This article was first published by the nonprofit newsroom LA Public Press on Feb. 28, 2025 and is republished here with permission.
The Environmental Protection Agency reaffirmed last Wednesday at a community meeting that the presence of a toxic chemical at the site of the former Exide Technologies plant is linked to operations at that location.
TCE is a synthetic, colorless liquid originally developed as an anesthetic that evaporates at room temperature. The National Cancer Institute lists the chemical as causing kidney cancer, with other evidence suggesting it may be linked to liver cancer as well as non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The EPA banned the use of TCE in December.
The EPA is considering whether the presence of TCE and other chemicals and substances found at the Exide plant would qualify the site for a designation known as a Superfund. The term refers to a law originating in the 1980s that authorizes the EPA to clean polluted industrial sites, as well as force parties at fault for the toxins to clean their properties or pay the government for remediation work.
In September, the EPA proposed that Exide be added to the Superfund National Priorities List, which could bring more federal resources to the site.
The former Exide battery recycling plant operated for more than 90 years until it was shuttered in 2015 after years of advocacy from local residents who blamed the plant as the culprit for a myriad of health concerns, including elevated lead levels in the blood of children.
According to a 111-page report published in June by the engineering firm Weston Solutions, Inc., who were hired by the EPA, “elevated concentrations” of TCE were detected at the plant’s soil and in the air, mainly in the plant’s south yard. The report also attributed the chemical to “historical-on site operations” at the plant.
At Wednesday’s Exide Technologies Advisory Group (or ETAG) meeting in Commerce, EPA Region 9 Assistant Director Edwin “Chip Poalinelli said that they would release a technical report that confirmed that TCE was linked to the former Exide plant’s activities. That assertion has been challenged in public comments submitted to the EPA from local residents who are opposed to the Superfund designation. No timeline was set for the memo’s release.
Poalinelli also said they would open a 30-day public comment period once the technical memo is released, and that, if the Exide facility is added to the National Priorities List, the agency would continue to investigate TCE and other potential chemical contamination at the site.
“We proposed the [superfund] site based on TEC, but that doesn’t stop there,” he said.
The ETAG advisory group is composed of Department of Toxic Substances Control members, environmental organizations, academic and professional advisors, and staff from local, state, and federal elected representatives.
Poalinelli said the EPA will continue with its investigation into Exide, and as a result it may find different toxic metals at lower underground zones at the site of the plant.
Local residents and environmental advocates have voiced concerns for years about potential aquifer contamination underneath the Exide plant as the chemicals used to break apart batteries may have seeped into the ground.
At Wednesday’s meeting, mark! Lopez, special projects coordinator with East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice and an ETAG member, floated the idea for cities to file reports with the Los Angeles County Registrar’s Office to inform potential new property owners of any environmental risks with land parcels in the area.
Lopez also encouraged more folks to participate in Exide hearings, especially amid the backdrop of the ongoing environmental threats launched by President Donald Trump’s administration. In recent weeks, Trump fired and then reinstated some EPA workers,and enacted budget cuts that could impact cleaning up pollution, though a representative with the EPA did not respond to questions about whether Exide cleanups specially would be impacted.
“It’s important to participate in these [hearings],” said Lopez at the Commerce City Senior Citizen Center. “We have the need to complete these cleanups.”
Poalinelli said the scientific results of underground water pollution will be submitted for further evaluation to EPA personnel in Washington, D.C.
Depending on what they find, the EPA will either designate the Exide plant as a Superfund sometime between the spring and fall of this year, or, it will scratch it off the list of proposed sites.
Angelenos had an opportunity last year between September and December to submit public comments in support of the Superfund designation.
EPA spokesperson Molly Vaseliou said in an email that the agency “is reviewing and will respond to all comments submitted during the public comment period on EPA’s proposed listing of the Exide site.”
Vaseliou also said that during Trump’s first term, the EPA “cleaned up more toxic sites than its predecessor” by fully or partially cleaning up 82 Superfund sites.
Last year, the EPA threw out lead contamination as a viable pathway to a Superfund cleanup after soil sampling showed that the amount of pollutants present did not rise to the level needed for a Superfund designation.
The Department of Toxic Substances Control, or DTSC, has estimated that Exide tainted over 10 thousand properties within a nearly two mile radius from the industrial complex. The agency reported that 5,696 residential lots have been cleaned, and said it expects to treat nearly 250 more properties by the end of June.
DTSC Director Katie Butler, who was appointed to her post last September by Gov. Gavin Newsom, said she understands the scientific challenges and complexities posed by the environmental project, and vowed to move the goals set by the Exide advisory group forward.
“I’m well aware of the ETAG’s central voice in the community. I will continue to foster positive dialogue,” said Butler, who pledged to get more funding to support cleanups. “[While] the project is under review by the EPA, we’ll continue to clean as many properties as possible, with the resources we have
DTSC officials also announced that they will invest an additional $10 million to clean more homes through December.
This article was updated at 11:23 a.m. on March 5th, 2025. In a previous version of the story, we wrote that the chemical TCE was not attributed to operations at the former Exide plant. We also wrote that the EPA was continuing to investigate the source of the chemical. The EPA does attribute the presence of TCE at the site to activities at the plant. If the site is put on the National Priorities List, the EPA will continue to investigate the presence of other substances at the site.
LA Public Press is an independent newsroom that publishes news in support of a healthier Los Angeles. The non-profit does journalism that interrogates systems of power while supporting those trying to build more equitable and resilient communities.