Under pressure, a South Carolina-based manufacturing company has agreed to stop using products containing chemicals known as PFAS at a major textile mill in northwest Georgia.
Mount Vernon Mills will permanently eliminate use of all per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances by the end of the year at its Trion facility, which is about 30 miles north of Rome, according to a proposed consent decree filed with the U.S. District Court of North Georgia.
In the meantime, the company has agreed to isolate the PFAS-tainted industrial wastewater and send the polluted water off to a hazardous waste incinerator for disposal.
And with the mill’s industrial wastewater still going to Trion’s treatment facility, the town has agreed to test it quarterly at the facility.
Known as “forever chemicals” because of how long they persist in the environment, the contaminants have been linked to health concerns like high cholesterol, thyroid disease and testicular and kidney cancer.