Tell the University of Alabama: Don't allow dirty coal mining on university land
The drinking water of 200,000 Birmingham-area residents is at risk of being contaminated by toxic coal mining wastewater discharges -- and the University of Alabama has the power to make sure it doesn't happen.
The University is considering leasing land and minerals to coal mining company Shepherd Bend LLC, which would like to begin operations at a massive 1,773 acre coal mine, where it would dump the wastewater near a water intake station.
The coal company already owns some of the land it wants to mine, but if the University refuses to lease or sell it additional land it likely wouldn't be cost effective to move forward with the mine.
Tell the University of Alabama: Don't sell or lease land or mineral rights for coal mining at Shepherd Bend.
Accessing University of Alabama land is the last piece of the puzzle Shepherd Bend, LLC needs in order to begin mining. The company already has the permits it needs, which would allow it to discharge toxic coal mining wastewater into the Mulberry Fork of the Black Warrior River -- just 800 feet from a Birmingham Water Works Board intake station.
Opposition to the proposed Shepherd Bend Mine is widespread -- and growing. It is strongly opposed by Alabama students, scientists, civil rights organizations, public health experts and the Birmingham City Council, among others.
Alabama students have been urging the University to pledge to never sell or lease university land for the purpose of mining,1 and the Birmingham City Council passed a resolution "imploring the University of Alabama System to neither sell nor lease their significant land and mineral holdings to allow coal mining at Shepherd Bend."2
Tell the University of Alabama: Don't sell or lease land or mineral rights for coal mining at Shepherd Bend.
If the mine is allowed to move forward on the full 1,773 acre site, it would dump more than 3,000 tons of sediment -- the equivalent of 160 dump trucks -- into downstream wetlands and the Mulberry Fork, putting Birmingham's drinking water at risk of contamination.
The Alabama Department of Environmental Management has already made the shortsighted mistake of permitting this dangerous mine. We can't allow the University of Alabama to finish the job by giving access to its land and minerals to a coal company.
Tell the University of Alabama: Don't sell or lease land or mineral rights for coal mining at Shepherd Bend. Not now, not ever.
1. Students Protest Shepherd Bend Mine, Birmingham CBS 42, 10/25/11
2. Shepherd Bend Mine Opposition Continues, Black Warrior Riverkeeper, 1/17/12
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The petition reads:
"The University of Alabama shouldn't even be considering providing coal companies access to its land and minerals at Shepherd Bend, across the river from a major Birmingham drinking water intake facility. I urge you to pledge to never sell or lease university land or mineral rights for coal mining at Shepherd Bend."
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