Controversy in Covington: Kemp calls for increased pollution controls

Gov. Brian Kemp on Tuesday demanded that a medical sterilization facility in Covington take “proactive measures” to install pollution controls, remarks made shortly before a town hall focused on toxic gas emissions at the site.

The Republican said BD Bard should agree to adopt similar pollution controls as Sterigenics, a Cobb County plant, that entered a legal agreement with state regulators earlier this month to improve controls and minimize ethylene oxide emissions.

“This proactive measure demonstrates (Sterigenics’) commitment to the local community and helps to restore confidence in its operations,” Kemp said. “Now BD Bard should do the same.”

The Kemp administration on Tuesday faced calls from Democratic state lawmakers in Cobb and U.S. Rep. David Scott, D-Atlanta, urging the state to shut down the Sterigenics facility in Smyrna until more testing can be done. Republican Congressman Barry Loudermilk, who also represents parts of Cobb, penned a letter to the EPA inquiring about their investigation into the matter.

Kemp’s comments came shortly after meeting with Sterigenics and BD Bard executives to prod them to take new measures to “build trust” with outraged residents.

He described the meetings as productive but said “our work is not done.”

Public pressure has grown on state and federal leaders to curb emissions of ethylene oxide at the plants, sparked last month by a WebMD and Georgia Health News report. The outlets highlighted a 2018 EPA study that warned of the potential for increased long-term risk of cancer around the two facilities from ethylene oxide.

The EPA released the 2018 National Air Toxics Assessment a year ago but didn’t alert the public. The WebMD and Georgia Health News stories triggered ripples of fear in surrounding neighborhoods.

The EPA and state Environmental Protection Division have urged residents not to panic and say modeling with more recent emissions data show a lower risk than last year’s assessment, which relied on self-reported data in 2014.

Sterigenics and BD have each said they are complying with state and federal regulations.

BD issued a statement that said it committed in writing Tuesday to spend $8 million to improve its systems and work with the state “to expedite the permitting process with full transparency to install these improvements as quickly as possible to the Covington and Madison facilities.”

At a town hall in Covington on Tuesday, Richard Dunn, director of the state Environmental Protection Division, said the agency is working with BD to enact new emissions controls that will lead to a new permit with stricter emissions standards. Officials said discussions on fixes are ongoing but will focus on “fugitive” emissions that currently might escape the plant without going through the plant’s scrubbers.

The BD facility in Covington, about 35 miles east of downtown Atlanta, hasn’t captured the media glare that rival sterilizer Sterigenics has. The Sterigenics plant, in unincorporated Cobb County near Smyrna, sits near SunTrust Park, Vinings and Atlanta’s tony Buckhead neighborhood.

Ora Cody was part of a standing-room-only crowd Tuesday night that filled the historic Newton County Courthouse. Cody, who has lived in Covington for 46 years and once worked in the BD plant when it was known by another name, said she was traveling for weeks and only recently learned about the controversy.

She said she wanted to know: “Are they going to correct this stuff? Are they going to help us?”

On Tuesday, officials with the EPA tried to tamp down Covington residents’ concerns.

The NATA assessment is a screening tool that helps flag where potential environmental issues exist. It isn’t a definitive study showing a public health concern, officials said.

In June, new modeling conducted by the state EPD using updated emissions data self-reported by the companies found lower levels of risk.

Still, ethylene oxide has been found to be more pervasive than initially understood. When communities have conducted air testing for the gas, they’ve tended to find it, even in areas where scientists either didn’t expect to or in higher concentrations than experts predicted.

Jason McCathy, a founder of activist group Say No to EtO, called for independent testing at BD facilities in Covington and another in Madison and any others the emit the gas.

Tuesday’s EPA town hall in Covington followed a similar one in Marietta on Monday.