The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that the Vernon Exide lead battery smelting and recycling site and surrounding areas are now eligible for listing on its National Priorities List (NPL) of Superfund sites.
The next step will be for the EPA to determine if it will officially list Exide on its list of NPL Superfund sites, which is not guaranteed.
According to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Exide's operations resulted in the release of harmful levels of lead and arsenic into the environment in the communities surrounding Exide's former Vernon facility.
EPA’s decision to add the now-abandoned Exide lead battery facility for eligibility to its NPL means that if that recommendation is accepted, federal resources and expertise would then be dedicated to fund and oversee cleanup efforts of the contaminated groundwater that have inflicted a generation of illness on neighborhood families.
The EPA Site Inspection Report indicates that the Exide site is eligible for listing on the NPL based on groundwater contamination.
“This is what the fight for environmental justice in historically disadvantaged communities looks like,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda L. Solis, who represents the First District. “The EPA’s decision clears a major hurdle, but it is not a victory lap. It does, however, make sure that the people in East Los Angeles, Vernon, Boyle Heights, Bell, Huntington Park, Commerce and Maywood who continue to suffer the consequences of an egregious offender who knowingly released toxins into their water, soil and air have not been forgotten.”
Supervisor Solis urged residents in the community to contact U.S. Senator Alex Padilla and Congressional Representative Jimmy Gomez to push the EPA to add Exide to the NPL list.
The EPA will be scheduling briefings for stakeholders to discuss the contents of its Site Inspection Report.
Exide declared bankruptcy in 2020, which allowed it to abandon its cleanup responsibilities and evade obligations imposed by the State of California to take responsibility for the toxins it had released into the surrounding neighborhoods’ soil and groundwater for decades.
In July 2022, CalEPA requested that the EPA evaluate the former Exide facility and surrounding areas impacted by its operations for potential listing on the NPL of Superfund sites. EPA completed a Preliminary Assessment in November 2022, followed by a Site Inspection Report, which was initiated in January 2023, to determine if the site is eligible for listing consideration on the NPL.
The Site Inspection Report contains the results of an evaluation conducted by Weston Solutions, Inc. for the EPA under Section 104 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as the Superfund law.
You can find the Site Inspection Report at epa.gov/superfund/exide on the Site Documents and Data tab.
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