Exide Technologies Environmental Pollution

Exide Technologies is a lead smelting factory that seeks to recover lead from by recycling automotive batteries. Its location is in Southern Indiana, Vernon. This factory has been featured in the news lately regarding heightened lead emissions from the facility.

Underground pipelines utilized for conveying the lead polluted storm water to a perilous waste handling tank system have been found to be in poor conditions, a buildup of semi-solid slush materials usually throughout the pipeline system that hold elevated levels of dangerous waste, particularly metals (e.g., lead, arsenic and cadmium). The data show a number of areas within the piping system that portray disastrous structural integrity (Mai-Duc 52).

Exide Technologies is constantly under pressure for contaminating close by residential areas with lead and endangering the health of over above 100,000 natives with the arsenic emissions. Exide Technologies is in danger for producing more than the allowed levels of lead; this is according to the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCQMD). Consequently, the organization has ordered Exide to restrain its functions by 15%. Earlier this year, an air check on the northeast section of the Exide Technologies factory, next to the Los Angeles River, recorded elevated lead levels, which were adequate to cause the open-air concentration to go beyond 0.15 micrograms per cubic meter. These measures are based on a 30-day regular – an infringement of laws designed to defend public health (Garrison 12).

Eminent lead levels have been located in the soil of residences including a preschool close to a battery-recycling factory in Vernon, forcing officials to give health warnings and request more testing in adjoining neighborhoods. SCAQMD  regulators have indicated the preliminary resulting from 39 residences along with two schools worried them sufficiently that they have ordered Exide Technologies to make a plan to defend children and pregnant women residing in affected residences, as well as carry out further testing.

 In October 2013, the SCAQMD filed a petition in its Hearing Board – an autonomous administrative law board — that would necessitate Exide to discontinue its smelting processes until it can enhance its air pollution regulation systems to decrease arsenic emissions. SCAQMD’s executive officer stated that Exide’s factory is so polluted with lead that they are resulting to violations of the SCAQMD’s ambient lead allowed levels even when the factory is not in operation. The executive officer therefore said that Exide Technologies needs to regard its factory as a hazardous waste location all through maintenance and renovation work duration (Garrison, and Christensen 25).

 In March 2014, Exide started shutting down the lead smelting functions in order to undertake various structure and maintenance activities intended at decreasing its arsenic emissions. The (SCAQMD) in April 2014 tabled a petition to its Hearing Board requesting  to forbid Exide Technologies from endeavors that have resulted to the  violations of the body’s ambient lead requirements on 18 successive days.

 The filed petition asserts that if Exide were to restart or resume lead-smelting operations, the factory would more possibly to continue disobeying the required lead standards.

 SCAQMD persists to work on numerous fronts to force Exide to decrease its poisonous emissions and obey the present regulations.  In mid-April 2014 SCAQMD’s Hearing Board refused an appeal by Exide asking to be relieved from the April 2014 deadline to sustain negative pressure during operations in its smelting furnaces.  An equivalent motion tabled by Exide Technologies in the Los Angeles Superior Court was refused earlier this year (Mai-Duc 52).

Works Cited

Garrison, J, and K. Christensen. “Regulators move to Shut Down the Baterry recycling Plant.” Los Angeles Times [Los Angeles] 18 Oct. 2013: 25. Print.

Garrison, J. “Venon Battery recycler again in Trouble over Lead Emissions.” Los Angeles Times [Los Angeles] 28 Mar. 2014: 12. Print.

Mai-Duc, C. “Exide to temporarily lay off nearly all its workers at the Vernon Plant.” Los Angeles Times [Los Angeles] 22 Apr. 2014: 52. Print.