MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WIAT) - It's a decision from the Environmental Management Commission-- which operates under the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.

"We issue a large number of permits on a regular basis," ADEM spokesperson Scott Hughes said.

But this particular permit for a 1,700 acre coal mine along Shepard Bend is the source of a lot of controversy.

"The commission's ruling does document that in fact the department did issue the permit in accordance with our rules and regulations and laws that govern our operations," Hughes continued.

The mine would be located upstream from an intake that supplies some 200,000 Birmingham residents with drinking water.

"I can't say that it's too surprising," Nelson Brooke with Black Warrior Riverkeeper said.

His organization issued the appeal.

"There will be 29 different discharges of waste water from the mine into the Black Warrior River," he continued.

Brooke says that would put potentially dangerous contaminants into the water supply. However, the commission, citing a report, maintains the mine would not lower water quality standards.

"We don't think that ADEM did its job to look at all the data to make a site specific decision about this mine's impact on water quality," Southern Environmental Law Center attorney Gilbert Rogers said.

"Our scientists and biologists and engineers understand that fact," Hughes continued.

It's a controversy that could move from a meeting room to a court room.

“Not only are we considering avenues for appeal, but we will also continue imploring the University of Alabama not to lease or sell their significant land and mineral rights at Shepherd Bend to the mining company,” said Charles Scribner, Black Warrior Riverkeeper’s executive director. “Without UA’s land and minerals, mining across the river from our drinking water intake may not be economically feasible.”