LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger is asking the operators of the Chiquita Canyon Landfill, which has been repeatedly cited for health and air quality violations, Friday to provide relocation assistance services for those who live near the landfill and have been affected by the odors coming from the landfill.
In a letter Barger sent to a landfill executive Thursday, she requested immediate steps be taken to address the impacts on the community members who live near the landfill.
"We are at an important crossroads. Although we have a significant number of organizations involved from the federal, state and county government levels, it has become increasingly clear to me that there is no predictable end in sight," Barger wrote in the letter addressed to John M. Perkey, vice president and deputy general counsel for Waste Connections, which owns Chiquita landfill and is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas.
"As you continue working to comply with oversight and odor abatement requirements, the very real and significant impacts to those living near the landfill must be addressed."
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EPA investigating Chiquita Canyon landfill
The Environmental Protection Agency has joined the investigation into what is causing a potentially dangerous leak and unusual smell from the Chiquita Canyon Landfill near Santa Clarita.
Barger's district includes the Santa Clarita Valley and the communities near the landfill.
Additionally, the letter requests the landfill operators to provide air filtration devices, to contribute more funds to the Utility Relief Program, which she initiated to help pay utility bills, and support a program that is intended to help homeowners make improvements related to the odors from the landfill.
The Los Angeles Times is reporting Chiquita Canyon said in a statement it plans to discuss its odor mitigation efforts and Barger's request at a community meeting on Tuesday at Castaic Library.
"We are reviewing the recommendations made by Supervisor Barger and how they can be implemented as part of the overall strategy. We will have more to report on this and other mitigation updates at next week's Community Advisory Committee meeting," the statement said.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: EPA joins Chiquita Canyon Landfill investigation
An independent report on the Chiquita Canyon Landfill was met with calls to close it from the members of the community who attended a meeting at College of the Canyons Wednesday, and recommended more studies are needed to determine if the landfill is a health risk.
The report shared during a meeting at the college campus in Valencia by a consultant hired by the Los Angeles County Public Health Department studied the air quality of the landfill and its surrounding areas. The landfill has been issued 100 violations and received more than 7,000 complaints from nearby residents who say odors are causing health problems and polluting the community.
The consultant said the report's data revealed no alarm bells and that his assessments were preliminary.
Those in attendance at the meeting vocally disagreed with the report and at one point called for the closure of the landfill.
The six-week study of the air quality at the landfill collected data from the end of October to the middle of December. The results of the study were similar to the findings shared by the South Coast Hearing Board of the Air Quality Management District in January. Both reports concluded more information was needed to explain what is causing strong, potentially dangerous, odors from the landfill.
The operators of the landfill have agreed to install monitors to test the air quality at the landfill. Those monitors have not been installed, and there are plans to complete installation in the coming weeks.
Adam Love, an environmental forensics expert with Roux Associates, the company hired to compile the report, said there were levels of benzene detected at the landfill and testing did not indicate levels that posed long- term health risks. However, Love could not explain why the landfill was producing detectable levels of benzene.
Love suggested more continuous and consistent air quality sampling is needed. The Environmental Protection Agency is part of a task force investigating the landfill.