North Birmingham’s Bluestone Coke plant issued warning for Clean Water Act violations
In this contributed photo, black polluted water from Bluestone Coke flows into Five Mile Creek.
Bluestone Coke, an industrial plant in North Birmingham, has 60 days to clean up contaminated water in Five Mile Creek before it faces a federal lawsuit, according to a notice of intent to sue submitted by environmental groups.
Black Warrior Riverkeeper and the Greater-Birmingham Alliance to Stop Pollution, represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center, sent a notice against Bluestone Coke Friday for Clean Water Act violations.
The goal of the notice is to force Bluestone Coke to comply with federal regulations, but Nelson Brooke, a Black Warrior Riverkeeper employee who oversees the creek, said he has questions about whether the company has the intention or ability to do this.
“They’re going to have to invest pretty significantly in their pollution treatment controls to bring the facility into compliance,” Brooke said.
According to the notice, the company itself has reported 392 permit violations for pollutants, such as ammonia, in its Discharge Monitoring Reports. The plant can discharge its wastewater into a tributary of Five Mile Creek, which flows through nearby Fultondale, Coalburg and Brookside.
“It’s really an environmental injustice. The surrounding communities have not received the justice that they deserve,” Brooke said.
Black Warrior Riverkeeper says in its own testing, the group found the company discharging pollutants such as E. coli, which aren’t permitted.
In December, Bluestone Coke agreed to pay a $925,000 fine for chronic air quality violations as part of a consent decree with the Jefferson County Board of Health. However, the company did not admit to violating its permit.
The Jefferson County Health Department alleged in May that the plant had stopped making payments, accruing $238,000 in penalties and additional daily fines for late payment. Attorneys for Bluestone Coke did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Read the notice filed by the Southern Environmental Law Center below.
How did Condé Nast go from dominance to decline? A new book explains
For decades, Condé Nast publications such as Vogue and Vanity Fair were consequential tastemakers. Writer Michael Grynbaum explores the heyday of these magazines and how they lost their footing.
1960s pop star Connie Francis has died. The singer’s life was touched by tragedies
1960s pop star Connie Francis has died. The first female singer to chart a number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100, she sold over 40 million records before the age of 25.
Marc Maron on why it’s time for his ‘WTF’ podcast to end
Marc Maron is proud of his run as host of his podcast, WTF. And because of that, he's bringing it to a close. He wants to avoid it becoming just another show "feeding the garbage bin of content."
Virginia is for … data centers? Residents are increasingly saying no
The world's highest concentration of data centers is in Virginia. Many residents are not happy about that.
Senate approves cuts to NPR, PBS and foreign aid programs
The Senate voted to approve a $9 billion rescission package aimed at clawing back money already allocated for public radio and television.
Gulf Coast braces for flooding as storm builds into possible tropical depression
The weather system moving across the Florida Panhandle on Wednesday was showing a greater chance of becoming a tropical depression as it moves toward the northern Gulf Coast.
