Conyers residents demand accountability after latest BioLab fire leaves lingering concerns

Caption

Conyers residents Jane Sadler (left) and Barbara Baker participate in an October 2024 protest after BioLab's late September fire and resultant chemical plume.

Credit: Pamela Kirkland / GPB News

Jane Sadler has lived in Conyers, about 25 miles southeast of Atlanta, for more than 50 years. But after the latest fire at the BioLab facility a few minutes from her house, she’s worried she wouldn’t be able to leave the city even if she wanted to. 

She worries her house and her property are now worthless. 

“If they're allowed to stay, they need to buy us out,” Sadler says about the company. “They can have the house. They can have the land, because it's no good.”

Around 5:30 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 29, a fire was reported at BioLab in Conyers. The exact cause of the fire is still up for debate, but water mixed with chlorine compounds, producing a plume of chemicals.

The incident triggered 17,000 evacuations of the area and 90,000 other households east of Atlanta were advised to shelter in place. It shut down Interstate 20 for almost 17 hours and it forced schools in the county to shift from in-person to virtual learning for three weeks.  

Sadler, along with a few dozen others, protested three weeks later to call for BioLab to close permanently. 

“[BioLab doesn’t] care they've impacted us," Sadler says. "They don't care."

The protest was going on with the Conyers Fall Festival happening just around the corner. This day, the air was filled with the smell of funnel cake and other sweet treats but concerned residents and community members were talking about a few days prior, when the smell of chlorine from the chemical plume still hung in the air. 

“We were told that the chemicals aren't hazardous, and yet my phone was buzzing every day,” said Brian Jenkins with the Rockdale Renaissance Project. “Why am I sheltering in place if the chemicals aren’t hazardous?” 

One by one, community representatives took the mic in front of the Assembly Hall to call for BioLab to be shut down. Some even went as far as to ask for intervention from the governor’s mansion. 

“We need that state of emergency so federal dollars can flow into this community so we can take care of those who have been displaced, those who are out of work, those whose businesses have been shuttered because of this disaster,” said Gerald Griggs, president of the Georgia NAACP.

At the time of publication on Oct. 25, GPB had not received a response from the governor’s office about a disaster declaration. Afterward, Gov. Brian Kemp's office sent the following update: "The state has served in a supportive role to the unified command led by the [Environmental Protection Agency] and Rockdale County government." 

As of 19 days after the fire, the county was just starting to get back to normal. 

Rockdale County officials announced the emergency response to the BioLab incident had ended. The chemicals stored in that warehouse had been treated and removed, and the shelter-in-place advisories were no more. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency confirmed the facility is no longer emitting harmful fumes. 

The remaining cleanup will be the responsibility of BioLab with oversight by the EPA and the Georgia Environmental Protection Division. 

But for residents like Sadler, questions remain about the response and what kinds of chemicals are housed in the BioLab warehouse. 

“They should have known what kind of chemicals were in that plant. They inspect everything else. They inspect the schools. They inspect churches,” she says. “Did they not go in there and inspect what's on the shelves?”

What’s inside BioLab

Driving past the BioLab warehouse on I-20 in Conyers, you might see a nondescript, brick industrial building with blue lettering. But many residents say they never really thought much about what’s inside. 

According to BioLab, the Conyers facility stores raw materials and packaging components to make pool and spa products. Those raw materials include a chemical called Triclor (TCCA), a chemical to kill algae and bacteria in pools, and Dichlor (DCCA) which is used to make pool shock — chemicals that disinfect pool water fouled by an influx of contaminants.

When TCCA comes into contact with small amounts of water, a chemical reaction is triggered that generates heat and causes decomposition of the chemical. It can produce toxic chlorine gas and can also produce explosive nitrogen trichloride.

The fire at the BioLab facility has revealed a regulatory gap when it comes to oversight of chemicals like TCCA. 

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the EPA have rules to ensure companies handle dangerous chemicals safely. OSHA’s Process Safety Management (PSM) and the EPA’s Risk Management Program (RMP) require companies to have safety plans and procedures in place to prevent accidents.

But neither standard necessarily covers facilities processing chemicals that could undergo hazardous chemical reactions, such as TCCA.

As recently as last year, the Chemical Safety Board (CBS), an independent, nonregulatory federal agency, recommended OSHA amend its PSM and the EPA revise requirements to cover catastrophic reactive hazards after a 2020 investigation into a BioLab explosion at a Louisiana facility. Those recommendations were first made by CSB in 2002. 

U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) sent a letter to EPA administrator Michael Regan earlier this month demanding the agency regulate chemicals like TCCA. His district includes BioLab and the surrounding community.  

“We're calling upon the Environmental Protection Agency to enhance its oversight of facilities that manufacture and store these chemically reactive substances, especially when those facilities are located in communities where people live,” Johnson told GPB. 

Johnson also argues that years of government divestment have weakened regulatory agencies like the EPA, limiting its ability to enforce air quality standards.

“We've seen big business, along with pro-business Republicans, who want to do away with the Environmental Protection Agency," he said. "They've done it legislatively and they have done it through the courts as well. And so there have been attacks on regulatory agencies' abilities to regulate."

BioLab’s record of chemical fires

The 2020 BioLab explosion in Lake Charles, La., is not the only time the company has been under the microscope for previous chemical fires and toxic incidents. 

In May 2004, a fire in a warehouse at the Conyers complex set off multiple explosions and prompted the evacuation of 300 people.

Barbara Baker, who has lived in Conyers for three decades — just minutes away from BioLab — remembers the 2004 fire. But she says this latest one was different. 

“The flames were huge; in 2004, it was just black smoke," Baker said. "But this time it was red, pink, chocolate, black. And so without it being said, we know is poison."

In June 2015, six Rockdale County firefighters were injured in a fire at the complex, The Rockdale Citizen reported at the time.

Another fire the following year prompted some voluntary evacuations near the plant, the newspaper reported.

In September 2020, a chemical fire at the same plant in Conyers prompted authorities to shut down both directions of Interstate 20 during morning rush hour. Inside the plant, BioLab workers used forklifts to try and move chemicals away from decomposing chemicals to prevent the catastrophe, but their forklifts were sliding on the wet floor and fumes of chemicals were forming. Firefighters’ access to the situation was hindered by poorly stacked pallets of materials, the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board later determined. Nine firefighters were evaluated at hospitals after inhaling hazardous vapors.

A community’s growing frustration

The repeated incidents have resulted in a community that’s fed up with being home to a chemical plant.  

The plant is the eighth largest employer in Rockdale County. BioLab is a major financial contributor to the county's revenue. The company was listed as the top principal property taxpayer in FY 2024 with $113.4 million in assessed valuation — making up 2.6% of Rockdale County’s gross assessed valuation. 

But for all of the economic benefits BioLab brings, congressman Hank Johnson says he hopes the company will leave Conyers for good. 

“They've got a lot of money invested out there," he said. "There are jobs associated with the plant, but these this economic development is not worth the risk to public safety. At the very minimum, we should have enhanced federal and state oversight of what's going on inside the buildings where these kinds of hazardous substances are being stored.” 

A GPB review of state and federal reports suggests BioLab doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to worker safety, either. 

GPB found dozens of OSHA violations, including violations for not properly training employees on hazardous chemicals, that date back some 30 years. 

In a statement to GPB, the company says, “BioLab takes operational safety very seriously, and its policies and procedures follow regulations — including requirements for hazardous materials handling.” 

Violations and fines against the company for environmental violations of the Clean Air and Clean Water Act following the May 2004 fire were eventually settled. 

Chemtura, former parent company of BioLab, settled with the EPA and the Department of Justice in 2010 for $26 million to cover penalties and costs of environmental cleanup at sites owned by the chemicals maker — including a $785,000 payment for penalties incurred by the Conyers BioLab plant. 

The Georgia EPD is investigating at least 42 complaints since the fire with complaints about air quality coming from as far as an hour and a half away. BioLab declined to comment on the complaints. 

What’s next for BioLab and Rockdale County?

Rockdale County Commissioners filed a federal lawsuit against BioLab and its parent company KIK Consumer Products. The suit is seeking damages for citizens and businesses that were affected by the emergency.

BioLab would not comment on the lawsuit, but said in a written statement, “BioLab worked collaboratively with the County and other parties as part of the Unified Command to successfully complete the emergency response operations at our Conyers facility, while at all times prioritizing public health and safety.”

Sen. Raphael Warnock and Rep. Hank Johnson sent a letter to the CEO of KIK Consumer Products, demanding answers about this most recent incident and how the company plans to prevent it from happening again. 

BioLab has said it will remediate the situation.

“We are committed to making things right,” KIK Consumer Products CEO Michael Sload said in a statement. “As we move forward, we remain actively focused on supporting impacted local residents and business owners by continuing to get them the assistance they need.” 

BioLab opened a Community Assistance Center in downtown Conyers in October after being absent from news conferences held by Rockdale County officials. The in-person location offers residents and business owners direct access to BioLab information and resources to file claims for reimbursement. But residents have expressed frustration with that center, complaining they can’t get an appointment and walk-in assistance is unavailable. 

Jane Sadler said she doesn't trust the service.

“I'm not running up here to grab a check because you sign your rights away,” Sadler said.

BioLab declined GPB's request for an interview for this story. 

Some residents say “making things right” is not enough, especially for a company that has been the cause of several chemical fires in the past. 

Kamisha Brown has lived in Conyers for over 20 years. She experienced the first BioLab fire in 2004 and said she’s been having health issues since the most recent fire.

This time, she hopes BioLab will be held accountable. 

“We never done this before and hopefully with everybody protesting this time, they will shut [BioLab] down,” Brown said.