PARRISH, Ala. Right now, dozens of train cars carrying 10 million pounds of poop are stranded in a rural Alabama rail yard. Technically its biowaste, but to the 982 residents in the small town of Parrish, thats just semantics.
They want it gone. The load has been there for almost two months, and its making the whole place smell like a rotting animal carcass.
To add insult to injury, it isnt even their poop. For the last year, waste management facilities in New York and one in New Jersey have been shipping tons of biowaste literally, tons to Big Sky Environmental, a private landfill in Adamsville, Alabama. But in January, the neighboring town of West Jefferson filed an injunction against Big Sky to keep the sludge from being stored in a nearby rail yard.
It was successful but as a result, the poo already in transit got moved to Parrish, where there are no zoning laws to prevent the waste from being stored.
Parrish Mayor Heather Hall said she is doing everything in her power to get the feculent freight out of her town.
Its so frustrating, Hall said. Last week, Hall met with Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, and she and other Montgomery lawmakers told Hall they would help get it sorted out. Theyre trying to work behind the scenes to get us a little bit of help, but weve been told that for weeks, and theres still no solution.
Hall said the stench permeates everything. The rail yard is across from a baseball field and next to a softball field. Parrish only measures about 2 square miles, and pretty much everything is within smelling distance.
It greatly reduces the quality of life, Hall said. You cant sit out on your porch. Kids cant go outside and play, and God help us if it gets hot and this material is still out here. On Tuesday, when Hall spoke to CNN, the temperature in Parrish reached 81 degrees.
You cant open your door because that stuff gets in your house. Its really rough, Parrish resident Robert Hall told CNN affiliate WVTM. Other residents said the waste smelled like dead bodies.