Corn dumping raises questions, concerns

ELMIRA — One after another, Terry Gueeron watches as the trucks hauling corn from Monday’s BNSF derailment at Cocolalla Flats drive along the railroad tracks parallel to his home.

First, corn from a pup trailer is dumped, unleashing a cloud of dust. Next, corn from the main truck is dumped, raising another cloud of dust as the corn hits the ground. The procession started Thursday and has continued every since, growing more frequent on Saturday.

“Right now other than being a nuisance, it’s the dust,” Gueeron said. “Every time they dump, a big cloud of dust goes up. I don’t know what it is, whether it’s dirt or what.”

The corn now stretches 600-700 feet along the tracks, which run parallel to a 1,500-foot-plus private access road to Gueeron’s home. BNSF Railway spokesman Gus Melonas said the company is looking into the matter.

Gueeron said he is frustrated that no one talked to him before they started hauling the corn in to let him know what’s going on, or how long the corn might sit across from his home.

“I think they should have least asked me if I had an objection seeing as we’re neighbors,” he said. “I’ve put up with a lot from them and they haven’t had to put up with anything from me.”

He’s worried about what’s in the corn, whether it contains any pesticides and potential environmental problems. He said he would have liked to talk to someone from the railroad before they started hauling the corn in so he could bring up his concerns and find out what, if any, danger it poses.

Not talking to him, he said, seems a bit disrespectful.

“I think it’s more an issue of principle than anything,” Gueeron said. “I would have liked to have brought up the issues, have been able to ask, ‘Is there a danger, how long is it going to be there, what’s the impact going to be on me’ because no one seems concerned about that.”

Gueeron said he’s also worried about what kind of rodents and wild game the corn might attract as it sits out in the open along the tracks.

He’s already seen rats and at least one snake and he figures it’s only a matter of time before the deer, elk and other wildlife find their way to the corn. “They’re going to be all over the place,” he said.

“Then they left and they’ve done nothing else but haul,” he said. “Nothing else has been done except hauling it up and dumping it. It’s full of garbage and rats and who knows what.”

He’s had friends and acquaintances stop him in the store to ask him what’s going on, but he has few answers.

“‘What are they doing?’ they ask. ‘I don’t know,’ I tell them. ‘They didn’t tell me anything.’”

All he knows, Gueeron said, is that the corn is sitting there in the cold and the rain and he worries that it will start fermenting and sprouting soon.

With each truckload of corn and debris, Gueeron said the site looks more and more like a garbage dump, with dirt, beer cans, hoses and trash mixed in with the corn.

“It looks like a garbage dump,” he said. “It’s a real eyesore.”

He says he’s a bit frustrated and has gone outside to watch as the drivers bring in load after load of corn. He doesn’t blame them and understands they’re just trying to make living.

“Everyone is getting paid, but I’m sitting here getting the back end of it,” he said.