VERNON, Calif. - Several elected officials gathered in Vernon Friday to push the Environmental Protection Agency to declare the former Exide battery-recycling plant a federal Superfind site. The designation would allow for federal funding to help clean up for at the plant that authorities said has leaked toxic and hazardous chemicals into thousands of properties in the area.
The Exide plant was home to a lead battery recycling facility, and operated for about 90 years before closing in 2015, according to the EPA. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2020, which resulted in the EPA taking over the decontamination and deconstruction of the building. That work was finished in May 2022, with the deconstruction of the lead processing smelter.