Southern California has the nation’s highest concentration of chrome platers, the metal shops that dip car bumpers, plumbing fixtures, airplane parts and other products in large industrial tanks to coat them with a shiny, mirror-like finish.
But the chemical they have long used, hexavalent chromium, is a serious health hazard, with no safe level of exposure. It’s a pollutant that’s about 500 times more carcinogenic than the particulate matter in diesel exhaust, and its release into neighboring communities has been a problem for decades. More than two-thirds of the 114 chrome-plating facilities that use hexavalent chromium in California are within 1,000 feet of homes, schools, hospitals and other sensitive locations, and about 10% are within 65 feet, according to air quality officials.
These operations shouldn’t be allowed to keep dumping such a dangerous chemical into the air, creating a health threat to their neighbors. The California Air Resources Board should move forward with a proposal to ban its use in chrome-plating, while doing more to help small businesses make a successful transition to safer alternatives.
