In 1984, the company American Castor dumped hundreds of barrels of liquid toxic waste into the soils on its property in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood in the City of Los Angeles.  They were caught red-handed and company executives were jailed and made to take out a full page ad in the Los Angele Times telling people not to repeat their crimes.

Now, a development company wants to redevelop the land without adequately cleaning up the contamination.  Most of the illegally disposed toxic waste still remains onsite, moving through the subsurface, and could be intruding into surrounding properties, including four schools which are all within a quarter mile of the property.

The developer told the Planning Commission at the City of Los Angeles that the property was clean as is sought the Commission’s approval to build residential housing on the site, but subsequent testing of soil gases clearly shows this not to be true.  We want the Planning Commission to revoke the approvals it gave the project and tell the developer that the property cannot be developed prior to a complete cleanup.

The Lincoln Heights community is one of the poorest, most polluted communities in the state of California, scoring in the 99th percentile on CalEnviroScreen, the tool that the state of California uses to measure environmental injustice.  The properties surrounding this toxic site must be tested for toxic vapor intrusion, along with the nearby schools and a complete remediation must occur before any development is allowed to proceed. 

The community of Lincoln Heights deserves better treatment than this; the residents of Lincoln Heights deserve a clean, healthy environment and environment justice!