STOP WORK ORDER finally enforced!

STOP WORK ORDER finally enforced! 

STOP WORK!

The City of Tuscaloosa recently issued a “Stop Work Order” to the Quick Trip Corporation facility located at the intersection of Buttermilk Road and I-59. Stop work order means just that. Stop working on anything except mitigating the recent violations and offsite impacts to residents and businesses located in the path of their mud flow. That is unfortunate for the contract workers who have to go home because the general contractor refused to follow the guidelines. As usual the QT folks are telling nearby business owners that it is my fault their work has stopped. If the Quick Trip Corporation contractors had performed as prescribed in the city and state permits, there would have been no need for Friends of Hurricane Creek to ever file the first complaint. It was negligence on the part of the polluter but also the City of Tuscaloosa building inspections and ADEM for standing by watching with blinkers on it seemed. That is until I showed up on site with a camera.

Once I made a public post showing the offsite flooding of residential property and the deposit of tons of sediment onto state and county right of way things began to improve slightly. When Tuscaloosa finally took action in the form of a SWO, improvements began the very same day. That proves what I have been saying for over 2 decades. Warnings do not deter bad behavior. Enforcement where the developer feels the effects at the bottom line in the budget gets immediate response.

 

It should not take public humiliation and outcry to make the enforcement agencies to step up and do their jobs but that seems to be the only way to get help for tax paying citizens being hit with mud and accelerated runoff from a poorly planned and implemented construction site every rain event.

 When a company like QT corp. and McCrory sign on to a permit and then ignores the stipulations to protect the environment then they should be stopped. That is the primary responsibility of the inspectors who visit the site on a regular basis. If local inspectors do not act, then ADEM is the second line of defense. It this case I can document, both lines of defense failed the citizens. It is not a singular event. There have been many such sites in and around Tuscaloosa, which have not held accountable. I personally believe that the city inspection department has far too chummy a relationship with violators. Many corrective measure letters were sent from the inspection department but no real improvement was seen until the city engineer, Jarrod Milligan showed up and walked the site with the inspections division head, Colby Mixon.

Colby Mixon

Construction Manager

Office of City Engineer

Infrastructure & Public Services

 

It was obvious that Mr. Milligan was unaware of some of the issues on the site. For every problem I pointed out, Mr. Mixon seemed to know about it and have “reasons” for why it occurred without stopping the work earlier. I personally found his reasons to sound more like excuses for the violations. For instance, he knew the sod that was supposed to be used for stabilization rotted and was hauled off of the site. He knew about the repeated erosion control measures that were not installed and or maintained.

He knew the drainage along I-59 was a failure and made the excuse that there was an elevation problem. I agree. The issue has existed for almost a year but Mr. Mixon never thought it was important enough to address until Mr. Milligan, his supervisor was on site with us.

 

A major set of issues which Mr. Mixon was aware of has been the chronically failing best Management Practices (BMPs) along the I-59 corridor. Simply put, there have been none since the slope was scraped bare. It is to be a service road leading to Gulf States Auto sales. No inspector worth being paid could ignore that.

As it stands now there is no quick fix for drainage issues located at the north western most section of the permit. The inspectors for the city should have picked up on this from the beginning and made them take the proper steps to mitigate the problem. They knew about it and explained that they had some elevation issues. No joke! Water will not run up hill without external pressure such as a pump. That’s not my opinion, that’s facts!

Entrance to Gulf States Auto sales during rain.

The owner of Gulf States Auto sales is being hurt from a business standpoint. I have personally redirected several of their customers to the entrance of the day. It changes quite regularly. They deserve an adequate entrance, which does not impede commerce. A perfect permanent resolution to the issue would be to make the service road a priority, Get the ALDOT permit and build the road! The polluter has submitted no sediment loss calculation as directed in the ADEM NOV. From what I have seen and documented there has been several inches of sediment loss over a very large area, which until yesterday, 09/01/21 had no BMPs at all. The sediment load in Cottondale Creek is quite visible even though Mr. Evan Roberts of ADEM claimed the creek is not near the site. I have walked it out. It’s about 175 feet from the ALDOT flume ditch, which QT is using as an unpermitted discharge point.

 

I am getting blamed for slowing down the work progress. I completely disagree. The permit had a set of state and local guidelines QT was required to follow. They did not. The city inspections department had an obligation to take deterrent action to stop the flow of mud. They did not. It was a combination of irresponsibility by all concerned.

 

I believe the only way to mitigate this now is to create a permanent retention basin at the lower most section and apply for a discharge permit from Alabama dep. of transportation, ALDOT. The process of getting an ALDOT permit should have been built into the plan submitted to the Tuscaloosa Planners. From the surface it seems that the planners do not take in such matters. A developer submits a plan and without significant public opposition it is passed regardless of its protective value to the surrounding community or so it seems. Again, this is not a stand alone problem. It has been repeated many times on many such development sites permitted by the city of Tuscaloosa. I have thousands of files ranging back to 2007 when FoHC first engaged the city over storm water runoff.

 

Valley Lake Rd. The city "forgot" to notify the county about work

There was an agreement between the city and Tuscaloosa Co. that the city would notify the county engineers when construction began. In an email sent by Co. Civil Engineer Katherine Parris she asked why the city had not informed them of construction beginning. The response was (paraphrased) we’re sorry. We forgot! Anyone who “forgets such an important part of the construction activity should no longer be on the Tuscaloosa employee roster!  What administrator would allow such negligence to continue on their payroll? 

When the local and state agencies do not enforce the permits that they, themselves write then it is up to citizens and non-governmental organizations like Waterkeepers Alabama to stand up and protect our waterways as well as the citizens who enjoy the use of our waters

ADEM Director Lance LeFleur

ADEM Director Lance LeFleur recently penned an Op-Ed stating, “It takes more than lawsuits to protect Alabama waters” This is one time I fully agree with the Director. It takes local and state agencies dedicated to protecting the water and air instead of shielding the polluters who pay for permits.

 We as WaterkeepersAlabama 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.

 Unfortunately here in Alabama what we have witnessed for years is that our state agency, Alabama Department of environmental management, (ADEM) appears completely impotent when it comes to enforcing the Clean Water Act. Over the time I have been an environmental activist I have heard more than one director say ADEM is not here to enforce to clean water act ADEM is here to issue permits. I completely disagree. If ADEM and or a local host government issues a permit to disturb ground then that entity is responsible for enforcing the stipulation of the permit as granted. The environmental conditions included in every disturbance permit are just like a stop sign at a corner downtown to prevent wrecks. If I run that stop sign and a cop sees me I can expect to be pulled over, cited, expect to pay a fine, and possibly lose my license. There’s no difference between those stop signs and the environmental stop signs incorporated into every permit, designed to protect the environment. They are there to protect the environment but also the citizens downstream who are impacted by the facility. Engineering firms who do not adequately report on the ground conditions and falsely represent compliance should be sued and lose their licenses. The permit, if properly enforced should have stopped this Quick Trip wreck from ever occurring.

 

Personally I believe this would be low hanging fruit for a civil case against the developer, his contractors as well as the city of Tuscaloosa for negligence.