Bill to stop quarry 'dead'

By Sonny Turner
sonny@athensnews-courier.com

March 25, 2008 08:59 pm

— Four local bills that would have halted plans for a rock quarry in Tanner were dealt a severe blow during a public hearing before a five-member senate committee in Montgomery Tuesday.
“The senators voted 3-2 not to let our bills out of committee and it doesn’t look like they will ever get to the senate floor for actual vote,” said Limestone County Commission Chairman David Seibert, who along with District 3 Commissioner Bill Latimer and Athens Mayor Dan Williams, were in Montgomery speaking for the legislation.
While committee members Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur; and Sen. Harri Ann Smith, R-Slocomb; voted in favor of the bills, three others did not. Sen. Zeb Little, D-Cullman; Sen. Lowell Barron; D-Fyffe; and Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma; opposed.
Little, Barron and Sanders were unavailable for comment late Tuesday.
But Seibert said it was evident they were against the bills from the start.
“They asked a few questions and then they voted,” he said. “The hearing lasted less than a hour.”
“Several of us spoke for our bills,” said Seibert. “We told them that while the quarry owner Rogers Group is good corporate citizen, we should have a say in where they locate.”
State Sen. Tom Butler, D-Madison, introduced the bills and had said that Rogers Group had invested heavily in lobbyists to oppose the bills, which would give the Limestone County Commission more regulatory power on where quarries are located and set policy on water use by quarries.
While some of the bills would have statewide application, Butler said they are all local and the five-member Limestone County delegation believe they should all be treated like any other local legislation and go through unopposed by other legislators.
The public hearing was held in the Statehouse.
Among those speaking against the legislation was Morgan County District 3 Commissioner Stacy George and two members representing Rogers Group.
“He should have stayed out of it,” Seibert said of George. “If a quarry is so good, then maybe they need another one in Morgan County. He doesn’t need to tell us how to run our county.
“The thing that bothers me about it,” said Seibert, “is why did Rogers Group bring Stacy George in to talk about it?”
Butler pleaded with the senators to let the bills go to the floor like other local bills.
Butler and Orr shut down the Senate two weeks ago in a dispute over legislation that would block the quarry by launching a filibuster to protest inaction by a Senate committee on local bills affecting the project. He promised to continue those filibusters after Tuesday’s vote.
One bill would give Limestone County zoning authority because quarry companies would have to get permission from the commission to locate here. A related bill would have to do with use of water and third and fourth bills would restrict the location of a quarry within five miles of a school and 10 miles of a nuclear plant.