More than 150 people attended a chaotic meeting Thursday night to hear about plans for a 25 percent increase in the recycling of toxic lead batteries at Quemetco’s facility in City of Industry, the lone lead-smelting plant remaining in Southern California.

Many were frustrated over a workshop format chosen by the South Coast Air Quality Management District that did not allow the public to openly ask questions about the battery recycling plant’s expansion plans, nor learn first-hand about potential environmental and health impacts.

Those were addressed in an initial draft study prepared by the anti-smog agency. Copies were made available to the public.

The chemical recycling plant’s increased operations could pollute the air with smog-causing emissions as well as toxic contaminants such as lead and arsenic that cause cancer and birth defects, according to the SCAQMD “Initial Study” dated Aug. 30.

In the lengthy document, the district concluded a full environmental impact report is necessary to address impacts to air quality, global warming, energy usage, water quality and hazardous materials transport.

“This is one of the worst scoping meetings I’ve ever attended,” said Joan Licari, who chairs the San Gabriel Valley Task Force for the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club. “There should have been a presentation. I was really disappointed.”

Instead, Michael Krause, SCAQMD planning rules manager, told the standing-room crowd to fill out a form with their questions. When he pointed anxious Hacienda Heights residents who live near the plant toward whiteboard stations instead, they began shouting him down.

“Is that it? That’s your entire presentation?” yelled out Dianne Ortega, who lives near the plant. “It’s like you gave your spiel and walked off.”

As residents walked up to speak and took the mic, they complained about lack of information and some said they wanted to see the plant shut down. The majority were standing because there were not enough chairs.

SCAQMD principal legal district counsel Veera Tyagi finally took the mic and closed off the ad hoc comments and questions, saying the state’s environmental legal process needed to be followed and the district was not equipped to properly record oral comments.

“I apologize to you for the format of this meeting, ” Tyagi said, adding that a second meeting could be forthcoming.

Presently, the lead recycling plant located on the northern border with Hacienda Heights – about 600 feet from some homes – runs giant battery wreckers and gas-fired burners 20 hours a day. The company wants to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week to meet increased demand, according to documents filed with the anti-pollution agency.

The company is asking for an increase from 600 tons per day to 750 tpd of raw feed and an increase in the processing chemicals used in furnaces from 600,000 pounds per month to 750,000 pounds monthly.

Demand increased since the closing of Excide, the other lead-battery recycling plant, in Vernon. In 2015, the state Department of Toxic Substances Control denied a permit for Exide Technologies, resulting in the battery recycler being shut down. Shortly thereafter, Quemetco applied for a permit change that would remove limits set by the SCAQMD.

“We are asking for a permit request to raise the limit so we can operate 24 hours a day,” Quemetco spokesman Scott Bevans told the Southern California News Group in April 2016.

The Quemetco plant strips lead from lead-acid car batteries, the majority of which is recycled, along with some steel cases and other lead-bearing products. The feed stock is shipped by truck and rail to the facility at 720 South 7th Ave., roughly 15 miles east of downtown Los Angeles within the San Gabriel Valley. The plant is adjacent to residential communities of La Puente, Hacienda Heights and Avocado Heights.

Quemetco uses chemical agents, including arsenic, caustic soda beads, cobalt,metallic sodium, pyrite, red phosphorus, silver, sodium nitrate, sulfur and tin to expedite the formation of lead ingots, according to the AQMD report.

Quemetco installed a special air emissions cleansing system in 2008 labeled state-of-the-art by the SCAQMD. The furnaces are also equipped with high-efficiency particulate air filtration systems to control particulates, fine matter that can get into the body and cause lung disease, and even premature death.

Despite advanced controls, things can go wrong.

In May 2017, a power outage affected pollution control equipment, causing an excessive release of arsenic and lead, the SCAQMD reported.

Low levels of lead can damage a child’s nervous system, causing learning disabilities and behavioral problems. Lead has also caused tumors in laboratory animals and is listed as a probable carcinogen, according to DTSC. Arsenic is a carcinogen linked to skin, bladder, liver and lung cancers.

More than 2 1/2 years ago, the company was cited by the SCAQMD for having too high a cancer risk for arsenic and was ordered to reduce the risk by 2019. In May 2016, the DTSC tested soil in parkways, backyards and flood control channels for lead. Thought the results were due in 2017, the DTSC has never released a comprehensive report as promised.

“We can’t get a straight answer. We don’t know what is on the ground around the facility. We don’t know if what they found warrants further testing and/or cleanup. We just don’t know,” said Rebecca Overmyer-Velazquez, president of the Clean Air Coalition of Avocado Heights.

The project is scheduled to increase daily truck traffic by 15 trips carrying waste to and from the facility. About 415 additional trucks will go to and from the plant each month, according to the report.

In order to increase production, the plant will need to use an additional 97,413 gallons of water per day. The San Gabriel Valley Water Co. told Quemetco it has enough water to meet this demand.

The proposed project has the potential to increase smog, toxic air pollution and will use more electricity and natural gas, creating more carbon dioxide emissions that add to global climate change.

These additional emissions and potential hazards have triggered a full Environmental Impact Report, according to the SCAQMD.

“Because of the cumulative effects of pollution in this part of the county, we don’t agree with the increase (at Quemetco),” said Overmyer-Velazquez.

Comments on the EIR can be mailed to Diana Thai at dthai@aqmd.gov. To obtain a copy of the report, call: 909-396-2039 or 909-396-2432. A copy is available for review at the La Puente Library, 15920 Central Ave., La Puente, CA 91744.