Chiquita Canyon: State alleges landfill of dumping toxic waste

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. - The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is calling the Chiquita Canyon landfill an imminent danger to the community's health, while the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) alleges that liquid toxic waste was trucked from the Castaic landfill to a Gardena facility that doesn't accept toxic material.

According to reports, DTSC sent an alert to The Signal newspaper in Santa Clarita on Tuesday detailing five Class-I violations committed by the landfill operators. The violations are the highest listed on the DTSC website and are "a significant threat to human health or safety or the environment."

The landfill operators have been found by the DTSC to be illegally disposing hazardous waste, in the case of Chiquita Canyon, leachate that contains toxic levels of benzene, a carcinogen, at a facility that is not permitted to treat hazardous waste, The Signal is reporting.

The DTSC is preparing a more complete report of the violations that is expected to be completed in April. A summary of the violations indicates the landfill operators failed to label a 4,600-gallon load of leachate pumped from Chiquita Canyon as hazardous waste and transported it to a nonhazardous waste facility.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE:

• Chiquita Canyon: Landfill operators asked to provide relocation assistance
• EPA joins Chiquita Canyon Landfill investigation

Residents living near the facility responded with protests and filing yet more petitions with the LA County Courts demanding Chiquita's closure, something that is unjustified, according to Supervisor Kathryn Barger. 

She has been outspoken about demanding responsibility from the company. Barger asked the landfill owners to help pay relocation costs for residents who want to move.

Barger's office released the following statement which reads in part, 

"Based on available information—which has included the ongoing analysis of air quality monitoring data from local air monitoring stations, an independent health risk evaluation conducted by the County, as well as a root cause analysis conducted by the State of California’s technical expert and regulatory authority for landfills, CalRecycle—the County has not determined that closure of the landfill is currently warranted under the conditions of the County’s CUP.

I want to emphasize that the State has a very important and relevant role in responding to calls for the landfill’s closure. The County is only one of the numerous entities with regulatory authority over the Chiquita Canyon Landfill–all others are special districts or state agencies. State legislators who represent the community should take swift and urgent action to ensure these state agencies examine their respective areas of oversight and authority and assess whether the landfill’s closure is warranted or feasible.

For months, my office has deployed all appropriate County resources to respond to this crisis and update the community on our findings through various forums on a regular basis. I have yet to see my state counterparts take similar actions to urgently address these issues." 

Meanwhile, when it comes to shutting it down, she says it's not justifiable since the company is trying to fix the issues. 

The landfill operators said they are setting up a community benefit and relocation program, but it will take a month to six weeks before it will be implemented. The landfill has been repeatedly cited for health and air quality violations.

Chiquita Landfill also released a statement saying,

"Chiquita takes very seriously its role in the safe operation of the landfill.  We believe it is important to keep the community informed, and have been communicating openly and transparently with the local community throughout this process, including providing real-time air monitoring data on our website. 

While today’s Unilateral Administrative Order from the EPA is consistent with recommendations and orders from our other partner agencies, we welcome their continued involvement as we work with the multi-agency action team to address the ongoing elevated temperature landfill reaction occurring in an older area of the landfill.  Many of the recommendations are already underway and being implemented. We are working tirelessly to resolve any addressable odor impacts in the community as quickly as possible."

City News Service contributed to this report