A map of a limestone quarry near Belle Mina in Limestone County. A Limestone County Circuit Court Judge signed an agreement between the firm that operates the mine and residents to end a lawsuit. (Southern Environmental Law Center)
Key points
- The terms require the company to create a buffer and operate within specific hours.
- It must also notify residents before using explosives to harvest limestone from mine.
- Judge required the company to alter operations in January to accommodate complaints from residents and churches.
A Limestone County Court agreed to the terms that residents and a mining company in Bella Mina negotiated over a dispute regarding the environmental impacts over a quarry.
Circuit Court Judge Matthew R. Huggins signed the consent order last week required Grayson Carter & Son, Inc., the firm that owned and operated the quarry, to change its operations and establish a buffer meant to reduce the burden on the surrounding properties.
Barry Brock, a senior attorney and director of Southern Environmental Law Center in Alabama, an environmental legal advocacy organization that represented residents, said that the consent order was a compromise between the two groups.
“This is the best outcome for our clients and mitigates very serious long-term impacts on the community,” Brock said in a news release published last week. “As pro bono public advocacy attorneys, we know that communities face a difficult legal burden when seeking injunctions to stop harm caused by extractive industries.”
Limestone County judge places restrictions on Belle Mina quarry as case proceeds
He then praised the residents and churches who “devoted so much time and energy to this fight, including testifying to very personal stories about how the quarry changed their lives.”
A message seeking comment was sent to the attorneys representing Grayson Carter & Son on Monday.
According to the consent order, the quarry’s operators are required to scale back the hours of their mining activities and are not allowed to operate at night or on Sundays. The company will also create setbacks and buffer zones between the mining site and surrounding properties and plant trees along the quarry boundary to protect the residents from the environmental impacts of the mine.
The release also stated that the company must pave the roads to limit the dust that trucks and other vehicles generate and move the entrance of the quarry away from homes and churches and install turn lanes. It also requires the operator to send messages or emails to residents before it blasts explosives.
The consent order concludes about a year and a half of litigation after residents filed a lawsuit that alleged the quarry was a nuisance because of the noise coming from the site. Equipment on the site created sounds as it operated more than 11 hours per day, five days per week. Residents also complained of the explosives the firm detonated to loosen the gravel before harvesting the materials.
Residents also alleged that the quarry created an environmental problem because it disrupted the flow of groundwater that could damage their properties.
In January, after a hearing, the judge ordered the company to place the rock crusher it used on the site at least 1,200 feet away from residents and prohibited it from placing lights “by the line of sight over the berm” near the mine, reducing noise and minimizing activities that block traffic while operating the mine.
The mine was meant to harvest 400 tons of limestone for the next 30 years.
Nina Perez, a plaintiff in the lawsuit who suffers from asthma, was ready to leave because of the impact the quarry had on her health.
“This situation was never what any of us wanted, but we tried to make the best out of something difficult,” she said in the news release. “While there is a lot to be grateful for in this settlement, it’s still outrageous that families had to go through a legal battle just to get action and accountability.”
From Alabama Reflector Post Url: Visit
Author: Ralph Chapoco