Walker County Operators: From Coal Country to the I-22 Corridor

Projects that put cranes to work

• Plant Gorgas decommissioning. Alabama Power's coal plant near Parrish, at the meeting of Baker Creek and the Mulberry Fork, ran from 1917 until its retirement in 2019. Boiler houses and a stack were imploded in September 2021, and salvage of turbines and structural steel is the kind of work that needs careful rigging of unknown or awkward loads.
• Warrior Met Coal's conveyor. Business Alabama reported a major investment in Walker County for an overland conveyor carrying coal from the Blue Creek mine to a new loading terminal. Conveyor gallery sections and trestles are classic mobile crane picks.
• Industrial park development. The county's development authority secured $4.7 million in Growing Alabama funds for Heritage Industrial Park, and sites in the Jasper Industrial Park have been marketed for new tenants.
• Food and wood plants. Mar-Jac Poultry is the largest manufacturing employer, and Jasper Lumber is among the biggest employers in the county.

MSHA, OSHA and where the line falls

Walker County crews switch between regulators more than most. Active mines and their surface plants fall under MSHA, which does not use OSHA's crane operator certification rule. Building a power plant, a warehouse or a conveyor outside mine property is construction under federal OSHA's 29 CFR 1926 Subpart CC, which requires accredited operator certification, an employer evaluation, qualified riggers and qualified signal persons. Many contractors simply certify everyone so they can work either side.

Alabama does not issue its own crane license, and Jasper does not either. Our Alabama requirements page lays out the federal pieces in order.

Terrain and weather on Walker County sites

Old strip mine land is rarely uniform. Fill can settle unevenly, buried debris turns up, and spoil piles leave slopes that look stable until a loaded outrigger finds a soft spot. Bottomland along the Mulberry Fork can flood after heavy rain. Plan for mats, cribbing and a real ground assessment before every setup.

Spring storms and tornado warnings are a fact of life across north-central Alabama, and summer heat and lightning cut workdays short. Knowing the wind limits for your machine, and when to set the load down and stop, is tested material.

Training and testing close to home

Bevill State Community College has partnered with local schools and Alabama Power on training centers in the Jasper Industrial Park, which shows how much the county is investing in skilled trades. For crane credentials, the written exam can be taken by Online Proctored Testing, at a computer test center or at a test event; the practical exam is hands-on and is often scheduled in the Birmingham area, reached by I-22.