‘I’m leaving Rockdale. Y’all can have it:’ Residents continue to call for shut down of BioLab

ROCKDALE COUNTY, Ga. — More and more Rockdale residents are calling for the BioLab chemical plant to shut down.

At a recent town hall meeting, residents said they’re concerned about the long-term effects chemicals from the Sept. 29 fire will have on their health.

People at the meeting also said they don’t trust they’re getting accurate information about the chemicals in the air, and the air quality of the chemicals they’re breathing.

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“I’m leaving Rockdale. Y’all can have it. This is ridiculous,” resident Melisa Collins said at the town hall meeting at Empowerment Unlimited Church on McDonough Highway.

Collins said she wants to pack up and leave because no one is giving her information about how chemicals from the Biolab could affect her health.

She was at Tuesday’s County Commissioner’s meeting and heard something she found ironic about the county’s evacuation efforts.

“They moved the dogs from the kennels and you didn’t move the seniors?” she asked rhetorically.

People at the meeting said BioLab has not been a good neighbor.

“We want Biolab shut down. We want Biolab closed permanently,” Walter Bannister said.

People are concerned about the chemicals in the air they’re breathing. And many don’t trust they’re getting unbiased air quality readings.

“Biolab is doing the testing and providing it to the EPA. And that just doesn’t make sense to me,” Zuri Williams, president of the local chapter of the NAACP, said to Channel 2′s Tom Jones.

County Chairman Oz Nesbitt says that’s not true. He says the EPA is doing its own testing.

Some here said this incident should be declared a state of emergency. They have questions about not just the short-term impact of the chemicals on their health.

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“What are the long-term effects? Is anybody talking about long-term effects?” business owner Kirkland Lofton asked.

Collins says the county has to make its residents a priority.

“Get your stuff together Rockdale County Commissioners,” Collins said.

Nesbitt has consistently said keeping all Rockdale residents safe, especially seniors and children.

People at the meeting were told to see a doctor to check on their health and to document everything.

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