Hundreds attend public hearing

killen - Hundreds of concerned residents showed up at a public hearing Tuesday to voice their opposition and disgust over a proposed wastewater treatment plant near Mill and Bluewater creeks.

The hearing took place at Brooks High School and was held by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management. About 70 people signed up to speak to ADEM officials. During the hearing, dozens of residents held "NO PERMIT" signs.

Chris Matthews, manager of Alabama Utility Services that requested the permit to build the wastewater treatment plant, told the crowd, "Anyone who has any environmental concerns, whether written or spoken, we're here to listen and hear your comments."

When ADEM officials asked for comments from elected officials, no one came forward to speak. When asked, however, Mayor Jerry Mitchell said, "We're still pursuing all the options we can and this is one of them. We'll wait for what ADEM has to say."

The East Lauderdale Environment Conscious Citizens group collected 7,419 signatures from east Lauderdale residents who oppose the permit. The crowd reacted by cheering and applauding.

The group also presented results from a $10,000 hydrogeological study, paid for by residents and conducted by Thomas Aley, an Alabama licensed professional geologist. The report from the study noted 13 conclusions against engineering on the proposed wastewater plant site.

Conclusions included: failure to discuss or evaluate three other alternatives, an estimated 90 percent of the treated sewage would be generated from within Killen's city limits, economically nonviability of the plant, several claims of false data on submitted soil types, characterization of bedrock, suitability of existing on-site residential sewage systems and concerns about ground water contamination from Mill Creek.

Matthews said an error was made when transferring technical data from the engineering report to the submitted permit, but that "The underlying engineering evaluation is correct."

Rhea Fulmer, a spokeswoman for the Bridge Road Environmental Watch, presented a letter from the SouthWest Water Co., a subcontractor for Alabama Utility Services, that terminated business with the company "due to AUS' default for nonpayment of SWWC invoices."

Matthews said his company had disagreements with the subcontractor but that it was Alabama Utility Services that discontinued the contract.

"It's unfortunate that they chose to write a letter like that," Matthews said.

Fulmer also presented letters from attorneys representing Danny Butler, whose land was a proposed site for the wastewater plant.

"Alabama Utility Services has, without our knowledge or consent, gone forward in applying for a permit for the wastewater treatment facility on Danny Butler's property," states the letter dated March 3 and addressed to ADEM.

"That's the first I've heard of the letter," Matthews said and added that midway through the permitting process, Butler said he had sold his property. Matthews said Alabama Utility Services' proposed site is near Butler's property, but not on Butler's property.

Many in the audience argued that the proposed wastewater treatment plant had no place near Mill or Bluewater creeks because the creeks are miles away from Killen's city limits.

"Do your homework mayor and council members," said Fulmer and later added, "especially when your trying to impose your self-serving will on those you don't govern."

Concerns about decreased property values, unpleasant odors and water contamination were presented to the ADEM representatives.

ADEM spokesman Scott Hughes said all written and transcribed comments from the public hearing period, which closes at 5 p.m. today, will be collected and analyzed by engineers and scientists. Hughes said he couldn't speculate on how long the analysis process would take.

"We're not going to rush our process, we're going to take out time," Hughes said.

Trevor Stokes can be reached at 740-5728 or trevor.stokes@timesdaily.com.