A class action lawsuit filed Tuesday in Fulton County Superior Court alleges King America Finishing, a textiles plant in Screven County, is responsible for a massive fish kill that left more than 33,000 fish rotting on the Ogeechee River banks last month.
    It also alleges chemicals discharged by the plant caused illness in some who swam in  the river following the discharge.
    As of Tuesday, Marietta attorney Edwin Hallman Jr. listed three plaintiffs in the suit. During a public meeting Tuesday night at Effingham County Middle School, he invited others affected by the alleged chemical spill to join the suit.
    Hallman confronted Environmental Protection Division officials, asking questions about their investigation into King America Finishing.
    “Have any employees of King America Finishing been put under oath and deposed?” he asked. The EPD’s answer was no, they have not.
    “I’d ask that be done immediately,” Hallman said. EPD spokesmen asked that he submit the request in writing.
    The plaintiffs listed in the suit filed Tuesday are riverfront land owners Ben H. Anderson and Parker Freeman, both of whom own land on the Ogeechee adjacent to the textile plant property.
    The third plaintiff, Adam Bath, a Statesboro resident, suffered illness including breathing problems after having swam in the river over the weekend after the alleged chemical spill.
    The suit lists King America President Michael A. Beasley and plant manager Billy T. Parrish as defendants. Beasley, who has said he is the spokesperson for the company, did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment Tuesday and Wednesday.
    Hallman states in the suit that King America Finishing is “the only large industrial facility with significant discharge of wastewater into the Ogeechee River in the area of Dover, Ga.”
    Both Ogeechee Riverkeeper Dianna Wedincamp and Georgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Division Supervisor Tim Barrett said they traced the source of the fish kill to an area within 50 yards downstream of the plant’s discharge pipe. Both said no dead fish were found north of the plant.
    The suit points out that King America uses chemicals in its fabric processes that were also found in high concentration in water samples taken from the river near the discharge pipe. “On or about the week beginning Monday, May 16, 2011, upon information and belief, KAF (King America Finishing) … either knowingly and purposefully, or unknowingly and negligently, released into the Ogeechee River an unknown quantity of caustic chemical agents and other contaminants from its manufacturing plant located adjacent to the Ogeechee River in Dover, Ga.,” the lawsuit reads.
    The suit alleges the chemicals caused the fish kill, which Barrett said spans about 15 different fish species. Mussels and possibly alligators and other wildlife were affected, he said.
    Freeman and Anderson complained through the suit that they are unable to “enjoy and utilize their property near the river” due to the chemical discharge. Bath complains through the suit that he swam in the river prior to EPD warnings, which were not issued until late Sunday, days after the fish kill was first reported, and suffers personal injuries “including … burning of the lungs, resulting in pain and breathing difficulties.”
    The suit seeks others who “have been exposed, directly or indirectly, with the waters of the Ogeechee River that had been contaminated by the (chemical) release,” as well as property owners affected by the alleged release.
    The lawsuit also states King America Finishing, through continued release of chemicals in wastewater, poses a “continuing nuisance,” negligence and trespass, as Georgia law states land owner’s property extends to the low water mark in the river.
    
    Citizens call for closure
    Land owners, fishermen and many who simply love the Ogeechee River gathered Tuesday night to pose questions to EPD and DNR officials about the fish kill.
    Several appeared angry and called out demands to close King America Finishing, in spite of EPD officials telling them there was no solid proof that the textiles treatment plant had done anything wrong.
    However, the investigation continues, with EPD and Environmental Protection Agency officials still looking at the plant’s wastewater treatment system and at records.
    “We’ve done a pretty exhaustive search for a catastrophic release of chemicals into the river,” said Bruce Foisy, with the EPD’s Coastal District office. Pointing at a map of the King America Finishing site, he said “That’s where our focus has been.”
    An inspection May 23 revealed no violations, but investigators returned to look more, he said. “We’ve spent days ... to determine whether a release has been made,” he said. “We’ve checked floor drains and interviewed staff, looked at Jackson Branch (a stream that flows through the property) and looked for pipe discharge. We found nothing.”
    They’re still looking for answers, he said.
    Ogeechee Riverkeeper director Emily Markenstyn asked EPD officials whether King America adjusts its discharge according to the river’s water flow. EPD spokesmen said the plant’s discharge permit had been extended in 2005, but did not answer the question.
    Wedincamp read a portion of Georgia law that cites color (dye) being discharged into the water is a violation, then said King America “is not required to monitor for color.”  Some reported the plant’s discharge has discolored the river and its banks near the pipe.
    She asked why EPD officials did not test the waters Friday when they first learned of the fish kill, stating her offices took samples within 12 hours of the kill’s reporting. She also called for changes in the EPD policy of alerting the public of possible dangers, adding that hundreds of people swam in the river in the two days between the kill being reported and the bans on swimming and eating fish were posted.
    Several citizens commented on the EPD’s lifting bans before they had solid answers on what caused the fish kill and what had been released into the river.
    “We said the water was safe for swimming. We didn’t presume people would be dumb enough to swim with a bunch of dead fish,” said EPD spokesman Burt Langley. This comment was followed by an angry rumble from the crowd.
    A timeline provided by the EPD to show its response to the fish kill showed it took hours for government officials to reach a King America spokesperson. Phone calls to the plant’s emergency contact number went unanswered between 7:17 p.m. Friday, May 20, and 11:58 a.m. Saturday, May 21, a span of about 17 hours.
    It also shows the fish kill was first reported to the EPD at 6:18 p.m. Friday, May 20, and although hundreds of dead fish were found south of the plant’s discharge pipe, it was 4:57 p.m. Sunday  - almost 47 hours later - before officials called for a ban on swimming.
    
    Holli Deal Bragg may be reached at (912) 489-9414.