A major textile manufacturer has pledged to permanently stop using so-called “forever chemicals” at its plant in northeast Georgia to resolve a lawsuit over pollution in Alabama’s Weiss Lake.

The Mount Vernon Mills in Trion, Ga. has agreed to end its use of PFAS chemicals at its mill about 25 miles northeast of Fort Payne, Ala. by the end of 2023. The pledge is part of a settlement agreement to settle a potential lawsuit over PFAS pollution in the Chattooga River in Georgia and Weiss Lake in Alabama. The Chattooga joins the Coosa River at Weiss Lake.

Last year the Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of the Coosa River Basin Initiative, filed a notice of intent to sue Mount Vernon and the town of Trion under the Clean Water Act and federal laws regulating PFAS pollution. The notice alleged that PFAS-laden wastewater from the textile plant was being sent to a municipal wastewater treatment plant that was not equipped to remove those contaminants, resulting in high levels of PFAS chemicals entering the environment.

“Trion’s wastewater treatment plant should have required the textile mill to modernize its treatment technology to remove PFAS prior to discharging them to Trion’s public treatment works,” SELC Senior Attorney Chris Bowers said in a news release Thursday. “The proposed consent decree, which requires Mount Vernon to stop using PFAS at this mill, puts long overdue restrictions on these harmful chemical releases.”

The agreement, if approved by a federal court, will resolve the lawsuit.

“This agreement serves as a model for how Georgia’s textile industry can work alongside communities to ensure safer water for everyone,” Bowers said. “Industrial polluters are required by law to control PFAS pollution instead of placing the burden on communities downstream, who may be exposed to these chemicals in drinking water or have to pay for expensive drinking water treatment upgrades.”

PFAS (per- and poly- fluoroalkyl substances) are man-made, extremely durable chemicals that do not break down easily in the environment. Many drinking water treatment systems don’t remove them.

The chemicals were used for decades to create non-stick or stain-resistant coatings on clothing, carpets and other textiles. They’ve also been used to make non-stick cookware, waterproof and flame-retardant clothing, fast food packaging and fire-fighting foam. There are thousands of different PFAS chemicals including PFOA, PFOS, and GenX.

These chemicals have been shown to build up in the blood streams of humans and animals over time, and most people sampled have at least some level of these chemicals in their body.

Research has linked exposure to PFAS through drinking water or eating contaminated fish to health conditions including liver cancer, testicular cancer, liver damage, and thyroid disease.

In addition to ending PFAS use by the end of the year, the mill has already begun sending its wastewater to an off-site treatment plant that can handle those substances.

Coosa River Basin River Initiative Executive Director Jesse Demonbreun-Chapman said the agreement was an important step toward addressing PFAS contamination in the Coosa.

“Over the past several years, we have monitored the PFAS problem in our watershed with increasing concern,” Demonbreun-Chapman said in a news release. “Throughout this process, CRBI’s goal has always been to sit at the negotiating table and find a solution that would truly be protective of the Chattooga River and Weiss Lake.

“We are pleased to play an important role in hastening the end of forever chemicals in ongoing textile manufacturing at the Mount Vernon Mill, while working with industry to find innovative solutions to the challenges posed by these chemicals. Ending use of PFAS in textile production at this facility is an important step to finally dealing with ongoing contamination in our region and should serve as an example to others that there are alternatives to using these chemicals in manufacturing in the first place.”