LA County Opposes Quemetco's Recycling Site Expansion Plans

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The County of Los Angeles, California sent a five-signature letter to the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) and the South Coast Air Quality Management District expressing the County's opposition to the proposed expansion plans submitted by Quemetco.

The letter urges DSTC to scrutinize Quemetco's permit renewal application in line with the new permitting guidelines. It recommended DTSC to consider the battery recycler’s compliance history and consider the violations during the past ten years. Further, it urged DTSC to force the company to complete additional sampling requirements to determine the extent of lead contamination at the earliest. Moreover, it called for sharing the results of sampling with the public.

Earlier in December last year, the DTSC had ordered Quemetco to conduct additional lead sampling in residential areas around its battery recycling facility in the City of Industry, California. It had also ordered the company to remove contaminated soil in the industrial areas immediately outside the facility, where sampling cited excessively high levels of lead.

Meantime, Quemetco has submitted request for a new permit that would boost the operations to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for additional 10 years. The company’s application towards renewal of hazardous waste permit is also pending with DTSC. A decision of this is expected only in 2020.