We Hate to Say We Told You So, But….

California Public Radio reports...

The California Department of Toxic Substances Control has shut down a battery recycling plant in Vernon whose own investigation revealed that it’s contaminating the soil around it. Exide Technologies recycles 22 million car batteries a year at its Vernon plant. The DTSC said Wednesday that it has suspended Exide’s operating permit.

Last month, regional air regulators said arsenic in Exide’s emissions has raised cancer risks for people in nearby Maywood, Huntington Park and Boyle Heights. DTSC Director Debbie Raphael says video provided by Exide shows that its wastewater pipes are leaking metals and other toxic substances into the ground.

The consumer advocacy group Consumer Watchdog said the DTSC “did the right thing” in suspending Exide’s operating permit, but the group also criticized the agency for never forcing the company to comply with laws that required it to prove it had enough cash to pay for any actions required by regulators, including the cost of closure.

“Exide has only put up $10 million dollars for closure—that is nowhere near enough” if the company needs to clean up a high level of toxic contamination, said Consumer Watchdog’s Liza Tucker. In that case, “Californians could be left holding the bag,” she said.

It'a all relative. Right now, Frisco residents wouldn't even have the bag. The town is putting its fate in the hands of a company that's finding new ways to circle the drain for the second time in a decade. While Exide and the regulatory agencies may want to pretend the California crisis has nothing to do with the company's ability to carry out a first-class demolition and closure at its Frisco smelter site, common sense says otherwise. Frisco needs an exit strategy.