Posted on 02/27/2023 12:56:00 AM PST by Libloather
The sooty black mold smothers homes, porches, and cars, locals say. It obscures street signs, and coats the leaves and bark of trees. It cements itself to any stationary object, and it makes residents question the safety of the air they breathe.
An out-of-control black "whiskey fungus," known as Baudoinia compniacensis, fueled by ethanol vapor from the Jack Daniel's facilities, has been a menace to locals in Lincoln County, Tennessee, ever since the famous liquor company started building six new barrel houses in 2018 and launched plans to build 14 more, locals say. Now, infuriated residents are demanding the company and the county answer for the damage and sinking property values, and to prove the ethanol-filled air is safe to breathe.
Patrick Long, who lives just adjacent to the Jack Daniel's barrel houses, and whose wife, Christi, filed a lawsuit against Lincoln County, told Insider the community has two main demands: an air-filtration system that could block the ethanol emissions and stunt the growth of the fungus, and an environmental impact study evaluating the amount of ethanol emanating from the barrel houses and any health risks it poses.
"I'm extremely concerned. My wife has breathing problems. One of the neighbors got cancer," Long said. "It's in the air. And you really, probably don't want to be breathing that in. But nobody has done a test to determine if it's actually poisonous."
Long said the six existing barrel houses mean he has to spend roughly $10,000 per year power-washing his house with a potent mixture of water and Clorox. He also said local officials have given up trying to clean the fungus-covered street signs and simply replace them when they become too blackened to be legible.
(Excerpt) Read more at insider.com ...
someone’s over the barrel...
Seems Jack Daniels could trap the ethanol and use it to fuel their plant.
it’s the sugar in the air. Goes with the territory.
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