Toxic Air Closes Part Of Barrio Logan Business

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KGTV TheSanDiegoChannel.com | San Diego Daily Transcript

Monday March 25 09:22 PM EST

Toxic Air Closes Part Of Barrio Logan Business

A judge ruled Monday to partially shut down a Barrio Logan business accused

of releasing toxic chemicals into the air, 10News reported.

The county had asked the judge to completely close Master Plating while air

testing continued, but only ordered the business to shut down its

chrome-plating operations.

" We have voluntarily agreed to shut down the chrome-plating operations until

this matter can be proved in court. This ought to give residents a chance to

see that it may not be Master Plating sending the toxic fumes in the air in

Barrio Logan, " Master Plating attorney Heisner said.

Air testing will continue while Master Plating is partially shut down. Both

sides will be back in court on April 26.

Residents have complained for years that Master Plating and other nearby

chromium plating plants were producing high levels of hexavalent chromium,

an air pollutant known to cause cancer, 10News reported.

Their complaints were bolstered in January, when a report by the group

California Air Resources showed unhealthy amounts of the hexavalent chromium

in the San Diego neighborhood.

According to 10News, several monitoring stations were placed in the

neighborhood. A number of samples were collected over a two-week period in

2001. Twenty-nine of the 87 samples collected came back as having exceeded

hexavalent chromium limits.

Meantime, the Environmental Health Coalition received $756,000 Monday from

the California Endowment to help clean up the Barrio Logan area.

" We are going to use these funds to continue to educate and empower

residents of Barrio Logan and surrounding areas so they can create a

community plan the creates a quality of life they want to raise their

families in, " said Diane Takvorian from the Environmental Health Coalition.