“But the problem is what they’re doing there: They’re boiling vats of toxic metal-water solution.” “They can be tiny, they can be small, or they can be nestled inside larger industrial facilities, and so it’s not something that strikes you, like a generator or a refinery,” said Williams. The air board said 113 chrome plating facilities operate with hexavalent chromium in California, and over 70% of them are in overburdened and disadvantaged communities, many near homes and schools, though industry representatives said in public comments that the board’s numbers were inaccurate. Jane Williams, executive director of California Communities Against Toxics, said the ruling is significant because Los Angeles County has a large concentration of chrome platers. The ban comes after years of activists’ efforts to limit use of the chemical, which the state identified as a toxic air pollutant in 1986. Larger chrome plating plants, which use the toxin for industrial durability purposes, will have until 2039. Decorative plating businesses will have until 2027 to discontinue their use. The new rule will make California the first state to ban the substance more commonly known as chromium 6. “So there is precedent for taking a leap like that-for the health and safety of the public.” “There is no mass produced leaded gasoline, not just in California, in the United States, so that changed as a result of an action that was taken here,” De La Torre said. “The problem is what they’re doing there: They’re boiling vats of toxic metal-water solution.” Jane Williams, executive director of California Communities Against ToxicsĪir board member Hector De La Torre compared the ban to a 1976 rule phasing out lead in gasoline. Board members, while signaling their empathy for the potentially impacted vintage car platers, said public health was paramount. The ban came after more than two hours of debate and public comment.
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