This article was first published by the nonprofit newsroom L.A. Public Press on May 28, and is republished here with permission.
The cleanup of front and back yards at residential properties fouled with lead released by the former Exide Technologies plant would get a $35 million allocation if California legislators approve Gov. Gavin Newsom’s revised budget proposal for the next fiscal year.
But that won’t be enough to cover all the remaining remediation that still needs to be conducted in communities around Exide. Eight years into the clean up, the state is only about half-way done remediating more than 10,000 properties surrounding the former lead-acid battery recycling plant in Vernon.
Since the clean up got underway, the local community has struggled to ensure that the state finds funding to correct Exide’s wrongs. Many residents are still at war with the agency overseeing the clean up, the state Department of Toxic Substances Control, or DTSC, for allowing Exide to operate from 2000 to roughly 2014 with temporary permits while belching filth into surrounding neighborhoods.
The $35 million funding boost to cleanup efforts comes as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues assessing Exide’s qualifications for a Superfund designation. An EPA official told community members at a town hall in Huntington Park on May 14 that even amid continued tumult and layoffs at the federal agency, it remains committed to pursuing the designation.
The $35 million would be shifted from funds initially allocated to conduct remediation at the shuttered battery plant. Currently, $75 million remains from the $132 million that state officials allocated in 2021.
Newsom’s aim is to reallocate the entire $75 million for residential cleanups in fiscal year 2025-26, according to Elizabeth Leslie-Gassaway, DTSC public information officer.
But, just how much of that money will be available to redirect to the residential cleanup program depends on whether Exide is added to the EPA’s National Priority list, Leslie-Gassaway said.
If Exide becomes a Superfund site, she said, DTSC could use $70 million for the expanded cleanup of up to 500 residential properties. The federal government would then be on the hook for paying for remediation at the Exide site, EPA representatives at several public hearings have said.
Leslie-Gassaway said the remaining $5 million has already been committed to contracts “to ensure continuity of facility on-site operations and maintenance.”
But more money well beyond the $75 million will be needed to clean all the contaminated properties. Leslie-Gassaway said the DTSC is “in the process of estimating” how much more money will be needed to complete clean ups at about 3,500 to 3,600 untreated residential lots if the $75 million relocation is approved by state legislators. That figure includes about 1,000 lots where homeowners have declined access to their yards.
“This exercise is challenging due to the numerous uncertainties requiring assumptions. These challenges include fluctuating inflation, potential effects of tariffs, property owners allowing access to their properties, etc.,” she said.
Residential lots qualify for remediation if lead levels in the soil exceed 80 lead parts per million, the state’s current health threshold.
Long-term exposure to soil with lead concentrations above 80 ppm can cause brain damage in children and pregnant women, according to the California EPA’s office of environmental health hazards assessment.
In February, DTSC Director Katie Butler announced savings of $10 million would be used for additional residential cleanups because the cleanups had been less expensive than initially forecast. The $10 million is separate from Newsom’s $35 million plan and would cover about 60 residential cleanups through December.
At the May 14 community meeting in Huntington Park, Steve Hariri, DTSC’s Exide cleanup branch chief, said the $10 million in savings allowed the agency to lower the project’s cleanup thresholds from 200 to 190 ppm per lot.
Due to limited funds, and the size and scope of the residential cleanup project, DTSC had prioritized remediations of parcels with lead levels of 200 ppm and above.
Since 2018, when the clean ups started, the state has allocated a total of $509 million for community remediation. That funding has covered 5,940 of the 10,100 properties that need to be cleaned. As of May 16, according to its website, DTSC had conducted 5,866 of the 5,940 lead cleanups, including at several schools, parks, and child care centers in Boyle Heights, Bell, Commerce, East LA, Huntington Park, Maywood, and Vernon.
The state has spent about $772 million on treating the Exide plant and residential properties. The cleanup of parkways had an additional $67 million allocated between 2023 and 2024.
Concerning the Superfund front, EPA Region 9 Assistant Director Edwin “Chip” Poalinelli said the agency continues assessing the site’s qualifications to be included in the National Priorities List (NPL).
In September, the EPA proposed the Exide site be added to NPL, following a study that concluded the property had “elevated concentrations” of Trichloroethylene (TCE) in the soil and in the air.
TCE is a carcinogen that was banned in December by the EPA.
Superfund is a 1980s law that authorizes the EPA to clean the worst industrial lots, and forces liable parties to clean their properties or reimburse the government for remediation work.
Poalinelli said the agency plans to issue a memo this spring for public comment that would address some pushback to the proposed Superfund designation.
Once the comments are in, the EPA will assess them following the same procedure as with the original set of comments. Poalinelli said that if the list of qualifications has not changed, the agency will decide whether the facility will make the NPL list between spring and fall.
mark! Lopez, special projects coordinator with East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, invited attendants to remain engaged in the residential and plant’s cleanup program, and reminded them that President Trump’s cutbacks to EPA staff and erratic policy-making could complicate the Superfund listing process.
Lopez asked Poalinelli to improve communication with the community in case irregularities happen, so they can be better prepared and act accordingly.
“We’ve seen this administration act in ways that are not in accordance with the law,” said Lopez. “We can see up there in like a linear, statutory process and say, ‘That’s how it should have happened.’ But at some point, if they don’t happen that way, it’s going to require us to take actions in multiple forms.”
Poalinelli said each site’s NPL listing is based on science and its qualifications, and the administration’s priority is to “protect communities, and clean air, water and soil.”
Poalinelli added he meets with DTSC officials once a month to discuss and share the site’s latest data.
“We are continuing down with the Superfund process”, he said.
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