Maxine Mine aerial shot
An aerial view of the Maxine Mine site along the Locust Fork of the Black Warrior River near Praco, Ala. (Courtesy Nelson Brooke, Black Warrior Riverkeeper, flight provided by SouthWings)
Conservation groups filed a federal lawsuit Thursday seeking to force Drummond Company to clean up its Maxine Mine, an underground coal mine that has not produced coal in decades, but which the Riverkeeper group says is still leaching mine waste and other pollutants into the Locust Fork of the Black Warrior River.
The Maxine Mine is located on the Locust Fork near Praco, Ala.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama by the groups Black Warrior Riverkeeper, the Southern Environmental Law Center and Public Justice.
The suit seeks to stop "continuous and unpermitted polluted discharges of acidic runoff and mine drainage into the Locust Fork and its tributaries," according to a news release from the groups, who also say the mine discharge has completely filled what used to be a flowing tributary of the Locust Fork.
Messages left at Drummond Co. seeking comment were not immediately returned Thursday.
The groups filed notice of intent to sue in June, as required by the federal Clean Water Act and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
"We cannot allow pollution at the Maxine Mine site to continue at the expense of the health of the Locust Fork, its tributaries, and groundwater," Barry Brock, Senior Attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, said in a news release. "To protect downstream communities, wildlife and the recreational value of this important waterway, Drummond must take immediate and effective measures to stop the contaminated discharges at this site, once and for all."
The groups are seeking removal of the mining waste, excavation and/or remediation of contaminated streams, and any other appropriate measures by Drummond to immediately stop all illegal discharges at the site.
"Polluted water from Maxine Mine's old underground mine and coal waste piles has been flowing into the Locust Fork of the Black Warrior River for far too long," said Nelson Brooke of Black Warrior Riverkeeper. "The acidic runoff at this long-ignored site is laden with high concentrations of heavy metals unfit for fish and aquatic wildlife and human health."
The lawsuit alleges violations of the Clean Water Act through ongoing discharges of pollutants into the Locust Fork and its tributaries, as well as stream filling, and violations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act for improper management of solid wastes.
"The Maxine Mine site is one of the worst of hundreds of abandoned mines in the Black Warrior basin," said Riverkeeper Staff Attorney, Eva Dillard. "Long after active mining has ceased, many of these sites continue to degrade water quality with unpermitted discharges containing high levels of sediment, heavy metals such as iron and aluminum, and other pollutants."