty and polluted so you gotta look at the source of the air pollution."---Dr. Anne Turner-Henson. 

Despite the residents calling for the school to be closed, the EPA is incredulously claiming that's not necessary, and the residents remain unhappy with the over-their-heads technical speak coming from the Jefferson County Department of Health:

The level of chemicals found at Hudson doesn't warrant closing the school, Holtzclaw said, but the testing will continue. Meanwhile, the county health department is monitoring air quality to make sure the school and surrounding areas are safe. 

Completely glossed over and absent from the editorial was the statement of EPA official Holtzclaw who said he was "shocked" that the Hudson K-8 school was built on ground that the EPA had already deemed contaminated. As far as the surrounding areas being safe, that's wide open for debate too, and we'll put that monkey squarely on the back of the EPA who has a nasty habit of raising the levels of acceptable exposure to allow big polluters leeway.

Birmingham News writer Marie Leech included in her story the glaring problem that happens in Alabama and other states, about the lack of a federal mandate that cities test for contamination before building new schools:

For most states, including Alabama, "EPA has recognized over the years that there were no guidelines or oversight when it came to the safety of building school properties," Holtzclaw said.
That led the EPA in November to establish a set of voluntary guidelines for school sites that suggests site reviews, environmental reviews and public involvement.
Environmental testing before schools are built is not required in Alabama, officials say, which could lead to more problems like the one at Hudson. 

The BNED did take issue with the nonsense of not testing first, but why did they let the city officials who knew off the hook? If there is something upsetting in this whole ordeal that ought to rank high on the list, although the EPA and ADEM are the most deserving of harsh criticism because they knew first and did nothing for decades. The EPA added insult to injury and failed miserably in making recommendations "voluntary" not federal requirements. However, even if there had been mandatory guidelines, Alabama would have found some way to challenge the legality of it, preventing adoption of the rules until the lengthy legal battle ran it's course.

 

Bob Morgan director of capitol projects for city schools gets dangerously close to sounding like an utter incompetent when he feigns 'whadda ya want from me, nobody said anything': 

Morgan said several community meetings were held when plans for the new school were being drafted, and nobody raised any concerns.
"In fact, everybody in the community said they wanted a new school," he said. "As long as we have people living in the community and sending their children to school, we have to provide them a school to go to." 

No one in the community knew they were living in a carcinogenic soup Mr. Morgan or they would have raised the same concerns (and hell) they are raising right now. But the city and state knew. Did you know too? Is it appropriate for you to assign any blame to parents for wanting new schools for their children to attend? We cry foul on that and you too, sir.

The worst transgression continues to be the blase attitude of our media who fail to get the facts straight and present honest stories on matters of tremendous public interest in a timely manner. The information was there since 1989 why didn't anyone in the print media find it?

The new motto of the Birmingham News is "this is our story" and they've taken some flack from some who felt the motto would have been better suited to 'this is your story.' Many are now distrustful of the News and their trend in recent years of filtering news stories with a biased interest, slanted in favor of business, established politicians and deference for certain advertisers endeavors.

Their position seems to have shifted to a predetermined discourse on particular issues  that doesn't rock the boat too hard and create a spillage of revenue dollars. Or political tempers. 

What took them so long to offer an opinion about the contamination in north Birmingham, and once they did, why does the BNED 'voluntarily' swing at the issue with velvet gloves and allow Walter Coke, the Birmingham School Board and city leaders some leeway? We suspect it's rooted in the bending of news stories and editorials to fit news values, political interests and media logic--the new norm in the age of press releases from governmental and corporate propagandists permeating news rooms.

The end result is more 'churnalism' than journalism.

Children continually being exposed to deadly toxins and city leaders acting dangerously irresponsible is not an issue to come late to reporting on, and if you are going to be tardy, at least make every effort to be 'dressed appropriately' in accuracy.

Anything less is not the real story.

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Second Permit Filed for Coal Mine Near Mulberry Fork--Cordova, Alabama

The Mayor who feels no shame in the wreckage of the 'church of secrets'

Reed Minerals, Inc. has filed a permit with the Alabama Surface Mining Commission dated July 5, 2011 for a second mine to be located near the contested Sheperd's Bend Mine along the eighth most threatened river in the US, the Black Warrior River. The land for the Reed Mine belongs to the Cordova Industrial Board and Reed claims it will "bring twenty jobs and have a payroll of $1.5 million."

Read more here

In an article we wrote on June 1, 2011 entitled "World Class Jack" a reference to Cordova Mayor Jack Scott, we surmised that his refusal to allow FEMA trailers for victims of the April 27th tornado devastation had everything to do with coal. Mayor Scott had to have another reason for his stubbornness that garnered world wide attention and heaped huge embarrassment on him and the city leaders of Cordova.

Scott has heard all the complaints, and he isn't apologizing. He said he doesn't want run-down mobile homes parked all over town years from now.

"I don't feel guilty," he said. "I can look anyone in the eye."

And whatever that reason was it had to be a good one, in his mind at least, but he did very little eye to eye looking at anyone and refused repeated requests for interviews by national media outlets. 

We are not pleased to report we were correct in our suspicions of why Jack Scott was acting like a typical 'Big Mule' about the whole thing--payday was coming for him.

The Cordova Industrial Board (CIB) owns the land the Reed mine will be sited on and they'll make a bundle off the mineral rights. Earlier this year, the CIB acquired a 47 acre tract of land that will allow the transport of materials by river and rail, a site well-suited for coal transport and it's no surprise coal connoisseur Alabama Power approves:

The property is valued at $350,000. It was obtained at no cost by the Cordova Water and Gas Board through negotiations in exchange for services rendered in the past to Warrior River Steel, the land’s previous owner.
The Cordova Industrial Development Board will be responsible for marketing it.
Jack Drummond, chairman of both the Water and Gas Board and CIDB, said city officials have been trying to obtain the site for approximately two years.
Drummond said the area was called prime property during a meeting with Alabama Power representatives last year. Mayor Jack Scott added that the city has the option of buying some adjoining acres, which would bring the site’s total to 150.“It gives us the potential to bring jobs into the city. We need jobs in Walker County and Alabama,” he said. 

Walker County owes its soul to coal and to the Drummond family. In a 2009 Walker County Annual Report, it's clear who wants a piece of Walker County's 'black gold' from the generous contributions rolling into the county coffers. 

Mayor Scott isn't going to be left in the coal dust he had to endure when he worked the mines, he's moving up and on his way to easy money street with the Reed Minerals deal.

Scott claimed that jobs and having young people move into the area were part of his reasoning for disallowing Cordovians access to FEMA trailers within the city limits. He called FEMA trailers an "eyesore" and an impediment to a "young, professional class" of potential residents wanting to move Cordova and "put down roots" translating to new folks will mean jobs coming closely behind.

The mine will bring twenty jobs. Hardly an employment boom by any logical measure.

Mines aren't normally a draw for "young professionals" to pour into an area. Who wants to raise a family in an area with a loud, filthy and destructive coal mine as their next door neighbor? Not many we can think of would see that as idyllic portrait of family living.

But in the world of Jack Scott, a former coal miner himself, it's a winner. 

All the way to the bank.
*photocredit: Gawker.com 
Facebook page--"Cordova-The Truth"
*Update--Public Meeting Notice 7/12/2011 on Reed Mine posted on Cordova-TheTruth 

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"The Onion" Spoofs the Big Coal Lobby

Filed under: too damn funny

The Onion video spoof also reveals a new documentary called "Terminal Gust," that captures one small town's plight as they suffer from wind whistling into their water supply. 

"Oh my god, kids could drink that water and get wind in their brains," one panelist cries. 

"Unlike coal, we don't know what wind is. We don't even know where it comes from," another panelist exclaims. 

Video link:

In The Know: Coal Lobby Warns Wind Farms May Blow Earth Off Orbit

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