Public health, explained: Sign up to receive Healthbeat’s free Atlanta newsletter here.
People living around the BioLab chemical plant in Rockdale County are grappling with fear and anger over whether they will face lingering health effects, or water or soil contamination, from the fire that polluted the area for weeks.
They are filing lawsuits and organizing community forums to demand answers, and to hold the company to account for the Sept. 29 accident. They want compensation for the disruptions that forced thousands to evacuate their homes, closed highways, and shuttered businesses and schools.
And they want to know how the accident happened.
It could be a long wait for answers.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency initially oversaw air-quality monitoring in the immediate aftermath of the fire. Now the Georgia Environmental Protection Division is in charge of overseeing clean-up and investigation.
The EPD told Healthbeat there is no set timeline, and the next steps lie with BioLab.
The company is responsible for developing its own cleanup plans and submitting them to the EPD. The agency is not conducting its own soil or water sampling, but rather reviewing data submitted by BioLab, spokesperson Sara Lips told Healthbeat.
Here’s the latest information on where it all stands.
What chemicals burned at the BioLab plant?
The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) last month issued an update on its investigation. Plant 12, a storage facility equipped with seven sprinkler systems, caught on fire. BioLab had instituted a “permanent fire watch” two to three months before because workers detected “strong odors.”
At least three chemicals caught fire, according to the CSB:
- trichloroisocyanuric acid (TCCA)
- sodium dichloroisocyanurate (DCCA)
- bromochloro-5,5-dimethylimidazolidine-2,4-dione (BCDMH)
The chemicals that caught fire can “release toxic and corrosive products,” like chlorine gas, hydrogen chloride, bromine gas, and hydrogen bromide, the CSB said.
The resulting multicolored plume of chemical smoke in the air prompted evacuation orders for about 17,000 people, and shut down an interstate highway, businesses, and schools. Residents complained of skin, eye, and throat irritation, among other health effects.
The EPA monitored air quality from Sept. 29 until Oct. 17. The agency rates the severity of exposure to chemicals using “acute exposure” levels rated from 1 to 3, with 1 being the least severe. The threshold levels help determine how officials should respond to the exposure.
Chemical concentrations in the air hit the level 1 threshold during the overnight periods from Sept. 30 to Oct. 1 and from Oct. 1 to Oct. 2, the EPA found.
Has BioLab resumed operations?
Manufacturing has not resumed at the BioLab plant, spokesperson Emma Cloyd said, and “will only be undertaken with approval from authorities and regulators.”
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division is overseeing “BioLab’s investigation and remediation efforts,” Lips said.
The agency is communicating with BioLab to get the company to provide a plan for the investigation of contamination from the fire, she said. Once those results are in, the agency will request that BioLab develop and implement a remediation plan to address any impacts.
There is no set deadline, Lips said. BioLab is “still completing interim actions, soil sampling, and removal of contaminated soil.”
How is the air quality in Rockdale County?
The EPA said chlorine in the air was below actionable levels as of Oct. 17, leading the agency to wind down monitoring.
An EPA website dedicated to the fire said the agency will continue to post data from BioLab’s air-monitoring stations. However, that data has not been updated since Nov. 21. The agency has not responded to a query about the missing data.
Many residents expressed concerns about long-term health effects from the fire during a community forum attended by about 90 people last week.
Their concerns are valid, said Dr. Beatrice Golomb, a professor of medicine at the University of California San Diego who has studied chemical exposure in a variety of settings, including in the aftermath of the train derailment and chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio.
“The reality is, commonly the case that we will hear reports that every chemical is within safe limits, and then it will prove that lots and lots of people got sick following this kind of event,” said Golomb, who has also studied Gulf War syndrome.
She said there is a lack of information about the health effects of many chemicals and especially about what happens when different chemicals mix together.
“It is the case that there could be risk of some people developing chronic health problems,” Golomb said.
Roby Greenwald, a public health professor at Georgia State University who specializes in measuring air pollution, agreed.
“I know from other contexts that simultaneous exposure to multiple chemicals can have adverse effects, even if each individual chemical is below a toxicity threshold, especially if the chemicals are activating the same or overlapping biological pathways,” Greenwald said.
What about soil and water quality?
Rockdale County Department of Water Resources manager Vernoy Murray said the county’s water supply is safe. He said he has no concerns about the quality of the water for drinking, gardening, or other uses.
The status of any soil contamination is unclear. Lips said the EPD is not monitoring soil and water quality, but “will be reviewing the data BioLab collects.”
George Kelecheck, chairperson of the Rockdale Soil and Water Conservation District, said his agency does not have an enforcement role in monitoring soil quality.
The University of Georgia Extension Service has an office in Rockdale County and has several soil and water tests for purchase. However, Amy Smith, an agriculture and natural resources program assistant, said the tests are for routine purposes and aren’t really designed to test for chemicals in the aftermath of a chemical incident.
What are the lawsuits against BioLab seeking?
There are two major legal cases against BioLab.
One lawsuit was filed by Rockdale County, through its county commissioners, at the end of October. The lawsuit asks the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia to order the closure of the BioLab plant in Conyers, as well as award compensatory and punitive damages, and other remedies.
Local residents have filed at least 20 lawsuits against BioLab. Those were consolidated by a federal judge last month.
How likely is a BioLab closure?
Separate from the lawsuits, some residents are calling on the county commissioners to revoke BioLab’s license to do business in Rockdale County. A petition on Change.Org had 413 verified signatures as of Tuesday.
“Simply use the ordinances that you have in responsibility, and that is actually shutting down the business license,” Iffat Walker, founder of Community Action Now, said during a press conference last week.
But the path to closure may not be so straightforward, said longtime Georgia environmental attorney Donald Stack.
“It’s very hard to shut down an existing facility,” Stack said. It’s likely the judge in the county’s lawsuit calling for the shutdown would give BioLab a “schedule of compliance,” requiring certain steps with deadlines, he said. The judge would then assess whether BioLab has met the requirements.
“It’s pretty rare that I’ve ever seen a judge issue a blanket injunction [to close a facility] first go around,” Stack said.
It’s also difficult to revoke a business license, he said: “It’s creative. It’s a good approach. The likelihood of success – I wouldn’t bet my second-to-last dollar to it.”
Stack would advise county commissioners to be cautious. The court of public opinion could be more successful in getting the company to leave, Stack said. Residents can use social media and even pay for a large billboard saying something like “BioLab is not welcome in our community,” he said.
“The way I always tell my clients is, think about a triangular component here. There’s three legs to that triangle, you should be pushing social media, political, and legal,” Stack said.
BioLab has established a community resources website where residents can learn about the process for getting reimbursed for the expenses they incurred due to the evacuation and shelter-in-place orders.
There is a dedicated hotline (678-301-2359); the website says calls will be answered 24-7.
BioLab has also set up a local community assistance center at 927 N. Main St. NW. The website states people must schedule appointments. However, no appointments were available for booking via the website during 2025 as of Tuesday.
BioLab announced this week that the deadline for submitting reimbursement claims is Dec. 31.
Some residents are frustrated that their reimbursement claims are not being processed quickly. Krystel Boy was pregnant when the BioLab fire broke out, and her ob/gyn recommended she stay away from the area for as long as possible.
She and her husband left home for nine weeks, incurring over $6,000 in accommodation costs, plus fuel and food costs. She submitted carefully itemized records for those expenses about a month ago and has only received one automated acknowledgement email.
The whole experience has been “very stressful,” Boy said, and she feels sad she missed out on the opportunity to really “nest” as she prepared for her first child, who is due this week.
What about long-term health tracking?
The Georgia Department of Public Health gathered data on how many people presented to local clinics and emergency rooms for help in the immediate aftermath of the fire. But it is not undertaking long-term surveillance of residents’ health conditions, spokesperson Nancy Nydam told Healthbeat last month.
Several local universities are stepping in to study the effects of the fire.
Greg Huey, a professor of earth and atmospheric sciences at Georgia Tech, recently received a grant from the National Science Foundation to study what chemicals were released in the fire.
“This effort will inform local communities near the site who are concerned over the identity and level of chemicals to which they were exposed,” the project description states.
Separately, community organizer Walker said she is working with the Morehouse School of Medicine and other academic institutions “in putting together a framework for both short-term and long-term medical and public health research.”
She expects to be able to provide more information about that in January.
“Health tracking is needed,” Golomb said, not just for those who were exposed to pollution from the BioLab fire, but also for anyone exposed to chemicals in future accidents.
“We really need to put stronger attention into [tracking] because these mixed toxic exposure events are only going to increase,” Golomb said, noting that legacy chemicals from prior exposures will mix with chemicals from more recent exposures, especially given that there there are thousands of accidental or illegal chemical exposures in the United States each year
Healthbeat is a nonprofit newsroom covering public health published by Civic News Company and KFF Health News. Sign up for their newsletters here.