Governor Newsom announces major cleanup progress in communities impacted by shuttered Exide battery recycling facility in South Los Angeles

Governor Newsom prioritized cleaning up neighborhoods impacted by decades of Exide pollution, investing more than $500 million in one of the largest residential lead cleanups in U.S. history. 

California has completed cleanup at:

• 🏡 6,495 residential parcels
• 🛣️ 7,818 parkways
• ✏️ 12 schools
• 🧑‍🧑‍🧒 68 childcare centers
• 🛝 5 parks

“Clean air, soil and water should be basic rights. That’s why California is committed to cleaning up the decades of pollution left behind by Exide, affecting far too many families and communities,” said Secretary for Environmental Protection, Yana Garcia. “The investments made by this administration mean that in Southeast Los Angeles, nearly 6,500 families have cleaner properties, and impacted communities have safer childcare centers, schools and parks where they can safely live, work and play.”

“DTSC is delivering real and measurable progress for families living near the former Exide facility,” said DTSC Director Katherine Butler. “Every home we clean brings communities closer to the safe, healthy future they deserve after decades of industrial pollution. California remains steadfast in completing this cleanup thoroughly, safely, and with full transparency.”

How we got here

The former Exide facility in Vernon, located five miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, operated for decades, recycling lead-acid batteries. In 2002, DTSC required Exide to investigate and clean up releases from its operations. In 2014, testing revealed elevated lead levels in nearby residential soil. In 2015, DTSC ordered Exide to withdraw a pending permit to operate, effectively closing the facility. Cleanup has continued ever since.

When a federal bankruptcy court later allowed Exide to abandon the site, Governor Newsom condemned the decision, declaring that California would continue fighting to hold Exide and its creditors accountable for poisoning the residential parcels, playgrounds and backyards surrounding the facility.

Since then, California has made sustained investments to accelerate cleanup and protect surrounding communities, including major state funding in 2021 for demolition, site cleanup and residential remediation, additional funding in 2023 for parkway cleanup, and continued funding to clean more contaminated residential parcels. The Newsom administration also took decisive steps to request the addition of the former Exide facility to the federal Superfund National Priorities List that, if successful, would bring additional federal resources to one of the largest contamination cleanups in U.S. history.

Today’s progress reflects years of work by the state and community partners to clean contaminated soil, protect families, and address what Governor Newsom has called Exide’s “toxic legacy” and a “decades-long injustice.”

How the cleanup works

California conducts comprehensive soil sampling to guide cleanup decisions. Initial sampling identifies properties eligible for cleanup, while spot-check verification and retrospective sampling confirm that completed work meets the state’s high standards.

To date, DTSC has performed sampling of 10,028 parcels to determine cleanup priority. 9,016 parcels have been identified as eligible for further remediation (about 80% of those contacted have granted DTSC access), based on soil lead concentration greater than 80 parts per million and/or a single sample greater than 1,000 ppm. DTSC conducted verification and retrospective sampling on 623 properties.

DTSC remains committed to engaging residents throughout the process. Staff have spent thousands of hours meeting with residents, hosting public meetings, holding office hours, and conducting door-to-door outreach. The department launched the Exide Cleanup Feedback Management System, empowering residents to track progress and share feedback directly. Since 2017, DTSC has enrolled more than 120 community members in its Workforce Environmental Restoration in Communities program, and more than 70 graduates have gone on to work on the cleanup in their own neighborhoods.

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