VINCENT, Alabama -- When talking about his concerns with White Rock Quarries' limestone mine planned for Vincent, Ernest Woodall thinks of the decades-old Alabama Plating Company operation that became a toxic superfund site in the rural Shelby County community.

"Alabama Plating, where is it now? The people died. ... Young boys, they just died -- 20 years old and just died," Woodall said during a public hearing tonight in Vincent about the mining proposal.

Woodall questions if the same will happen with the Florida-based White Rock Quarries.

"Whenever they go back to Florida or wherever they from, I've got to live here. I've got to live here. I can't go nowhere else," he said. "I got a half-acre. That's all I got. But I got my health. ... We live happy. And we don't want nobody coming into our community that's going to injure our health."

With about 150 in attendance, a couple dozen residents from Vincent, neighboring Harpersville and elsewhere voiced their support or opposition concerning the proposed mining operation during the two-hour-plus public hearing held by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.

The meeting focused specifically on water and air permits the agency is considering to issue to White Rock Quarries for the mining operation, but many of the speakers used the opportunity to state their health concerns and other worries.

"The responsibility is now on you because once the water is polluted and gone and the air is polluted, it's going to be too late to say uh-oh," Charles Cantrell of Vincent told the state agency. "The responsibility is yours."

Anne Gibbons, a party in litigation against the town over the mining plan that ended with the Alabama Supreme Court ruling in favor of the municipality in 2012, said more studies need to happen before the permits are issued.

"Consideration of permits at this time is premature. I urge you to have all the reports and everything in before you make a determination," Gibbons said.

Remediation of the nearby superfund site must end before an industrial mining operation begins operation, she said. The final report on the superfund site is not expected until mid-2015, she added.

Perry Cole, who owns a farm close to proposed quarry, identified concerns with the carcinogen benzene that could result as a byproduct of blasting at the mining site. "Combustion from blasting will send benzene into our air and water," Cole said. "My concern is that benzene will poison my well and the wells of others and enter the public water supply."

Cole also pointed to sinkholes that could happen due to the mining operation and removal of groundwater. "This area of Shelby County has numerous sinkholes caused by the underground erosion of the product this quarry will produce: limestone," he said.

Harpersville Mayor Theoangelo Perkins worries about the mine's truck route with 75 daily trips planned that will carry "hazardous materials" through a neighborhood in his community that is a "heavily traveled pedestrian area." He noted 75 trucks daily traveling through the area as part of the mine's planned operation.

"The Town of Harpersville was not consulted about this route or anything else that would adversely affect our citizens," Perkins said, pointing out a shorter, alternate route. "If we had known this maybe we would have been involved earlier. It is unfair our citizens' lives will be put in jeopardy" without consulting the town.

"It really boils down to pure arrogance. It is my duty and my pleasure to represent the citizens of my town whose lives will be drastically changed by this route," he added.

Frank Chitwood with the Coosa Riverkeeper organization identified a lengthy list of concerns with the state's studies on the impacts of discharging sediment into the Coosa River. He noted 645 pounds of sediment entering the Coosa River or Spring Creek from two outfalls daily, 228,455 pounds annually and 22.85 million pounds of sediment over the quarry's 100-year life.

"Sediment can cover aquatic habitat, harm fish and mussels, lower dissolved oxygen levels and reduce the ability of Lay Lake to control flooding and generate hydropower," Chitwood said.

Chitwood and others noted concerns about the effect on the Shelby-Talladega Water Treatment Plant along the Coosa River near the discharge site. "It appears the department has not considered what impacts this discharge could have on the public water supply," he said

Holding an oar while speaking, Karen Jensen of Shelby pointed to the water contamination experienced in West Virginia in past months. "Neither the EPA, the state government or the industry protected these families from fish kills or water contamination," she said. "We don't want to be reduced to bathing with bottled water and we need our fish."

Of the 24 speakers during the public comment section, not including the state agency and company representatives, five or so spoke in favor of the project.

"White Rock has performed honorably and has done everything in their possible control to answer all the environmental questions," said Carter Elliott of Harpersville. "I think the science is done. ... But the value that this will bring to this community is not done. Over the years the revenue that will come to this city will be huge" and benefit everyone.

Elliott and others in support of the project are ready for the fighting in the town to end and the operation to begin. "The point being that the war is over, but nobody loses in this war," he said. "I think the quality and character of this company will add a lot to this community."

Vincent resident Robert Marler, who supports the mining plan, said his family has lived in the community for more than 100 years. "The company in question coming in for a quarry has already given substantial amounts of money to the community," he said.

"The company is going to support the whole town, and the tax base of the town has been going down for decades," Marler said, calling the proposed operation a "great asset to the community."

Sam Simpson of Wilsonville said benzene is commonly found in our everyday lives. "One of the highest levels of benzene is inside your house," he said, pointing to detergents, paint, cigarette smoke and at gas stations.

Simpson said he supports White Rock Quarries' plan. "I think it's going to bring a great benefit to the community and the surrounding community," he said.

White Rock is seeking a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit concerning discharges of treated drainage from the proposed limestone quarry to local waterways. It is also seeking an air permit to allow construction and operation of a limestone crushing, screening and conveying operation.

The public comment period expires at 5 p.m. on April 21. The department will later issue a final ruling on the matter.

Reporter's note: Additional public comments from the hearing added at 10:05 a.m. on March 21, 2014.