Landfill ordered to remove leachate more quickly, with more testing, more transparency in monitoring
After nearly seven more hours of discussion, Chiquita Canyon Landfill and the South Coast Air Quality Management District came to an agreement Wednesday on new conditions under which the landfill can continue to operate.
The upshot for residents is that under the new joint stipulated agreement, those near the Val Verde landfill should get a much better understanding of the pollutants that have caused more than 7,000 complaints in the last year, and more than 112 violations over the odors.
However, none of the measures approved or discussed seem likely to have a significant or direct impact on the smell — just a greater understanding of the source and any potential health risk.
Landfill officials have said progress is still likely several months away based on timelines laid out during the two days in front of the AQMD South Coast District Hearing Board. Waste Connections, which operates the landfill, issued a statement last week about several drilling projects that need to be completed to help mitigate the smell over the long term, but could make it worse in the short term.
But this hearing wasn’t about smell mitigation — it was because the landfill wasn’t up front about its problems or when landfill officials learned of them, according to the AQMD.
Since October, experts have identified the landfill’s problem as two-fold due to a smoldering, subsurface reaction with temperatures exceeding 175 degrees occurring at a rate that’s severely overwhelmed the landfill’s containment systems.
The reaction levels are producing a noxious odor believed to be dimethyl sulfide at a rate that’s exceeding the capacity of flares meant to capture and burn off the gas, resulting in the landfill’s sulfuric odors being detected miles away. That’s the first problem.
The second is that the reaction also contributed to the production of leachate, a byproduct from the chemical reaction of rain being filtered through rotting trash and landfill gases, which has a uniquely terrible smell from the decomposing garbage, according to sworn statements from AQMD Supervising Inspector Larry Israel.
The stipulated order that came out of the two-day hearing that concluded Wednesday is: community monitors will be installed in and around the landfill within 75 days; 24-hour sampling will be done three times a week until those monitors are installed; a website dedicated to posting those results for residents in real time will be created; there will be an oversight process for the landfill’s committee; clarifying language will be put in the order that health studies for the landfill will base their conclusions on the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment standards; and the landfill will seek approval of a permanent plan to address the problems while these temporary measures are being implemented.
The landfill is also being ordered to immediately remove the leachate, with twice daily inspections being ordered and seven-day-a-week removal.
The problems and smells were more clearly defined on the record during Wednesday’s testimony by Israel, who testified that he had more than 30 years of experience in the area that included the landfill, and he was very familiar with the facility.
The leachate problem, which was the subject of this week’s hearing, was known to the landfill in April, but not shared with the AQMD until October.
Based on how the complaints have grown, the Chiquita Canyon Landfill’s stench has been bothering more and more residents since about July.
Israel said Wednesday the problems have gotten significantly worse, particularly during September and October, with more than 4,800 complaints being received since September, coming at all hours, from community residents.
“Our thinking is, ‘We need to stop this as soon as possible — they’re being heavily impacted,’” Israel said, adding that making residents wait throughout a weekend to address the leachate smell would be “unconscionable.”
Israel described to the Hearing Board the smell from free-flowing leachate coming out the side of a slope within the landfill about 1,000 feet from the nearest home in Val Verde.
“The leachate smell that we detected, it’s like this putrid almost like a port-a-potty type of odor — it’s pretty horrendous, actually,” he said Wednesday, contrasting it to the landfill gas odor, which he likened to sour milk. One resident living directly on the other side of a slope of the landfill likened the landfill gases to the smell that occurs when garbage is left out on the corner too long.
Israel added that the pooling and ponding issues with the leachate seemed to have improved somewhat as of his last in-person inspection of the site in December.
“In short, where we ended up is that the modifications are the sort of comprehensive approach that the district expects and wants to see for the circumstances that we have and you have heard about in this hearing,” said Kathryn Roberts, who was acting as counsel for the South Coast District in front of the Hearing Board. “We think these are a necessary and appropriate modification, and we think there is no doubt there is good cause to grant this order.”
While the counsel for Chiquita Canyon initially was seeking more time and flexibility with the order, it ultimately reached a negotiated agreement with the AQMD.
“Everyone in this room wants the same thing, to slow and stop this reaction,” said Megan Morgan of Beveridge & Diamond PC, which is representing the landfill. “Chiquita wants to fix this problem, and Chiquita wants to improve the experience of its neighbors.”
In the meantime, those neighbors await answers about the potential impacts, with an independent report expected next month by the L.A. County Department of Public Health.
One neighbor who was one of more than 200 plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit against the landfill made a request early Tuesday that has yet to be addressed by regulators.
“My children are getting sicker. My friends are getting sicker,” Sarah Olaguez, a Val Verde resident, said Tuesday, calling for the landfill to take more drastic actions to help residents. “We no longer have clean, safe air to breathe. We can no longer open our windows, enjoy our yard or simply take a walk. We go home and breathe this in while we sleep. We need real action. We need to be moved away from this air.”
The Hearing Board is an independent panel that hears all sides of a case, weighs the evidence, and reaches a decision, according to its news release. A status hearing will be held on April 24 and 25, or as soon thereafter as it can be scheduled with the Hearing Board.
