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Suzanne Montgomery and Jack Robertson both spoke before the Chambers County Commission on Monday night to voice their concerns about a potential rock quarry in Cusseta.

A permit was submitted to ADEM (Alabama Department of Environmental Management) for a proposed aggregate mining facility and quarry on County Road 389. Many Cusseta residents are opposed to the quarry and have been requesting help from the county commission.

The land is privately owned.

After the last commission meeting, Commission Chairman James “Moto” Williams told the Valley Times-News that the commission has no control over the proposed quarry because the county does not have any zoning laws.

He added that citizens should reach out to ADEM with concerns.

Montgomery spoke about the adverse effects that the quarry will have on the land surrounding the site as well as the air and water quality. She asked who was responsible for maintaining the county roads that might be damaged by trucks coming to and from the quarry.

“Who will bear the cost of this irreversible destruction?” Montgomery asked.

Montgomery also said that the county should be protecting wildlife in the area such as bald eagles.

Montgomery said that she has always believed in a person’s right to use their private property for their own or their family’s gain.

“However, if the right to use or develop their property impedes, interrupts or destroys a neighbor’s use of his or her property or causes harm to his neighbor, then they should cease and desist that activity or pay fair restitution to his neighbors for damages,” Montgomery added.

Robertson, a fifth-generation landowner in Cusseta, said his farm is 1.2 miles away from the proposed quarry. He spoke about his partnership with other local farm owners in the county.

“Now with this proposed mining site, we’re being asked to accept exposing ourselves and our livestock to degraded air quality, more loud, unnatural noise, probable contaminated water in foreign sources and even water elimination,” Robertson said, “And we are being asked to expose ourselves and our families to a much more dangerous road environment by 10 fold.”

Robertson said the Cusseta community shouldn’t have to accept a development that they see as a disrespect and a detriment to their own land.

“We are being asked to accept this mining site because of the greed of a few, and this would be detrimental to our community, our city, county, and it’s totally [disrespectful] the landowners, farmers and ancestors who have sacrificed so much already in the name of progress,” Robertson said.