Some local lawmakers are praising the plan to include more than $450 million in the governor's budget proposal to clean up the pollution left from the now-closed Exide battery recycling plant in Vernon.
The plant has been blamed for decades of air pollution and for spreading arsenic, mercury and lead dust into surrounding communities such as Maywood, Huntington Park and Boyle Heights.
LA Democratic Assemblyman Miguel Santiago tells KNX 1070 News if more money is needed in the future for this, then there will be a big push.
"People continue to fight, continue to want to organize. We are not going away. We are not going away and we are extremely pleased that Gov. Gavin Newsom has joined us on this fight to clean up our neighborhood so we are grateful but we are not going away," he says.
A bankruptcy court ruling last year let Exide abandon the plant, which leaves the cleanup costs to state taxpayers.
