Estrada Courts sits within the Exide contamination zone, but the state has yet to test the homes there for lead.
Co-published by L.A. Taco
In the wake of Exide’s bankruptcy filing, questions arise about the state’s missed opportunities to secure recovery costs from Exide.
A bill to reform the Department of Toxic Substances Control has been a long time coming, but will Governor Newsom sign it?
The five-year cleanup of a lead-contamination zone is a story of confusion, shifting goalposts, missed deadlines and bloated budgets.
Co-published by KPCC
The Dept. of Toxic Substances Control has halted all field work on cleaning homes affected by Exide contamination until further notice.
Our reporting began with the Los Angeles teachers strike and included coverage of the immigration, housing and climate crises.
See the full story by Joe Rubin.
Guns spewed lead dust. Child gymnasts trained. California regulators failed to act.
Battery recycling is considered one of the most potentially hazardous industries. Yet Vernon’s Exide workers were routinely being poisoned with nearly nonexistent intervention by Cal/OSHA.
How an agency charged with protecting public health gave talking points to the lead-battery industry.
Health officials took eight days to send letters to parents of children possibly contaminated by lead. And not everyone received a letter.
The state only requires schools to take action if lead levels exceed 15 ppb. But the CDC says there’s no safe blood lead level for children.
Reporter Joe Rubin explains how California’s public health department dropped the ball in a Bay Area contamination case.
Santa Clara County has not revealed how many of the children who attended a now-shuttered gymnastics facility have been tested for lead.
Guns spewed lead dust. Child gymnasts trained. California regulators failed to act.
Last year Governor Jerry Brown vetoed legislation that would have tightened scrutiny of the amount of lead absorbed by workers. Assemblyman Ash Kalra has vowed to pursue passage of his measure with 2019’s Assembly Bill 35.
The problem in California doesn’t appear to lie with finding out about lead-poisoned workers, but with what happens — or doesn’t happen — when some state officials get that information.
California allocated $176 million to test and clean 2,500 lead-threatened properties surrounding the closed Exide battery plant near downtown Los Angeles. To date only 335 parcels have been cleaned.
Why would Disneyland, which hosts thousands of kids every day, be part of an effort to defeat a bill that simply requires reporting of blood-lead levels high enough to produce heart disease and serious brain disorders?
Battery recycling is considered one of the most potentially hazardous industries. Yet Vernon’s Exide workers were routinely being poisoned with nearly nonexistent intervention by Cal/OSHA.