Environmental regulators announced a $400,000 settlement with an auto dismantler charged with violating pollution rules, a move they hope will encourage recyclers across the region to clean up their operations.
Considering them among the most serious water polluters, regulators have begun a crackdown on hundreds of auto dismantlers.
"There are plenty of licensed and unlicensed auto dismantlers, and they've been kind of thumbing their noses at us," said Lynn Kuo, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency environmental engineer who has inspected dismantlers.
Pick Your Part Auto Wrecking will pay a $165,000 fine and implement a project valued at $235,000 to remove toxic mercury switches from vehicles before they are scrapped, according to the settlement. The fine was reduced because the company made great strides in cleaning up its yards.
Beginning in 1999, EPA inspectors discovered storm water violations at Pick Your Part yards, ranging from draining polluted runoff into wetlands to failing to cover equipment during rain storms.
Rain can pick up heavy metals, oil and chemicals on scrapped cars and carry the contaminants into nearby storm drains and rivers and eventually to the ocean.
Facing a crackdown from the EPA and local regulators, the state Auto Dismantlers Association has begun storm water protection training and inspections at its members' yards. However, some dismantlers quit the industry group rather than take part in the self-imposed clean-up.
"The industry knows the environmental community has some serious concerns about how they are processing end-of-life vehicles," said Martha Bucknell, with the dismantlers association. "We've got a really good alternative." Los Angeles Daily News