New York City’s stranded "poop train" has left residents of a tiny Alabama town gagging on the stench for over two months.
The train has been transporting human waste to Big Sky Environmental, a privately-owned landfill located about 20 miles from Parrish, Alabama, since early 2017, according to The Associated Press. But the train has been sitting Parrish since late January after nearby West Jefferson filed a lawsuit to keep the sludge from being stored there.
The West Jefferson injunction was successful but, because there are no Parrish zoning laws to prevent storage, the train sits there, permeating an unbearable smell which Mayor Heather Hall has likened to “rotting corpses, or carcasses,” according to the AP.
The town’s little league fields happen to be within close range of the “poop train” and it has reached the point where community members are considering rescheduling children’s softball games or at least moving them.
Hall has been campaigning to have the train moved from the town but, to this point, her efforts have been unsuccessful.
The Environmental Protection Agency and the Alabama Department of Environmental Management have both told her that the material is not hazardous, but Hall believes there are risks involved, CNN reported.
“If you have asthma or COPD or breathing problems, what is that going to do to you?” she asked. “[The rail yard] is probably less than 50 yards away from homes. What happens if flies get into someone's house? Is that not a public health issue?”
A spokeswoman for the Alabama Department of Environmental Management said it is taking all concerns into account while deciding what to do, adding that the department “understands and empathizes with the residents of the nearby communities,” The Guardian reported.
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