Nearly 4,000 odor complaints and 19 notices of violation underscore the need for immediate, enforceable action
LOS ANGELES — After South Coast AQMD received nearly 4,000 odor complaints traced to Lineage Logistics’ Boyle Heights warehouse and issued 19 notices of violation alleging public-nuisance violations, Los Angeles City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado today urged the agency’s Hearing Board to approve a strong, enforceable order requiring Lineage to control odors, safely accelerate the cleanup and keep impacted residents informed.
Read a transcript here:
“Good morning, Chair and members of the Hearing Board. I’m Ysabel Jurado, the Los Angeles City Councilmember representing Boyle Heights in Council District 14.
I am here to urge you to grant South Coast AQMD’s petition and issue a strong, enforceable abatement order against Lineage.
Nearly 4,000 odor complaints since July 12. Nineteen notices of violation in just eighteen days. That is not a cleanup working as it should. It is clear evidence that Lineage’s measures have been inadequate and that stronger intervention is overdue.
For weeks, Boyle Heights families have endured rancid odors, flies, rodents, and relentless disruption in their homes and throughout their neighborhood. Residents should not have to file complaint after complaint to force a multibillion-dollar corporation to contain the harm it created.
Lineage says conditions will improve as the cleanup progresses. But a promise that “it will get better” is not an abatement plan. This community has already waited too long for relief.
Any order should include firm deadlines, aggressive odor-control and disinfection requirements, transparent monitoring and public reporting, and meaningful consequences if Lineage fails to comply.
What does $1,000 to $75,000 in penalties per day mean to a multi-billion dollar company and the largest warehouse logistics operation in the world?
Delaying cannot simply be treated as the cost of doing business.
Lineage – not Boyle Heights and East LA – must bear the full responsibility for containing this disaster and protecting the surrounding community. Meaningful accountability is the only way we can turn empty promises into real action.
Grant the petition and put the enforceable protections residents have been demanding – and deserve – in place now.”
Councilmember Jurado’s testimony follows her introduction of the seven-motion Boyle Heights Fire Recovery and Environmental Justice Package, which is designed to deliver immediate relief, strengthen independent testing and public reporting, hold responsible parties accountable and give communities affected by environmental injustice a permanent voice in City decision-making.
Since the June 17 fire, Councilmember Jurado’s office has distributed thousands of air purifiers and masks, helped establish emergency shelter and community resource sites, convened direct briefings between residents and agency leaders, brought Lineage executives into meetings with impacted community members and called for independent, non-company-funded air and soil testing.