The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office on Wednesday announced charges against a recycling facility, accusing it of illegally disposing hazardous waste next to and onto a Watts high school.
The charges were announced outside Jordan High School, located at 2265 E 103rd St., where District Attorney George Gascón said a “serious environmental injustice” had occurred.
The criminal complaint charges S&W Atlas Iron and Metal Corp. and its owners, Gary and Matthew Weisenberg, with 21 felony counts of knowingly disposing hazardous waste at a site with no permit and one felony count of deposit of hazardous waste.
They also face misdemeanor charges of failure to maintain or operate a facility to minimize the possibility of a fire and public nuisance.
“Children deserve a safe and healthy environment to learn and grow in, and we must hold companies accountable for their actions that put our children’s health at risk,” Gascón said.
The DA cited reports of scrap metal flying into areas where sports are played and where the school’s military training program meets, and indicated that state environmental laws were violated.
Gascón said the charges stem from a “long and exhaustive” investigation from the environmental crimes division, which found that more than 500 students and staff were routinely breathing in dust with lead, chromium and other toxic materials coming from next door.
Though the hazardous waste charges date back to July 2020, Gascón said the potential exposure endured for decades, noting that the school opened in 1929 and the recycling company has been there since 1949.
He indicated that soil samples taken from school showed excessive concentrations of lead and zinc, with the lead levels apparently being 75 times higher than the Environmental Protection Agency defines as a hazardous threshold.
Lead exposure can cause respiration problems, neurological damage and even cancer, Gascón noted.
Particularly egregious is that the release of these invisible toxins affected a low-income community of color, the DA stressed.
“Lower-income communities and communities of color are often disproportionately impacted by pollution and environmental hazards, so it’s important to ensure that they are protected and that pollutants are held accountable,” Gascón said. “Hopefully this will serve as a deterrent to other companies that may be tempted to cut corners when it comes to environmental regulations.”
A lawyer representing Atlas told KTLA the company is “disappointed” by the charges.
“Atlas is actively working with the many public agencies involved and is actually moving close to a global resolution,” said Benjamin Gluck with the law firm, Bird Marella P.C. “The District Attorney declined to engage with us and chose instead to file charges. We have not learned the details of those charges yet, but we will defend this case vigorously.”
Students at the school had raised concerns over Atlas’s practices, even holding protests during the school year.
Los Angeles Unified School District officials filed a lawsuit against the facility in 2020 alleging that it endangered students and teachers by releasing pieces of metal, smoke and fumes onto the campus.
Genesis Cruz, a former student at the school, said that the fumes coming from the facility would make students sick and she felt unsafe and on edge.
“Shrapnel rained down on our school from explosions at Atlas Metal,” Cruz said. “This was our normal, but it was not normal.”
LAUSD Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho said Wednesday that what occurred at the campus was “unacceptable.”
“Justice long delayed is justice denied,” he said, adding that for more than 70 years the company “ignored and insulted” the community as well as “contaminated its soil, its water and its air.”