In the small rural town of Parrish, Alabama, several train cars carrying tons of human waste have been stranded for months. Residents literally cannot step out of their houses without getting a whiff of the foul stench emanating from the stranded train cars. According to a report from CNN , the train cars were on their way to a private landfill operated by Big Sky Environmental from waste management facilities in New Jersey and New York. However, the cars were left there when the town of West Jefferson filed a case against Big Sky Environmental for temporarily storing the waste in a yard near the town.
As reported by WVTM 13 , West Jefferson’s case was a success, which meant that the company would have to find another place to temporarily store their train cars. Due to the lack of any zoning laws in Parrish prohibiting the company from storing their train cars, Big Sky Environmental had decided to move their cargo to the small town. The train cars carrying the foul cargo were parked just across the town’s baseball field. Parrish currently has around 982 residents in an area of just around 2 square miles, which means that everything is practically within smelling distance.
Dozens of train cars carrying 10 million pounds of poop have been stranded in a rural Alabama rail yard for almost two months, shipped from waste management facilities in other places https://t.co/ZkVxoZhH4k pic.twitter.com/WxMBRZWL40
— CNN (@CNN) April 4, 2018
Big Sky initially informed officials that the cars would eventually be moved after a few days, but that turned out to be false as the cars have been sitting on the tracks for more than two months now. The town’s mayor, Heather Hall, has been getting complaints from residents who are starting to get concerned about how the stench could be affecting their health. The qualities of life for Parrish residents have apparently been greatly affected as well as they can no longer stay outside their houses or have their kids play outdoors. There is also the concern of flies getting in their houses and potentially contaminating their food.
“You can’t sit out on your porch. Kids can’t go outside and play, and God help us if it gets hot and this material is still out here.”
The Alabama Department of Environmental Management and the Environmental Protection Agency have informed residents that the cargo isn’t dangerous as it is categorized as “Grade A biowaste.” Hall has already approached Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey regarding their situation and lawmakers are reportedly now trying to find a solution to the problem.