As whiskey and bourbon business booms, beloved distillers face pushback over taxes and emissions

The whiskey and bourbon makers of Tennessee and Kentucky have long been beloved in their communities, where they provide jobs and the pride of a successful homegrown industry. But the distillers' runaway success in recent years and accompanying rapid growth has led to conflicts. In Kentucky, where 95% of the world’s bourbon is manufactured, counties are revolting after the legislature voted to phase out a tax they have depended on to fund schools, roads and utilities. Neighbors in both states have been fighting industry expansion, lodging complaints over a destructive black fungus coating homes and killing trees, the loss of prime farm land and liquor-themed tourist developments that are more Disneyland than distillery tour.