starting in a few minutes #Exide
also, some FAQs from DTSC
https://dtsc.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2020/10/Exid-Bankruptcy-FAQ-10-20-2020-Final_a.pdf https://twitter.com/Rendon63rd/status/1318706293729751040

So here are the slides that will be part of the presentation tonight. https://dtsc.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2020/10/Exide_Bankruptcy_Briefing_10-21-2020_a.pdf

the second set ( https://dtsc.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2020/10/Exide_Bankruptcy_Briefing_10-21-2020_a.pdf)

DTSC was given one week to consider its options by the bankruptcy court. DTSC filed an appeal and the state currently considering the option of establishing a trust.

DTSC says it got some clarity on a few things from the court.

EXIDE has the responsibility of securing the site until October 30. But after that the responsibility for both the security of the property and the cleanup gets transferred.

Abandonment: WHAT DOES IT MEAN
DTSC has oversight for cleanup work and monitors progress to make sure Exide conforms to that work plan. If site is abandoned, this structure would go away and DTSC would have to step in.

They would have to get a vendor and get that contract in place to ensure there was no gap in security and maintenance of the site.

Now Grant Cope, Deputy Director of DTSC, is speaking. Both Exide and the bankruptcy judge dragged him during the court hearing for not making a credible case with regard to the urgency of the threat the site poses to the community. Anywhoo. Trustees:

The q&a portion has begun. There are about 100 people on the line listening in. It's not clear how many are in the queue to speak.

Monseigneur John Moretta asks about the criminal liability. Cope explains that once an entity dissolves, there is no longer an entity to hold accountable. Is there a possibility of pursuing criminal charges against individuals? Cope is not sure.

Individuals from Exide have been held accountable in the case of fraud (e.g. back in 2001). Unfortunately, the community is not considered a creditor, even tho it is essentially a silent creditor - folks Exide banked on being able to poison to cut costs and boost profits.

But the fact that it was not considered a creditor was how it got shut out of the bankruptcy process...legally Exide was seen as owing it nothing.

Cope just dropped a sad tidbit - DTSC is managing 100s of similarly orphaned sites across CA. I think I stumbled across that list this weekend. But hearing it is a reminder of the extent to which we've normalized the ability of companies to just cut their dead weight this way.

A commenter is complaining that DTSC should've formally declared the Vernon site posed an imminent threat years ago when the community asked them to so Exide couldn't walk away now.

DTSC's lack of urgency over the years and Cope's poor showing in court both played a role in judge Sontchi dismissing the severity of the threat that lead poses to the community.

Dir. Williams is talking about the way that the non-prosecution agreement the DOJ negotiated with Exide in 2015 tied their hands. Cope reassures the callers the state is doing everything it can but that the fact Exide is bankrupt limits what they're likely to get.

But the larger pt is that Exide broke the NPA- abandonment/not financing the cleanup was supposed to trigger crim. prosecution. Yet once it moved into bankruptcy, it was essentially exempt frm that. Dir. Williams says maybe this means we should be thinking abt diff. laws. Um, yes

There have been several questions about why DTSC does not have a better relationship and more communication with the community and why the power of the affected communities has not been brought to bear to limit Exide's ability to behave how it pleased.

Cope is now trying to answer one such question and is doing a very poor job by saying they're trying to leverage the number of folks that participated in the DOJ's hearing and submitted comments as part of their appeal.

But part of the problem is that the time for DTSC to have heeded the community was decades ago. Which then-director Barbara Lee acknowledged and apologized for back in 2015 https://la.streetsblog.org/2015/04/14/at-what-point-could-this-have-been-stopped-community-celebrates-exides-closure-seeks-full-accounting-from-new-dtsc-director/

And @EYCEJ's mark! Lopez astutely pointed out that DTSC had yet to hold itself accountable and be transparent with the community about how decisions were made.

That question about who within DTSC makes what decisions and how came up again during the court hearing, when Exide blamed DTSC for not initially objecting to the settlement agreement earlier this summer. https://twitter.com/EYCEJ/status/1317121096030642177

But part of the issue is also that these processes are designed to exclude communities from having any say about how private corporations conduct their business.

And when one community demands protexn, it may come at the cost of another...something folks in L.A. worried about upon learning that the hazardous waste from Vernon was being trucked to Muncie, IN where Exide had just settled a lawsuit over its emissions. https://la.streetsblog.org/2015/04/14/at-what-point-could-this-have-been-stopped-community-celebrates-exides-closure-seeks-full-accounting-from-new-dtsc-director/

stakeholder: What is DTSC doing for the community with all these stories?
DTSC: we launched an appeal
stakeholder: yeah, but what about the communities?
DTSC: we're cleaning up the properties

The disconnect is just so jarring sometimes.

Community member asks, “Why should we trust you?” of DTSC.

That’s it. That’s the tweet.

She is asking why the governor is not weighing in the way he has with other disasters. “It’s disappointing, that’s all i’ll say.”

Asm. Miguel @SantiagoAD53 is addressing DTSC directly and asking them to hear what community members are saying to them - the anger, pain, and heartbreak they feel at being betrayed by the very agency tasked with protecting them.

DTSC is once again hiding behind the inadequacy of the tools it has at its disposal. Which is a real issue - the tools it has are inadequate. But there were so many points of failure along the way, and those have to be addressed so this never happens again.

Next caller...

"so how many of y'all are resigning and how many of y'all are getting fired?"

"You guys are not the victims," she continues, after telling them to stop taking credit for the work the community organizers did to get 600 people to participate in the DOJ hearing [Even tonight DTSC has made it sound like they had a hand in that turnout.]

She is also calling the platform for this meeting - a conference call - sh*t and says it is because DTSC doesn't want to have to see their faces and acknowledge the harm they've done.

We're getting down to the bitter end...Rafael is asking why DTSC doesn't have a more concrete plan than hiring a vendor and contractors to take over control of the site when they knew that this bankruptcy was coming.

Grant Cope says they will continue to follow the closure and cleanup plans that were put together when Exide closed. Which is talking past Rafael a bit...e.g. DTSC may take over AQMD's air monitoring function but doesn't have the capacity to monitor air quality. So what then?

*At least I think I'm interpreting/relating that correctly...I'm still trying to understand the mechanics of how this transition works...

And my little voice recorder has officially run out of space thanks to all the hours of Exide hearings it is packed with. And we're at the last caller, so that's a wrap. Thanks for following along.