Exclusive: Warnock calls on EPA to investigate TAV Holdings

Sen. Raphael Warnock is calling on the EPA to investigate the south Atlanta metal processing plant that’s accused of releasing industrial waste near a middle school, single-family homes and a park.

Why it matters: Soil and water sampling conducted by the EPA — plus sampling performed by the Altamaha Riverkeeper and Eri Saikawa of Emory University — found elevated levels of lead and other hazardous metals downhill from TAV Holdings’ roughly 37-acre facility in south Atlanta.

• In its emergency order to TAV Holdings, the EPA expressed concerns that some of the dust stored in large mounds on the site could become airborne, posing a risk to the community. Crawford Long Middle School is near the facility.

Go deeper: Read Axios' reporting on the facility's impact on local communities.

What they’re saying: “These negligent actions put the health of our communities and environment at risk, and corrective action is needed immediately,” the Democratic senator says in the letter sent yesterday to the EPA and obtained by Axios Atlanta. Warnock urges the EPA to “swiftly move forward with the remainder of its investigation to identify all potential off-site contamination.”