Victory for California’s Environmental Justice Movement: Romic Can Never Operate in this State Again

The Daily News, published in Palo Alto, reports that toxic waste handler Romic Technologies can never do business in California again. They also must pay $350,000 in penalties, according to a settlement agreement made with the San Mateo County District Attorney that was filed on February 17th.

Youth United for Community Action (YUCA) fought toxic waste handler Romic Environmental Technologies for years. The group was vigilant in organizing protests that drew media attention to the giant polluter's infractions. After the youth group succeeded in getting the plant shut down, their campaign was named one of the top 10 youth activism victories of 2007.

Charisse Domingo of YUCA called Romic's settlement with the San Mateo County DA a victory for environmental justice and a big win for the community of East Palo Alto in an email sent to YUCA members and supporters. Environmental activists including the Raging Grannies joined together with the youth group in recent years to fight against what Raging Granny Gail Sredanovic called "a clear case of environmental racism". East Palo Alto is an underserved city in Silicon Valley where Romic thought they could get away with untold amounts of polluting, said the Grannies. "But they weren't counting on the die-hard attitude of the youth of East Palo Alto. The YUCA members used every opportunity to document Romic's numerous violations and someone finally listened," Granny Gail said.

Romic's violations included a large hazardous waste spill in June 2006 that resulted in a toxic cloud and two cases in which employees suffered severe burns. On February 6, 2007 YUCA members demonstrated outside the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration's district office in San Francisco. They demanded stiffer penalties for Romic after Froilan Chan-Liongco was burned on the job in a welding accident.

Under the settlement agreement reached with the San Mateo County District Attorney's office, Romic admitted no wrongdoing but agreed to pay $275,000 in civil penalties to the county. It must also give almost $50,000 to the Department of Toxic Substances Control to reimburse the investigation and other costs and nearly $13,000 to the San Mateo County health department, as well as $6,110 to the Menlo Park Fire Protection District and $6,000 to the East Palo Alto Police Department for emergency response costs, according to the Daily News. They can never operate again in the State of California.

Annie Loya of YUCA said she is happy that the case has been settled but noted that the clean-up of soil and ground water in East Palo Alto needs to continue. That clean-up is being supervised by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Ms. Loya pointed out that health problems related to Romic's nearly half century of polluting in East Palo Alto continues to be a concern.