Alexis Villa

Exide Contaminating Los Angeles 

Corporations are the main factors of man-made polluters of the world. There are many corporations like Exide Technologies that dramatically contaminate the world's environment by exposing harsh chemicals to nearby communities. Large corporations that have many violations get away with issues they have towards investigations because they have the money to pay it off, which led to Exide Technologies operating during their obligated "Stop Work Order".

What is Exide Technologies?

Exide Technologies is a large producer, distributor and recycler of lead-acid batteries. They are considered one of the largest recyclers of lead-acid batteries in the world. These lead-acid batteries come from all sorts of vehicles including: automobiles, golf carts, forklifts, etc. Exide Technologies is  in a heavily industrialized 15-acre property located in the city of Vernon, CA.


How does Exide Technologies affect our community?

In 2013, Exide Technologies was under federal criminal investigation for emitting high levels of extremely lethal pollutants from the recycling they had located in Vernon, CA. It took years for state and federal agencies to take action, while many residents were complaining about Exide Technologies toxic emissions being introduced in their community. Under the facility of Exide Technologies, beneath the soil had tested positive for high levels of toxic lead. Also, the groundwater was polluted as well and irritated sulfates, which may affect near by communities. There was a study that indicated that over 10,000 homes near Exide Technologies have found that there soil had been contaminated by lead emissions. Exide technologies was not only found to have emitted lead, but arsenic and other harmful pollutants as well. The lethal neurotoxin, known as lead, puts children in a vulnerable position of learning disabilities, lowering IQs and other cognitive diseases.

Who does Exide Technologies impact?
Throughout the decades of air pollution from Exide has substantially contaminated and impacted nearby communities like: Boyle Heights, Commerce, Vernon, Maywood, Bell, and Huntington Park. Communities closest to Exide technologies like Boyle Heights and Maywood are more than 90% Latino, which puts Latino's at a vulnerable risk compared to other ethnicities. Lupe Perez, a resident from Boyle Heights, claims that her soil from her yard is contaminated by lead emissions. Perez states that it is not easy to control her 3-year-old daughter from not playing in the dirt because children tend to not listen and comprehend that it is an issue. Obviously children love to play out doors and will step on the contaminated soil, then bring the brain-damaging pollutant inside their homes. This deeply impacted the lives of children because they are not even safe to play in their own backyards. In 2019, a study was conducted by the University of Southern California, which found a high amount of lead in baby teeth of children near the plant of Exide Technologies. This study showed that children who were found with lead in their baby teeth were likely to have lead in their brain, bones, and kidneys as well. Lead found in children's bodies can impact their lives in the future or their future offspring.


Personal Reflections
I personally believe that large corporations like Exide Technologies take advantage of their communities by releasing harmful pollutants to the public environment. Many corporations pay their way through to get a temporary permit, so that way they can further operate and release more toxic emissions. Although, we do need recyclers and distributors for lead-acid batteries to remake them, I think there should be more regulations towards releasing a certain limit of emissions put out in the air.  Such a corporation should have proper toxic waste management and efficient machinery that produces low emissions. The fact that it took decades for federal and state agencies to shut down Exide frustrates me because this meant they would rather take money off a corporation and let them continue to contaminate nearby communities rather than to shut them down immediately once they found out that they had exceeded the limit of levels of toxic emissions polluting the air. Lead is a poisonous neurotoxin that impacts the learning and cognitive disparities and in common cases death in a child's life. Exide had polluted more than 10,000 house around their plant in Vernon, CA. This plant also affected my city as well as I live in the city of bell. There was a time that some workers came to check my soil for lead contamination, and resulted that my soil tested positive for lead. They had replaced my contaminated soil and replaced with new soil that came out of Exide's expense. Exide were required to pay for cleanups in nearby communities that resulted in around 15 million dollars for the clean up and fines over 50 million dollars. Back in 2015, I was in high school and there were programs to help give Exide recognition for what they have caused, which later benefited many homes that got their soil replaced. It is important to have our soil clean and not contaminated because children have the right to play in their own backyard. They should not be scared to play out doors, but unfortunately when Exide was operating in those circumstances it led to have children exposed to these certain toxic pollutants.

References

“Exide Lead Contamination.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 1 Apr. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exide_lead_contamination.


“The Exide Plant in Vernon Closed 3 Years Ago. The Vast Majority of Lead-Contaminated Properties Remain Uncleaned.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 26 Apr. 2018, www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-exide-cleanup-20180426-story.html.