[CPEO-BIF] "Exide ordered to clean up toxic substances near Vernon [California] plant"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Exide ordered to clean up toxic substances near Vernon plant

Department of Toxic Substances Control sets urgent deadline for battery recycler, saying rains could wash lead and other metals into Los Angeles River.

By Jessica Garrison
Los Angeles Times (CA)
December 18, 2013


The state Department of Toxic Substances Control has issued an emergency order directing a Vernon battery recycler to clean up lead and other metals that have been deposited near the Exide Technologies plant.

In a letter released Wednesday, the agency said dust and soil samples with metals in concentrations at or near hazardous waste levels have been found near the facility and must be cleaned up by Jan. 31. The order is urgent, the agency wrote, because winter rains could wash the metals into the Los Angeles River.

"DTSC considers the elevated concentrations of lead and other contaminants … an immediate threat to human health and the environment (i.e. the Los Angeles River)," regulators wrote to Exide, one of the world's largest battery recyclers. Exide has until Dec. 31 to come up with a work plan.

The agency's letter does not say where the high concentrations of lead were found, but notes they were within 1,500 feet of the plant and in two storm drains along Bandini Boulevard.

…

For the entire article, see
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-exide-20131219,0,7030357.story#axzz2nwQpb66q

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope Street
Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650-961-8918 or 650-969-1545
Fax: 650-961-8918
LSiegel@cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org




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