Dayton Sherrouse, the executive director of the authority, says he doesn't know what environmental hobgoblins, if any, might be lurking in the soil or water at the former King Mill.

The public body did not do an environmental study before purchasing the property May 30, as is common practice to protect against liabilities, public and private environmental experts say.

By not doing so, the publicly funded canal authority could be held accountable for pre-existing spills or leaks that might have contaminated the 120-year-old mill property, they say.

Doug Batchelor, an attorney for the canal authority, says there is no environmental threat, but even so, he contends a liability exemption exists for such properties bought out of receivership.

Tim Cash, the manager of the state Environmental Protection Division's Superfund, said he knows of no such technicality.

''We would like to know what that is. It's not covered under the Hazardous Site Response Act,'' he said.

The Augusta-based Committee for Good Government follows local government decision-making closely. Its president, Preston Johnson, said he hopes the canal authority's gamble doesn't backfire. ''I think they should have checked into it more carefully,'' he said.

In addition to the liability risk, the canal authority could be missing an opportunity to remedy any health risks to humans or wildlife - although no such risks are publicly known.

''I know there's an old landfill in the vicinity,'' said local Sierra Club Chairman Bill Mareska. ''I don't know if the canal authority even considered that (possible environmental liabilities). I guess they were thinking the city-county government would bail them out.''

Environmental attorney Darren Meadows of the Hull Towill Norman Barrett & Salley law firm, where Mr. Batchelor is employed, confirmed there is a landfill.

''My understanding is there was an old dump site on the property, but it's not part of the area that the operating facility is on,'' Mr. Meadows said. He said he didn't know what the dump might contain.

Mr. Mareska said his group has not talked about taking action regarding the mill. He said the Sierra Club likely will ''let sleeping dogs lie'' unless there is some known immediate concern.

But he said environmental issues are common for old mills.

Soil on the property, if turned by a major construction project, might have decades of contaminants that could leach into the canal, Mr. Mareska said.

The authority says it has no plans of altering the property.

MR. SHERROUSE SAYS the rush was to make sure primary mill customer and interested tenant Standard Textile of Cincinnati - which refused to purchase the real estate - could capitalize on the use of the plant. The plant and other Spartan International company assets fell into receivership when the financially troubled Spartanburg, S.C., company failed to cover debts or file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

As weeks elapsed after the May 4 closing of King Mill and the other Spartan properties, Standard was being forced to find new suppliers of the types of hospital blankets the mill formerly supplied.

And an environmental survey of King Mill might have taken months to complete, Mr. Sherrouse said.

''Every day, they (Standard) were finding alternate suppliers throughout the world,'' he said. ''It lessened the possibility of (a deal) happening here.''

Mr. Sherrouse said a quick purchase would make it possible for many of the former King Mill workers to find employment again, which indeed happened. Of the 191 current employees, 180 are former King Mill workers.

''I'm for saving jobs,'' said Mr. Johnson, ''as long as the taxpayer doesn't end up paying a huge amount of money.''

If any mass contamination exists on the 14-acre property, the cleanup costs could be quite expensive, environmental experts say. Taxpayers ultimately would bear the costs because the Augusta Canal Authority is completely taxpayer funded. The authority receives a combination of local, state and federal funds.

David Word, the deputy EPD director, and other officials at his agency say they can find no record of incidents or complaints concerning the mill property, but they also say outdated records on the mill might be difficult or impossible to access. Additionally, the EPD relies to a large degree on self-reporting.

Mr. Sherrouse said there are no plans to do studies on the soil or ground water.

Mr. Word said environmental studies - so-called Phase 1 and Phase 2 reports - are common practice before a buyer purchases industrial property.

''That's standard,'' he said. ''Those kinds of assessments aren't done for the government or by law. There's no legal requirement for those to be done. It's just common sense.''

MILT HAZEL KNOWS how expensive environmental cleanups can be. As vice president of operations for Environmental Control Systems Inc. of Aiken, he has resolved numerous ''brownfields.''

''As old as that mill is, there could be all kinds of things because it wasn't regulated way back when,'' Mr. Hazel said. ''I would certainly hope they did their due diligence before they agreed to buy. You're crazy these days if you don't.''

Mr. Hazel, whose company purchased the polluted Clearwater Finishing Plant in Aiken County, said that property was formerly owned by a public body. The Aiken County Forfeited Land Commission acquired the Clearwater property after the mill, owned by United Merchants and Manufacturing, went bankrupt in 1989.

Forced under state laws at the time to take the forfeited property, the county inherited a $1.26 million liability. No one wanted to buy the land and be responsible for its mandated cleanup costs.

Aiken County Auditor Cyrus Spradley said the county got lucky; it ultimately ended up paying just less than $275,000, he said.

Mr. Spradley said that's because previous owners were tracked down and the costs were split among the parties.

Tim Cash, the EPD Superfund manager, said Georgia operates similarly when it comes to seeking repayment to the fund for mandated cleanups.

''Typically, we would try to focus our efforts on the people who are actually responsible for it, who did the dirty deed, so to speak,'' Mr. Cash said. ''But under state law you are not an innocent if you buy a piece of property and you know it has environmental problems or if you didn't do your due diligence at the time of purchase.''

Mr. Cash said ''doing a good deed,'' such as saving jobs, would not be a legal defense.

''In practical terms the EPD would probably take pity on them (the canal authority), but legally I don't know they would have any relief if it went that far,'' he said.

The canal authority's decision to purchase King Mill was made in closed session.

Minutes from the meeting include no discussion of possible environmental hazards. Turner Simkins, the vice president of Blanchard and Calhoun Real Estate Co. and vice chairman of the authority, confirmed there were no concerns expressed about what the authority might be getting into.

''We never discussed it,'' he said.

He equated a belief in any environmental concerns at the mill with a belief in ''ghosts'' - meaning the concerns lack validity.

Chairman Dick Fox stood by the authority's decision to help save jobs. ''There's always a chance it will bite you in the back. I can't say there's 100 percent certainty in anything.''

Reach Eric Williamson at (706) 828-3904.