The state plans to significantly expand the scope of the cleanup of lead-tainted soil from properties around the former Exide plant in Vernon, but its efforts to date have been incomplete, as many homeowners have passed up the opportunity to have professionals also clean the interiors of their homes.
Of the 174 property owners in Boyle Heights and Maywood who have had soil removed from their yards, only 44 have requested the accompanying interior cleanup, according to the Department of Toxic Substances Control, which is overseeing the effort. The operation began after the agency found elevated levels of lead in the soil of homes around Exide's now shuttered battery recycling facility.
Interviews with residents whose yards were the subjects of remediation, along with a review of the letter offering an interior cleaning, suggest that at least one of the reasons so few have taken that step is miscommunication.
"The agency is not doing a good enough job in conveying that we are cleaning up poison from homes and not just dust," says Mark Lopez, executive director of East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice.