‘Decades of neglect,’ multiple lawsuits against Watts recycling plant next to a school yields no results

As many students returned to school this past week, there was one group of high schoolers in the community of Watts whose return to campus was overshadowed by an explosion that is still under investigation. 

At about 8:30 in the morning of Monday, August 12, LAUSD personnel from Jordan High School reported the explosion inside S&W Atlas Iron & Metal Co., a metal recycling plant operating next to a Watts high school campus. 

Atlas Metals, a neighbor of the school since 1943, has been subject to numerous complaints and criticism for what many advocates say is the disposal of hazardous waste kept within the premises of the plant. 

Last Thursday, August 15, students, parents, community members and advocates gathered outside of the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in L.A. before the preliminary hearing of the latest criminal charges which was filed against the plant last year. 

On June 21, 2023, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón filed 22 felonies and two misdemeanor counts against S&W Atlas Iron & Metal Co. and its owners, Gary Joseph Weisenberg and Matthew Jacob Weisenberg, the father and son duo. 

Part of the counts allege that the company is knowingly disposing of hazardous waste such as nickel, zinc and copper without a permit and on the premises of the LAUSD school.  

It is said that students are also being subjected to lead contamination, as well as hazardous smells, sounds and debris that often fly onto the school campus. 

“This is what back-to-school looks like in Watts, and it’s a product of decades of neglect by the same public officials who took an oath to protect the most vulnerable among us,” Tim Watkins, president and CEO of the Watts Labor Community Action Committee (WLCAC) and a member of the Healthy Families Coalition, said. “Instead of being welcomed back to school with a safe and healthy environment, students were welcomed back to school with an explosion and perhaps poisonous gases and projectiles.” 

Jordan High School, which has more than 500 students, is made up of an 81.5% Latino population, followed by 15.8% African American. Genesis Cruz, who recently graduated from Jordan High School, said that the stoppage and closure of the plant is the only rightful decision. 

“We should not have to fight so hard to be able to breathe air that doesn't cause cancer," Cruz said. "I'm not a lawyer yet, but I know that the decision in front of the judge is simple. Stop this company or kids will continue to be exposed to toxic chemicals.”

In 2020, LAUSD also filed a lawsuit against S&W Atlas Iron & Metal Co., which stated that there have been "multiple incidents at Atlas that could have resulted in an environmental and human disaster," beginning as early as May 2002. 

The lawsuit also mentioned things like contaminated stormwater, hazardous chemicals and stockpiling of "wrecked or dismantled vehicles, salvage, junk, and/or other materials and wastes at heights that greatly exceed the height of the retaining wall separating the Atlas Site from the school."

Less than a year after that lawsuit, in March 2021 the Department of Toxic Substances Control, a California department. charged with safeguarding Californians from the harmful effects of chemicals, ordered the plant to immediately stop releasing dangerous pollution that may be contaminating the Watts neighborhood of South L.A.

Before this official order, the department has previously served the plant with three notices of violations of state hazardous waste laws. 

Despite multiple lawsuits, complaints and orders from school districts, the city and even the state, the community and students do not understand why the recycling plant hasn't at least been ordered to cease operations while the criminal case proceeds.

“Why is Atlas operating business as usual after exploding a tank, and what was in the tank?” Thelmy Alvarez, director of climate services for WLCAC, said. “We have a lot of questions, and Atlas doesn’t have any answers.”

 For many residents of Watts, this issue is an environmental injustice case, as the community has been prone to a dangerous and toxic environment throughout the years. The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, on behalf of the California Environmental Protection Agency, updated their CalEnviroScreen, which showed that the Watts neighborhood is identified as disproportionately burdened by multiple sources of pollution. 

“It’s simply not possible to imagine this would happen in any other community, and it could have been resolved a long time ago if [the] Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles had exercised their right to shut them down,” Watkins said.