Published: June 4, 2019 |

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The Alabama Surface Mining Commission (ASMC) has granted a five-year permit renewal for the No. 5 mine in Dovertown.

The renewal was issued to Mays Mining Inc. on Tuesday and will remain in effect until May 22, 2024, according to the ASMC’s website. 

The renewal came with two conditions. Mays Mining must flag the boundaries of the plywood plant that previously operated on approximately 16.5 acres of the area covered in the permit and submit a Special Overburden Handling Plan that states how the company intends to address any phenol and formaldehyde residue left over from the plant’s operation in order to protect the public and the environment.

Black Warrior Riverkeeper has opposed the project for a host of reasons, including the fact that it would “discharge polluted water into the Mulberry Fork and its tributaries only 5.5 miles upstream of a primary drinking water intake for the BWWB (Birmingham Water Works Board), the Mulberry Intake, which serves 200,000 greater Birmingham area customers daily.”

Dovertown residents spoke out against the project at two meetings of the Cordova Economic and Industrial Development Authority last year. The board, which owns the mineral rights to the property and would receive 8 percent of the royalties if coal is extracted from the site, gave its consent to the reassignment of a coal mining lease from Centennial Natural Resources, LLC to Mays Mining.

In February, new board members drafted a letter to the ASMC requesting that the permit renewal not be granted.

Source: Daily Mountain Eagle

To stop by Mays Mining’s website, CLICK HERE

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