Gateway Metal-Processing Plant Sued by County for Alleged Releasing of Excessive Toxic Air Pollutant

LOS ANGELES, CA -- Los Angeles County and the South Coast Air Quality Management District are suing a Paramount metal-processing plant over alleged excessive emissions of a toxic metal air pollutant identified by state and federal authorities as a human carcinogen.

The lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court asks for civil penalties against Anaplex Corp. and an injunction directing that emissions not be allowed to exceed unacceptable levels of hexavalent chromium, also known as Chromium 6.

"This case involves Anaplex's repeated and ongoing emissions of hexavalent chromium," according to the complaint, which says the company's operations involve the use of chromic acid anodizing and surface metal processing tanks.

Anaplex, in response to the lawsuit, issued a statement saying the company is "an employee-owned corporation of 70 people who live in and around Paramount. Our health and the health and safety of our neighbors is of utmost importance in our roles as employees and owners of Anaplex, and as residents."

According to the statement, Anaplex representatives told the SCAQMD that the company intends to comply with the same abatement order approved by the district's Hearing Board last Friday for Aerocraft Heat Treating Co., another Paramount metal processing plant that has been under emissions scrutiny.

"We have also provided the SCAQMD and county with evidence of affirmative measures that Anaplex has taken in our production facilities to reduce emissions that are ongoing," the statement read.

The SCAQMD began monitoring air in Paramount in late 2013 after complaints from residents about metallic odors. In the first half of this year, the district detected elevated levels of hexavalent chromium that were "significantly higher that typical background levels in Southern California," the suit says.

The district expanded its monitoring in October with new samples taken every few days, according to the complaint. The findings showed significantly higher levels of hexavalent chromium near the intersection of Garfield Avenue and Madison Street, close to where the Anaplex plant is located, the suit states.

An interior inspection of the plant by the district showed Anaplex has altered equipment that can cause the emission of air contaminants without getting permission from the district's executive officer, the suit alleges.

The SCAQMD even found that excessive emissions occurred on Thanksgiving Day when the plant was closed, according to the plaintiffs.

Although the district has made several demands to Anaplex regarding the elevated emission levels, the SCAQMD "is informed and believes that Anaplex has continued to operate its business in the same manner that has produced the elevated and harmful levels of Chromium 6," the suit alleges.

-- City News Service, photo via Google Maps