January 24th, 2025 – 2:20 PM
WRGA Staff Reports –
Gordon County is reportedly going to court to recover the cost of cleaning up toxic waste dumped by chemical and carpet manufacturers.
According to a press release, a lawsuit has been filed to protect “public health and taxpayers.”
The Gordon County Board of Commissioners released the following statement on Thursday:
“Gordon County filed a lawsuit in State Court to protect the public’s health and taxpayers from the cost of cleaning up and properly disposing of toxic materials used by chemical and carpet manufacturers and dumped in the Gordon County landfill in violation of the Georgia Water Quality Control Act.
This case is about toxic chemicals that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has found cause among other things – cancer, organ failure, and low birth weight.
The chemicals in question are commonly known as “forever chemicals”, or “PFAS”, that were made by 3M, DuPont, and Daikin for products like “Scotchgard, “Stainmaster”, and “Teflon” that were used by carpet makers Shaw Industries, Mohawk Industries, and Aladdin Manufacturing Corporation.
The chemical byproducts including toxic sludge, liquid waste, and solid waste were dumped in the Gordon County landfill.
The toxic chemical makers and users knew of these dangers the whole time the landfill was operating yet deliberately hid them”, the complaint alleges.
“The landfill – which has been in operation since 1995 – has served the people of Gordon County well, and to know that not only has our landfill been a victim of toxic pollution, but our community and our citizens have been victimized by these “PFAS” manufacturers is a tragedy.
By filing this lawsuit we want to protect the public’s health and taxpayers from the burden of containing and properly disposing of these toxic chemicals, which could cost $100 million or more.
Our community has enjoyed a long and beneficial relationship with North Georgia carpet manufacturers and our hope is that we can all agree on a timely solution that safeguards our health, property, water, soil, and air. We expect that those who contaminated our landfill with PFAS pay the cost to clean it up.
The seven-count civil action is filed in the State Court of Gwinnett County, Georgia, and is available online. For further information please visit our website at www.GordonCountyGA.gov . ”
