North Jefferson woman says mining operations damaged her house; state agency to hold hearing
Published 10:04 am Wednesday, April 16, 2014
- This sinkhole was found and documented by a pest control person in the crawl space under Peggy Harris' house. Harris contends the sinkholes were caused by blasting at a nearby surface mine.
Peggy Harris has had enough.
Harris, who lives on Sharit Dairy Road just west of Morris, says that blasting from a nearby surface coal mine is causing damage to her home and property, as well as to several neighbors.
Now she has the attention of state mining regulators, as the company that operates the mine seeks to expand its operations in the area.
Harris has been trying to get neighbors to join her fight against Black Warrior Minerals, the operators of the mine, who want to roughly double the area of the mine that stretches along the south side of Sardis Road, about halfway between Mt. Olive Road and Interstate 65.
That effort has led the Alabama Surface Mining Commission to schedule an informal hearing next month.
Harris has documented structural damage to her home, which includes cracks and separation in a beam that runs the length of the house. A pest control company has also photographed two four-inch sinkholes in the crawl space under her house, which Harris says was caused by mine blasting.
“They’ve been our [pest control] company since 1998, and there have been no signs of anything like that since then,” Harris said. “And I have a neighbor on Sardis Road who has these sinkholes in her back yard now.”
Harris has also enlisted the support of Black Warrior Riverkeepers, an environmental group, as well as the Southern Environmental Law Center, a non-profit legal group that supports such cases in courts and regulatory agencies.
Black Warrior Minerals has had its share of adverse publicity, most of it regarding a mine it proposed at Shepard’s Bend along the Black Warrior River. That proposed mine has been vigorously opposed by residents and groups such as Black Warrior Riverkeepers, as well as the Birmingham Water Works Board, whose main water intake is downstream from the mine site. It’s also been fined heavily for violations at mines in Tuscaloosa County.
Calls for comment from Black Warrior Minerals officials in Cordova were not returned by press deadlines.
The hearing regarding the Sardis Road mine expansion will take place on May 8 at 10 a.m. at the commission office in the Pinnacle Bank building in Jasper. It is open to the public, and Harris hopes that neighbors who are also having mine-related problems will attend.
“Even if you signed an agreement with Black Warrior Minerals [not to sue] in the past and took money from them, you can still come to this hearing and speak,” Harris said.
