“Calling for Action: Urgent Cleanup Needed for Contaminated Communities at Former Battery Plant Site”Leaders are calling on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to designate the area as a Superfund site to bring in millions more dollars for cleanup.
California regulators believe as many as 10,000 homes in half a dozen communities could be contaminated with lead, so they are accelerating a massive cleanup that could take years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
The 15-acre Exide plant permanently closed in March 2015, but “left behind a legacy of environmental contamination in Maywood, Huntington Park, Boyle Heights, Commerce, and East Los Angeles” reaching out in about a 1.75-mile radius, according to a 2016 statement from Cynthia Harding, the Public Health Department’s interim director.
Although the gaseous plant emissions were no longer an issue once the plant closed, lead contamination in the soil, which can cause developmental delays and cognitive impairments, remains a concern.
A 2019 USC study called the “Truth Fairy,” found that children living near the battery-recycling plant have high levels of lead in their baby teeth.
On Friday, Senator Alex Padilla lead the demands for greater federal involvement in cleaning up affected areas. Designating the impacted neighborhoods as a Superfund site would help provide critical resources and expertise to the Southeast L.A. County communities.
Back in 2016, A handful of elected officials including then-Mayor Eric Garcetti, encouraged Boyle Heights residents living near the now-closed Exide battery plant to have their properties tested for lead contamination. The County Department of Public Health also offered free on-site blood testing.
At that time, in 2016, The county estimated that up to 10,000 homes could have lead contamination, with about 10 percent of those expected to show levels qualifying as hazardous waste.
When Exide agreed to close the lead-acid battery recycling plant, it committed to pay $50 million for the cleanup of the site and surrounding neighborhoods. Of that amount, $26 million was meant to be set aside for residential cleanup.
As of August 2015, Exide, which filed for bankruptcy in 2013, had paid $9 million into a trust and another $5 million was due to be paid by March 2020, according to state officials.
In 2020, A judge approved a bankruptcy settlement allowing Exide Technologies to abandon its former battery recycling plant in Vernon and cleanup responsibilities.
The move left the state, and taxpayers, with a hefty environmental cleanup bill.
Back in February 2023, The EPA said it is still investigating and gathering evidence as it determines whether to designate the former plant as a superfund site.
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