MEADE COUNTY, Ky. — A witness for Consolidated Grain and Barge testified under oath that the deconstruction of the grain elevator at the Brandenburg Riverport has rendered the site inoperable.
During a hearing Friday in Meade County, the witness said key components had already been scrapped from the site. If the judge ruled in favor of the Lincoln Train Grain Growers Association, it would take 6 to 12 months to have an operational facility, the witness stated.
The testimony came during a hearing for a suit in which farmers have sued CBG, Nucor Steel and Meade County officials. They learned in late 2019 that their grain elevator would close to make way for the $1.3B Nucor plant to be build on the riverport.
The company bought CBG’s lease during a meeting that the farmers claim was held in violation of the Open Meetings Act, included votes by members who should not be legally recognized and will create irreparable financial harm on their lively hoods.
Farmers lost their emergency effort to prevent the deconstruction process last month. Friday, at times, they lost their emotions while getting grilled by attorneys fighting to keep up progress on the Nucor project.
Farmer David Padget described a deadly car crash he was in on a rainy day while hauling fertilizer back from a store in Owensboro.
“She lost control of it (her car), she hit me in the front and I lost control of the semi”, Padgett said as he began to cry. “It killed them instantly.”
He says he can’t haul grain on rainy days and the closure of the Brandenburg elevator allow for less time to choose which days to go to market. One of his big concerns with losing the elevator is all of extra miles he'll be forced to log to Owensboro.
Attorneys accused the Lincoln Trail Grain Growers Association of inflating their potential losses in an effort to save the elevator. There were a number of heated exchanges between them and attorneys for CGB and Meade County.
During cross examination, two of the farmers admitted that while they stick to their estimate of losing tens of thousands of dollars if the grain elevator closes for good, they will continue to farm and may not come out of next season at a loss.
Judge Bruce Butler wants one more set of legal papers by March 11th then says he’ll make a ruling. But if the testimony was accurate here today, even if he rules with the farmers it could be a year before that elevator could be up and running again.