Community activist Martha Sanchez announced the end of an eight-year battle against a metal finishing plant which many claimed has made their children and teachers sick as it has contaminated the South Los Angeles neighborhood.
The plant, the target of lawsuits, fines and repeated calls for its closure, is across the street from 28th Street Elementary School. The members of Alliance for Californians for Community Empowerment and Los Angeles City Councilwoman Jan Perry took turns decrying the facility and celebrating its end.
No one was happier than Sanchez who lead the charge to shutter the plant and protect the health of her three children. She cried as she read the names of victims alleged to have died from the toxic substances.
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge approved last Nov. 2 the settlement in a civil lawsuit against Palace Plating alleging environmental violations that included the release of contaminants into the sewer system. The plant faced three misdemeanor charges to which it entered no-contest pleas. As part of its settlement with the city, the facility agreed to cease operations by Dec. 31, remove hazardous waste and pay the Los Angeles Unified School District $750,000 in restitution.
“In this area, there were too many industrial uses next to houses and schools,” said Perry, who helped push for the closure while serving on the South Coast Air Quality Management District board.
Sanchez, 40, moved to the neighborhood in 1999 and began enrolling her children in the school shortly thereafter. Her children developed rashes, nosebleeds and asthma, prompting Sanchez to begin going door-to-door to ask neighbors if their children also had health problems.
In 2003 officials began investigating the plant and AQMD tests found one violation in the level of a cancer-causing chemical, but follow-up tests showed levels at or below the standard.
An inspection followed in 2004, and by 2006, the company pleaded no contest to charges of illegally disposing hazardous waste. Later the same year, the state Department of Toxic Substances Control issued a consent order and a $60,000 fine because of Palace Plating’s faulty handling of hazardous waste.
The city filed another lawsuit in 2007, alleging that the company was still not in compliance. And although the city’s lawsuit is already settled, another lawsuit brought by 97 teachers, parents and students remains outstanding. The suit alleges that two teachers developed cancer because of toxic substances from the plant. It also claims that another teacher has given birth to three children with disabilities because of pollution.
“This is the most blatant example of environmental racism to have substances like cadmium, cyanide and chromium being discharged feet away from an elementary school,” said Deputy City Atty. Patricia Bilgin. “I think it’s unconscionable.”
The area will soon become part of the Crossings housing program.