A planned quarry in north Alabama and landfill issues in central Alabama were some of the environmental concerns of Alabamians who addressed a federal advisory council this week in Huntsville.

“A quarry will most certainly pollute the air and the water around these people,” said Cody Gilliam, pastor at Belle Mina Methodist Church, in Limestone County, speaking during the public comments section at the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council meeting on Wednesday.

Residents of Belle Mina, near the new auto plant just west of Huntsville, have been pushing against the Alabama Department of Environmental Management granting a permit for the quarry because of health, property value, and historic site endangerment concerns. ADEM has not made a final decision about granting air and water permits to the developers. The Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing the water permit.

The Biden administration established WHEJAC through a 2021 executive order to advise the administration on addressing “current and historic environmental injustice.”

Catherine Flowers, a Lowndes County native and Madison resident who is a member of the White House council recommended Huntsville as the meeting’s location and said the body has been an avenue for the government to hear from various communities.

At the Wednesday meeting, Ankur Shah, president of Huntsville Environmental Coalition, said one of the priorities of the council should be “food justice.” He said that would help highlight the need for access to healthy food and healthy soils to grow them.

Uniontown, a small rural town in central Alabama, remains at the frontline of environmental disasters because of the impact of a landfill on the community and the problem of wastewater management, said Portia Shepherd of Black Belt Women Rising during public comments.

“My family lives near the landfill on my mom’s side and like many others, they are deeply angry about the damage it has caused,” Shepherd said.

The members of WHEJAC are appointed by the president and most of the meetings since 2021 have been virtual. The Huntsville meeting is the last one for 2024.