Hall County

Georgia creek full of soybeans and killing fish, riverkeeper says

HALL COUNTY, Ga — A Georgia creek is full of soybeans and now dead fish are washing up and state regulators have issued a warning.

Channel 2′s Bryan Mims was in Hall County at Flat Creek where officials believe soybeans ended up in the water after a train derailment.

Three train cars went off the tracks at the nearby Cargill plant and at least one car was loaded with soybeans.

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Norfolk Southern says the derailment happened July 29, dumping soybeans into the creek. The company is now responsible for cleaning up the spilled beans or they will face a flood of fines, possibly up to $50,000.

At Flat Creek there is an aerator that pumps oxygen back into the murky water.

Jason Ulseth with the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper said the rotting soybeans that were spilled from the train sucked the oxygen out of the water, suffocating the fish.

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“Nobody looks at a soybean and thinks it’s a pollutant,” Ulseth said.

Ulseth and his team have been monitoring oxygen levels of the creek and taking stock of its fish. They have counted and photographed dozens of fish they said perished from the spill.

“This has been kind of the most unusual ones we’ve dealt with where normally it’s like a sewage spill or a chemical spill. This is the first I ever dealt with that was caused by a vegetable,” Ulseth told Channel 2 Action News.

In a statement, the company says “We’ll continue to work with our state partners to identify the source of the material and remove it from the creek.”

Cleanup crews have now mostly contained what riverkeepers call one unusual spill.

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