The operator of Arrowhead Landfill was in significant non-compliance with its wastewater pretreatment permit during fiscal year 2025, according to a public notice from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) published in this week’s edition.
Perry County Associates, LLC, which operates the landfill at 622 Tayloe Road near Uniontown, discharged wastewater exceeding its permit limits and federal technical review criteria over the previous twelve months, the notice states. The landfill’s wastewater is treated at the North Mobile County Water Pollution Control Facility, more than 100 miles away.
Federal regulations require ADEM to publicly notice any industrial user in significant non-compliance with pretreatment standards. The notice does not say which pollutants were involved or how many exceedances occurred.
The violation notice comes as the landfill’s owners await action on two permit requests that drew opposition at a November public hearing in Uniontown. The company has asked ADEM to raise the landfill’s design capacity from 49.7 million to 63.9 million tons—an increase of almost 29 percent—and is seeking a major source operating permit for air emissions.
ADEM staff called the changes preliminarily compliant with state and federal rules, while residents urged enforceable odor standards and independent monitoring. No decision on either permit had been announced as of Tuesday.
The permit questions carry added weight because of a federal decision that could reshape coal ash handling statewide. The EPA this month proposed approving Alabama’s coal ash permitting program, letting the state oversee closure of coal ash ponds at its major power plants. The Biden administration rejected the same program in 2024. A 60-day comment period includes a virtual hearing Sept. 3.
The program governs ash at utility plants, not municipal landfills. But Arrowhead began receiving millions of tons of coal ash from the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston spill in 2009, making Uniontown a national touchstone in environmental justice debates.
More than 117 million tons of ash remain in unlined ponds on Alabama waterways, and whether that ash stays put or is hauled to landfills will depend partly on the standards ADEM applies if the handoff is finalized.
Comment details are available through the EPA’s Alabama coal combustion residuals webpage and the July 14 Federal Register notice.
