BY JOHN BRICE
THE LAFAYETTE SUN
CHAMBERS COUNTY — State and local officials and members of the community gathered in the downstairs courtroom of the Chambers County Courthouse on April 8, in downtown LaFayette for a public hearing related to air and water quality concerns over the proposed quarry to be built in Cusseta.
Prior to the hearing, there was a public availability session where representatives from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) answered questions and provided details regarding the proposed permits for the quarry. Chambers County Commission Chairman David Eastridge was one of the first among those who spoke.
“On behalf of the commission and the citizens of Chambers County we thank you for scheduling the meeting we are having and also the extra hour for the opportunity for citizens to speak,” Eastridge said. “As you are aware, the citizens of Chambers County are very concerned about the possibility of Rocky Glade being permitted in Chambers County. However, these citizens have been attending our commission meetings since October 2024. Since then, 19 citizens have spoken concerns of the quarry to be located in Cusseta. We welcome our constituents and we also listen to their concerns.”
Eastridge continued to depict the nature of the delicate situation in Cusseta with aplomb.
“In the overwhelming response they are very concerned about the quality of life that is going to be changed in Chambers County,” he said. “Because of the natural resources and the previous significant social, economic and environmental benefits that they also enjoy now.
I ask you to please allow each citizen time enough to speak because they have taken their time and trouble to Chambers County. We are counting on you, ADEM, to make the right decision.”
Alabama Representative for District 38 Debbie Wood spoke after Chairman Eastridge.
“Thank you for being here,” she said. “I know that is not what you set out to do every day but we thank you so much for coming to this meeting. In 2002, I became an elected official right here. I was a county commissioner. But I was a county commissioner
in an
urban area in district six which is the Valley area. So I didn’t have dirt roads, I didn’t have animal issues. What I quickly learned was that we had to work together to make the best decisions for the whole county. It didn’t matter which district we represented. Now I find myself doing the same thing as a state representative.”
Wood continued her comments by expanding on the background details.
“These issues are very hard for us and [for] you, because you have a set of guidelines that you go by. The main reason that I am here today is to talk about something that you already all brought up and that is water. This is a very rural area. The residents are all on wells and septic tanks. If you come to Chambers County and you talk to the water authorities, there is no way to possibly get these people water if their wells run dry. That is the reason I am here. Because at six o’clock in the morning when they turn on their water and their children can’t take a shower, I am going to get those phone calls. So are the county commissioners. We are a rural community, we have an antiquated water system. Really, the only way that we can find water and make it available for these people would probably be to go to another county, and they have to run the water source to get them the water that we know they are going to need. We have already brought up the fact that we need water to keep the dust down. We know that we need water to help blast. We know that we need water to run this whole operation. Where is it going to come from? There is no large water source. But there are underground springs. Those underground springs not only give water and a basic necessity to the people that are behind me, they feed their animals, they feed their crops. We are a rural community. We use those things to make a living. Water is extremely important to us and that is the reason I am here.”
The proposed quarry is set to be located on private property off County Road 389.
According to a December article in the Auburn Plainsman, a joint lawsuit was filed in November against Nocoseekar, LLC and Rocky Glades, LLC —two mining companies. The companies are seeking permits to develop a quarry on privately owned land near Cusseta. The suit alleges in relevant part, that the surrounding farms will suffer significant losses because of disruptions in noise, air, water and environmental quality.
