Exide closing L.A. battery recycling plant after decades of toxic pollution

Community members and activists celebrate the impending closure of the Exide Tchnologies battery recycling plant in Vernon.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

The shutdown of the Exide Technologies battery recycling plant in Vernon is celebrated at a home east of downtown Los Angeles.   (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Jose Loera and his daughter Fatima, 1, take part in a backyard party to celebrate the closure of the Exide plant in Vernon.   (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

The party goes on for community members and activists at a home east of downtown Los Angeles. They’re celebrating the closure of the Exide battery recycling plant in nearby Vernon.   (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Workers remove topsoil from homes on the 1200 block of South Indiana Street in Boyle Heights that may have been contaminated by lead that possibly came from Exide Technologies, a battery recycling plant in Vernon.   (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Topsoil is removed in Boyle Heiights. The soil may have been contaminated by lead from Exide Technologies, a battery recycling plant in Vernon.   (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Cristina Sylvester is concerned about pollution and contamination caused by the Exide battery recycling plant in Vernon.   (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Stephanie Yonekura, acting U.S. attorney, announces an agreement that will lead to immediate and permanent closure of the Exide lead-acid battery recycling plant in Vernon.  (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

Alicia Rivera, Maya Herrera and Carmen Garcia, from left, chant as they join the groups Communities for a Better Environment and California Environmental Justice Alliance to rally in front of the Exide Technologies plant in 2014.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Crews remove soil from the front and rear yards of homes in the Boyle Heights area where high levels of lead were found from contamination by the Exide Technologies battery plant in 2014.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Hazardous waste from the Exide battery recycling plant in Vernon has leaked from trailers onto public highways in what a state environmental inspector called an “ongoing problem” that “needs to be addressed immediately” in 2013.   (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Sofia Sanchez attends a news conference outside the Exide Technologies plant in Vernon in 2014.  (Cheryl A. Guerrero / Los Angeles Times)

A protestor wears a face mask during a rally outside of Exide Technologies in Vernon.   (Christina House / For the Times)

Protestors rallied outside of Exide Technologies in Vernon on Wednesday, October 30, 2013.  (Christina House / For the Times)

Protestors rallied outside of Exide Technologies in Vernon on Wednesday, October 30, 2013, demanding its immediate shutdown.  (Christina House / For the Times)