Neighborhood Group Sues to Force Closure of Old Plating Plant

Chanting “Si, se puede!” and “Justice ... now!,” a group of 40 adults and children gathered Thursday outside Palace Plating in South Los Angeles to announce the filing of a new lawsuit seeking to close the World War II-era metal finishing plant.

At a news conference before the small company’s closed gates, neighborhood activist and plaintiff Martha Sanchez said the suit was part of “an intensified campaign to get rid of this company from our community.”

Palace Plating operates in compliance with air pollution regulations, but Sanchez, a member of the Los Angeles Assn. of Community Organizations for Reform Now, contended that emissions from the plant -- particularly the carcinogen hexavalent chromium -- have caused cancers and other maladies in the largely Latino neighborhood, as well as in children who attend 28th Street Elementary School across the street.

“In each class, several children have asthma, jaw problems and other respiratory problems, and allergies,” she said.

ACORN leaders said they don’t know for sure how many people have experienced physical ailments but were conducting a community survey.

The suit follows one filed in October on behalf of a group of 28th Street School teachers and parents. The company is also to be arraigned May 19 on 16 misdemeanor counts related to the dumping and storage of hazardous waste, and alleged violations of building and safety codes. Those charges were filed by the city attorney’s environmental protection unit, which is cracking down on alleged polluters in poorer areas.

Jose Tirado, production manager for Palace Plating, disputed ACORN’s contentions. “To be here, we have to have permits from everybody -- city, county, state and federal,” he said. The South Coast Air Quality Management District “checks the school all the time and everything’s OK. When the government says we can’t be here, then we’ll go.”

Sam Atwood, a spokesman for the air quality district, confirmed that Palace Plating “has been under AQMD’s microscope for several years and we have found the facility has been in compliance with all air pollution rules and regulations.”

He said the district has been monitoring the air at the school three times a week since September 2003.

Atwood said hexavalent chromium levels at the school last year were .26 nanograms per cubic meter of air, only slightly above the average for the L.A. Basin as a whole. Compton, he said, has levels of .31 nanograms.

A health risk assessment in 2003 showed the plant produced a cancer risk of more than 25 cases per million people over the course of a lifetime. That triggered a mandatory risk reduction plan. Its current risk is six cases per 1 million people, a level below the 10 cases per million that would trigger mandatory notification of the surrounding community, Atwood said.