SACRAMENTO — Two state lawmakers from Los Angeles want tougher penalties for disasters caused by industrial companies after a massive fire in Boyle Heights left neighbors struggling with smoky air and the smell of rotting meat.
Assemblymember Mark González and state Sen. María Elena Durazo, both Democrats, are seeking a new law that would require any new cold storage facility to create a contingency fund for emergencies.
The fund would be used to help neighbors mitigate the fallout from a disaster.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who is running for reelection, will appear with González and Durazo at an event Wednesday to discuss the proposed laws.
Lineage’s 500,000-square-foot food warehouse in Boyle Heights caught fire on June 17. The company blames a power company, which was working on the warehouse’s roof, for the blaze.
The company, Altus Power, has denied responsibility, stating that the cause is undetermined. The company accused Lineage of finger-pointing instead of focusing on community relief.
Noxious smoke and an influx of rats and flies attracted to rotting meat stored at the facility have tormented neighbors. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has cited Lineage for unsanitary and nuisance conditions related to rodent and pest control violations.
Lineage recently applied for building permits to replace the site, which Bass called “a slap in the face” to Boyle Heights families.
A press release ahead of Wednesday’s news conference said the proposal by lawmakers “will ensure that Lineage can’t rebuild without being accountable to the community.”
González and Durazo plan to insert proposed legislation related to the Lineage fire into existing bills, a process known as “gut and amend.”
The politicians also want to allow for stiffer fines against companies following a disaster.
Their proposed legislation also would ensure that anyone who sues over the fire doesn’t have to pay state taxes on any settlement, and that local jurisdictions are responsible for pest extermination efforts.
Greg Lehmkuhl, president and chief executive of Lineage, said in a quarterly earnings call last week that the company has committed $3.3 million to the community in the aftermath of the fire.
“Safety remains our top priority, and I’m incredibly proud of our team and how they’re handling this very challenging situation,” Lehmkuhl said on the call.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass ordered city agencies on Friday to delay the processing of rebuilding permits for the Lineage burned-out cold storage warehouse in Boyle Heights until regulators have found ways to subject the project to strict environmental review.
In an executive order, Bass said the city’s planning and building and safety departments must also determine whether the application to rebuild the Lineage facility — which was destroyed in June, leaving behind an estimated 85 million tons of smelly, rotting food — should be subjected to a lengthy “discretionary review” process.
The mayor also asked the council to approve a moratorium on large cold storage facilities in proximity to residential neighborhoods and sensitive uses, such as parks and schools.
The moratorium, depending on the actions of the City Council, can be kept in place for up to two years, according to the mayor’s team.
Clean-up continues at the Lineage cold storage warehouse on Friday in Boyle Heights.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
“They shouldn’t even think about rebuilding until they’ve cleaned up the mess they’ve created,” Bass said at a Friday news conference. “This is why I am directing city departments to put their plans up on a shelf while a thorough investigation of the property and any future use is conducted.”
Bass stood in front of a display that accused Lineage of refusing to provide sufficient support to help nearby residents relocate to other parts of the city. The display also said the company had refused to address unsanitary conditions, including odors and the spread of flies and rodents into nearby properties.
Bass’ team said 3,800 complaints about Lineage have been lodged with the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which has issued 19 violation notices to the company.
The city and county secured $1.6 million for emergency housing relocation through Airbnb and housing nonprofits, sheltering more than 1,300 residents and hundreds of pets. Bass said Lineage provided only $100,000 for those efforts.
“That’s less than 7% of what we’ve provided,” she said Friday.
Silvia Corona joins Boyle Heights residents to voice her frustration during a rally Friday demanding Lineage permanently shut down the facility and leave Boyle Heights.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
In a series of statements posted to Lineage’s website Thursday and Friday, the company said it disagrees with the characterization of its cleanup efforts, and company officials said they submit daily reports to authorities and regulators and post frequent updates online.
“Since gaining full access to the site on the evening of July 6, Lineage has removed more than 60% of food waste and continues to execute the fastest and safest possible cleanup,” the company said. “Lineage has been going door-to-door to the nearly 800 households closest to the warehouse — those designated by the city and county as closest to the site.”
In doing so, the company maintains that it has provided hundreds of air purifiers, air conditioning units, N95 masks, drinking water, grocery vouchers, cash assistance and relocation support to 85% of those households.
Amid this week’s recovery efforts, Lineage representatives filed permits with the city to rebuild the warehouse to its “pre-fire condition” Monday. The move drew swift condemnation from locals and Bass, who decried the application as “a slap in the face” to Boyle Heights families.
Bass said the Friday directive will not be her last executive order mobilizing resources for Boyle Heights following the fire.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis said she felt like she “was in a war zone,” after visiting the warehouse site.
Solis said that she was planning to present a motion at a Tuesday Board of Supervisors meeting aimed at increasing consequences for businesses that commit public health violations, and expanding support for affected residents.
The county is also taking steps to expand access to landfills beyond normal operating hours to allow Lineage to remove noxious debris around the clock.
“We know that the money is going to run out in terms of Airbnb and providing assistance,” Solis said. “That has to come in right away.”
A day earlier, city officials announced that cleanup efforts at the Lineage cold-storage warehouse in Boyle Heights were nearing the halfway mark, six weeks after a fire at the depot left millions of pounds of rotting food to pollute the Los Angeles neighborhood.
The city’s focus is shifting from providing immediate relief to removing noxious debris, reducing foul odors and tainted air, and putting affected residents into interim housing, said Jon Brown, assistant general manager of the Los Angeles Emergency Management Department.
Lineage states the fire started during rooftop solar testing by subcontractor Altus Power. Altus has denied responsibility, stating that the cause is undetermined and accusing Lineage of finger-pointing instead of focusing on community relief.
Residents served Lineage a lawsuit seeking medical damages, noting a similar rooftop solar fire occurred at the facility in 2024.
Bass clarified that the investigation into who is responsible for the fire is still underway, but said Lineage needs to answer for what followed. She accused the company of failing to properly disclose that meat products were stored at the site to begin with, and said the company has been too slow to remove the waste.
She remains skeptical that she’ll ever allow the company to operate in Los Angeles in the future.
“It would be very hard for me to imagine the day that we would welcome Lineage back,” Bass told a Times reporter Friday.
Solis and Los Angeles City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado concurred with the mayor’s assessment, with Jurado going as far as to say she definitely” [wants] to stop any rebuilding permit” for Lineage.
As the mayor’s news conference came to an end, Boyle Heights residents rallied outside the Lineage warehouse facility, briefly shutting down a stretch of Olympic Boulevard just north of the disaster site.
Protesters demanded Lineage’s unconditional removal from the community and said that aid from the city, county and local nonprofit organizations has dried up.
“We’re asking for Lineage to leave our community now and forever,” Estuardo Mazariegos, a candidate for City Council District 9, said at the rally.
At the protests, dozens chanted slogans, including “afuera Lineage! (Lineage out)” and toted signs reading “clean water over profits” and “you’re poisoning us.”
Many at the rally called for Lineage to pay every bill that comes out of the crisis, including waste remediation, interim housing costs and lofty medical bills. Emergency room visits for smoke inhalation and throat pain spiked following the first days of the fire, and residents want the company held financially responsible.
Antonia Montes, an area resident, said she was relieved that Bass was stepping up, but more needs to be done.
“I’m glad she’s now saying that she doesn’t want them here, but we’re saying, ‘what’s the plan to make sure they’re not here?’ ” Montes said. “The next step is to stop it right there and not let them renew their permit and make sure they’re gone.”
