ROCKDALE COUNTY, Ga. — Rockdale County on Wednesday reported a milestone efforts, as well as signs that the chemical plume situation that followed a fire at the BioLab facility in Conyers on Sept. 29 may now be in the rearview mirror.
The county said in social media posts that there had been no visible plumes for 48 hours, as well as no visible spikes in chemical levels -- chlorine has been the main component of the plume -- in that time period.
"This is a HUGE milestone in the BioLab incident," the county said.
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To this point, the county has still not lifted the nightly 7 p.m.-7 a.m. shelter-in-place order for residents within a two-mile radius of the BioLab site, and Rockdale County schools have not announced a plan to return yet to in-person learning; the district has been conducting remote learning for several weeks because of the plume.
With the active plume situation receding, focus has begun to shift in the past couple weeks to what comes next. Some residents have called for BioLab to be shut down in Conyers, while several lawmakers have called for stricter Environmental Protection Agency oversight of the chlorine compound -- Trichloroisocyanuric Acid (TCCA) -- that emanated from the plume as a product known as "pool shock," used for chlorinating pools and spas, reacted with sprinkler water after the fire.
"What about those of us that cannot move? We have to stay where we are, we have to protect. This is not a one time event," DeKalb County Sheriff Melody Maddox, who was among those to voice their concerns, said. "I understand people want pools, but they need to find somewhere else to put that plant and not in our community."
It's not yet clear what, if any, regulatory steps will follow at this point. BioLab this week opened a Community Assistance Center for residents and businesses to include financial assistance as the community deals with the impacts and displacement the plume caused over multiple weeks.
A number of lawsuits have also been filed in the incident.
Long-term health implications for those who were closest to the plume across the last few weeks also remains unclear. EPA monitoring in the immediate area, and monitoring in surrounding communities by county governments and emergency management agencies, never signaled hazardous levels requiring another evacuation after much of the city of Conyers evacuated in the first days after the fire.
Hundreds of residents nonetheless reported irritation symptoms and hospital visits, with the Georgia Department of Public Health saying few of those involved serious symptoms. Residents also reported ashy debris scattered across the area.
The Rockdale Soil and Water Conservation District supervisor, Kenny Johnson, died after he collapsed following a public meeting on the plume near the Georgia Capitol last week. The 62-year-old's cause of death has not been determined, with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation saying this week it would not be conducting an autopsy after consultation with Johnson's family.
"After discussions with the family, a GBI medical examiner conducted a case consultation and it was determined that the GBI did not need to perform an autopsy," the GBI said in part.
Johnson's wife, Dr, Shamita Johnson, requested patience and privacy in her only public statement after her husband's death, which drew national headlines and speculation about whether his death could in some way be tied to the chemical plume. There is to this point no evidence of a link.