Alabama Limestone Quarry Settles Lawsuit Over Dust, Noise

Residents of the small north Alabama community of Belle Mina are breathing easier after reaching a settlement with a limestone quarry they say was disrupting their homes and places of worship.  Three Belle Mina residents and four churches located near the quarry filed a lawsuit against the operators of the Stoned LLC limestone quarry in 2024, alleging that the quarry’s dust, noise, blasting and truck traffic were interfering with their ability to enjoy their property or to keep congregants coming to their churches.  The plaintiffs, represented , had initially sought an injunction to close the quarry entirely. Barry Brock, director of SELC’s Alabama office, said in a news release that the compromise was a good one.  “While we sought to stop the quarry, the judge concluded that the law required a middle ground,” Brock said. “This is the best outcome for our clients and mitigates very serious long-term impacts on the community,”  ICN Weekly Saturdays Our #1 delivers the week’s climate and energy news – our original stories and top headlines from around the web. Get ICN Weekly Inside Clean Energy Thursdays Dan Gearino’s habit-forming weekly take on how to understand the energy transformation reshaping our world. Get Inside Clean Energy Today’s Climate Tuesdays A once-a-week digest of the most pressing climate-, written . Get Today’s Climate Don’t miss a beat. Get a daily email of our original, groundbreaking stories written -winning reporters. Get ICN Sunday Morning Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and ICN reporters as they discuss one of the week’s top stories. Get ICN Sunday Morning Justice & Health A digest of stories on the inequalities that worsen the impacts of climate change on vulnerable communities. The settlement requires the quarry to change its operations to reduce its impact on the community. The changes include:  Establish buffer zones around homes and churches for quarry operations. Reduce the quarry’s hours and cease operating from 8 p. m. to 6 a. m., and on Sundays. Move the entrance farther from the plaintiffs’ homes and churches, and install turn lanes to ease traffic concerns. Pave roads to reduce dust impacts on the community. Plant trees to create a buffer around the quarry. Notify residents 24 hours before blasting operations. That’s because Inside Climate News is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. We do not charge a subscription fee, lock our news behind a paywall, or clutter our website with ads.