Residents react to proposed bill that would shield carpet manufacturers from lawsuits

DALTON, Ga. (WDEF)- A controversial bill regarding forever chemicals was the subject of a tense hearing in Atlanta.

House Bill 211, proposed by several area representatives including Kasey Carpenter of Dalton, would shield carpet companies from forever chemical lawsuits.

Carpet companies like Shaw and Mohawk, among many others have been the targets of lawsuits related to forever chemicals here in North Georgia.

Now, local representatives are attempting to protect these companies from those legal suits, something that is drawing the ire of their constituents. 

This is leaving lifelong residents like Ronnie Anderson confused.

“Once I found out what the bill was that the guy was trying to pass through and heard what he talked about, it floored me,” said Anderson.

He worked in a Shaw plant for 45 years, and says his work experiences leave him concerned with the bill.

Anderson said, “When I first went to work there I worked in the dye house, in which I saw how they dumped the water out into the creek right beside the plant.”

For other residents like Martha Bradford, they believe the chemicals have left a devastating impact that has accumulated since her childhood.

Bradford recalled, “We used to go the river down in Old Tilton because it was a highlight, because the families to see what color the river was going to be.”

She has dealt with ovarian and kidney cancers for decades.

She recalled, “ I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer the night my daughter was born in 1984. We had wanted to have a bigger family, which obviously didn’t happen.”

Bradford says she has known many friends, neighbors, and family members who have suffered health issues.

One situation she shared with us was that her neighbor had two sons who both had cancer and died before the age of 40.

Her husband, also is dealing with serious health issues after working in carpet mills.

Bradford said, “He was diagnosed with four rare diseases, and one of them has no cure for it. He will die from it, and it will be a slow, painful death.”

During the hearing on this bill, Representative Carpenter argued that the lawsuits threaten to destroy North Georgia’s carpet industry and could cost the area up to 50,000 jobs.

Rep. Carpenter said, “I have spent my legislative career fighting to help people. Millions in litigation expenses will not help people who are fighting cancer, and not help with cleanup.”

He also said that the goalposts have been moved on these companies, who he argued were told these chemicals were safe to use.

Furthermore, Mark Rogers, an attorney for Mohawk, argued that these companies were also victims of misleading chemical companies.

“The plaintiffs in these cases against we, the manufacturers, acknowledge that we did not know about the dangers,” said Rogers.

However, the residents who testified feel otherwise.

Bradford said, “I just wish that the right people knowingly that they had been poisoning our water and stuff, allowing employees, innocent families to work in these mills to know they were poisoning, to be held accountable for what they did, and to get this cleaned up for future generations.”

House Bill 211 currently still sits in committee, and must be passed by Thursday to go to the main body of the Georgia legislature.