[Source: San Gabriel Valley Tribune] The state attorney general has sued Quemetco, the battery-recycling facility in City of Industry, citing 29 alleged violations involving failures to stop hazardous waste from migrating into the neighborhood and the underground aquifer, a source of drinking water for more than a million Los Angeles County residents, according to the legal complaint.
Using numerous reports of leaks, cracks in waste storage areas and corrosion in waste containers observed by state Department of Toxic Substance Control inspectors, Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed a lawsuit on Oct. 31, asking the Los Angeles County Superior Court to force compliance of failed and aging operations or face $25,000 in fines per day.
“We want them to comply with the hazardous waste laws,” said Sandy Nax, DTSC spokesman.
Violations cited by inspectors include: a non-functioning leak-detection system in a building that holds hazardous waste; a failure to build adequate groundwater monitoring systems and not informing state regulators of changes — all that could add up to the unlawful release of toxic waste into the environment, the DTSC said.
“DTSC has attempted to resolve these issues, and although some have been addressed, serious violations remain,” said DTSC Director Barbara A. Lee in a prepared statement released Nov. 1. “Facilities that process hazardous wastes must handle, store, and treat them in compliance with our laws.”
Lead contamination
Several calls and emails to Quemetco were not returned Monday.
“This is exciting news. This is wonderful to hear. I hope it sticks,” said Marilyn Kamimura, a resident of Avocado Heights whose home is about a mile from the lead-smelting plant and is part of a grass-roots effort to investigate the company’s possible contamination of backyards and homes of lead and arsenic.
Lead can slow cognitive development in children and arsenic, a heavy metal, is a known human carcinogen.
The DTSC has done sampling of parkways, more than 132 private homes and 12 commercial properties for lead and arsenic contamination beginning in May 2016.
A report on the findings intended to assess the health risks of living near the plant was due out in March 2017. It was delayed to May, then June and then early this year.
But the report still has not been released by DTSC. Most of the people possibly affected by contaminated air or water are in Hacienda Heights, Avocado Heights and Bassett, not in City of Industry.
Map shows the area tested for lead and other metals by the DTSC in May 2016. The findings have not yet been released.
Expansion
Despite the investigations, Quemetco has asked the DTSC and the South Coast Air Quality Management District for a new permit that would expand operations by 25 percent.
Quemetco is asking to increase operations from 20 to 24 hours a day, seven days a week for an additional 10 years. A decision on the expansion may be available at the end of this year or early 2020, said Nax.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, whose district includes the plant and surrounding communities, wrote a letter to Wayne Nastri, SCAQMD executive officer on Oct. 23, objecting to a permit for expansion while the DTSC soil report remained outstanding.
“There are many reasons why Quemetco should not be allowed to expand their operations and the 29 violations detailed in the state lawsuit give me 29 new reasons,” said Hahn in a statement released Monday.
Operations
The plant — the largest west of the Rockies — operates on 15 acres at 720 S. Seventh Ave and employs about 250 people.
It recycles about 10 million lead-acid regular car batteries a year as well as other lead scrap to make about 120,000 tons of reclaimed lead, according to its website.
“Protecting our community is among the highest of our priorities at Quemetco, along with employee health and safety,” said plant manager Scott Bevans in a statement on the Quemetco website.
Source: San Gabriel Valley Tribune
November 5, 2018
