LA's Exide lead contamination disaster is one of worst incidents state-enabled environmental racism and corporate greed in the nation, and is still poisoning hundreds of thousands of working-class and Latino families to this day, as it has for decades. THREAD

Exide's plant is located in the industrial center of Vernon, CA. Vernon is in the heart of Los Angeles, but it was approved as a separate city to have an area that was under the exclusive control of corporations and to escape taxes and regulations that LA would have imposed.

The CA Department of Toxic Substances Control allowed the plant to operate for 33 YEARS with a TEMPORARY PERMIT that allowed it to evade certain regulations and inspections. Yet DTSC KNEW that lead was being leaked into the soil ON PURPOSE with "perforated" drainage lines

In 2008 Exide was ordered to reduce it's emissions output after widespread complaints of ash falling from the sky. In 2013 Exide's emissions outputs were STILL far beyond safe limits.

The Exide plant released a total of 3,500 TONS of lead into the environment. Yet after years of public outrage, Exide's executives escaped ANY criminal charges by making a deal with the U.S. attorney's office in 2015 that included permanently closing the Vernon plant.

NO AMOUNT OF LEAD IS SAFE FOR HUMAN BEINGS. Residents of the communities surrounding the Exide plant are at extraordinarily high risk for cancer, premature births, birth defects, and more.

On Friday a bankruptcy judge in Delaware ruled that Exide could abandon the Vernon plant with NO OBLIGATION to assist in the ongoing cleanup efforts. Enough is enough! Prosecute Exide! Full cleanup and compensation for the victims NOW!