Limestone County churches and residents file lawsuit to stop ongoing operations of quarry

Cody Gilliam said the tranquility of life in Belle Mina in Limestone County is now punctuated by blasts from dynamite.

“They have seen their lives upended because of the blasting so far,” said Gilliam, pastor for Belle Mina Methodist Church and a resident of the area. “They have felt it. They have pictures moving on the walls. They have actually had some of their china break in their cabinets.”

Gilliam’s church, one of the plaintiffs listed in the case, along with other Belle Mina residents and churches, filed suit earlier this year against Stoned LLC, a company operating a nearby quarry and conducting the blasting.

“These residents are experiencing the horrific effects of the quarry,” said Sarah Stokes, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, who is representing residents and area churches that include Bella Mina Methodist. “They can’t sleep at night, their children can’t sleep at night, they can’t sit outside their house and enjoy being outside on their property because the dust is too thick.”

Attorneys representing Stoned LLC, along with Grayson Carter & Son Contracting, Inc., Elephants R Us LLC; Landquest Properties, LLC, the defendants in the lawsuit, declined comment. In legal filings, the companies denied many of the claims in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges that the operator of the quarry plans to harvest roughly 400 tons of limestone at the site, equivalent to about one million tons of the sediment annually, which will continue for the next 30 years.

According to the lawsuit, operators detonate explosives to fracture the limestone so that it can be extracted, causing several problems for local residents.

“Defendants have blasted at the Quarry Site at least eight times since they began construction in November 2024,” the lawsuit states. “Blasting creates noise, dust, vibrations that can damage structures, as well as cause flyrock that can travel beyond the boundaries of the Quarry Site.”

Aside from the noise that stems from the explosives, residents near the site must also endure the sound generated by the equipment that grinds the limestone 11 hours per day more than five days per week, the lawsuit said. That is in addition to the noise generated by vehicle traffic from operating the quarry.

“Air pollutants and emissions will adversely affect the individual Plaintiffs’ and the church congregants if they gather outdoors at their churches: inhalation of such pollutants can trigger allergic reactions, and/or cause symptoms like sneezing, itching, skin rashes, and respiratory distress,” the lawsuit states.

Residents also worry that the quarry will alter the environment. According to the lawsuit, the quarry could disrupt the flow of groundwater and affect a local creek. Residents also said in the lawsuit that disrupting the flow of groundwater could damage their structures.

“In some instances, ground subsidence results in open sinkholes that swallow anything on the surface. Mapping of the Belle Mina area shows multiple sinkholes and subsidence features surrounding the Quarry Site,” the lawsuit states.

Gilliam said he understands that limestone needs to be harvested and has its uses but expressed concerns that the site operators selected was near a residential community.

“The issue that I have, in a 20-mile radius there are five quarries,” Gilliam said.

The plaintiffs are seeking to have the quarry closed by having the court issue a permanent injunction to prevent the company from operating the quarry.

The case is in discovery and the plaintiffs will next request a hearing date from the Court..