Citizen Complaint, Alabama Dep. of Environmental Management

I was called to a site along Buttermilk Road in Tuscaloosa Co by the landowner featured in this complaint. For people to understand why we are asking for a cease and desist I will add a little history.

The photo above is from 2009 showing the same site. Flight provided by SouthWings

The street was relatively quiet, isolated on a dead end, and much darker at night than what's coming.

The actual owner is an 83 year old recently widowed lady who is also recovering from a recent heart surgery. She was forced to sell her home due to the callous action of Tuscaloosa City Planners and Council. After many rounds of comments against the project including noise, extreme lighting flooding the homes, traffic, and other reasonable issues for a lady who until now lived on a fairly quiet darkened neighborhood surrounded by family, she and her family were ignored. 

She placed the home on the market to sell. She simply could not stand the strain of living next to such a massive facility and all of it's negative impacts. She found a realtor who was happy to help and visited the home a couple of times. One of those visits was during a rain event where the property was inundated with red mud and storm water. She has never been back! It's my opinion that the sale was lost due to the negative impacts of the project across the street. 

The City of Tuscaloosa should be held just as responsible for this as the developer since they have been on the site more than once and at one time told a relative of the owner "We're going to put a stop to this" That was about 2 months ago and a couple more floods. Yes, It's happened more than once. In fact it has happened 5 times already as of this post, but never before the destruction across the street.

When the City and State know about situations like this and take no action to stop it, it sends a loud message that the profit and taxes generated by this project takes precedent over the citizens.

Lance LeFleur said recently that "it takes more than lawsuits to protect Alabama's waterways". I agree sir, Where the heck is your department and why are your people ignoring sites like these. I have documented thousands of violations over the years, 99% stemming from lack of enforcement.

That's where Waterkeepers Alabama step in. Sometimes we have to sue but that is a last resort. We would rather have state and local agencies that take clean water as seriously as we do.

Video was taken 07/23/21 at 06:39 PM, inside the residential shop across from the development site after a thunderstorm. This shop had just been deep cleaned the day before from the last flood! 

Citizen Complaint below. 

TO ADEM, Water Division.

Please accept the following complaint on behalf of John L. Wathen, Hurricane Creekkeeper and Friends of Hurricane Creek against an unidentified carwash / truck stop construction activity located at the intersection of Buttermilk Road and I-59 in Tuscaloosa County. N 33.17065 W 87.44712

There is no NPDES permit placard at the gate identifying what and who this is. 

The construction activity is causing catastrophic offsite impacts to the neighborhood as well as depositing tons of sediment into Cottondale Creek, leading to Hurricane Creek which is listed with a TMDL requiring turbidity reduction, not an increase of thousands of units. 

On 07/22/21 I visited the site after a call from a landowner stating that his mothers house was flooding and covered with mud due to the construction activity. I revisited the site the next day, 07/23/21 during a rain event and found a red river of mud running unchecked offsite at several locations.

              

            1.     No NPDES permit posted at entrance.

2.     No BMPs in critical places.

3.     Improper BMP application

4.     Failed BMPs

5.     Offsite transport of sediment, construction materials including massive amounts of crushed stone.

6.     No vegetation on bare areas after 2 weeks exposed.

7.     No slope vegetation on retention pond sides.

8.     Deep rills throughout, including the sides of the retention pond.

9.     Retention pond is NOT being used. Drainage from the construction areas and road grading lead offsite.

 

The threat of imminent continuous harm to the environment demands an immediate inspection by ADEM and a stop work order issued until the BMP plan is revisited, upgraded and implemented in a manner, which will curb this chronic violation of all permit standards.

A  contractor has relayed to the landowner that the retention pond is not in use. The grade level of the roadbed is lower than the drop inlets causing all sheet flow storm water to leave the premises and inundate the surrounding community and Cottondale Creek. That must stop. The retention pond is required to stem the flow of storm water and cause the sediment to fall out on site.

The site is illegally discharging large amounts of sediment and extremely turbid water from 3 locations not including the fixed pipe coming from the unused pond. (Plate 011, 012, 017, 017a, 017b)

The heaviest discharge is straight out of the entrance road. None of the drop inlets allow storm water to enter causing rivers of mud to leave, flow down the road where it turns into 2 residences causing flooding, sedimentation, foundation scouring, and deposition of large amounts of sediment inside the residence and shop area behind.

There is another improper discharge at the first berm on the sediment basin. It is terraced in a way to cause storm water to turn offsite instead of entering the pond. The bank of Cottondale is just a few feet beyond the tree line. (Plates 17 -17b)

A third improper discharge is along the I-59 (side of the site. It flows from the site, crosses the “Gulf States” car dealership and enters the state ROW drain where I got a turbidity reading of 1,622 NTU after a ½ inch rain and the I-59 ditch was only 171 NTU. (Plates 11, 14,)  Cottondale creek can be seen in plate (016)

There is concern that the developer has no regard for the neighbors or the environment. This site has been visited by the City of Tuscaloosa on more than one occasion and made promises to “put a stop to this” as much as 2 months ago. Since they have known about this and neglected to enforce the city of Tuscaloosa bears a great deal of credit for these failures and the length of chronic violations. Please include the City of Tuscaloosa Building Inspection department for failing to uphold their agreement with ADEM to enforce under their MS4 permit.

 

I have no record of ADEM presence at the site. It’s time for the state to step in and issue a cease and desist order until ALL BMP requirements are met. It’s obvious that if they do hold a permit, either they are not living up to it or it is grossly inadequate.

 

ADEM should also consider an audit of the City of Tuscaloosa’s permit for lack of enforcement.

--

John L. Wathen,
Hurricane Creekkeeper
Friends of Hurricane Creek
 
Creekkeeper is a member of
Waterkeeper Alliance
www.waterkeeper.org
 
Who has the authority to say someone else
 is not being a good steward of the environment?
 
Anyone who notices

 

It takes more than lawsuits to protect Alabama waters (no kidding)

Alabama Dep. of Environmental Management (ADEM) director Lance LeFleur penned an op-ed titled “It takes more than lawsuits to protect Alabama waters”

People swimming in Hurricane Creek

This is one time I fully agree with the Director. It takes a state agency dedicated to protecting the water and air instead of shielding the polluters who pay for permits.

We as Waterkeepers Alabama members do not sue for the fun of it and we don’t make money from suing. In most cases it costs the organizations much more than you might think. If the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) did their job with the due diligence it requires, we would not have to take action at all. ADEM routinely ignores chronic sewer overflows until groups like Tennessee Riverkeeper in this case are forced to file a 60-day Notice of Intent to Sue. (NOIS).

As usual ADEM tried to step in and offer the city of Guntersville a deal by filing a suit with a “Consent Order” and lengthy timeline requirements, which basically allow the pollution to continue in some cases for years. Lance got his feelings hurt this time when the city turned ADEM down and decided the Tennessee Riverkeeper suit made more sense. ADEM consent orders rarely stop the pollution but simply buffer the polluter from citizen suits.

Lance makes the statement “The problem is, Guntersville already is taking steps to repair and upgrade its sewer system. With the technical assistance and oversight of ADEM. The problem is, Guntersville already is taking steps to repair and upgrade its sewer system. With the technical assistance and oversight of ADEM.” Guntersville was not taking adequate steps to curb the spills under ADEMs scrutiny so the Riverkeeper suit was initiated.

Technical assistance and oversight by ADEM is a joke. Take Uniontown for example. ADEM made a deal with them, gave them money to build a new spray field. As for oversight ADEM didn’t show up until the pipes were all in the ground and spray heads ready to attach.

They then showed up and said the system would not work since it was build just like the one currently failing. All of the money was wasted because ADEM did not oversee the project as LeFleur admits is their role. There was no ADEM oversight. No new funds have been allocated since and the system is still failing.

Lance makes the excuse that rainwater infiltration is a major cause of Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSOs) mentioned in the Tennessee Riverkeeper suit. He says, “recent heavy rains put the spotlight on one of the most common yet extremely difficult to resolve environmental concerns – untreated or partially treated sewage getting into our rivers, lakes and streams. Inflow of rainwater through cracked pipes or faulty manhole covers and infiltration of groundwater through deteriorated sewer lines can overwhelm a sewer system and send sewage into waterways.”

 What he is really saying is that the “closed loop systems” used by many municipalities including Tuscaloosa are failing and they know it. Rainwater and sewage are distributed through separate systems; Storm water and “Sanitary Sewer Systems.” Rain will not be present in the system unless there are serious leaks. ADEM and the cities know this but choose to ignore it until someone sues.

Chronic sewer overflow on JVC Road, Tuscaloosa

 

If ADEM were properly enforcing the Clean Water Act as prescribed, there would be no need for citizen suits. With that said, as long as ADEM refuses to hold polluters accountable, Waterkeepers Alabama will. It’s unfortunate that Lance and ADEM make suits necessary.

When a Waterkeeper  finds themselves in the uncomfortable position of having to file a NOIS we have clear resolutions and mitigation explained in the suit. We then oversee the progress of that plan. Unlike ADEM, our prime objective is fixing the problem, not protecting the violator from diligent enforcement. 

 

Photo taken from social media satire post

ADEM is often seen by many as a captive agency. The captive agency syndrome is where an agency such as ADEM is held captive by the polluters they are charged to enforce. In Alabama we have a badly skewed funding paradigm whereby ADEM is primarily funded by permit fees submitted by the polluters making a perfect “fox guarding the hen-house” scenario. If ADEM does diligent enforcement, the companies might choose not to do business here depriving ADEM of future permit fees. Any fines collect by ADEM goes into the general fund and does not support ADEM inspection and enforcement work. For them, non-enforcement is the way of business. Coddling and covering up for polluters seems more like the ADEM mantra.


In Tuscaloosa, where I live and work, we still have chronic sewer overflows from historic sites named in past ADEM consent orders. 

 

 

 

We have lift stations that spew so much h2S gas (Hydrogen Sulfide) into the air it rots the galvanized fences and post around them. h2S is highly carcinogenic and so caustic it can rot galvanized steel. 

 

The problem with ADEM consent orders is that they hardly ever fix the problem completely. The developers and cities know that while under a consent order, citizens are barred from filing any action. It is up to ADEM to enforce or citizens must take the unpleasant step of filing a NOIS. Again, I want to state that I agree with the director. It takes more than lawsuits to protect Alabama’s waterways. It takes a state agency not afraid to diligently enforce as well as citizen oversight. All of the creeks, rivers, and most lakes belong to “We the people” not ADEM and certainly not the industries who only see them as industrial waste conduits. It’s time for “We the people” to demand better politics or better politicians supporting ADEM fully and demand diligent enforcement of the laws as written.

This has been going on at ADEM since I first came to work as an environmentalist in Alabama. I have seen several directors come and go but I remember none as misleading as Lance. He reminds me of the cartoon character Pepe LePew. He tried to paint himself up with many brushes to look like a kitty cat but under it all he was just a skunk. Lance can paint ADEM with pretty colors and wide brushes but the policies that allow raw sewage to flow freely into our neighborhoods and streams stinks! That's why we have Waterkeepers.