Community leaders say it’s time for serious discussions with Rockdale chemical plant following fire

ROCKDALE COUNTY, Ga. — The fire at a Rockdale County chemical plant has been extinguished, and the smoke plume has significantly reduced.

However, a shelter-in-place order for all of Rockdale County remains in effect indefinitely.

Rockdale County Commission Chair Oz Nesbitt told Channel 2 investigative report Mark Winne that he has been working long hours at the incident command post.

After three major chemical incidents at Biolab in 2004, 2020, and now Sunday, Nesbitt believes it’s time for county leaders to have serious discussions with Biolab’s management.

“It is the third major incident at Biolab here in Rockdale County that’s concerning to us,” Nesbitt said. “Although they’ve been a corporate community partner from an economic development standpoint, this is all about public safety.”

Nesbitt emphasized the need to discuss internal safety measures and proactive steps to prevent future incidents.

Sunday’s hazardous event is the third significant smoke plume incident at Biolab in roughly 20 years.

“We want to talk about their internal safety measures and how they’re going to safeguard in terms of being proactive and preventative and how they’re mitigating these problems,” Nesbitt said.

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Wendy Hollingsworth-Cox, reflecting on Sunday’s events, said it took her back to a similar incident in 2004.

“Pretty much the same situation. You know, the heavy smoke, evacuations of homes,” she said.

Hollingsworth-Cox, who worked at Biolab for 19 years, managed state registration submissions in Regulatory Affairs.

She noted that after the 2004 incident, the team was committed to community recovery and compliance with state and federal regulations.

“I think they did everything necessary to make sure that something like that would never happen again. But here we are again 20 years later,” she said.

Despite the repeated incidents, Nesbitt acknowledged Biolab’s contributions to the local economy and employment.

“They employ local residents. They contribute to the tax digest and the local economy here in Rockdale County, so from that standpoint, yes, they’ve been a good corporate neighbor. Being a great corporate neighbor means helping us keep our community safe,” he said.

Nesbitt noted that Biolab management has been focused on mitigation since the incident and expressed hope to schedule a meeting with them within the next seven days.

In an updated statement from Biolab on Monday, the company said:

“Our top priority remains ensuring the community’s safety. We are grateful to the partnership with first responders and local and federal authorities as we together work non-stop to remediate the ongoing situation at our Conyers, Georgia facility. We have made significant progress throughout the day, assisted by the deployment of out-of-state specialist support, and note Rockdale County’s announcement tonight ending the shelter-in-place advisory effective immediately. Air emissions are being actively monitored at the site and in the community by state, local, and federal authorities and we are supporting the efforts of local authorities as part of the Unified Command response to the incident.”

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