Shepherd Bend Mine and Birmingham’s Water Supply

SELC continues a years-long effort to reverse the state’s decision to allow the 1,700-acre Shepherd Bend mine to release wastewater just upstream from an intake for the Birmingham Water Works—the source of drinking water for some 200,000 people.

On March 15, 2013, we received the disappointing news that the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals had affirmed the Alabama Department of Environmental Management’s decision to issue a permit to Shepherd Bend under the Clean Water Act. A related case, where the Birmingham Water Works Board has challenged the Alabama Surface Mining Commission’s decision to issue Shepherd Bend a permit, remains before the Alabama Surface Mining Commission’s Division of Hearings and Appeals.