A Canopy of Protection: Initiative Plants Trees to Shield Urban Heat Islands
In the face of rising temperatures and enduring environmental inequities, Cool Green Trees is reshaping Birmingham’s urban landscape one tree at a time. Read more.
Environment
Catch It If You Can: New ‘Litter Gitter’ Installed to Capture Trash Before It Reaches Bayview Lake
Jefferson County installed its fifth device to collect trash from area waterways, this one on Village Creek to keep trash out of Bayview Lake. Read more.
EPA Formally Denies Alabama’s Plan for Coal Ash Waste
The federal agency says the state’s plan was not as protective as federal standards, allowing toxic waste to remain in unlined pits that may contaminate groundwater. Alabama officials say they will appeal. Read more.
Alabama Coal Company Sued for a Home Explosion That Killed a Man Is Delinquent on Dozens of Penalties, Records Show
Crimson Oak Grove Resources has been cited for 204 safety violations since the March 8 blast, many involving “significant and substantial” safety violations. Read more.
Birmingham Council Approves $421K in Tax Incentives for Japanese Restaurant
The Birmingham City Council on Tuesday approved $421,833 in incentives for a planned Japanese restaurant in downtown Birmingham, and it changed landscaping, buffering and screening ordinances to increase landscaping requirements and protect trees, among other changes. Read more.
A ‘gassy’ Alabama coal mine was expanding under a family’s home. After an explosion, two were left critically injured
He’d said he thought his home would explode. He was right. W.M. Griffice, 78, had told his granddaughter, Kenzie, in the days leading up to March 8 that he felt like his house was going to explode, she recalled. Company representatives with Oak Grove, a nearby coal mine, had visited Griffice’s home in Adger, a small town 25 miles southwest of Birmingham, multiple times. Once, according to the family, they’d found methane gas in Griffice’s water well, which the mining company capped. Then there were the loud booms that Griffice heard over and over. Sometimes they were enough to shake the ground underneath his feet, his granddaughter said. It all left Griffice uneasy. Earlier this month, it happened. As Griffice relaxed in his recliner and his grandson lay in bed, his home exploded, leaving only its small, scorched footprint in the Alabama clay. Read more.
Alabamians Want Public Officials to Mitigate Landslide Risk as Climate Change Makes Extreme Precipitation More Frequent
In Birmingham, residents want two properties shielded from development and turned into parkland. Councilors decided to protect one parcel years ago. The vote never stuck. Read more.
How Racism Flooded Alabama’s Historically Black Shiloh Community
SHILOH COMMUNITY — If it’s been raining, the kids bring two pairs of shoes to the bus stop. One pair is for before school—for the trek through high water in the historically Black Shiloh community in Coffee County, Alabama. “They roll their pants legs up, too,” said Otis Andrews, who’s lived in the community nearly all his life. Once they’ve made it onto the bus, they can change into their second pair, drying out for the school day to come. “That’s not acceptable,” Andrews said. “It’s really not. They shouldn’t have to do this.” Shiloh, he explained, is naturally flat. Flooding didn't start until after the state elevated and expanded U.S. 84. Read more.
Will the Moody Landfill Fire Ever Be Extinguished? The EPA Isn’t So Sure.
Richard Harp couldn’t believe his ears when he learned the massive underground landfill fire near Moody, just a football field away from his home, is still burning and may never be extinguished. Read more.
In Alabama, What Does It Take to Shut Down a Surface Mine Operating Without Permits?
Nearby residents and environmental activists complained to state regulators without redress about an unlicensed sandstone quarry along Rock Creek. Alabama officials initially fined the company, but now it has signaled a green light ahead. Read more.