Alabama has a Poop Problem

[Hugo Stiglitz 23366]

(CNN)Right now, dozens of train cars carrying 10 million pounds of poop are stranded in a rural Alabama rail yard. Technically it's biowaste, but to the 982 residents in the small town of Parrish, that's just semantics. 

They want it gone. The load has been there for almost two months, and it's making the whole place smell like a rotting animal carcass. 

To add insult to injury, it isn't 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. 

 

'God help us if it gets hot'

 

Parrish Mayor Heather Hall said she is doing everything in her power to get the feculent freight out of her town. 

"It's 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. "They're trying to work behind the scenes to get us a little bit of help, but we've been told that for weeks, and there's 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 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." On Tuesday, when Hall spoke to CNN, the temperature in Parrish reached 81 degrees. 

"You can't open your door because that stuff gets in your house. It's really rough," Parrish resident Robert Hall told CNN affiliate WVTM. Other residents said the waste smelled like dead bodies. 

 

'Is that not a public health issue?'

 

The Environmental Protection Agency and the Alabama Department of Environmental Management have both told Hall the material isn't dangerous, because it's supposed to be Grade A biowaste, not raw sewage (which is also the reason for the unique smell). 

She's willing to take them at their word, but that doesn't mean she and other Parrish residents aren't concerned. 

"Other than it smelling absolutely terrible, I have to trust them that it's not going to hurt you," she said. "But if you have asthma or COPD or breathing problems, what is that going to do to you? [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?"

Hall said her colleagues in the capital city of Montgomery have asked her not to file an injunction against the landfill, not that it would be a smart idea anyway; if they went to court over the matter, the other matter would just sit there, stinking up Parrish, until the trial was over. 

 

'They keep telling us the situation is almost over' 

 

So, in short, nobody knows when the poop will be moved. 

"I'm just getting little bits and pieces of information, and I cannot tell you how frustrating it is," Hall said. "My understanding is, they are really trying to work on the problem, and they keep telling us the situation is almost over."

Hall hasn't been in contact with Big Sky for a few weeks. When she first spoke to the company, when the cars of waste were just beginning to be stockpiled in Parrish's rail yard, they told her it would take seven to 10 days to move them out. That was two months ago. 

CNN contacted Big Sky and is waiting to receive comment. 

Parrish isn't the only town on the waste route that has been dealing with the fetid fallout. According to AL.com, residents in Birmingham were livid when at least 80 train cars full of the sludge came to a stop in their city in January. 

Hall said, at one point, there were 252 tractor-trailer loads of the stuff stockpiled in her town. 

"People need to understand that this waste does not need to be in a populated area," she said. "There are places to put it, industrial places. We're a very small town caught in the middle of this, and I feel like that's part of the issue here. This shouldn't be happening."

[Hawndoh 2386]

That’s a shitty situation. 

[Deej 76641]

Oklahoma won't take it?

[Parliament 14156]

Rotten poop would make Oklahoma smell BETTER,

[kopp0e 1135]

By just looking at the photo, one can assume that the shitty situation is epic at this juncture... 

Is that anywhere near Petticoat Junction..? 

All that could just be used as fertilizer, it would definitely grow some Green Acres...

[Kringelbert Fishtybuns 943]

I wonder how this plays in Bug Tussle.

[South Austin 52204]

[Washpark 176]

Lulz. Much like most of America perception of Bama

america’s shitter is full

[Brisketexan 104787]

In fairness...where else would you send a train full of shit BUT Alabama?

 

Hell, tell em that train loves Jesus and hates Obama and the train might end up in the Senate.

 

[Trey3216 15325]

Alabama is used to having a train of runs on them

[686 3412]

Not to interrupt the gangbang, but Texas used to be in this business as well, FYI:

"It is hard to imagine places more different than New York and Sierra Blanca, and the contrast has always underscored the mercenary marriage between the nation's largest city and the small town where it has dumped its sewage since 1992. That year, after Congress had prohibited the city from dumping its sludge in the Atlantic Ocean, New York signed contracts with several companies to treat and transport its sewage. One of them was a Long Island joint venture, which began shipping up to 250 tons every day on the 2,065-mile journey to West Texas. The Texas Observer, the political journal, recently called it ''the poo-poo choo-choo.''

The Long Island company, Merco, had first sought a site in Oklahoma, but after meeting resistance there learned about a failed resort called the Mile High Ranch in Sierra Blanca. The company purchased the 81,000-acre area so that the treated sludge could be spread on ''application areas''..."

https://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/27/us/new-york-s-sewage-was-a-texas-town-s-gold.html

[bernorange 8351]

That's a potentially explosive situation - literally. 

https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs142p2_043440.pdf

[MrPhlegm 3413]

Epic. Ps florida has the same problem with shit from noo yawk except it walks around on two legs and roots for the mets and the jets and whines about the heat.

[Judge Roybeanbag 11811]

I hear the shit train  comin'
It's rolling round the bend
And I ain't smelled such nasty shit since I don't know when
I'm stuck in Alabama and time keeps draggin' on
 

[ohchaucer 1443]

Quote

Hell, tell em that train loves Jesus and hates Obama and the train might end up in the Senate.

And likes to poop shoot.

['stache 21778]

Oklahoma won't take it?

The one thing we okie libruls have is “at least we’re not Alabama.”

[Parliament 14156]

Biosolids are environmental friendly. This isn't the stuff they suck out of a portajohn. All the inorganic, rubbers and similar are removed and it's basically compost. It's very good for remediation of poor soil.

[RDCanecutter 26347]

44 minutes ago, Parliament said:

Biosolids are environmental friendly. This isn't the stuff they suck out of a portajohn. All the inorganic, rubbers and similar are removed and it's basically compost. It's very good for remediation of poor soil.

It's still from New York City. Think of all that trustafarian skinny-legged-jean Brooklynese butt-slime leaking into the aquifers. We'll have blind mutant cave-crawdads bursting from the earth, demanding better Wifi so they can work from their laptops on their next McSweeney's article.

[elfenix 34205]

TIL that shit is graded

[Dr. Teeth 5842]

55 minutes ago, Parliament said:

Biosolids are environmental friendly. This isn't the stuff they suck out of a portajohn. All the inorganic, rubbers and similar are removed and it's basically compost. It's very good for remediation of poor soil.

Did you just polish a turd?

[Netzer 157]

I've heard Kevin Morgan has a similar problem.

[TahoeHorn 107]

When I lived in Douglas County, NV those of us on the Lake Tahoe side of the mountain piped our waste and drinking water to the desert side of the mountain.  They partially processed the waste and used the water for irrigation, and the rest for fertilizer.  

['stache 21778]

I've heard Kevin Morgan has a similar problem.

He should start a website addressed to various matter of fecal science.

[Prepuce of Doom 21020]

I think it's more honest and accurate to say that the poop has an Alabama problem. 

Edited April 5, 2018 by Prepuce of Doom
He called his shit poop.

[Armybrat 40759]

In Austin the local version of this shit is called "Dillo Dirt" and has been sold at Home Depot for years.

[Matt In The Hat 9]

We used to have these cars come through our rail yard in KC. The list always said they were "Trash", now I'm wondering if it was shit. It certainly smelled fucking awful, especially when it was hot out

[Call 393]

The townspeople sound poor as shit. 

[El Diablo 4232]

"Feculent". I gotta try to work that into a conversation soon. Feculent.

[ButtFumble 5162]

On 4/4/2018 at 8:54 AM, 686 said:

Not to interrupt the gangbang, but Texas used to be in this business as well, FYI:

"It is hard to imagine places more different than New York and Sierra Blanca, and the contrast has always underscored the mercenary marriage between the nation's largest city and the small town where it has dumped its sewage since 1992. That year, after Congress had prohibited the city from dumping its sludge in the Atlantic Ocean, New York signed contracts with several companies to treat and transport its sewage. One of them was a Long Island joint venture, which began shipping up to 250 tons every day on the 2,065-mile journey to West Texas. The Texas Observer, the political journal, recently called it ''the poo-poo choo-choo.''

The Long Island company, Merco, had first sought a site in Oklahoma, but after meeting resistance there learned about a failed resort called the Mile High Ranch in Sierra Blanca. The company purchased the 81,000-acre area so that the treated sludge could be spread on ''application areas''..."

https://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/27/us/new-york-s-sewage-was-a-texas-town-s-gold.html

 

 

you can still tell where it was applied looking at google earth

in my opinion Texas should try to get it start back up

[El Diablo 4232]

Is that shit inert? What's the PH? I'm just wondering what the runoff does downstream.

[cactusflinthead 27596]

On 4/4/2018 at 11:10 AM, RDCanecutter said:

It's still from New York City. Think of all that trustafarian skinny-legged-jean Brooklynese butt-slime leaking into the aquifers. We'll have blind mutant cave-crawdads bursting from the earth, demanding better Wifi so they can work from their laptops on their next McSweeney's article.

I can't figure out how to make a joke about stirring it in on the thousands of acres of cotton fields, but I know there's one in there somewhere. 

[cactusflinthead 27596]

Milwaukee has been selling their city sewage as a fertilizer for years. Milorganite. 

I don't know why NY has gotten a pass to dump in the ocean or anywhere else that isn't a facility designed to process it. Money. Right. That's usually why.

[AUinHsv 578]

On 4/4/2018 at 11:10 AM, RDCanecutter said:

It's still from New York City. Think of all that trustafarian skinny-legged-jean Brooklynese butt-slime leaking into the aquifers. We'll have blind mutant cave-crawdads bursting from the earth, demanding better Wifi so they can work from their laptops on their next McSweeney's article.

what he said....

[LW Goatman 1117]

On 4/4/2018 at 8:14 AM, Brisketexan said:

In fairness...where else would you send a train full of shit BUT Alabama?

 

Hell, tell em that train loves Jesus and hates Obama and the train might end up in the Senate.

 

Florida.

[Dolemite 143]

99 problems but a trainload of shit ain't one.

[RPM 26267]

What a load of crap.