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A state agency is working to address Jurupa Valley’s vehement objection to the storage of lead-contaminated soil from Los Angeles County at the notorious Stringfellow acid pits, a department director wrote in a recent letter.

Meredith Williams, director of the Department of Toxic Substances Control, which is under CalEPA, wrote Thursday, July 7, to Jurupa Valley Mayor Chris Barajas that the agency is searching for a “suitable solution … to address the storage of samples.”

The letter responded to Barajas’ formal demand in June that large containers of the material be removed from the Jurupa Valley toxic waste site. Barajas repeated that position by phone Tuesday, July 12.

“We need them out,” he said. “Right now.”

City Manager Rod Butler wrote in a Tuesday email that, while Williams’ letter doesn’t contain many “specifics,” city officials “feel good about the DTSC’s responsiveness, and we think we are on the road to a timely resolution.”

Allison Wescott, a Department of Toxic Substances Control spokesperson, confirmed in an email last month that soil samples collected on residential properties surrounding the former Exide battery recycling plant in Vernon, in L.A. County, have been stored in sealed jars in six locked shipping containers in a parking lot at Stringfellow since 2018. The site is north of the 60 Freeway at Pyrite Street.

Westcott wrote that the agency, in connection with ongoing litigation against the former owners and operators of the Exide plant, collected 188,000 small soil samples ranging from 8 to 12 ounces, tested them for the presence of lead and other pollutants and stored them at Stringfellow.

Barajas, in a June 17 letter to the department, asserted that the storage was illegal, citing a section of state law that says Stringfellow “shall only be used to treat, store, transfer, or dispose of hazardous substances removed from that site.”

Williams, in the July 7 response, wrote that the storage of soil samples is legal and does not pose a health threat to Jurupa Valley residents. At the same time, Williams wrote, “we recognize the sensitivity of this matter in light of the long history of environmental injustices that Jurupa Valley’s residents have experienced.”

Wescott wrote in an email Tuesday that the agency “is confident that the samples are secure and safe but is exploring alternative solutions to address community concerns.” She wrote earlier that stored samples are not considered hazardous waste.

Barajas said the city believes the storage does pose a threat.

Penny Newman, who has lived within 2 miles of Stringfellow for decades and is founder and former executive director of the Jurupa Valley-based Center for Community Action and Environment Justice, maintained that the storage is illegal.

“They are breaking the law,” Newman said. “It is very clear that nothing is to be brought to that site.”

Newman said she has been calling on the agency to remove the samples since April, when she learned the material was being stored there. Newman said she wasn’t impressed by the director’s letter because, she said, there wasn’t a commitment to remove the containers.

“I’m extremely disappointed,” Newman said.

Between 1956 and 1972, millions of gallons of solvents, heavy metals and pesticides were dumped at a former rock quarry in what is now Jurupa Valley. The toxic substances leaked into underground water through fractures in bedrock that geology surveys failed to detect, threatening drinking-water wells and the Santa Ana River.

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