Full Coverage: Battery recycler Exide closes after scrutiny

Under intense criticism from California lawmakers, the state will begin using blood test results from children to help focus its massive cleanup of lead-contaminated homes in southeast Los Angeles County, state officials said Wednesday.

The state of California has blood test results showing high levels of lead in children living near the closed Exide battery plant in Vernon but is not using the information to direct its massive cleanup of lead-contaminated homes and yards.

Los Angeles County supervisors voted Tuesday to set up a strike team of fire, public health and planning officials to look at the safety of oil and gas fields in unincorporated county areas.

Gov.

Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar urged state officials Friday to accelerate the removal of toxic lead contamination surrounding a shuttered battery recycling plant in nearby Vernon, saying he was astounded that the state agency overseeing the testing and cleanup of up to 10,000 homes had not acted more swiftly.

Frustrated with the pace of toxic cleanup efforts surrounding a shuttered battery recycling plant in Vernon, state and local politicians are pressing for swifter action from the Brown administration.

Residents of southeast L.A.

Los Angeles County supervisors, frustrated by what they say is a lack of urgency by state officials to clean lead contamination from homes near a shuttered Vernon battery recycler, agreed to spend $2 million to pick up the pace.

Over the last year, federal authorities built what appeared to be a strong criminal case against Exide Technologies, the Vernon battery recycler that has long faced scrutiny for spewing lead and arsenic into neighborhoods in southeast Los Angeles County.

Just weeks before battery recycler Exide Technologies planned to reopen its troubled Vernon plant, the company agreed Wednesday to permanently shut it down rather than face federal criminal prosecution for decades of environmental crimes.

Battery recycler Exide Technologies will permanently close its Vernon plant and avoid criminal charges under an agreement between the company and the U.S. attorney’s office reached Wednesday night.

Battery recycler Exide Technologies will permanently close its Vernon plant and will not face criminal charges under an agreement reached Wednesday night with the U.S. attorney’s office.

Air quality officials imposed stricter emissions limits on two Los Angeles County battery recycling plants Friday, attempting to protect surrounding communities from lead pollution released by Exide Technologies in Vernon.

The Los Angeles Fire Department has failed to properly inspect hundreds of hazardous sites scattered across the city, exposing the public to increased risks from potential spills and mishandling of toxic substances, according to a state report released Friday.

Exide Technologies officials willfully endangered the health of more than 60 children living near the company’s troubled lead recycling plant in Vernon, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Los Angeles County is considering legal action against a Vernon battery recycler accused of threatening the health of nearby residents with its lead and arsenic emissions.

In a wide range of bill signings Monday, Gov.

Los Angeles County’s attempt to test lead levels in the blood of people living near a Vernon battery recycling plant has not drawn enough participants to be of use in measuring the effects of its air pollution, county officials and health experts say.

State regulators have greatly expanded the area of homes, schools and parks that will be tested for lead-tainted soil near a troubled battery recycling plant in Vernon.

A federal grand jury is investigating Exide Technologies over emissions of harmful pollutants from its Vernon battery recycling plant, according to a financial disclosure filed this week.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors wrote a letter to Gov.

Decades of shoddy record-keeping and other administrative failings have prevented California hazardous-waste regulators from collecting nearly $194 million in costs to clean up contaminated sites, state auditors said in a report Thursday.

The California Department of Toxic Substances Control has been a called an agency in “turmoil� by its own former director.

Air quality officials are giving a battery recycling plant in Vernon another chance to prove it can operate without putting nearby residents at risk.

A Vernon battery recycler, under fire for polluting the air with excessive amounts of lead and arsenic, has been given 30 days to correct shortcomings in its application for a permit to handle hazardous waste.

The U.S.

The head of the California Department of Toxic Substances Control is resigning after three years leading the long troubled department.

The company notifies 124 employees of the layoffs after its shutdown last month by air-quality regulators over pollution concerns.

Exide Technologies must comply with new rules on arsenic emissions before it is allowed to resume lead smelting, South Coast Air Quality Management District board rules.

An air monitor near the Exide Technologies plant picks up lead levels in violation of public health regulations. The AQMD will order Exide to curtail its operations by 15%.

High levels of lead found in the soil near the battery recycling facility show that state regulators have failed to protect public health.

New plan aims to curb health risks from Vernon plant with a history of lead and arsenic emissions, but key official expresses doubts about company’s commitment to the goal.

Neighbors of the Vernon battery recycler urge the state to shut it down after the discovery of high lead levels in nearby homes.

Discovery of potent neurotoxin in neighbors’ yards compounds fears of pollution from the Vernon battery recycler.

The Exide battery recycling plant in Vernon is first on list for the team, which will include health officials, prosecutors and fire department officials.

State regulators order Exide Technologies to perform more testing after elevated amounts of lead are found in the soil of homes and a preschool near the Vernon plant.

A Paramount case spotlights poor communities’ struggle for action on local pollution sources.

Director tells Senate panel the extra funding would help fix California’s system for tracking hazardous waste, among other problems.

Amid air quality regulators’ efforts to temporarily shut down the Vernon plant, production is cut due to lead emission violations.

The Department of Toxic Substances Control is supposed to use regulations, fines and the threat of legal action to protect the environment. But its oversight is often ineffectual.

A hearing focuses on concerns over arsenic and lead emissions from Exide Technologies’ plant in Vernon. The company says it has reduced emissions.

At a meeting called by lawmakers, the crowd calls for officials to shut down Exide Technologies over dangerously high emissions of lead and arsenic.

The battery recycler will meet with air quality officials to discuss additional action to curb emissions. The company says it is now in compliance with regulations.

Tests of residents near Exide’s Vernon facility won’t pinpoint a source of any contamination and come too late, some activists say.

Officials say they plan to unite in a bid to sway regulators to close a Vernon battery recycler that residents in surrounding areas say is harming their health.

A ‘toxic tour’ past rail yards, smokestacks and refineries aims to show officials the consequences of their decisions in low-income, predominantly Latino communities in southeast L.A.