A state environmental agency defended a court settlement with Quemetco, a lead-acid battery recycling plant in City of Industry, during a raucous meeting of about 200 people in Hacienda Heights Wednesday, Feb. 8, where many neighbors voiced concerns about toxic emissions and cancer clusters.
The state Department of Toxic Substances Control said after suing Quemetco for 29 violations of state hazardous waste laws and other areas in October 2018, the company agreed to a $2.3 million settlement last December in Los Angeles Superior Court.
The DTSC reported nearly all of the violations have been rectified.
However, two outstanding violations potentially damaging to the environment and public health are pending, explained Maria Soria, DTSC division chief of enforcement during the meeting.
Quemetco, located on 15 acres at 720 S. Seventh Ave. and within 600 feet of many homes, has not established a working, detection system for toxic chemicals that could flow into the ground water, a source of drinking water in the San Gabriel Valley. The focus is on nearby San Jose Creek, a tributary into the San Gabriel River where water seeps into underground aquifers used for potable water, she said.
The company must remove five, old, non-working detection wells dating back to the 1980s, and drill new ones, to increase monitoring of wastewater for toxic chemicals, she said. The application for new detection wells is pending approval with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works.
Second, a “batch house” used to store lead batteries does not have a properly working system that can detect leaks of chemicals, she said. If a chemical leak of say lead, benzene or arsenic, cancer-causing compounds produced in the recycling of car batteries, is detected, the entire plant must shut down “or it can contaminate the ground water,” Soria said.
Nonetheless, DTSC praised their work on fixing most violations and Soria said these were admitted to by the company. The admissions could be used to enforce higher penalties in the event of future violations, she said. “The settlement is a result of strong enforcement actions the department took. We are pleased with the enforcement action,” said Meredith Williams, DTSC director, who spoke at the meeting.
Quemetco said the company agreed to resolve past violations but also disputes many of DTSC’s allegations. It has invested $50 million in new pollution control equipment since 2008. “The company is proud to be the cleanest lead recycling facility in the world, and it continually meets or exceeds all applicable environmental standards and requirements,” according to a statement emailed on Wednesday.
Many residents of La Puente, Hacienda Heights, Avocado Heights, Bassett and North Whittier — predominantly low-income areas and communities of color — disagreed with the settlement and spoke with concern for their health regarding citations for previous excessive toxic air emission releases and hazardous waste mishandling.
In 2016, the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) found that air emissions presented an unacceptably high risk for development of cancer. Between 2017 and 2019, the plant was issued five notices of violations by the South Coast Air Quality Management District, including two for going above permitted levels of arsenic emissions, the county reported.
Arsenic is a known human carcinogen and can be emitted are part of the breaking down of lead acid batteries into recyclable components. It is linked to skin, bladder, liver and lung cancers. Low levels of lead can damage a child’s nervous system, causing learning disabilities and behavioral problems. Lead has also caused tumors in laboratory animals and is listed as a probable carcinogen, according to DTSC.
“My nephew at age 35 died of a rare form of cancer. My sister has cancer. We didn’t know this was going on in our backyards,” said Saldana Quinones, a local resident, during the question and answer portion of the meeting.
Sofia Quinones asked whether DTSC could investigate cancer clusters in the area. No evidence of cancer cases has been presented by DTSC, nor other environmental or health agencies. She also wanted to have a DTSC attorney explain the settlement, but none was present.
The settlement is complicated and became a bone of contention for many Quemetco neighbors who spoke.
Quemetco has agreed to pay $2.3 million in fines, but that money does not go toward plant cleanup or future closure plans. Many said money should have gone to residents whom they called victims. Instead, $1.15 million goes to a state fund that helps pay for cleanup of “orphaned toxic sites” where there is no responsible party. The other $1.15 million went to hire two environmental nonprofits, Nature For All, and the California School-Based Health Alliance (CSBA), which is based in Oakland.
Williams said these two organizations will provide programs that benefit the entire community. Nature For All provides trips to beaches and the San Gabriel Mountains to underprivileged families. The CSBA is considering establishing a wellness center in a local school.
“I am not sure how these programs fixes the problems of Quemetco,” said Rebecca Overmyer-Vasquez, coordinator with a long-time watchdog group made up of plant neighbors called the Clean Air Coalition of North Whittier and Avocado Heights.
Gino Kwok, a trustee on the board of the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District, who attended the meeting, called the settlement “suspicious” and questioned why Quemetco could choose to apply part of the settlement fines to hand-picked environmental nonprofit groups.
Regarding the Oakland-based CSBA, Kwok said in an interview: “They parachute in but they have no connection to the community. They have no experience with toxic cleanup.”
The settlement does not affect the permit applications Quemetco has with the DTSC, a separate process that may be decided in March. It has been operating on an expired permit for several years. Quemetco anticipates the DTSC will issue a draft permit in March and that a finalized permit could come in October 2023.
Quemetco has applied for a permit with the SCAQMD to expand operations by 25%. If approved, the plant would increase throughput from crushing 600 tons of batteries per day to 750 tons. The LA County Board of Supervisors voted in 2019 to oppose any expansion of the facility.
Neither request has been decided.
