Residents Outraged Over Mismanaged Budget
(Los Angeles, CA) — Residents are outraged after learning that millions of dollars set aside for the cleanup of lead-contaminated parkways in Los Angeles County weren’t used properly. The Los Angeles Times reports state lawmakers earmarked six-point-five-million dollars in 2018 to help test and removed lead-laced soil in neighborhoods surrounding the closed Exide battery recycling plant. However, the Department of Toxic Substances Control ended up putting more than half of that money back into a general fund without removing the soil. The agency allegedly missed a deadline to complete the project. Community members and some lawmakers are calling on the EPA to step in due to “the risk to public health.”