Shelter-in-place order lifted in Rockdale County, officials say air and water are safe

ROCKDALE COUNTY, Ga. — Rockdale County has lifted its shelter-in-place order 38 hours after a fire broke out at the Biolab chemical plant in Conyers.

County officials say readings from the Environmental Protection Agency indicate both the air and water are safe.

Now there is a push to prevent this from happening again.

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“Move them somewhere, where there’s no residents. They’ve got the money, they can buy the land,” Ray Shift, who lives not far from the Biolab chemical plant, told Channel 2′s Candace McCowan.

It’s a sentiment shared by many in Conyers.

Now there is a petition on change.org quickly approaching 2,000 signatures.

But there has been a push for two decades by the federal Chemical Safety Board to tighten the reins on Biolab, starting after a similar incident in the early 2000s and then again in 2020.

“They made a recommendation to EPA and OSHA that they amend their rules such that facilities like this that handle extremely hazardous materials are covered by a risk management plan,” said Patrick Anderson with the Southern environmental Law Center who believes that risk management plan could’ve prevented Sunday’s fire.

“It requires very clear information on what chemicals are being stored and that has to be available to first responders,” said Anderson. “It really implements firm steps in terms of how they operate to prevent accidents like this from happening.”

But the EPA declined to close the loophole.

Anderson is hoping after Sunday’s fire, the EPA will reconsider and add more regulations.

Biolab said in their latest statement, “We are all focused on remediating the situation as rapidly as possible.”

The Southern Environmental Law Center said there will be an investigation after this incident by the Chemical Safety Board.

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