By Deja McCauley, Land Use and Health Program Manager, Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles
Deja McCauley
California legislators voted on June 30 to adopt two budget trailer bills, AB 130 and SB 131, that rolled back key protections in the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). While purported as pro-housing measures, SB 131 does something far more dangerous: it removes environmental review requirements for a loosely defined category of industrial projects labeled “advanced manufacturing.”
Environmental justice, health, and clean water advocacy groups are deeply concerned about the unintended consequences of SB 131, which could unleash a wave of pollution and groundwater threats across California, especially in low-income communities and communities of color already burdened by toxic exposures and unsafe drinking water.
In response to legislators’concerns about this dangerous exemption, the bill’s author and other key lawmakers pledged to address SB 131’s potential harmful impacts through clean-up legislation before the end of this legislative session. These legislators must keep their promise and fix SB 131.
SB 131 defines “advanced manufacturing” as “systems that result from substantive advancement, whether incremental or breakthrough, beyond current industry standards, in the production of materials and products.” But let’s be clear: “advanced” doesn’t mean non-toxic, safe, or community-friendly.
This category includes industries known for producing toxic emissions and contamination, such as battery and energy storage manufacturing; defense and aerospace manufacturing; and semi-conductor and electronics manufacturing, among others. These industrial processes often involve hazardous chemicals and solvents such as heavy metals like neurotoxicant lead, TCE (trichloroethylene, an industrial degreasing solvent), and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS or “forever chemicals”), which are known to leach into soil and groundwater.
As we reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, certain industries like battery and energy storage and manufacturing are rapidly growing. These facilities can leak toxic contaminants like sulfuric acid, heavy metals, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and are prone to catching fire. Fumes from burning lithium batteries are particularly hazardous, and the large amount of water required to extinguish potential fires can become contaminated and pollute aquifers. These technologies can play a role in an energy transition, but they must be regulated and sited appropriately, with
strong community oversight.
In Monterey County, this year’s fire at a battery storage facility in Moss Landing released high levels of heavy metals, PFAS, acidic compounds, and other chemicals into the air and surrounding community. Residents have reported health effects including skin, eye, and respiratory irritation. In the immediate aftermath of the fire, researchers found high levels of heavy metals in nearby Elkhorn Slough, a sensitive area that is home to endangered species.
It’s only a matter of time before these contaminants make their way into regional groundwater.
Similarly, semi-conductor and electronics manufacturing are known to release hazardous substances that can pose serious risks to environmental and human health. Although chip manufacturing is no longer common in Silicon Valley, a small plant in Santa Clara leaked enough toxic phosphine in recent years to require local evacuations. At a Santa Clara Superfund site, enough TCE leaked into the groundwater that, decades later, toxic vapors still pose risks to people occupying the buildings situated on the site.
In response to the industrial pollution that California residents and government leaders were witnessing firsthand, legislators passed the California Environmental Quality Act. But when parts of the state are so polluted they can’t realistically be cleaned up, we cannot remove one of the last public health lines of defense. More must be done.
The former Exide lead battery recycling plant in Vernon exemplifies the lasting harm of industrial contamination. The facility, shut down in 2015, exposed workers — and continues to expose surrounding communities — to toxic chemicals like lead and arsenic, which are linked to cancer, miscarriage, and developmental harm. The harm hasn’t ended; residents still live with health impacts and contaminated soil and groundwater. Cleanup of this site is the largest in California’s history, and is far from complete.
We can learn from our mistakes. For decades, CEQA protections have given communities access to information about environmental and health impacts of proposed projects, and allowed them to participate in decision-making processes regarding what is built in their neighborhood.
With today’s new SB 131 exemption, facilities posing dangers like Exide could be approved with far fewer health and environmental safeguards.
The exemption for “advanced manufacturing” should have been stripped from SB 131 before it passed. But it’s not too late to act. Lawmakers committed to fixing this and restoring environmental review for toxic industries operating under the guise of innovation. They must follow through on their promise to protect our water and our health.
COMMENTARY: Legislators must protect communities and groundwater from pollution from advanced manufacturing facilities
By Deja McCauley, Land Use and Health Program Manager, Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles
California legislators voted on June 30 to adopt two budget trailer bills, AB 130 and SB 131, that rolled back key protections in the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). While purported as pro-housing measures, SB 131 does something far more dangerous: it removes environmental review requirements for a loosely defined category of industrial projects labeled “advanced manufacturing.”
Environmental justice, health, and clean water advocacy groups are deeply concerned about the unintended consequences of SB 131, which could unleash a wave of pollution and groundwater threats across California, especially in low-income communities and communities of color already burdened by toxic exposures and unsafe drinking water.
In response to legislators’concerns about this dangerous exemption, the bill’s author and other key lawmakers pledged to address SB 131’s potential harmful impacts through clean-up legislation before the end of this legislative session. These legislators must keep their promise and fix SB 131.
SB 131 defines “advanced manufacturing” as “systems that result from substantive advancement, whether incremental or breakthrough, beyond current industry standards, in the production of materials and products.” But let’s be clear: “advanced” doesn’t mean non-toxic, safe, or community-friendly.
This category includes industries known for producing toxic emissions and contamination, such as battery and energy storage manufacturing; defense and aerospace manufacturing; and semi-conductor and electronics manufacturing, among others. These industrial processes often involve hazardous chemicals and solvents such as heavy metals like neurotoxicant lead, TCE (trichloroethylene, an industrial degreasing solvent), and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS or “forever chemicals”), which are known to leach into soil and groundwater.
As we reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, certain industries like battery and energy storage and manufacturing are rapidly growing. These facilities can leak toxic contaminants like sulfuric acid, heavy metals, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and are prone to catching fire. Fumes from burning lithium batteries are particularly hazardous, and the large amount of water required to extinguish potential fires can become contaminated and pollute aquifers. These technologies can play a role in an energy transition, but they must be regulated and sited appropriately, with
strong community oversight.
In Monterey County, this year’s fire at a battery storage facility in Moss Landing released high levels of heavy metals, PFAS, acidic compounds, and other chemicals into the air and surrounding community. Residents have reported health effects including skin, eye, and respiratory irritation. In the immediate aftermath of the fire, researchers found high levels of heavy metals in nearby Elkhorn Slough, a sensitive area that is home to endangered species.
It’s only a matter of time before these contaminants make their way into regional groundwater.
Similarly, semi-conductor and electronics manufacturing are known to release hazardous substances that can pose serious risks to environmental and human health. Although chip manufacturing is no longer common in Silicon Valley, a small plant in Santa Clara leaked enough toxic phosphine in recent years to require local evacuations. At a Santa Clara Superfund site, enough TCE leaked into the groundwater that, decades later, toxic vapors still pose risks to people occupying the buildings situated on the site.
In response to the industrial pollution that California residents and government leaders were witnessing firsthand, legislators passed the California Environmental Quality Act. But when parts of the state are so polluted they can’t realistically be cleaned up, we cannot remove one of the last public health lines of defense. More must be done.
The former Exide lead battery recycling plant in Vernon exemplifies the lasting harm of industrial contamination. The facility, shut down in 2015, exposed workers — and continues to expose surrounding communities — to toxic chemicals like lead and arsenic, which are linked to cancer, miscarriage, and developmental harm. The harm hasn’t ended; residents still live with health impacts and contaminated soil and groundwater. Cleanup of this site is the largest in California’s history, and is far from complete.
We can learn from our mistakes. For decades, CEQA protections have given communities access to information about environmental and health impacts of proposed projects, and allowed them to participate in decision-making processes regarding what is built in their neighborhood.
With today’s new SB 131 exemption, facilities posing dangers like Exide could be approved with far fewer health and environmental safeguards.
The exemption for “advanced manufacturing” should have been stripped from SB 131 before it passed. But it’s not too late to act. Lawmakers committed to fixing this and restoring environmental review for toxic industries operating under the guise of innovation. They must follow through on their promise to protect our water and our health.
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