The Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group based in Arizona, continues to escalate its legal efforts concerning Toyota-Mazda’s Alabama manufacturing plant, this time requesting several different types of records regarding its construction.
The out-of-state activists already have pending legal challenges against the plant and on Thursday said, “[W]e’re now forced to file this formal environmental records request.” Their opposition centers on the “spring pygmy sunfish and other imperiled species” located at the Beaverdam Spring and Creek near the construction site in Huntsville.
The group is also complaining that the construction approval process has been “rammed through.”
While a spokesman for the City of Huntsville could not comment directly on ongoing legal matters, the city did explain that the environmentalists’ uproar was unfounded.
“The spring pygmy sunfish environment is better today than when the city of Huntsville purchased the property and better than it has been in the last 50 years when it was a farming operation,” Huntsville’s communications director Kelly Schrimsher said, per AL.com.
“The aquifer is protected. We remain confident the design and plan to protect the environment are sound,” Schrimsher added.
The Center for Biological Diversity, writing from Tucson, complained about what they view as a rushed process.
“Huntsville officials have rammed through approvals to industrialize this environmentally fragile site with virtually no public disclosure,” Elise Bennett, a staff attorney for the group, said in a release. “The city’s secrecy is a serious concern because the factory will be next to the Beaverdam Spring and Creek, an exceptional freshwater network that’s home to the critically endangered spring pygmy sunfish and other imperiled species.”
“This project should have gone through a public process with full disclosure of potential damage to the precious Beaverdam spring and stream system,” she added.
The City of Huntsville pushed back on these accusations.
“These measures have been reviewed and approved by technical professionals as well as state and federal agencies, and we are committed to ensuring these safeguards and best practices remain in place to preserve this environment,” Schrimsher explained.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has confirmed Toyota-Mazda is not violating any federal laws related to the sunfish in its construction of the plant, and the companies have also said they are working with the environmental group to preserve the habitat.
The plant-to-be is a $1.6 billion project that is projected to bring about 4,000 direct jobs and 10,000 total jobs to the Huntsville area.
The Center for Biological Diversity’s website homepage boasts, “We’ve sued Trump 87 times – and we’re just getting started.”
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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