Found out on July 4th that the City of Cerritos has hired outside legal counsel & an outside public relations firm as it contemplates whether or not to file lawsuits against 3 media outlets that were more egregious in their irresponsibility. 

Those 3 being looked at are USA Today (which initiated the irresponsible reporting), NBC News (which had a reporter asking residents and shoppers if they planned to move out or why they chose to shop in Cerritos given the EPA report), & CBS News (which erroneously claimed the neighborhood affected was located on the western side of the city near Gahr High scaring residents in the process by shoving their microphones in the faces of residents from that neighborhood, instead of on the North Eastern side of the city in a mostly commercial and industrial real estate area where the EPA report had claimed).  All 3 reported as if the report was using recent data, instead of data from 1989 as was the case, and reported the source as being inside the city boundaries, instead of in Santa Fe Springs.   

If the lawsuit(s) go forward it will be on the basis of damage done by the reporting to sales inside the city reducing sales tax revenue and property values which  affects property tax revenue.  Below is an article from the local newspaper editor Brian Hews.  More as this develops...

EPA Admits Mistake
Two weeks later, the truth comes out.
By Brian Hews, President and Publisher of the Los Cerritos Newspaper Group

The EPA said its data on the Heraeus MetalProcessing plant was from 1989.

Fast forward to 2009, Heraeus is emittingless than two pounds of hydrazine per year; according to air monitoring data released Thursday by South Coast Air Quality Management.

Investigators also found that the EPA had placed Heraeus in a Cerritos, when it is twocities over in Santa Fe Springs.

"It's really unfortunate" said Barry R.Wallerstein, executive officer at the South Coast AQMD.

In a letter to Los Cerritos Community Newspaper, Supervisor Don Knabe had said the data was from an old study.

Why data was released remains a mystery.

The Cerritos Council is trying to repair the damage to the city's reputation; they have set aside more than $320,000 to fight the accusations.

Mayor Bruce Barrows remains concerned in a city known for winning many awards.
"We've had some major damage done by irresponsible press."