Shepherd Bend Mine, the surface coal mine that would be situated near a Birmingham Water Works facility, does not technically exist yet. None of its land has been leased, but part of it has been permitted. And all of it has been the focus of, among other things, resolutions from Student Government Associations at all three University of Alabama System campuses.

UAH, the last and least likely to be affected of the sister campuses, has joined UA and UAB in drafting an official opinion in opposition to the mine.

“We just wanted to come alongside Bama and UAB and help them out,” Taylor Reed, a member of the UAH SGA who wrote and passed the resolution, said. “We want what’s best for all of our sister campuses.”

He said it was important to take a stance because in this case, apathy can translate into support.

“It’s not a rivalry; it’s a friendship,” he said. “It’s a whole bigger issue.”

The issue has been the subject of debate, resolution and legal action after the mine was proposed in 2007. Since then, a 2010 permit approving the mine issued by the Alabama Surface Mining Commission has been tangled in courts from Birmingham to Walker County.

Milton McCarthy, ASMC deputy attorney general, said the “sum and substance” of the issue was whether the permit was appropriately issued.

“Most people don’t want a coal mine in their backyard, so to speak, and we understand that. But that’s not the criteria for whether the permit is issued or not,” he said. “We just have to follow the black-and-white letter of the law.”

Because the permit’s legality is separate from its public popularity, SGA resolutions and community petitions cannot single-handedly stop the mine if UA leases the land and mineral rights for the property. Charles Scribner, executive director of the Black Warrior Riverkeeper, said the UA system is “in the driver’s seat” when it comes to the mine’s progress.

“There’s no mining out there, and we want to keep it that way perpetually,” he said. “That’s where UA can end this.”

Public opinion, which carries no weight during legal procedures, could potentially close the mine before it opens if it can sway the UA Board of Trustees to ban mining on the property in question.

“We want there to be as much pressure on the UA system leaders as possible,” Scribner said.

In this case, student government opposition from all three campuses creates a cemented argument for organizations like the Riverkeeper, which have been fighting on legal and public fronts.

“I think there’s an extra element of excitement to UAH’s resolution because it completes a trifecta,” he said. “That’s an unprecedented level of solidarity across the three UA campuses. Considering how different the three colleges are from each other, yet they’ve all come to the same conclusion about this mine, I hope that gives the UA leadership something to think about in making this very important decision.”

So far, UA maintains that it “has not been approached about leasing or selling the land and has no current plans to do so.”

Cathy Andreen, director of Media Relations, said student opinion and interest in such issues is of value to UA.

“Students are always welcome to talk with UA administrators, faculty and staff about their concerns with any issue involving the UA community,” she said in an emailed statement. “The University takes the future use of the Shepherd Bend land very seriously.”

UA resistance creates a potential hurdle for Shepherd Bend, LLC, which has a permit for mining and waste water discharge but lacks the necessary leases for commercial mining, but McCarthy said the ASMC is confident there is no legal resistance to the mine’s operations.

Much of the debate has been centered on the possibility of the mine decreasing drinking water quality or increasing water management costs. McCarthy pointed to three mines operating sans controversy in the same area as the proposed mine as a sign that the Shepherd Bend mine will be harmless to nearby residents.

“[They] have been successfully mined and reclaimed with no impact at all to the operation of the Birmingham Water Works. … The environmental safeguards of the mining law worked,” he said.

Scribner, however, said hundreds of pages of relevant evidence and testimony – many offered and conducted by local scientists – have not only been compiled, but are also available on the Riverkeeper website.

One letter, written in January to the ASMC by UA associate professor of chemistry Shane Street, said “even with proper permitting, conscientious monitoring and reporting, discharges apparently above the regulated limits might persist for long periods of time.”

Street, who is on the Black Warrior Riverkeeper advisory board, said properly mined surface mines are not evil; rather, they are valuable to the state.

“It has to be done properly, though,” he said. “There is no black and white here. It’s a subtle issue. It’s an important issue though, so being involved pays off for everybody.”

His letter, which stemmed from a review of area mine data, cites excessive levels of selenium, a usually harmless but still regulated element, which evaded detection, even though procedures and regulations were dutifully followed.

“The upshot of that letter is that there is an example here of a properly permitted, properly operated, properly measured mine, yet [the Alabama Department of Environmental Management] is apparently not catching [the exceeding measurements],” he said. “No mining activity is 100 percent safe. That’s just not going OVERSET FOLLOWS:to happen. Everything had been done properly but there still was a problem. And that kind of problem could be really highlighted in a sensitive case like this one.”

The permit has already survived a three-day trial before an administrative law judge, in which Birmingham Water Works, ASMC and Shepherd Bend, LLC all testified. The Water Works board filed a challenge, and the permit is due to appear on the docket at a Walker County circuit court.

In the meantime, student governments of the UA system have taken notice. The SGAs of both UA and UAB passed resolutions opposing the mine in February 2012 with UAH joining them two weeks ago.

The UA resolution, authored by Elliott Bell, “[implores] the University of Alabama System to neither sell nor lease their sizable land and mineral holdings to allow coal mining at Shepherd Bend.”

McCarthy said the commission welcomes public input and involvement, adding that it was “motivation” for civil servants to carry out their jobs properly.

“It’s important for government employees and others to realize they need to be careful in the work that they do, that the review and approval of things as mundane as a mining permit matter to people, can affect people’s lives,” he said. “We’d rather have a public that was caring and concerned than one that was apathetic.”

Scribner said UA’s school pride and reputation help drive student efforts to keep the endangered Black Warrior River clean and usable.

“I’ve gotten a very strong sense from all the student government associations at all three UA system campuses that they really want to be involved in issues that affect their campus and community in meaningful and long-lasting ways,” he said. “It’s still a matter close to home for UA.”