JASPER, Ala. — Verby Burton, a resident of Oak Grove, expressed disappointment after attending Thursday’s meeting of the Alabama Surface Mining Commission. Burton, whose community is impacted by the expansion of a longwall coal mine, said she had low expectations for the meeting. “And that’s exactly what I got,” she added, describing the outcome as “not much.”
Burton lives in Oak Grove, a rural area in western Jefferson County, approximately 45 miles southwest of Birmingham. The community has been plagued by issues linked to aggressive mining methods, including cracked roads, damaged foundations, land subsidence, and the release of potentially dangerous methane gas. These problems escalated in March 2024, when a home explosion atop the mine killed W.M. Griffice and injured his grandson.
The explosion prompted a series of investigations by Inside Climate News, which revealed that the state’s regulatory response to the issue had been inadequate. In December, federal mining officials intervened, issuing a ten-day notice that forced the Alabama Surface Mining Commission to demand methane monitoring plans from coal companies operating in the state.
In response, Kathy Love, the director of the commission, sent a letter in January requiring companies to submit updated “subsidence control plans” that would include measures to monitor methane gas levels in and around homes located above mining sites. However, at Thursday’s meeting, Love announced a six-month delay for the submission of these plans, pushing the original March 31 deadline to September 30.
Love explained that the initial 90-day period had proven too short to gather the necessary data. “I was under pressure to get an answer out for that ten-day notice, and, unbeknownst to me—I should’ve thought about it—March 31 is not enough time,” she said.
While Love did not elaborate on how she determined the initial deadline was insufficient, a draft letter from her agency to coal companies revealed that the delay followed a request from the Alabama Mining Association (AMA). The AMA, a lobbying group representing the state’s mining industry, had sought more time to develop comprehensive methane monitoring plans.
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