Public Meeting on Exide's Permit and Toxic Pollution in Muncie Still Pending

MUNCIE, Ind- Hundreds of Muncie residents, merchants and neighbors have expressed concern about Exide Technologies, Inc.’s application to renew their general operating permit for their lead acid battery plant located at 2601 West Mountain Pleasant Boulevard in Muncie.

Last month, over 100 residents signed and submitted a petition demanding that the state agency responsible for overseeing and approving Exide’s permit, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM), hold a public meeting or hearing to provide residents with an opportunity to learn more about Exide’s permit. Specifically, residents have asked what can be done to ensure that Exide operate safely and responsibly given their long record of non-compliance and fines for excessive emissions of toxic pollutants at their plant in Muncie.

IDEM officials have the discretion to require a public meeting or hearing on this issue and to date has not made a decision on whether the public will be given an opportunity to simply learn more and ask questions about Exide’s permit.

The concern raised by the community? Exide’s long history of excessive emissions of toxic particulates including lead, sulfuric acid and arsenic into the air and water in Muncie.

When lead is released into the air from industrial sources, like Exide’s lead smelting plant in Muncie, it can travel long distances before settling to the ground, where it usually sticks to soil particles; it can also move from soil into ground water. Lead is particularly dangerous to children because their growing bodies absorb more lead than adults do and their brains and nervous systems are more sensitive to the damaging effects of lead.

If Exide's renewal permit is approved by IDEM, Exide will be allowed to continue emitting 474.5 tons (949,000 pounds) of toxic pollutants in Muncie per year, including 4.86 tons (9,720 pounds) of lead.

The problem expressed by residents is not what Exide does- produce and recycle lead acid batteries- but how they fail to operate safely and responsibly in Muncie and in several other communities where they have faced millions in fines for pollution and safety violations and even criminal charges for bad practices at their plant in Vernon, California.

Exide has been in non-compliance with the Clean Air Act (CAA) 7 out of 12 quarters and in non-compliance with the Resource Conservation Recovery Act (RCRA) 12 out of 12 quarters in Muncie.

Recently, in 2015, Exide settled a lawsuit brought by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for violations of the Clean Air Act at their Muncie plant and was ordered to pay a penalty of $820,000. The City of Muncie and residents sought more than just a penalty and demanded that Exide also be required to install a wet electrostatic precipitator (WESP) filtration device, like their competitor RSR did at their Indianapolis plant, to significantly capture up to 99% of toxic lead particles emitted from their plant. Exide refused to install a WESP device as part of the settlement decree with the EPA.

If IDEM approves Exide’s proposed general operating permit, as submitted, Exide will not be required to install a WESP device nor to implement any additional safety monitoring devices or practices to better protect residents’ health and exposure to the plant’s toxic emissions.

Hundreds of Muncie residents that live near the Exide plant want IDEM to use their discretion to hold a public meeting or hearing on Exide’s permit application. These residents and property owners not only want to learn more about the permit but what can be done to better protect their families from decades of toxic emissions and the accumulation of lead and arsenic in the soil and groundwater in or near their homes and businesses.

Ideas being circulated include installation of a WESP filtration device, installation of additional safety monitoring equipment, stronger monitoring by regulatory agencies (IDEM only requires that Exide self-report emissions once every three years), and free testing of soil, groundwater and residents’ blood for elevated levels of lead and arsenic.

For more information, or to get involved, follow this issue on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/protectmuncie/) or send an email to ProtectMuncie@gmail.com

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