Environmental regulators are pressing Exide Technologies to close a battery recycling plant and halt its lead smelting operations.

When operating, the Vernon plant recycles about 25,000 lead-acid batteries daily, or 8 million a year, according to the company.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District requested an order from an independent administrative law panel to close the secondary lead recycling facility until its air pollution control systems were improved and deemed adequate to control toxic emissions. The district and Exide have highly conflicting views about compliance and operational issues. The process with the panel may take two to three months.

Meanwhile, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control temporarily dropped efforts to close the plant in exchange for Exide agreeing to spend USD7.7 million for a replacement of a leaking storm water system, improvements to cut arsenic emissions, testing of nearby soil and dust for evidence of lead and arsenic and voluntary blood-level testing for residents and others. The department filed its complaint against Exide on 24 April.

Exides motive power business supplies batteries for electric forklift truck, floor-cleaning machinery, powered wheelchair, railroad locomotive, mining and electric road vehicle applications. Exides motive power customers in the Americas include Hyster-Yale, Toyota and Target and, in Europe, Toyota, Kion Group and Jungheinrich.

The US operation of Exide filed a voluntary petition on 10 June in Wilmington, Delaware for reorganisation under chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code.

The bankruptcy court set 31 October as the deadline for Exide creditors to submit proofs of claim. In September, the court approved Exides motion to spend USD16 million on bonuses to executives. The bankruptcy court must approve the expenditure of funds set forth in the toxic substances control departments stipulation and order.

For the fiscal year ended 31 March 2013, Exide had sales of USD2.97 billion of which motive power applications accounted for about 22%. Publicly traded Exide is based in Milton, Georgia.