BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) -
Some of the people who think the Shepherd Bend Mine represents a threat to an endangered river and the quality of Birmingham's drinking water also believe that the University Of Alabama System Board of Trustees have the power to stop it.
Joseph Olsen is a UAB Senior and the organizer of a petition drive that got over 6,000 signatures worldwide.
Olsen is part of a growing number of opponents to the Shepherd Bend mine project.
The UA System owns a large portion of the land near the proposed coal strip mine on the Mulberry Fork of the Black Warrior River.
Mine opponents, including Charles Scribner of the Black Warrior Riverkeeper, think the project might not be economically viable for a coal company without the mineral rights to the land owned by the University of Alabama.
That's why demonstrators joined with environmental groups and people who live near the impacted area to protest the outside the UA System Board of Trustees meeting on Thursday in Birmingham. Their goal was to convince the board to take a stand against the Shepherd Bend mine.
"To the board of trustees we hope to persuade them to start actually discussing the Shepherd Bend issue which they've been silent on and to pass a resolution to say they will neither sell nor lease the land that they own for the Shepherd Bend mine," said Joseph Olsen. "We've been fighting this for a while and they always are very quiet."
Protestors held an 800 foot march to show just how close the mine wastewater might come to a Birmingham Water Works Board intake. Written comments from the water board have identified the proposed mine as a potential threat to drinking water quality which could increase filtration costs. The Birmingham City Council and the NAACP have also come out against it.
"Our local and national NAACP strongly believes that clean water is a civil right," said Anthony Johnson, Birmingham Metro NAACP.
Protestors want a solid commitment from the board not to lease or sell university land for mining. Thursday, a UA System representative accepted the signatures, but made no promises.
"Nothing's been brought to the board for its consideration. It would come from the UA campus and nothing has been brought to them," said Kellee Reinhart,
Vice Chancellor for Systems Relations.
The University of Alabama put out a request for proposals about mining the land back in 2007.
Since then a mining company, Shepherd Bend, LLC has applied for and received permits to mine the property from the Alabama Surface Mining Commission and the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.
"And it seems odd to me that they would go ahead and get permits to mine on land that they have not yet talked about to be able to mine on for the people who own the land. So that seems to me that even though it's not official, perhaps they have some understanding of maybe they're going to get this land eventually," said Olsen. "The fight will definitely continue. We've had two protests in the past, and we want to show them you know- hey we're having a third one and we'll have a fourth one, we'll have a fifth one. We'll have however many it takes. We're not going to just go away."
Some property owners who live along the affected part of the river feel they have no choice, but to keep fighting.
"We see the sloughs are filling up. Every time we have a major rain event my property gets covered with 6 to 8 inches of silt with coal fines in it. So, we're just seeing this horrible destruction going on," said Karen Hendon. "Once the river is gone it's going to be gone. I mean there will be nothing we can do and it's time that the people that live on the river and the people in Birmingham who get their water out of the river, realize what a horrible, horrible destruction that we're facing."
