Picnic for the Planet
Local band Earthbound holds a party benefiting a group that protects our waterways.
On Sunday, April 17, local band Earthbound presents its yearly Earthfest celebration, a free concert and picnic held annually in Bessie Estelle Park near UAB, from 2 p.m. to sundown. In addition to Earthbound, local country music singer Scott Ward will perform with his band Big Mule. Bouncing space walks will be available for kids, as well as a dunk tank. The extravaganza promotes awareness of Earth Day (observed each April 22) and supports the Black Warrior Riverkeeper in its efforts as a nonprofit watchdog uncovering pollution activities concerning the Black Warrior River, a primary source of drinking water for Birmingham. Although admission to the event is free, donations to Black Warrior Riverkeeper will be accepted.
Earthbound’s Earthfest started a decade ago in George Ward Park. (This is the third year at Bessie Estelle Park.) Sam Ray, manager and sound technician for Earthbound, remembers it was originally a bold move on the band’s part to play at George Ward because they never secured the proper permits when staging the celebration each spring.
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“We dragged a generator out there, knowing the cops could tell us to shut down at any time,” Ray says. “We later discovered that to get the permits was not as big a deal as we had thought it was. And so once we began doing it legally, we got together as a band and decided that we could benefit somebody from this. And that’s when we decided as a group that we wanted to benefit Black Warrior Riverkeeper.”
Ray praises the organization’s watchdog role policing the Black Warrior River and its tributaries. “They’re not high-priced lawyers in penthouse office suites with $5,000 suits. These guys are out there and they’re doing what they’re doing on a shoestring budget and they’re making a difference,” Ray says of Black Warrior Riverkeeper. “We’re proud to be associated with them. They go out and they monitor the waterways and they find these sources of pollution. They document it, they get proof of it, and then they go to the people that are causing it and say, ‘Hey look, this is what’s happening.’ They give them a chance to be right and clean it up. And then if the companies . . . don’t follow by the laws that have been established already that they’re supposed to follow, then they take the next step.”
“It’s a good opportunity to let people know about tangible issues that we’re working on, too. So, holistically, yes [Earthfest is about] Earth Day but also specific water issues,” explains Charles Scribner, executive director of Black Warrior Riverkeeper.
The Shepherd Bend mine controversy, for example, is one water issue that made headlines this year. The University of Alabama systems owns crucial acreage that would make mining the greater area lucrative if the UA property is leased or sold to Shepherd Bend Mining. However, there is the likelihood that coal mine wastewater will be discharged into the Mulberry Fork of the Black Warrior River, immediately upstream of a primary Birmingham Water Works Board drinking-water intake—the drinking source for 200,000 people. Protests have been held on the university’s Tuscaloosa campus as well as at UAB and Samford University. The Birmingham City Council passed a resolution on March 15 urging the University of Alabama not to lease or sell the coveted land to Shepherd Bend Mining.
“Basically, UA owns most of the land across the river from our drinking water supply. So even though this mine proposal has gotten the permits it needs to move forward, if they don’t get UA’s land they can’t really economically move forward with the mine,” says Scribner. “Just letting people know in Tuscaloosa and Birmingham that the Black Warrior watershed is part of their drinking water is vital. That’s known well in Tuscaloosa, but less so in Birmingham. So this event helps raise awareness for that.”
“In the case of the Shepherd Bend mine, the ratepayers, i.e. people like us that are drinking water right now, are going to carry the burden of any increased treatment costs,” explains Scribner. “The Birmingham Water Works Board obviously can’t internalize that, they’ve got to externalize it on their ratepayers. I don’t blame them. I mean, they’re doing their part by fighting the permit. But you would think that if a mine occurred in a place like that the mine would be responsible for covering any increased treatment. But nope, that would go to the public.”
Scribner says the most important focus is to put pressure on the university system. “In order to really move forward they’re going to have to have UA’s cooperation,” he says. “As much as we’re fighting the ADEM [Alabama Department of Environmental Management] permit in court and the Water Works Board is fighting the mining permit, if we can just put enough pressure on UA not to participate, that’s pretty much the end of the story.”
“I’ve always said that as long as I’m involved with this, it will be about Earthbound, it will be about Earth Day, it will be about our community, and it will always be free and all-inclusive,” Ray says of Earthfest. “We’ll never sell tickets to it and it’s always going to be a family event. It’s going to be a picnic in the park to enjoy music on a Sunday afternoon.” &
Get more information about Earthbound’s Earthfest, and the Black Warrior Riverkeeper’s efforts, at www.blackwarriorriver.org.