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The Chambers County Commission greeted a familiar face on Monday night when former Chambers County Development Authority director, Valerie Gray, spoke on behalf of the Cusseta residents about the proposed quarry.

Gray is serving as a representative and spokesperson for the Conserve Cusseta group that has been working to fight the quarry.

Gray, along with a Cusseta resident Katie Murray, spoke about the dangers of the quarry and urged the commissioners to exhaust every option to work alongside the Cusseta community to stop the project.

“I want you guys to know it’s not just about saying no to a quarry,” Gray said. “It’s about the well being of our county, the well being of our community, our environment and the future that we build together.”

Murray and her husband moved to the Cusseta community six years ago from Opelika. She said they looked for a long time for the right place to build a home.

“We fell in love with not only our home and property, but also the Cusseta community. We made the choice to move to Chambers County to improve our quality of life,” Murray said. “However, that peace and tranquility is now being threatened by this proposed court.”

In addition to the infrastructure, wildlife and environmental impacts, Murray said her main concern is the strain on medical services in the area.

According to Murray, Cusseta is served by two volunteer fire departments, the Cusseta Volunteer Fire Department and the Oak Bowery Volunteer Fire Department.

“We are told that we could have 150 to 200 trucks a day on our roads,” Murray said. “With the addition of this traffic brings the potential for more accidents.”

The residents are concerned that the volunteer fire departments are not equipped to handle the magnitude of accidents that may occur.

Murray said the quarry group plans to install an at-grade rail crossing across County Road 389.

According to Murray, “these crossings are recognized by the federal government as some of the most dangerous crossings.”

According to the Department of Transportation, they are the second leading cause of rail-related deaths in the United States.

More than 2,000 incidents and 200 fatalities occur at grade crossings each year.

“Those are pretty striking numbers,” Murray said. “We also know that this crossing will block the Cusseta Volunteer Fire Department from a portion of their jurisdiction while the rail car is being loaded.”

Gray reminded the commissioners of a project from 18 years ago when the dormant town of Cusseta was looking to reinstate its charter and become a functioning class eight town.

At that time, the state had identified a parcel of property to build the largest sawmill in the U.S. “right in ground zero of where casita was reinstated as charter,” Gray said.

Working with the commission, she fought to slow down the project.

“We were thoughtful in thinking forward about decisions that we made 18 years ago. How would it impact us today?” Gray said. “… Here we are, come full circle of things that we did 18 years ago that maybe we didn’t go far enough to protect those residents in Cusseta.”

Gray offered ideas for options that the commissioners could look into such as loose zoning or code enforcement. She also suggested that they reach out to the CCDA to conduct an economic impact analysis.

Of the residents she represents, Gray said, “They’re very worried, they’re scared, and I’m scared for them of what’s going to happen to their wonderful town.

“In closing, I would just like to say I challenge you all to think long term. Think about water quality and water quantity,” Gray said. “I want you to think about the people that this will negatively impact.”

Commission Chairman David Eastridge declined to comment on the issue after the meeting. The commission approved a resolution to request that Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) hold a public hearing at the Chambers County Courthouse at a recent meeting.