Permit could ease water testing for Screven County plant

SYLVANIA, Ga. (AP) — Environmentalists are protesting a proposal to loosen testing requirements for water discharged from a Screven County textile plant.

Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division has proposed less stringent testing for Milliken & Co.'s Longleaf Plant a few miles southwest of Sylvania, according to The Savannah Morning News.

The plant, formerly known as King America Finishing, makes fire-retardant fabric.

Regulators discovered in 2011 that the plant had been dumping wastewater into the Ogeechee River for years without a permit.

The plant paid a total of $6.8 million to settle lawsuits.

The discharge permit issued in the settlement has since expired.