After a fire in August 2020 at a BioLab chemicals facility in Louisiana sent a massive toxic plume over the surrounding community, federal investigators blamed the company for its poor preparation and faulty fire suppression system.
Investigators also called for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to change its rules to include the company’s reactive chemicals under more stringent regulation — a recommendation that ultimately went unheeded by the EPA.
The Louisiana fire now serves as a prologue to a similar blaze at a BioLab facility in Conyers on Sunday that has sent a toxic cloud over Rockdale County and disrupted large swaths of metro Atlanta as a growing number of voices are now imploring the EPA to more forcefully regulate the chemicals at the heart of the incidents. Some are calling for the Conyers facility to be permanently shut down…