Lawsuit filed over Belle Mina quarry, judge blocks ADEM
LIMESTONE COUNTY, Ala. (WHNT) – A Limestone County judge has issued an order temporarily barring a state environmental agency from closing the public comment period over a proposed rock quarry in Belle Mina.
The order issued Friday prevents the Alabama Department of Environmental Management from ending public comments related to air and treated wastewater discharge permits sought by the companies seeking to build the quarry.
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The closing date for comments was March 22, which is now on hold, but no new closing date has been ordered.
The proposed quarry is set to be located at the intersection of Old Highway 20 and Mooresville Road, across from the Belle Mina Post Office. According to the filing, the project is spread over three parcels of land, totaling 199 acres in the unincorporated Belle Mina community.
Area residents have expressed concern about the quarry, worrying about water and air quality and potential home damage from quarry-related blasting.
The judge’s order follows a lawsuit filed Friday by Mitchell Frazier Farms against ADEM. The lawsuit takes aim at ADEM’s permitting review process and public comment period, arguing there are a number of problems with the agency’s approach.
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The lawsuit says the air permit is needed for emissions from a proposed rock crusher at the quarry, while the wastewater discharge permit would allow wastewater discharges in the Belle Mina area of Limestone County.
However, the lawsuit contends that ADEM did not follow its own rules regarding public notice and the details of what the public should be allowed to review. The lawsuit argues ADEM’s decision to allow a 30-day comment period on the permits, beginning Dec. 1, failed to recognize the time conflicts people would have due to the holiday season.
The lawsuit says ADEM revised the schedule in mid-December, deciding to hold a public hearing and extending the comment date to March 8, and holding a public hearing on March 7. The lawsuit says notice of that hearing and comment deadline were issued Jan. 23.
But the lawsuit contends, there was another problem with the Jan. 23 notice.
“In doing so, however, ADEM inserted a revised draft permit application into the record without, in the public notice, expressly notifying the public that a revised permit application (as opposed to the draft permit made available on December 1, 2023) was now available for review,” the lawsuit argues.
The lawsuit also notes that last month the Limestone County Commission requested an Alabama Attorney General’s opinion on whether the location of the quarry violates two local laws in the Alabama Code, “one of which restricts the location of a quarry within one mile of ‘the TVA Industrial Mega Site,’ the other of which restricts the location of a quarry within two-and-a-half miles of a “public school,’” according to the lawsuit.
After those requests, the lawsuit says ADEM extended the comment period for two weeks, until March 22, but has refused to further extend the deadline.
In arguing for the extension, the lawsuit notes a number of factors including the desire to get an opinion from the Attorney General about the local laws, the extended review of the waste discharge permit by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and incomplete or recently added documentation in the permit file.
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Limestone County Circuit Judge Matthew Huggins agreed to stay ADEM’s decision to close the comment period “pending resolution” of the claims filed in the case.
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