Neighbors in Winchester worry fertilizer company is making them sick

WINCHESTER, Ky. (WTVQ)- On the eve of a holiday often spent outdoors, a group of people in Winchester say they are trying to spend as little time outside right now as possible.

They say an expansion to a nearby fertilizer plant is creating an awful smell in the neighborhood, and they worry it will make them sick.

Carol Hisle says the new smoke stack on a fertilizer plant in the neighborhood is sometimes throwing out lime dust as part of a process that creates pellets of fertilizer.

She says her husband thinks the smell is reminiscent of burnt hot dogs. She calls it sour.

Hisle’s four grandchildren live with her and she says they often complain of headaches.

“When I first moved here, it was like which child went to which house because that’s how many kids got out and played. Well, now, they can’t do that,” she said.

Histle says her biggest fear is what might happen to the health of her grandchildren.

“The idea of thinking I lived them here and they could catch cancer from that stuff there,” she said tearfully.

She is not alone in those fears. About a hundred of her neighbors have signed a petition asking the problem be addressed. The city is responding.

“Something we don’t take lightly,” City Manager Matt Belcher said over the phone.

He says there are no local ordinances about air quality, but the state has been doing inspections. He says the Division of Air Quality issued a notice of violation related to the smell in mid June. When ABC 36 called the division Monday, we were sent to voicemail.

The man who answered our call at Kentucky Fertilizer told ABC 36 no one could talk to us until after the holiday. It is a holiday Hisle says she will not be able to fully enjoy while worrying for her grandchildren.

“I feel it right now that if I don’t do something about it right now, it’s going to be too late for them,” Hisle said.

She and her neighbors will be able to take their concerns to a special meeting next Tuesday July 11th at City Hall. The city says both representatives from the state and from the fertilizer company have been invited.