LA to consider changes at Hyperion after El Segundo demands new leadership

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass will attempt to ensure better organizational operations and transparency at the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant and the agency that manages the facility after years of odor-related issues plaguing adjacent El Segundo, according to a recent statement from her office.

Bass’ letter, which her office sent to El Segundo officials last week, also acknowledged “unacceptable” issues at the region’s largest and oldest wastewater treatment facility.

The mayor’s statement came in response to El Segundo city leaders demanding Bass enact leadership changes at Los Angeles Sanitation & Environment, the agency that oversees the Hyperion plant.

El Segundo’s Feb. 23 letter to Bass specifically asked her to remove or replace LASAN Director and General Manager Barbara Romero, citing concerns about the agency’s transparency and failure to resolve ongoing impacts from a massive 2021 sewage spill that residents and officials say have continued to plague them since.

LASAN communication officials, who have been handling requests for comment on Romero’s behalf, said earlier this week that they would provide a response to Bass’ letter. But as of Wednesday evening, they had not.

Hydrogen sulfide odors stemming from a July 2021 sewage spill at Hyperion have apparently continued stifling the surrounding community, with El Segundo residents complaining about headaches, nausea and other maladies.

Romero was hired the same month the spill happened.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District, the region’s air quality watchdog, has issued Hyperion 70 notices of violation related to those odors over the past 2.5 years.

Hyperion officials, for their part, have repeatedly said they are committed to rectifying the plant’s various issues — and have, in fact, undertaken multiple repairs in recent months.

But that hasn’t stopped the outcry from El Segundo.

Bass, meanwhile, didn’t directly address El Segundo’s request for new leadership at Hyperion. But her statement did say Hyperion hasn’t been a responsible partner with the coastal town — and promised to attempt to remedy the issues.

“The poor communication and partnership that El Segundo has experienced is unacceptable,” Bass’ statement said, “and we are committed to locking arms with (El Segundo) Mayor Drew Boyles and the City Council to ensure there is clear, transparent communication and accountability as we set expectations for the next chapter at Hyperion.”

Bass also said she would direct her office to work closely with both El Segundo leadership and LASAN to consider organizational improvements, resources and third-party expertise — all to ensure Hyperion operates smoothly and that its officials effectively communicate.

That work, Boyles said in a Wednesday, March 13, interview, will include establishing a new committee to act as a sort of intermediary between the two parties and ensure El Segundo’s concerns are dealt with — something the city has been asking for since the issues began.

El Segundo leaders have had “rather blunt conversations” with officials in Bass’ administration about what the next steps to address the problems should be.

“We’re cautiously optimistic at this point,” Boyles said. “The good news is, they’ve (LA city officials) acknowledged they’ve been negligent and made some really egregious mistakes. Now, we’re just looking for changes and direction.”

A key component of the new committee’s potential success, Boyles said, will be appointing third-party wastewater experts, since the city has lost confidence in Hyperion officials’ ability to handle the situation over the past three years.

But before that committee is fully formed, Boyles said, L.A. must first allocate and approve funding for it. It’s not yet known how much the committee will cost. But Bass’ office, Boyles added, said they are confident the necessary funds will be approved.

But despite the remedies offered by Bass’ office thus far, Boyles said, El Segundo’s ultimate goal is still to have new leadership at LASAN.

“We’re going to keep pushing until we get that,” Boyles said.

El Segundo officials, for their part, will meet with several legislative stakeholders — including LA County Supervisor Holly Mitchell, state Sen. Ben Allen, Rep. Ted Lieu and Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi — next week to discuss how structural changes can be made at the plant.

El Segundo plans to ensure those leaders understand the city’s history of dealing with Hyperion and how bad it’s been for residents, Boyles said — and ultimately use as much political influence as possible to make sure the city’s desired changes come to fruition.

“Frankly, there have been countless odor complaints, numerous notices of violation, and people have completely lost faith and confidence in Hyperion’s ability to operate a responsible plant,” Boyles said. “We’re looking forward to some wholesale changes in the plant; we haven’t given up that demand that they change out leadership in the plant.”

L.A.’s forthcoming oversight committee, meanwhile, will have the sole purpose of ensuring LASAN and Hyperion liaise more effectively with El Segundo — and offer other resources the latter city may need to deal with the impacts from the plant’s operations.

“I think the proof will be in the pudding,” Boyles said. “But they committed to having us involved when they seek new plant leadership.”

Though tensions between El Segundo and LASAN have been fraught since the initial sewage spill, the conflict came to head about a month ago.

The plant, Boyles said, received a flurry of violation notices and complaints — and El Segundo later learned that Hyperion’s initial explanation for the increased odor wasn’t accurate.

Initially, Hyperion said recent rainstorms caused the elevated odors. But later, Hyperion said the root cause was a malfunction with the plant’s filtering screens — an issue that happened in 2021 before the massive sewage spill happened.

LASAN officials said power outages, which the rain caused, forced them to put a tank with a faulty cover online.

“We were like, OK — there’s some kind of systemic problem,” Boyles said of El Segundo’s reaction to learning about the root cause of the latest spike in odors. “That’s when we threw up our hands and said we’ve exhausted all efforts here; what can we do to get meaningful change at the plant?”

And now, it seems, Boyles’ Los Angeles counterpart has committed to helping enact that change.