[CPEO-BIF] "Elected Officials Blast Proposed Exide Deal With Justice Dept." (Vernon, California)

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Elected Officials Blast Proposed Exide Deal With Justice Dept.
In the wake of Exide’s bankruptcy filing, questions arise about the state’s missed opportunities to secure recovery costs from Exide.
 

By Dan Ross 
Capital & Main
October 6, 2020

Legislators, officials and community leaders gathered Tuesday morning at the Resurrection Church in Boyle Heights, on the Eastside of Los Angeles, to decry Exide Technologies’ proposed bankruptcy settlement agreement.  The speakers claim the deal will allow the company to walk away from potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in cleanup costs from lead and other toxic contaminationincurred at its former lead battery recycling facility in Vernon and in the surrounding community.

“The worst of corporate polluters, they’re just trying to walk away with whatever they can,” said Assemblymember Miguel Santiago of Exide and the proposed agreement, which enjoys approval from the Department of Justice (DOJ).
 
The eight-day public comment period on the agreement ended today, and a federal bankruptcy court hearing is scheduled for next week. Santiago is one of seven legislators to sign a letter asking U.S. Attorney General William Barr to extend the agreement’s comment period for 60 days, and for a public hearing. “We implore the Department of Justice to oppose Exide’s proposed abandonment of the Vernon facility,” states the letter — one of several such missives vested parties have submitted to both the Justice Department and California attorney general’s office.

…

For the entire article, see
https://capitalandmain.com/elected-officials-blast-proposed-exide-deal-with-justice-dept-1006

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Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
A project of the Pacific Studies Center
LSiegel@cpeo.org
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org





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