Greene County Democrat

Tag: Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM)

  • Eutaw City Council approves agreement for new water operator

    At its regular meeting on April 10, 2023, the Eutaw City Council approved an agreement with J&K Water Consultants of Northport, Alabama to serve as water operator for the city. A certified water operator is required by Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) and is critically needed as the city moves forward with multi-million-dollar grants to repair and improve the unified Eutaw and Boligee Water System.

    Corey Martin, previous certified water operator and IT (computer) specialist with the city resigned and moved on to a position in another city.

    Johnathon Nixon, who is a certified water operator, working in Northport will visit the city weekly to monitor wells and tanks, take water samples, assist in repairing water leaks and making monthly reports to ADEM and the city. According to Mayor Johnson, Nixon has roots in Greene County and previously worker for the city, under prior administrations.

    J&K Water Consultants will work with existing city staff to maintain the system on a daily basis and be available for leaks and special problems beyond the monthly water sampling and reporting. J&K will be paid $1,500 a
    month for their services.

    Ralph Liverman presented the Council with a set of documents on the city’s finances that were not reviewed at the meeting. Among the documents was a report for the first six months of the 2022-23 fiscal year, October 1, 2022, to March 31, 2023.This report covered 19 bank accounts that the city has including the General Fund, Water and Sewer Funds, Capital Improvement, Gas Tax Funds, Municipal Court and COVID Relief.

    In a prior council work session, Liverman said that revenues for the first half of the year were meeting budgetary projections. Expenses were running slightly ahead of budget because of clean-up efforts after the November 28, 2022, and January 12, 2023, tornados. The City expects reimbursement from FEMA for most of the clean-up and debris management costs from the January storm, which received a Federal disaster declaration from FEMA, that was not available for the earlier storm.

    Liverman also provided the City Council with a copy of a check for $32,880, which was the first disbursement from the State of Alabama for the first phase of the ADEM sponsored water and sewer improvement project. The funds were deposited in a special account as required by ADEM. The City Council agreed to set up two new bank accounts one for the Water Project and one for the Sewer Project at its December meeting. The report shows that the city is in compliance with ADEM requirements on handling funds.

    The City Council tabled action on changing and approving the signatories for bank accounts in Merchants and Farmers Bank. The Council also tabled action on a request from Rev. Siegfried Williams, Pastor of Freedom Rock Church in Eutaw, who wanted to purchase some property from the city, since Rev. Williams was not in attendance at the meeting. The City Council did approve payment of bills and claims.

    In her Mayor’s Report, Latasha Johnson thanked all of her staff members for their devoted work on behalf of the city. She mentioned that Samuel Braggs, a long-time city employee had passed.

    Police Chief Tommy Johnson announced that a First Responders Parade will be held on May 25th. Carrie Logan with the Eutaw Area Chamber of Commerce announced a clean-up day on Saturday, April 22, when volunteers will collect and bag-up trash in the city.

  • Eutaw City Council deals with water, budget and street repairs

    At its regular meeting on February 23, 2021, the Eutaw City Council continued grappling with problems of the water system, street repairs and assembling a budget for the 2020-21 fiscal year, which began October 1, 2020.
    The Council heard from Corey Martin, the full time Water System Operator, recently hired to help supervise and correct the physical and billing problems of the Eutaw city water system. Martin reported that for the four months, October 2020 to January 2021, the city was pumping 30 million gallons of water a month but only billing for thirty per cent of this amount. There was a 70% loss to leaks, incorrect billing, meters not working properly and not reporting properly to the computer billing system and pother problems.
    Martin stated his job was to work together with Terry Tyson, an engineering consultant retained by the City to audit the water meters, and the Water Department staff to correct leaks, faulty water meters, missing water meters, water meters that are not properly tied into the computerized billing system. Martin said, “We have 1,400 water customers and we will visit every meter, correct the problems and should have the system working correctly in two to three months.”
    Martin as a certified water operator will also be able to do monthly sampling for testing the city’s water for quality and environmental contamination required by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM). This will avoid compliance issues that Eutaw has experienced recently. Water customers received a letter concerning compliance with testing requirements this past summer, which has now been corrected.
    Attorney Ralph Liverman, financial consultant to the City Council presented members with his third draft budget for the City, which details projected revenues and expenses for six city funds including: The General Fund, Water and Sewer Fund, 7-Cent Gas Tax Fund, 4-Cent Gas Tax Fund, Special Street Fund, and a Capital Improvements Fund, which account for $3.5 million a year. The Council agreed to hold a Work Session on March 3rd to review and discuss this budget in more detail. It should be noted that Mayor Latasha Johnson made a campaign promise to develop a budget for the City, which did not have one for many years. Mayor Johnson reported on the Streetscape grant (TAPNU-TAI) for the City from the Alabama Department of Transportation. The grant provides $640,000 in Federal funds and $160,000 in local matching, plus local responsibility for engineering cost, for repairs to the sidewalks, railings, lighting and landscaping of the outside of the Thomas Gilmore Square surrounding the historic old Courthouse in downtown Eutaw. There is a separate project for repairing the inside sidewalk of the Square.
    The City of Eutaw, Greene County Commission and the Greene County Industrial Development Authority agreed to share in providing the $240,000 in matching funds and engineering for this project. The project has been delayed by the State Historical Commission review which questioned if the project would conform to the city’s designation under the National Historic Register. The project engineer has resolved the issue with the Historical Commission and the project can go forward, however, the city will be required to update its registration with the National Historic Registry, which may cost an additional $20 to $30,000 to complete. The Council voted to approve the expenditure of funds to update the National Historic Registry.
    The Council approved the rental agreements for the CFRD and Liberty Tax for rental of space in the Robert H. Young Community Center, formerly the Carver Middle School. The Council also approved re-opening the Fitness Center in the Robert H. Young Community Center for a $20 a month membership fee and compliance with COVID-19 health guidelines and an insurance liability waiver by persons wishing to use the athletic equipment. The equipment was donated by Auburn Extension Services in past years to improve the health and fitness of community residents. A staff person was recently employed to take care of the facility who will also help to monitor the Fitness Center.
    Tammy Holley of West Alabama Works, a workforce development agency, made a presentation of some of the services her agency offers and requested a longer session with the council to fully explain the services of her agency. The Council agreed to her request at a future work session, to be scheduled.
    In other business, the Eutaw City Council:
    • Approved a resolution to provide the Mayor and Mayor Pro Temp access to all the city’s email accounts and passwords to handle business in the absence of city employees.
    • Approved the solicitation of bids to resurface the City’s portion of the Lower Gainesville Road and Choctaw Road.
    • Heard concerns from Council member Valerie Watkins for the installation of speed bumps on Roebuck Avenue to protect children in the area.
    • Received a report from Mayor Johnson that the Police Department has set up a sub-station in King Village and is looking for female officers to augment its staff of 9 fulltime and 2 part-time officers overall.

  • ADEM holds Public Hearing in Eutaw on permit to cap coal ash pond at Alabama Power Steamplant in Forkland

    Phillis Belcher of the Greene County Industrial Development Authority addresses ADEM at the October 22, 2020 meeting.

    By: John Zippert,
    Co-Publisher

    On October 22, 2020, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) held a public hearing on permitting the closure, treatment and management of a coal ash pond, at the Alabama Power Company Steamplant in Forkland, which adjoins the Black Warrior River.
    Alabama Power Company has submitted a plan to ADEM to treat the current open coal ash pond at its Steamplant, reduce its size from over 559 acres to 268 acres, by pulling out water and concentrating the ash residue, place a thirty foot deep, two foot wide wall, around the pond anchored to its chalk material base, place a plastic cap on the pond and continue to monitor 30 wells on the perimeter of the pond for contamination.

     Alabama Power Company stopped using coal as a fuel at its Forkland electricity generating facility about five years ago. The facility now uses natural gas to fuel its turbines. The company has a residue of coal ash stored in a 500 acre pond near the Black Warrior River. The EPA has required plants like the Forkland Steamplant to come up with a plan to deal with its coal ash residues, to prevent contamination of the nearby river or subterrain water sources.

    A permit to treat, concentrate and cap the coal ash residues has been presented to ADEM by Alabama Power Company. The company did not present an alternative plan of excavating the coal ash and moving it to an inland secure landfill. The ADEM Public Hearing in Eutaw, at Carver School gymnasium, last week, was to solicit public comment on the permit application.
    Most of the witnesses testified in support of the Alabama Power Company’s plan and permit, including: Woody Collins, Mayor-elect of Demopolis, Jason Williams, Marengo County Commission, Seth Hammett, Energy Institute of Alabama, Chris Arnold, Alabama Coal Cooperative, Blake Hartwick, Coosa-Alabama River Improvement Association, Jo Ellen Martin, Marengo County Development Authority and Phillis Belcher, Greene County Industrial Development Authority.
    These witnesses basically said they agreed with Alabama Power’s permitting application, which they felt to be economically and environmentally sound. Most extolled their positive “community relationship and communications” with the company.
    Residents of the area testified and questioned the safety of the project. John Jay and his wife said they had a camphouse south of the plant and that the area frequent floods and materials are discharged into the river. They warned of earthquakes in the area and said that the plant was adversely affecting overflowing wells on their property. Ms. Shamicka Gray of Forkland worried that the project would contaminate the water system which was the only source of water for her and her elderly mother.
    Keith Johnston, Director of the Alabama Office of the Southern Environmental Law Center in Birmingham opposed the permit saying it does not satisfy requirements in Federal and state requirements. He argued that Alabama Power Company created this problem itself by disposing of the coal ash wastes in the easiest possible place that allowed leakage and contamination of the adjacent river.
    Johnston observed that electric generating companies in other Southern states: Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia and coastal Carolinas were disposing of their similar coal ash wastes by excavating them and moving them to safer lined landfills away from wetlands, rivers and water sources.
    He indicated that contaminants like arsenic, boron, calcium, chloride, cobalt, lithium and other substances were leaking from the ash pond into groundwater sources. He asked the ADEM officials, “Would you ever permit a permanent, unlined, waste disposal site on a wetland like this one, close to a river? So why are you going to permit one without a long-term maintenance plan for the Forkland, Alabama area.
    Nelson Brooks with Black Warrior Waterkeepers, an environmental watch-dog group that monitors the river flowing by the plant site said he did not support the permit. He said the Forkland Steamplant was built in the 1950’s on a wetland in a bow of the Black Warrior River. The land under the coal ash pond has many streams and tributaries flowing under it.
    Brooks argued that the site was not suitable for a coal ash containment pond and that the materials should be excavated and moved to a safer location. “It may cost more to do this now, than cap the pond, but there will be great costs in the future if the plan fails and contaminants leak into the river and adjacent steams.” Brooks concluded by saying,” It is improper to permit this coal ash pond because it is too close to the Black Warrior River. ADEM and Alabama Power Company should reconsider this plan.”
    At the end of the public hearing, Collin Sibley, ADEM Hearing Officer said the official record on this permit would remain open, at ADEM’s Headquarters Office in Montgomery, until 5:00 PM on October 29, 2020, for additional oral or written comments.