U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock and U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson are demanding answers from the CEO of BioLab’s parent company in yet another escalation of pressure following a fire at its facility last month.
The letter comes days after Rockdale County commissioners called on the Conyers plant to be shut down as lawsuits and federal investigations mount after the blaze, which forced thousands of residents to evacuate and shut down schools and businesses.
“On September 29, a Sunday morning, as families traveled to places of worship, family gatherings, and weekly errands, they saw a surreal and terrifying scene: a vast plume of smoke,” the letter reads.
Warnock and Johnson note the fire is not an isolated incident. The facility had a major fire in 2004, which led to evacuations similar to the most recent blaze and, in 2020, a smaller fire temporarily shut down I-20. A BioLab facility in Louisiana also experienced a catastrophic fire in 2020. Federal investigators later found BioLab’s poor preparation for an incoming hurricane and inadequate fire suppression system contributed to the episode.
In a statement, a BioLab spokesperson said the company has had a “productive dialogue” with Warnock and Johnson and said it remains committed to completing the site clean-up, assisting those affected with the fire and cooperating with regulators going forward.
“Our leadership will continue to work with both the Senator and Representative, along with the other government officials with whom we have been in regular contact over the course of this situation,” the spokesperson said.
The letter from Warnock and Johnson asks Michael Sload, CEO of BioLab’s parent company KIK Consumer Products, to answer several questions by Nov. 13, including whether local residents who utilize the company’s reimbursement center will be prevented from filing a future lawsuit against BioLab for the fire. Warnock and Johnson also ask whether the company took any action following a series of previous workplace violations at the Rockdale facility found by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
“We ask that BioLab respond in detail to the questions below regarding the events of September 29, their relationship to BioLab’s prior safety failures and workplace violations, and BioLab’s plan to address any financial, health, and environmental harms to the Rockdale County and metro Atlanta community,” the letter reads.
Johnson, whose district includes Conyers, previously led an effort by several Georgia Congressional Democrats to ask EPA Administrator Michael Regan to close a “regulatory gap” that has allowed the chemical linked to the Sept. 29 blaze to avoid scrutiny that other toxic or flammable chemicals are subjected to under federal rules.
Johnson and other Georgia congressional leaders earlier this month asked for the reactive chemical, known as trichloroisocyanuric acid or TCCA, to be included under the EPA’s Risk Management Program Rule. The regulation puts facilities that house certain hazardous chemicals under greater scrutiny and would have required companies such as BioLab to create preparedness plans that inform first responders in case of an emergency, among other regulations.
Federal investigators made such a recommendation following the 2020 blaze in Louisiana, but the EPA never included TCCA under the program rule.
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