Only a few residents of McIntosh attended a public hearing last night scheduled to discuss the permit the BASF chemical plant in their town needs to keep working. But it was clear some who showed up at McIntosh Elementary School had more on their minds.

“We have sick people in our community, chemical leaks unaccounted for, chemical leaks that they don’t report,” said Andy Lang, a resident of the community who was the lone speaker at the meeting. “We need ADEM to step up and do their job…we’ve been let down.”

Lang is one of hundreds of plaintiffs currently suing Olin Corporation, whose plant neighbors BASF, for leaks of chlorine gas into the atmosphere. Although last night’s hearing was not about Olin, ADEM, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, has regulatory responsibility for both plants.

The BASF plant and the Olin plant were designated by the EPA as superfund sites in 1984. The two companies have been tasked with cleaning up the water basin adjacent to the two plants, where DDT, mercury and other contaminants are present. In August, the two companies challenged the reporting requirements imposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency related to the cleanup.

ADEM held the hearing over BASF’s continued operations – and the permit it needs for daily operations and to cleanup past groundwater contamination from before the company took over the plant in 2008.