Firm hired to check air quality after L.A. warehouse fire has controversial history

The company tasked with assessing air quality following a massive warehouse fire in Los Angeles has a history of controversy, with accusations of downplaying public health risks during environmental disasters. The fire, which occurred on June 17 at a 500,000-square-foot cold storage facility owned by Lineage, burned for a week and prompted a state of emergency due to smoke plumes spreading across the city.

In response to public concerns, the warehouse company hired Arkansas-based Onterris to conduct air quality tests. Onterris reported that air quality was "good" and hazardous gas levels were low. However, independent air pollution experts and local activists have expressed skepticism to CBS News, suggesting the ongoing environmental testing may be inadequate.

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It's like the fox guarding the henhouse.

"It's like the fox guarding the henhouse," Lesley Pacey, an environmental investigator for the nonprofit Government Accountability Project, told CBS News. Onterris, which rebranded in April, was previously known as Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health (CTEH). A review of its past work reveals a pattern where environmental advocates have criticized the firm's findings for allegedly downplaying health risks after major disasters.

One notable instance involved the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, in 2023. CTEH, monitored by the EPA, conducted environmental testing and assured residents their homes were safe. However, residents subsequently reported experiencing migraines, nausea, and seizures. Independent experts argued that CTEH's tests failed to detect the full range of dangerous compounds and were conducted for too short a period to yield accurate readings. Judith Enck, a former regional EPA administrator, commented at the time, "If you have the polluter doing [the testing and sampling], they have a built-in financial interest in not finding problems. There's absolutely a conflict of interest."

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If you have the polluter doing [the testing and sampling], they have a built-in financial interest in not finding problems. There's absolutely a conflict of interest.