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44  ALABAMA—1990 The Bulk Materials plant was equipped with two
ship
unloaders with a combined capacity of 3,000 short tons per hour. 
Two parallel conveyor lines were used to move cargo from ship to storage,
barge, or railcar. Open and covered storage for 1.2 million short tons of
bulk commodities was available. 
The McDuffie Coal Terminal, the largest coal handling facility on the U.S.
Gulf Coast and the second largest in the Nation, handled 8.3 million short
tons of coal. The terminal was equipped with two, 45-foot deep shiploading
berths; three stacker-reclaimers; three barge unloaders; and two railcar
dumps served by separate ioop track systems. Ground storage was available
for two million short tons of coal.5 
 The Alabama State Docks maintained 10 inland ports on the State's river
system. Coal, logs, and gravel were the three leading cargos shipped through
the inland ports.6 
Mineral commodities imported or exported by private industry at State docks
leased property included cementclinker, fly ash, gravel, gypsum, iron ore,
petroleum, sand, and shell.7 
 The trend in the world's paper industry to convert from the acid to the
alkaline-train process was a boon to those firms holding reserves of high-purity
calcium carbonate. The alkaline-train process uses less wood pulp and more
filler, calcium carbonate, and produces a paper with longer lasting qualities.
The Sylacauga marble belt in east-central Alabama contains high-grade calcium
carbonate of sufficient purity and whiteness for paper applications. 
 Developments in Alabama's mineral industry included the announcement of
Georgia Marble Co. and the Swiss-based Pluess-Staufer forming a joint-venture
company, Alabama Carbonates L. P. , to produce calcium carbonate pigment
at Sylacauga. Occidental Chemical Corp. announced a $ 15 million expansion
at its chlorine and caustic soda plant in Mobile, and Occidental Chemical
Corp. increased caustic potash outputby 25,000 short tons per year at its
Muscle Shoals facility. 
On the metals scene, Fairfield Works, 
Birmingham, began casting double-stand 
slabs from a single mold, the first such casting of its kind in the United
States. Birmingham Steel Co. reported a loss for fiscal year 1990 because
of declining steel prices, expenses associated with out-ofState projects,
and the aborted merger transactions with the Harbert Co. Reynolds Aluminum
Co. , Listerhill, broke ground for a $175 million casting facility at its
aluminum complex near Sheffield. The company also announced plans to invest
$15 million for new environmental control equipment for its Listerhill and
Sheffield plants. 
EMPLOYMENT 
 Alabama's total employment declined from 1.77 million in 1989 to 1.76 million
in 1990. Nonfuel mining employment, however, increased from 1 1 ,600 in 1989
to 12,900 in 1990, and construction employment increased 4,200 between 1989
and 1990. Construction employment is - a measure of the demand for the State's
construction mineral commodities, cement, clays, sand and gravel, and stone.8
REGULATORY ISSUES 
 Some of Alabama's mineral producers faced the specter of higher electricity
rates and possible decreased process water supply as Alabama and Florida
filed suit against Georgia to stop plans for impounding water in Georgia
that currently drained into Alabama waterways. Alabama and Florida officials
feared that the impoundments in the Atlanta-area would decrease the amount
ofwater flowing along Alabama's eastern border and through the Florida panhandle.
 The Federal Environmental Protection Agency reported that two Birmingham-area
coke manufacturing facilities ranked among the State's top air polluters.
Interstate Lead Co., Birmingham, was fined $10,700 for violating State wastewater
standards by discharging untreated storm waters. A company spokesperson noted
that the firm had spent several million dollars installing a state-of-the-art
water treatment system 
and the fme was a misunderstanding between company and State officials. 
EXPLORATION ACTIVITIES 
 Announced exploration activity in the State during 1990 was limited to gold.
Included were the evaluation of potential drill sites in the Devils Backbone
District of Tallapoosa County and a limited amount of reconnaissance exploration
and trenching in the Arbacoochee District of Clebume County.9 
LEGISLATION AND 
GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS 
 A bill creating the Spill Response Task Force was signed into law following
the 1990 legislative session (Act 90-741). The duties of the task force were
to evaluate the State's readiness to respond to oil and hazardous materials
spills in the State's coastal waters. 
 Among the studies completed by the Geological Survey of Alabama, Tuscaloosa,
were several relating to the State's mineral resources. These included 
~ published reports on (1) high-calcium 
~ limestone deposits; (2) industrial extender 
~ and filler resources; (3) mineral reports 
~ for Montgomery, Macon, Cherokee, and Elmore Counties; (4) geology and mineral
resources of the Inner Piedmont; (5) clay resources of the Upper Cretaceous
Tuscaloosa Group; and (6) assessment of nonhydrocarbon mineral resources
in the exclusive economic ~ zone of offshore Alabama. 
 One of the nine research centers maintained by the U.S. Bureau of Mines
was on the University of Alabama campus at Tuscaloosa. The Tuscaloosa Research
Center, established in 1936, was involved in five major areas of mineral
research: (1) powder processing, (2) composite structure and properties,
(3) separation science and process control, (4) process kinetics, and (5)
environmental technology. 
 Several of the projects under investigation by the U.S. Bureau of Mines
scientists and engineers were in Alabama. Included were (1) the