The Birmingham City Council adopted a resolution on March 15 to implore the University of Alabama System to neither sell nor lease any of their property holdings to be strip mined by Shepherd Bend, LLC.

The resolution, written and introduced by City Councilor Valerie Abbott, declared the proposed mine to be too hazardous to the environment and public health for council approval. The resolution was adopted with eight votes in its favor and one vote abstained.

The resolution said that the discharge of the mine’s wastewater into the Mulberry Fork of the Black Warrior River would considerably damage the drinking water of 200,000 customers of the Birmingham Water Works Board.

“Primarily, we have a great deal of concern about Birmingham’s drinking water,” Abbott said. “We don’t want it polluted, and we don’t want to ask our citizens to pay more to have it cleaned because of this mine, and there’s also the concern about the general health of the Black Warrior River. Anytime people are allowed to dump their waste into it becomes more polluted—there’s no way around it.”

Caitlin McClusky, president of the University of Alabama Environmental Council, is also an opponent of the proposed mine and advocates education about the project.

“It’s definitely important that students and faculty at the University of Alabama understand the magnitude of this issue,” said McClusky, a junior in New College. “But it’s also vital that the citizens of Birmingham understand it, too, because if this mine is built, it will affect them the most.

“People need to educate themselves about this issue,” she said. “Just get online, search Google and read articles about this mine and the risks associated with it.”

According to the UAEC, the proposed mine covers 1,773 acres and about 1,300 of those acres belong to the University of Alabama System. The UAEC has said that without the University agreeing to sell or lease their portion of the proposed mine, the entire project might fall through, and the Birmingham City Council agreed in their resolution.

“As a practical matter, without the consent and full participation of the UA System, it may not be cost effective to mine Shepherd Bend at all,” the resolution states.

Since the issue of the mine was first raised several years ago, University officials have said that they have not been approached by any parties concerning the sale or lease of their property near the proposed mine, and their position has not changed since the Birmingham City Council adopted their resolution.

“We have no current plans to sell or lease any of our property holdings near Shepherd Bend,” said Cathy Andreen, the University’s director of media relations.

For Abbott and other opponents of the proposed mine, this stance is not enough.

“Just because no one’s approached the University yet doesn’t mean they’re not waiting in the wings to do so,” Abbott said. “It would be wonderful if University officials would come out ahead of this and say that we’re not going to allow our land to be strip mined, we’re not going to allow the Black Warrior to be polluted.

“We’re hopeful that the student body will be behind Birmingham’s wishes of keeping the river as free of pollution as possible, and to keep our drinking water clean,” Abbott said. “In this day and age, a lot of people don’t get active over issues that don’t affect them personally, but students have a habit of getting involved anyway, for the greater good, especially with something as noxious as strip mining. Our hope is that University students will help us in asking the administration to get serious about opposing this mine.”

McClusky also advocated strong student involvement in this and any other issues that they find objectionable.

“It’s wrong to do nothing,” she said. “As large shareholders in this university, students and faculty should be able to tell the administration what we want, and how we feel about any issue. We’ve got to have a voice.”