Continued calls for clean up at Vernon battery plant Exide

The fallout continues from the cleanup of the now-defunct Exide recycled battery plant in Vernon. 

There is a lot of frustration over how the cleanup is going within the community. Both California's United States Senators and the area's Congressman are calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to designate the former facility - closed in 2015 - as a superfund site. This would unlock millions of dollars in aid. 

Members of the community say they are still coping with contamination of lead and other chemicals. 

In 2019, a study was released that showed children living near the battery-recycling plant have high levels of lead in their baby teeth. 

The "Truth Fairy" study released by USC researchers found a correlation between the amount of lead in the soil of a property near the closed plant and the amount of lead in the baby teeth of a child who lives there.

Researchers looked at the lead levels in 50 baby teeth collected from 43 children in Boyle Heights, Maywood, East Los Angeles, Commerce and Huntington Park. They then matched the lead levels to soil contamination data for nearly 8,000 properties around the Exide plant collected by the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC).

"It is catastrophic," said Monsignor John Moretta, of the Resurrection Catholic Church. "There's something you cannot measure and that is the result to young people's brains." 

The EPA said it is still investigating and gathering evidence as it determines whether to designate the former plant a superfund site.