In the quiet suburban neighborhood of Maywood, Calif., the intense aromas of pastor meat lead to a taco stand near the corner of Slauson and Atlantic. At Riverfront Park, tall, vibrant green trees allow children to enjoy the playground until they hear the familiar chime of the paletero man coming around the corner.
Despite the vibrant community atmosphere, a more troubling invisible reality lies beneath the surface: elevated lead levels have been detected in local children, raising alarm over the lingering toxic legacy of a battery recycling plant.
Two and a half miles from Maywood sits the former Exide Technologies facility, a lead-acid battery recycling plant for more than 50 years. Exide, which was permanently closed in 2015 due to numerous environmental violations, crushed and melted used batteries for decades, emitting lead, arsenic and other toxic pollutants into surrounding neighborhoods. The Exide cleanup is one of California’s largest and most complex environmental projects.
On March 11, 2015, Exide Technologies reached a non-prosecution agreement holding them responsible for funding $50 million to clean up the site and the surrounding communities affected. However, the company filed for bankruptcy during President Donald Trump’s first term in 2020. A federal bankruptcy court-approved settlement fell hundreds of millions of dollars short of the company’s estimated cleanup costs. Allowing the company to walk away from remaining cleanup costs shifted the burden to taxpayers and the state of California.
“They filed for bankruptcy, and the judge allowed them to get away with not having to clean up,” Maywood Councilman Eddie De La Riva said. “They’ve been allowed to get away with it. They weren’t held accountable and will never be.”
Governor Gavin Newsom recently approved an additional $70 million in funding in the 2026 state budget to continue cleaning up the Exide site and surrounding neighborhoods. However, this is contingent on adding the site to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund National Priorities List.
Cleanup workers oversee the delivery of clean soil as part of the parkways remediation process, with a United Rentals truck offloading fresh material onto a prepared surface. (Photo by Emily Estrada)
The Superfund National Priorities List identifies the most hazardous waste sites in the United States that require long-term cleanup and are eligible for federal funding allocated towards cleanup efforts.
Therefore, under Trump’s second term, with his promise to gut environmental funds, local nonprofit East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice is urging state and federal officials to designate the Exide site as a Superfund location. This move would unlock federal resources and accelerate remediation efforts. The EPA has confirmed the presence of hazardous waste at the site, but federal designation remains pending.
“There’s no reason for it not to be a Superfund site,” said EYCEJ’s Eastside Community Organizer and Special Projects Coordinator, mark! Lopez. “It meets the threshold, it’s a federal program that we would qualify for, the research has been done for, that the [California Department of Toxic Substances Control] staff has recommended for. They would have to justify why it wouldn’t be included [in the National Priorities List] and that’s something we would refute.”
Just months ago, the EPA announced the largest deregulatory action in U.S. history, weakening dozens of environmental protection rules, including emission limits for plants and vehicles, wastewater regulations and air quality standards.
Alongside the rollbacks, Trump’s administration intends to eliminate the EPA’s Environmental Justice offices, which are responsible for addressing the high levels of pollution burdening underserved and minority communities. Eliminating these offices would suggest an end to federal grants, and accordingly, funding for sites on the National Priorities List.
The absence of a guaranteed addition of Exide to the list raises concerns for the DTSC and the state. They face uncertainty in funding for future years, which is essential for continuing cleanup efforts at the site and in the surrounding communities. Lopez said that this is yet another instance where marginalized communities are neglected by those in positions of authority.
“In our communities, there is oil extraction, oil refining, manufacturing, there’s consumption and then there is incineration, there’s waste. All of that we call it ‘the death cycle of plastic’. It happens in our communities and is poisoning our communities,” Lopez said.
The EYCEJ remained at the center of the fight to shut down Exide, building a partnership with the South Coast Air Quality Management District to expose Exide’s contamination of nearby communities. This partnership allowed EYCEJ to effectively influence policies that would force Exide to install new equipment to reduce emissions. As is the case, Exide withdrew its application for a new permit due to the non-prosecution agreement.
Beside EYCEJ stood local community members, troubled by the idea of a poisoning facility so close to home. Lopez said this campaign was successfully turned over through consistent community education, outreach and advocacy.
“It’s through communicating with each other and the creativity from the community that we’re able to put our campaigns together,” Lopez said.
EYCEJ holds monthly membership meetings, during which local community members are encouraged to voice their concerns about remediation efforts. During these meetings, members discuss work contracts with DTSC contractors and violations that occurred during the cleanup process.
Heber Marquez, the mayor pro tem of Maywood, said the project has been delayed due to the inadequacies of the original plan. He criticized the DTSC for not addressing the problems.
“It’s not fair for the residents of Maywood or Southeast LA that have suffered and continue to suffer because of the lead in the soil,” Marquez said.
Concerns raised are discussed in DTSC Exide Technical Advisory Group meetings, which include participants from DTSC, Exide representatives and EYCEJ, where Lopez requests clarification on these matters.
Community concerns ignored
Back on the corner of Slauson and Flora Avenue, Maywood Children & Family Dentistry sees dozens of children suffering from dental issues like cavities, tooth sensitivity and enamel damage. But there’s a more profound concern behind the smiles: a 2019 study revealed that many local children had elevated lead levels in their baby teeth.
Lead can be transmitted through eating, drinking or touching contaminated objects, posing serious health repercussions for developing children.
Ilan Shapiro, the Director of Health Education and Wellness at AltaMed, discussed the severity of the long-term effects that even low levels of lead can have on children.
“At the moment that we are exposed to lead, the way that we talk, the way that we think, the way that we learn and our development, all of them are moving slower and can hinder the potential [growth] outcomes of our children that are exposed,” Shapiro said.
In that study, researchers collected 50 baby teeth from 43 children and analyzed them using laser ablation and molecular testing techniques. Out of 43 children, 20 showed detectable prenatal levels of lead and arsenic, particularly elevated during the third trimester of pregnancy. These elevated levels can be transferred to the infant if the mother has been continuously exposed to areas with lead emissions. According to Jill Johnston, a lead researcher on the study, the data showed a clear timeline of lead exposure tied to the plant’s period of operation.
Sylvia Valdez was born and raised in Maywood. Valdez said that growing up, Exide was not a known topic and she was completely unaware of the situation regarding the recycling plant. Only after the cleanup efforts began was she better informed about the contamination from lead and other toxic substances caused by Exide. Valdez’s childhood home was tested for high levels of lead in the soil, and the cleanup crew confirmed that it was contaminated.
“It’s really upsetting because not only did I grow up here, my kids grew up here. There’s a lot of [health] issues our family faces and you think back and what role did that [facility] play? I mean, it had to be something,” Valdez said.
For a brief period, her husband worked at Exide Technologies. During discussions with Valdez, he mentioned that the company required routine blood tests to check for elevated lead levels and any presence of toxins. Valdez was constantly anxious about her husband bringing toxic chemicals into their household with an infant present, so she and her husband took protective measures to ensure her child’s safety.
“If they have to test you that often, then it’s a problem,” Valdez told her husband. “If they had to be testing you every week, every month, they knew what the problem was.”
Soon after, Valdez’s husband terminated his position with Exide Technologies in hopes of keeping his firstborn son safe. Although she did not realize the impurity in the soil of her own family home, she was aware of the effects lead has on children, and she did everything as a mother to protect her child from direct harm.
Concerns remain that lead may re-contaminate homes despite cleanup efforts. Longtime Maywood resident Alberto Espiricueta, a member of EYCEJ, questioned the DTSC for prioritizing house cleanings rather than addressing blocks collectively. He noted that a community research project has shown this approach could allow dust to settle again and lead to recontamination. Although some residents no longer attempt to voice their concerns.
“It was because people knew that we lived so close to factories and such that they kind of expected for there to be some contamination. It’s sad that they’ve come to accept it as a reality,” Espiricueta said.
