MILTON, Ga. – Exide Technologies announced it will immediately move to permanently close its lead-acid battery recycling facility in Vernon, Calif., under the terms of a non-prosecution agreement reached with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California (USAO) that resolves the USAO’s criminal investigation into Exide.
Operations at the Vernon facility were first suspended in 2013, after the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) alleged that the company’s underground storm water system was not in compliance with State of California requirements and the company’s furnace emissions did not meet applicable DTSC health risk standards.
In conjunction with the closure of the Vernon Facility, Exide also has entered into an amendment to the 2014 stipulation and order with the DTSC that provides a framework for the orderly closure and cleanup of the Vernon Facility. Exide reached this amendment after, among other developments, hearing from the Department that it would likely deny Exide’s Part B hazardous waste facility permit application.
Exide is requesting that the Bankruptcy Court approve the agreements as well as authorize the company to close the Vernon Facility at a hearing scheduled for March 27, 2015, at which the company also will seek confirmation of its Chapter 11 Plan of Reorganization.
“The agreements with the USAO and the DTSC should allow us to resolve key conditions to funding of the backstop commitment agreement, and to continue to pursue plan confirmation,” said Robert Caruso, president and CEO of Exide Technologies. “We recognize the impacts that closing the Vernon Facility will have on our approximately 130 employees and their families. On behalf of the company, I thank them and the United Steel Workers Union for their commitment and dedication.”
Exide said that by obtaining plan confirmation and emerging from Chapter 11, the company expects to be able to meet its closure and cleanup obligations under these agreements, continue to honor its environmental obligations at its other facilities and preserve nearly 10,000 jobs globally.
