Metal recycling plant releasing hazardous waste in Southeast Atlanta waterways
The Environmental Protection Agency issued an order last month for a metal processing facility in Southeast Atlanta to stop work until the company has a plan for dealing with its hazardous waste.
Located near the airport, TAV Holdings has operated since 2015, shredding automobile parts and other items to recycle different types of metal.
Recent findings by the EPA and researchers have confirmed the fears of neighbors in the area. Preliminary testing shows that runoff from the plant has caused elevated levels of lead in nearby soil and waterways.
Thomas Wheatley with Axios Atlanta, which recently published an investigative report on the pollution, joined “Morning Edition” to talk about what he found.
“It’s what many would call an environmental justice case,” says Wheatley, “In the sense that it has all these demographic indicators — large number of people living on low incomes, large number of people of color — who are oftentimes having to deal with the burdens of industrial sites like this.”
The health concerns are serious enough that a nearby middle school has posted signs for students not to go beyond the campus fence.
The EPA has ordered TAV holdings to obtain the proper permits for handling hazardous waste, submit a plan for how to deal with the waste safely and to lay out what the company intends to do to address pollution.
Christopher Alston contributed to this report.
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