ROCKDALE COUNTY, Ga. — As clean-up efforts continue at the BioLab facility in Rockdale County, officials with the lab provided an update on Friday. The facility has been at the center of the chemical plume disaster that began on Sept. 29.
On Friday, BioLab officials said the site's chemicals have been treated and are no longer producing fumes. Officials added in the news release that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recorded 72 hours of no air quality exceedances in the community.
On Thursday, Rockdale County officials announced the shelter-in-place order had been lifted for the community after several weeks.
“We are immensely grateful to the Unified Command team, first responders, and Rockdale County leadership, who worked tirelessly with BioLab and the technical specialists we deployed, to get us to this important stage of remediation,” CEO of BioLab’s parent company, KIK Consumer Products Michael Sload said.
BioLab officials said it will continue to monitor safe waste disposal, remediation of the facility property and the nearby retention pond, and debris recovery from residences and the community.
"As we move forward, we remain actively focused on supporting impacted local residents and business owners by continuing to get them the assistance they need," Sload added.
Meanwhile, residents are still demanding answers and voicing concerns about long-term health impacts and the overall safety of their businesses and homes.
11Alive's Angelina Salcedo spoke with the Hamm family, who lives just yards away from the BioLab.
"At first, they said they didn't think it was harmful, but yet when I actually got a good whiff of it, it was harmful to me. When I first inhaled it, my throat burned for a couple of days, and I kept having headaches," Stanley Hamm said.
11Alive's Karys Belger also spoke with residents at a Rockdale County town hall meeting on Oct. 9.
"I didn’t find out until today that we were supposed to call someone to move debris from our yard," Resident Quamica Keith said. "Me and my grandchildren moved the debris ourselves. Their late response is ridiculous. I feel like someone from BioLab should be here, talking to us."
For more information about BioLab's community resources, click here.