By Melanie Patterson

The North Jefferson News



The latest battle in the Kimberly mining war took place on Wednesday.

The Alabama Surface Mining Commission held a hearing Wednesday in Jasper regarding the proposed mine site at 8800 Bill Jones Road.

RJR Mining Company, Inc., of Cullman has applied for a permit to mine 133 acres reportedly containing 300,000 tons of coal.

RJR owns the surface rights to the property, while Drummond Company, Inc. owns the mineral rights.

Representatives from Kimberly and Morris attended the hearing to continue building their case against the site being mined.

“I made the same cases I’ve made from the start,” said Ralph Lindsey of Kimberly, who has attended several hearings and trials regarding the proposed mining. “Three governing bodies duly elected by the citizenry have rejected this.”

The three elected bodies Lindsey meant were the Kimberly Planning and Zoning Commission, which denied RJR’s mining request on Oct. 15, 2007; the Kimberly Town Council voted on Nov. 13, 2007, not to enter into a mining agreement with RJR; and the Jefferson County Board of Zoning Adjustment denied a use variance on Feb. 25, 2008.

However, in a Nov. 12, 2008, bench trial, Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge J. Scott Vowell ruled in favor of RJR operating the Kimberly mine, writing in his judgment that not doing so would cause an “unnecessary hardship” on RJR.

“You’ve got to wonder about the American system when you can hire some fancy lawyers and get a judge to go against the will of the people,” said Lindsey.

RJR attorneys did not return phone calls by press time.

Lori Morgan, president of the Jefferson County Community Action League, said Wednesday’s hearing went well.

The league, formerly called the Kimberly Community Action League, was created two years ago for the purpose of fighting the proposed mine.

“I think we presented our information in a very organized way,” Morgan said. “All I can say is that we’re going to keep fighting this until we can’t go any further.”

Morris attorney Scott Morro has also been involved in the mine issue from the beginning.

“I feel confident we raised some issues of concern to the mining commission,” said Morro, including local land use plans, the Turkey Creek watershed, and possible unstable geology because of existing mine shafts and air shafts at the site.

“We just want safety and conformance with the land use plan,” said Morro. “The commission listened to what we had to say. If they grant the permit, we will appeal.”

There is a 30-day window for an appeal to be filed after the commission issues its decision.

According to both Morrow and Lindsey, the Community Action League did not appeal Judge Vowell’s November ruling simply because the organization did not have enough money.

Alabama Surface Mining Commission officials were unavailable for comment.