Alabama’s Environmental Management Commission has asked an administrative law judge to hold further hearings on a wastewater discharge permit near an intake for a Birmingham Water Works facility. The permit is for the Shepherd Bend coal strip mine, a proposed mine on the Mulberry Fork of the Black Warrior River. The discharge would be located 800 feet from the Birmingham Water Works intake facility, according to the Southern Environmental Law Center.

Shepherd Bend Mine, LLC, applied for the permit with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management. The permit was granted in July 2008.

Black Warrior Riverkeeper, a non-profit citizens group that works to protect the Black Warrior and its tributaries, has opposed the permit on the grounds that the discharge could harm water quality, and alleges that ADEM attempted to evade public review of the permit, as required by state law.

Black Warrior Riverkeeper appealed the permit to EMC, which oversees ADEM. The Birmingham Water Works Board is also opposed to the Shepherd Bend Mine permit.