“CENTRE — Cherokee/DeKalb County Circuit Judge Jeremy Taylor has refused to dismiss the case filed by the Centre Water Works against 36 manufacturers and users of chemicals that frequently are part of the carpet construction process by mills in and around Dalton, Georgia.
The water works claims perfluorinated chemicals are placed into the environment in Georgia near the Conasauga River, a tributary of the Coosa River that flows through Weiss Lake. It says those PFCs are difficult to remove since ‘they resist degradation during the processing at the Dalton Utilities wastewater treatment center.’ It estimates the cost of equipment to remove the PFCs at $1.6 million.
The defendants claim the Cherokee/DeKalb court has no jurisdiction to hear or try the case since they did not have business operations in Alabama and there was no actual action by the companies in Cherokee County.
However, Taylor in his ruling denying their motion said the water works had demonstrated the defendants ‘have conducted activity directed at Alabama and that the activity is not “at random’ or ‘attenuated” or “unilateral activity of another party or a third person.” ‘
He cited Environmental Protection Agency studies on the health risks of PFCs and the ‘considerable resources’ the water works would need to expend to remove them from its customers’ water.
The defendants have until Monday to answer Taylor’s ruling.”
Read the full article by Anne Shumaker