On September 7, 2016 an inspector with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management found something was wrong with Buck Creek, a tributary of the Cahaba River near Alabaster.

The inspector was following up on a citizen complaint about pollution of the creek near Carmeuse Lime and Stone's Longview facility in Saginaw, just off U.S. Highway 31, and found a murky white creek with water that looked like Milk of Magnesia and had a pH around the same level.

There was aquatic life observed upstream of the Carmeuse facility, the inspector noted. Downstream there was none.

The inspector took water samples from Buck Creek registering 11.3 and 12.05 on the pH scale, which measures the acidity or alkalinity of liquids from 0 to 14. Milk of Magnesia, an alkaline substance used to neutralize excess stomach acid, has a pH of 10.3. Ammonia has a pH around 11.6 and household bleach is about 12.6.

Alabama water quality standards specify that discharges should not raise pH above 8.5, or more than one unit above normal. Upstream of the facility that day, ADEM inspectors found Buck Creek had a pH of 7.24.

The total fine to Carmeuse -- for removing all observable living things from a section of the creek and raising the pH of the creek water to levels comparable to household cleaning products -- was $32,000.

In a consent order negotiated with ADEM and finalized June 20, 2017 (full text embedded below), Carmeuse also agreed to submit a plan to reach compliance with their permit and other environmental laws, and to "evaluate the need and feasibility of remediating Buck Creek."

Environmental group says it's not enough

Cahaba Riverkeeper David Butler, who first reported the situation to ADEM in June 2016, said he felt the Department's response and penalties were inadequate and that the settlement is not in the best interests of the people of Alabama.

"We view this as a very complacent response to what is a pretty nasty situation," Butler said. "Honestly, we were pretty shocked at the condition of the creek here.

"We're a small non-profit and we don't have the resources to do everything we'd like to do, but we've been out here I'd say at least 20 times monitoring water quality and we feel like ADEM should be taking a similar approach."

ADEM has not documented an inspection of the site since Sept. 7, their second 2016 inspection of the facility. A July inspection performed noted excess chlorine and sediment, but observed "no adverse impact to aquatic life observed."

The inspection report did not specify whether any aquatic life was present to be adversely impacted, but Butler doubts it based on his own observations of the creek.

Butler said he lodged another complaint with ADEM after reading the July inspection report, and the department performed the second inspection in September. After this inspection ADEM officials met with Carmeuse on Sept. 20 to begin discussing the violations and negotiating a settlement.

Butler said he measured the pH of Buck Creek at 12.47 on January 24, 2017, suggesting that even as ADEM negotiated a settlement, the issues with the creek were still very much ongoing.

"There was no estimate [from ADEM] of how many days the company was in violation," Butler said. "There was no estimate of how much of Buck Creek was sterilized, no estimate of how much it might cost to clean up, and no clear indication of why the violations occurred or went undiscovered for so long.

"We feel like the Department has created a culture of settlement, so knowing they're going to settle, they don't do their homework."

On a July 10 site visit by AL.com, Buck Creek still showed noticeable discoloration of the water near the facility -- though not as severe as some previous photos show -- with extensive white staining and sediment visible on rocks, vegetation and dirt in the creek bed. There was no observable aquatic wildlife in the creek at the two locations AL.com visited downstream of the facility.

Now, Butler fears that if the company is allowed to determine itself whether remediation of Buck Creek is necessary or feasible, the chances of remediation are diminished.

Buck Creek flows into the main part of the Cahaba River near where it crosses from Alabaster into Hoover. Butler said that section of the Cahaba is already listed as impaired for sediment, which is a significant issue with these discharges, and that pH this high raises concerns about impacts to the river as a whole.

ADEM external affairs chief Lynn Battle said the department had no additional comments on the situation at Buck Creek beyond what was in the consent order, which states "the Department believes that the penalty assessed below and the following conditions are appropriate to address the violations alleged herein."

ADEM cited Carmeuse for three single violations of its water pollution permit in the consent order.

Butler believes the violations were not three isolated incidents, but rather than an ongoing series of discharges that have occurred for a year or more.

"This settlement ignores the fact that each day in violation should be a separate violation," Butler said.

The order states some of the violations are considered "easily avoidable," and increased the penalty, but there were multiple other factors for which ADEM could have increased the penalty to Carmeuse but did not.

ADEM did not weigh economic benefits Carmeuse might have gained due to violations -- as the law allows -- saying in the consent order that they were unable to calculate what the benefits might have been.

The department also opted not to increase the penalty to Carmeuse even though the company "has a history of previous violations."

Butler said he was also troubled that the company did not self-report the violation, and that the inspections they are required to perform did not detect a problem.

"I think the most troubling part about this is you don't see any enhancement of the penalty for the fact that they didn't discover the problem themselves, even though they're required to sample at every outfall that discharges," Butler said. "From our perspective, we recognized immediately that something was wrong just by a quick visual look at the creek.

"To think that somebody there never noticed a problem is disturbing."

Carmeuse: Discharges caused by drainage from lime production

Carmeuse's compliance plan is due to ADEM in August and a spokesman from the company's North American headquarters in Pittsburgh told AL.com that Carmeuse is currently working on the plan and will make its deadline.

The company "immediately began an investigation," after being informed of the uncontrolled drainage to Buck Creek, according to Carmeuse Vice President and general council Kevin Whyte.

"Initially, an area of surface erosion from a waste lime storage area was identified as the likely source," Whyte said via email. "Further investigations conducted by Carmeuse also identified several areas impacted by water infiltration along the embankment of a reclaimed quarry pit. The issues appear to primarily relate to historic activities at the site, not current operations."

When asked why the company did not notice and self-report discharges into Buck Creek, Whyte said, "[n]either the area of the property where the initial erosion issues were discovered nor the areas of water infiltration are where regular day-to-day operations occur or are easily visible."

Whyte said the company has performed some regrading work around the eroded site and is continuing to evaluate the hydrogeologic conditions at the site.

"Once site conditions are understood, Carmeuse will be able to implement any work required to address the issues impacting Buck Creek," Whyte said.

Carmeuse is a Belgium-based company with limestone facilities across Europe, Asia and North America. The company's Longview operation in Alabama employs about 130 people, Whyte said, and produces limestone, limestone aggregate, quicklime and hydrated lime. Those products are used in paper manufacturing, steel production, roofing shingle manufacturing, flue gas and water treatment, and construction.

Symptom of a larger issue?

ADEM Director Lance LeFleur has said on multiple occasions that the Department strives to be friendly to businesses and industry, but Butler contends that ADEM's actions in this case are only friendly to businesses who cut corners.

Butler said that by allowing the violations in Buck Creek to continue for more than a year after the Department became aware of it -- and not seeking more aggressive penalties within the framework of the law -- ADEM is negatively impacting the companies in Alabama who do go the extra mile, and spend the extra dollar, to comply with the law.

"It's not an incentive for companies to do the right thing, to spend the extra money to make sure they don't have a problem," Butler said. "To me, that's a significant factor in favor of not spending the money.

"They can just say, 'well if we get caught, there's not going to be any big penalty, so let's just take our chances.'"

ADEM consent order by Dennis Pillion on Scribd