Site Mitigation & Restoration Program

We protect and maintain California’s land and places
by setting strict standards for land restoration and cleanup

Exide Home > Residential Cleanup > Cleanup Progress & Investigation

Exide Progress of Residential Cleanup & Investigation

Cleanup Progress

Status of Parcels

Investigation Progress

Residential Cleanup Videos

Cleanup Progress as of January 24, 2025

DTSC is making progress in the neighborhoods near the former Exide battery recycling facility in Vernon. We have prioritized homes, schools, parks, and daycare centers for cleanup based on sampling results. To date we have completed the cleanup of all schools, parks, and daycares. We continue to clean up qualified residential properties at a rate of about 80 homes a month.

A graph showing the pace of cleanup from March 2018 at 331 parcels to January 24, 2025 at 5,682 parcels and the projected cleanup timeline from January 24, 2025 to June 2025 when 5940 parcels will be cleaned.

Assumptions: We have assumed delays due to rain, wind, fire, and COVID-19 which account for about 10 weeks per year.

Up to thirty crews are working in the neighborhoods of Bell, Boyle Heights, Commerce, East Los Angeles, Huntington Park, Maywood, and Vernon. These crews include more than 70 residents trained through the DTSC Workforce for Environmental Restoration in Communities program. DTSC staff are in the project area every day, keeping the residents involved and informed and overseeing contractors.

Cleanup involves removing lead-contaminated soil from the most-impacted properties and those where people’s risk of exposure is greatest. DTSC developed an interactive map that tracks the cleanup by parcel and provides soil sampling results. For soil sampling data, go to our Soil Sampling Data for the Exide Preliminary Investigation Area web page.

Total Parcels Cleaned

5,351 parcels cleaned up under the July 2017 Cleanup Plan

331 parcels cleaned up under other Work Plans and Orders

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Residential Lead Cleanup Projects Comparison

DTSC’s pace of cleaning up properties exceeds that of other urban lead cleanup projects in the state or country. View the Lead Cleanup Projects Comparison document for more details.

Status of Parcels in the Cleanup Process

Permission
to Cleanup:
411

Cleanup Preparation:
319

Cleanup Scheduled:
83

Cleanup
Crews:
25

Number of parcels DTSC has permission to clean up	Number of parcels ready for cleanup	Number of parcels scheduled for cleanup	Number of crews
Meeting conducted with owner/resident to discuss cleanup process and review options	Pre-excavation confirmation samples collected	Pre-construction meeting conducted	Crews active in the field working on soil cleanup activities and/or restoration and landscaping of the property
Pre-excavation confirmation sampling scheduled	Property-specific plans prepared	Owner/resident finalizes restoration materials, relocation and interior cleanup options
Agreements obtained to allow DTSC to conduct cleanup activities	Restoration materials selected by owner/resident	Cleanup scheduled two to four weeks in advance
	Relocation and interior cleanup options selected

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Investigation Progress

DTSC has identified over 10,100 sensitive use properties in the PIA. Of these, DTSC has sampled over 9,000 properties and continues to conduct outreach on the remaining properties to gain access for sampling. Below is DTSC current residential investigation progress.