猫咪社区

A scrap metal recycling facility is facing criminal charges in connection with allegedly contaminating the grounds of a Los Angeles high school with lead and other toxic pollutants.

Los Angeles District Attorney George Gasc贸n 22 felony and two misdemeanor counts against Atlas Metals, alleging the plant illegally disposed of hazardous waste, some of which was deposited on the grounds of the high school. 

鈥淭he charging of Atlas Metal for their environmental crimes is a step toward justice for the children of Jordan High School and the community of Watts,鈥� Gasc贸n said in a public statement. 鈥淲e must hold companies accountable for their actions that put our children鈥檚 health at risk.鈥�

An arraignment in the case is set for Monday, June 26. The charges date back to 2020, but Gasc贸n says the school has likely been exposed to toxic waste for decades. The school has been around since 1923, and the plant since 1949.

Students and local leaders have been protesting against the plant for decades. The plant has been a nuisance at best and dangerous at worst, students say. 

鈥淭here were times we had this purple haze coming over the campus,鈥� says 18-year-old Heaven Watson, a recent graduate. 鈥淥ur baseball field was shut down, there were these really funky smells throughout campus, and huge booms.鈥�

Jordan High, a 500-hundred-pupil facility in Watts, sits next to Atlas Iron and Metal Company, a scrap metal recycling facility. The haze comes from lead dust particles emitted by the plant, according to school district officials. Last year, testing commissioned by the district found lead concentrations in dust samples collected from campus were than what the Environmental Protection Agency defines as a hazardous threshold. Exposure to lead is particularly dangerous for young people; it can seriously impact the brain and nervous system, slow growth and development, and lead to learning and behavior problems.

鈥淚 knew my community deserved better,鈥� says Genesis Cruz, a 17-year-old Jordan student, who, for the past four years, has helped organize protests against the plant. Cruz belongs to the , a local advocacy group.

Watts, a historically Black community in South Los Angeles, is today Hispanic. It鈥檚 one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city, with a long history of environmental racism, ranking in the 100th percentile of most pollution-burdened communities in California, according to . Pollution caused by diesel trucks, traffic, and other industries; poor drinking water quality; and lead contamination鈥攚hich are linked to respiratory ailments, cancer, and cognitive impairment, among other issues鈥攁re just some of the environmental burdens the community faces. The average life expectancy in Watts is than in more affluent areas of the city.

Cruz and Watson describe how students often crowd the narrow hallways and cramped classrooms of their school during lunchtime鈥攅ven on sunny days鈥攖o avoid going outdoors where the thick smoke and toxic fumes often cloud the playing fields.

To keep out the fumes and noise, teachers often close classroom windows, even in the stifling heat, Watson says. Students can often see mountains of metal from their classroom vantage points and have even found pieces of on the baseball fields. That鈥檚 just from routine operations. In 2002, a in the scrapyard, sending shards of metal onto the school鈥檚 campus.

In 2020, the Los Angeles Unified School District against the plant, which demanded the company stop allowing 鈥渄angerous, sharp metal projectiles, fine metallic dust and other objects to be launched or emitted from their property鈥� onto the school campus. In 2021, the city attorney鈥檚 office went so far as to against Atlas. 

鈥淚t took us 15 years to get to these charges,鈥� says Tim Watkins, CEO of Watts Labor Community Action Committee and the president of , a campaign against the plant. The Coalition for Healthy Families and the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People have a total shutdown of the facility. They have also urged California state officials, as well as the Biden administration, which has made environmental justice a , to support their efforts. 

鈥淗undreds of acres in Watts have been contaminated with the same elements that Atlas Metals is charged with producing,鈥� Watkins says. 鈥淚鈥檓 just frustrated that this is what it takes to get action.鈥�

Earlier this month, attorneys for both the Los Angeles Unified School District and the City of Los Angeles with Atlas about reaching a settlement this year, although it is still unclear whether the plant will close. Benjamin Gluck, legal counsel for Atlas, told Nexus Media News the company was 鈥渄isappointed鈥� with the charges and that it was 鈥渁ctively working with the many public agencies involved and is actually moving close to a global resolution.鈥� He added, 鈥淲e will defend this case vigorously.鈥�

Recycling plants like Atlas can prevent reusable metals from ending up in landfills. However, the process metal particulates, including lead, into the air at toxic levels. 

鈥淚t kind of sucks that we鈥檝e had to advocate for this,鈥� says Watson, who has organized protests against the plant in front of the facility, around Watts, and even outside the White House in Washington, D.C. 鈥淭his should already be set in place. There鈥檚 always an alternative way to do things,鈥� she says鈥攆or one, not siting polluting plants next to schools in the first place. 鈥淧eople just don鈥檛 want to because it鈥檚 pricey.鈥�

The battle to shut down the plant in Watts is one that is being replicated throughout the U.S. as frontline communities鈥攖ypically low-income communities of color鈥攆ight for cleaner air, water, and land. Polluting industries have historically been placed in these communities, in large part, due to racist redlining practices. 

And though the fate of the Atlas plant is unclear, its standoff with students has produced a generation of environmental activists. Cruz, who will be a senior in the fall, says the fight against Atlas has sparked a passion for advocacy鈥攁nd an interest in studying law. Watson, headed to college in the fall, plans to major in American Studies while staying active in her alma mater鈥檚 campaign for environmental justice. 

鈥淲hen you experience things firsthand and see the effects of it, you feel more motivated to speak out鈥� We have to stop it,鈥� she says.

This article originally appeared in , an editorially independent, nonprofit news service covering climate change. Follow .