LOS ANGELES, Calif. (June 22, 2023) – In response to twenty-four charges lodged against the S&W Atlas Iron and Metal Corp. for its extensive contamination of air, soil, and water without regard to its neighbors at Jordan High School, Assembly Democratic Caucus Chair Mike A. Gipson (D-Carson) released the following statement:
“These charges against Atlas are an absolutely necessary step, and although today was a welcome win for environmental regulation, more needs to be done,” said Asm. Gipson. “Twenty-one felonies and three misdemeanors reflect the gravity of this company’s irresponsibility: subjecting a low-income community of color in my district to environmental degradation that no child should face, then avoiding accountability for years if not decades. The long-running blight of their plant in a highly vulnerable neighborhood has negatively affected not just Jordan High but young parents, a neighborhood preschool, and countless others. It is time for Atlas to go. With these charges, I stand with the people of Los Angeles to not only stop Atlas from breaking the law; we ultimately need to determine what cost their extractive contamination practices inflected on land around Jordan and how that cost will be repaid to the people of Watts.”