"California's largest and most expensive environmental cleanup has failed to properly remove lead pollution from some homes and neighborhoods near a notorious battery recycler in southeast Los Angeles County, leaving residents at continued risk, a Los Angeles Times investigation shows.
Six years after the California Department of Toxic Substances Control embarked on a massive remediation effort around the shuttered Exide plant, numerous homes targeted for cleanup have been left with concentrations in excess of state health standards.
In findings shared exclusively with The Times, researchers at the University of Southern California and Occidental College reported that they had tested surface soil from the yards of 93 remediated homes and found 73 had at least one sample with lead concentrations over the California health threshold of 80 parts per million. They also found that 22 of the homes had at least one sample that tested over 400 parts per million, the federal limit.
The high lead concentrations have raised serious questions about the department's oversight of the $750-million project—as well as its commitment to making these predominantly Latino and historically underserved neighborhoods safe from a brain-damaging metal. "
Tony Briscoe, Jessica Garrison and Aida Ylanan report for the Los Angeles Times February 20, 2023.
