News Release

T – 1 – 22
Meredith Williams, Director

Contact: Barbara Zumwalt
(916) 708-4303
Barbara.zumwalt@dtsc.ca.gov

State Reaches Historic Milestone in Exide Residential Cleanup

Lead from shuttered facility removed from soil at 3,200 properties, including in L.A.’s historic Boyle Heights

SACRAMENTO – California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) has delivered on its goal to, by the end of 2021, clean up lead-contaminated soil from 3,200 parcels in the residential area surrounding the former Exide facility in the city of Vernon. The area is located five miles south of downtown Los Angeles.

The cleanup included parcels in Los Angeles’s historic multi-family residential properties – Boyle Heights neighborhood’s Wyvernwood Garden Apartments and adjacent Estrada Courts.

“It was very important to us to reach this milestone and we persevered through many challenges, including the COVID pandemic and unprecedented wildfire seasons, because the people we serve deserve no less,” said DTSC Chief Deputy Director Francesca Negri. “Our staff has worked tirelessly to meet this goal, and we are not resting now. We continue to clean those parcels that pose the greatest risk of exposure to this community.”

Drifting smoke during unprecedented wildfire seasons and the need to take COVID precautions for cleanup crews and residents weren’t the only challenges. Exide, the last owner of the facility, filed for bankruptcy and was allowed by a Delaware court to walk away from its obligations, further slowing work. But DTSC’s unwavering commitment to meet its 2021 goal countered the setbacks.

Lead-battery recycling and other lead smelting activity occurred for nearly a century at Exide’s Vernon facility, which ceased operations in 2014. Average production during this time was 100,000 to 120,000 tons of lead per year, the equivalent of approximately 11 million automotive batteries annually. Contamination from the activities has affected properties in a roughly 1.7-mile radius from the facility.

DTSC is cleaning parcels at a faster pace than other largescale lead cleanups in the nation, cleaning up qualified residential properties at a rate of about 80 homes a month.

In 2016, then-Governor Jerry Brown proposed — and the Legislature approved — a $176.6 million loan from the state’s general fund to kick-start the residential cleanup.

Additional funds requested by Governor Gavin Newsom have since been allocated to increase the number of crews working in the field and parcels cleaned:

• $74.5 million in 2019 — $24.5 million to address increased costs and $50 million to increase the number of parcels to be cleaned.
• $322.4 million in 2021 – to complete cleanup of 3,200 parcels and add 2,700 additional parcels with soil-lead concentrations above 200 parts per million.

DTSC anticipates completing cleanup of an additional 2,700 parcels by March 2025. To date, more than 8,600 of the estimated 10,000 parcels that fall within the cleanup area have been sampled for contamination.

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FOR GENERAL INQUIRIES: Contact the Department of Toxic Substances Control to report illegal handling, discharge, or disposal of hazardous waste or other environmental concerns at Calepa.my.salesforce-sites.com/complaints/Complaint.