Catch up quick: BioLab chemical plume updates

Here's where things stand:

✏️ Rockdale County public schools will hold virtual classes this week.

🙅 U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, a Democrat whose district includes Conyers, and Democratic state legislators joined the Georgia chapter of the Sierra Club in calling for the plant to close.

• The Georgia Conservation Voters Education Fund, another group that wants the facility to shutter, is hosting a webinar Monday night at 6:30pm about next steps.

🩺 Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health is advocating for long-term assessment of the potential health and environmental risks stemming from the plume.

👀 A federal agency that investigated a similar incident at a Louisiana BioLab facility in 2020 called for reforms to managing chemicals, according to the AJC.

• "Had EPA followed this advice, it appears that BioLab would have been required to prepare a risk management plan that may have prevented this incident," Patrick Anderson, a staff attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, told Axios. Read the agency's report

🤔 The incident has spotlighted the relationship between Rockdale public officials and the company, which received a 10-year property tax break pegged to a large expansion, the AJC reports.

⚖️ Several lawsuits have been filed against BioLab over the incident. Trial lawyers like Morgan and Morgan are leading Facebook "client educational seminars" about people's legal options.

🧹 BioLab apologized for the impact to the public and said it has set up a center where people can access information about services.

• The company says it has made donations to the Rockdale Emergency Fund and United Way of Greater Atlanta and are "working to identify ways" to support local businesses.
• BioLab has brought in crews from Mississippi and Louisiana to help assist with mitigation efforts, it said.