Residents urge Mobile County to deny proposed Emerald Coast C&D landfill; county to decide within 30 days

Mobile County Commission held a public hearing April 14 on an application from TIGS Holdings for a proposed Emerald Coast construction-and-demolition (C&D) landfill on County Farm Road, drawing more than a dozen speakers and opposition from local environmental groups and watershed monitors.

The hearing matters because the proposed site drains to the Fowl River watershed, a spring-fed system that speakers and advocacy groups said supplies sensitive estuary habitat and recreational areas. Commissioner Jay Dewitt led the proceedings and staff said the commission must take formal action within 30 days following the public comment period.

Scott Hutchinson, an engineer with Goodwin Mills and Caywood representing the applicant, described the project as a conversion of an existing borrow pit. "This is a c and d landfill, and it's not a household waste landfill," Hutchinson said. He said about 62 of the site's roughly 80 acres would be used for disposal and that, under Mobile County rules for former borrow pits, the fill would be returned to existing grades rather than built to a large above-grade mound.

Speakers opposing the proposal focused on water-quality and groundwater risks, the site's proximity to springs and headwaters, and the absence of a liner or, in the applicants' application, groundwater-monitoring wells. Ted Henken, a volunteer water-quality monitor, said he had monitored the watershed for years and wrote that he had reviewed the application "and feel it should not get local approval." Kurt Wilson, who said he had reviewed the county's solid waste plan, told commissioners: "There is no need for another landfill." Mobile Baykeeper, represented by Luke Kisla, urged denial and flagged the application’s omission of groundwater-monitoring data that the county’s 2015 solid waste management plan recommends.

Local residents described daily use of the river and springs and warned that any groundwater or surfacewater contamination could reach estuaries and public-access sites. Richard Becker, who said he lives on Powell River and had worked with the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program, said the watershed plan identifies sediment and upland disturbances as a major threat and that "digging in an unlined landfill ... can disrupt natural hydrology and degrade downstream water quality." Several speakers noted recent heavy rainfall and asked for stronger monitoring and restrictions.

County staff explained process and oversight. Tina [last name not specified], Mobile County environmental services director, said staff will compile all written comments, the hearing transcript and a staff report and will present a recommendation to the Solid Waste Disposal Authority. That authority is scheduled to consider the application at its April 23 meeting; the commission must act within 30 days of the public hearing. Hutchinson said the applicant would comply with any county requirement for groundwater monitoring should the commission require it.

Speakers also pressed technical points. Luke Kisla said state regulators told him the county can require groundwater monitoring even if ADEM (Alabama Department of Environmental Management) does not require it everywhere. Hutchinson said ADEM generally does not require groundwater monitoring on sandy C&D sites but that the applicant would add monitoring if the county made it a condition.

No formal vote was taken at the hearing; county staff will prepare a report and forward recommendations to the Solid Waste Disposal Authority and then to the commission for final action within the statutorily required period.

Next steps: the Solid Waste Disposal Authority will meet April 23; staff said all public comments received by email and voicemail and today's transcript will be included in the record for the authority and the commission.