September 10, 2024
The Honorable Michael Regan
Administrator
Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20460
Dear Administrator Regan,
We are writing to express support for the inclusion of the former Exide Technologies battery recycling facility (Exide) in Vernon, California into the Superfund National Priority List (NPL) and recognize the site, along with the surrounding impacted community, as a Superfund site. On September 4, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the proposed addition of this site to the NPL. Our Board of Supervisors (Board) adopted a motion on September 10, 2024, to support the inclusion of the Exide site into the NPL.
For decades, Exide contaminated the groundwater, soil, and air with a flagrant disregard for environmental laws. They committed over 80 violations before finally closing in March 2015. The plant’s closure led to the beginning of what would become years of advocacy by the Board, County departments and residents to clean-up the contamination.
In October 2020, after Exide declared bankruptcy and despite numerous letters and public comments against the bankruptcy settlement, their responsibility to right their own wrongs were wiped away along with their debts. The settlement failed to provide sufficient funds to address the groundwater and soil impacts of Exide's operations. The County has used its own resources and continued to advocate to the State of California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) for a commitment to cleaning the site and surrounding neighborhood impacted by the contamination.
The Honorable Michael Regan
September 10, 2024
CEO LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS_091024
Although the Board supported the State of California's allocation of $700 million for cleanup and DTSC's commitment to clean both the facility and thousands of homes by mid2025, it quickly became clear that this would not be sufficient to address the amount of contamination that had been imposed on the surrounding communities for decades.
There are now generations of residents that have had to live with exposure to Exide’s contamination.
In July 2022, the State of California requested that the EPA include Exide in the NPL of its Superfund program. Superfund designation is reserved for contaminated sites where there is no viable party financially responsible for the site. Due to the approved bankruptcy that led to the abandonment of Exide’s responsibilities, the contaminated site and its surrounding impacted neighborhood qualified to enter the Superfund vetting process. More than two years later, Exide is on the verge of being designated a Superfund site.
In its June 2024 Site Inspection Report, EPA's Region 9 highlighted trichloroethylene (TCE) levels of 47 parts per billion were found in water from a monitoring well at the facility. This is almost ten times higher than the maximum TCE level allowed by the federal government in drinking water, which is five parts per billion. This monitoring well is interconnected with four aquifers within two miles of the facility, from which 17 known active drinking water wells serve an estimated population of over 133,000 people. Based on the findings in the Report, Region 9 has recommended that the facility and surrounding communities be added to the NPL.
Additionally, better known than the TCE impacts of the former Exide facility is the legacy of lead found in the soil of communities surrounding the facility as a result of years of emissions. While the State has made a substantial investment in clean-up within the designated Preliminary Investigation Area (PIA), comprising a 1.7-mile radius around the facility, significant additional investigation and remediation is warranted both inside and outside of the PIA.
It is critical that the EPA recognize the environmental justice issue that has continued to impact the health and wellness of residents around the Exide property for decades, and to correct the injustice committed by Exide and the wrongs extended by the federal bankruptcy proceedings. We request that the EPA place the former Exide facility and surrounding impacted communities on the proposed NPL list this fall 2024 and ultimately on the official Superfund NPL listing in Spring 2025. Additional funding and agency collaboration and coordination are necessary to ensure that the clean-up of soil and groundwater, which started in 2018, continues without interruption and is completed as expeditiously as possible.
The Honorable Michael Regan
September 10, 2024
CEO LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS_091024
Thank you for your leadership on this important matter.
Sincerely,
___________________________
LINDSEY P. HORVATH
Chair of the Board
Supervisor, Third District
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HILDA L. SOLIS
Supervisor, First District
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HOLLY J. MITCHELL
Supervisor, Second District
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JANICE HAHN
Supervisor, Fourth District
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KATHRYN BARGER
Supervisor, Fifth District