Firm hired to check air quality after L.A. warehouse fire has controversial history
Arkansas-based Onterris reported "good" air quality after a giant warehouse fire in Los Angeles. Some experts and activists say the testing is inadequate.
The company hired to check air pollution after a giant warehouse fire in Los Angeles has been accused in the past of downplaying the public threat during high-profile environmental disasters.
The June 17 fire broke out at a 500,000-square-foot cold storage facility owned by logistics behemoth Lineage. It burned for a week and sparked a state of emergency, with residents raising concerns about the risks posed by plumes of smoke that spread across the city.
To answer those concerns, the warehouse company hired Arkansas-based Onterris to test air quality. Onterris reported "good" air quality and low levels of hazardous gases.
But now, independent air pollution experts and local activists are telling CBS News that they believe the environmental testing, which is still ongoing, has been inadequate.
"It's like the fox guarding the henhouse," Lesley Pacey, an environmental investigator for nonprofit Government Accountability Project, told CBS News.
The public profile of Onterris is limited. The company was tied to some controversial cases before it underwent a rebrand in April.