Landfill along I-5 experiencing odor mitigation issues similar to those faced by Chiquita Canyon
As local and federal agencies continue to examine the issues at Chiquita Canyon Landfill, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is set on Tuesday to request an audit of the odor mitigation efforts at the nearby Sunshine Canyon Landfill.
The motion, co-authored by Supervisors Kathryn Barger, 5th District, and Lindsey Horvath, 3rd District, asks for the directors of the departments of Regional Planning, Public Works and Public Health to “provide an assessment of the odor issues that occurred at the Sunshine Canyon Landfill between 2023 and 2024, a diagnostic of which remediation actions worked, and which did not, and recommendations for the near- and long-term operations of the landfill to ensure these odor issues are effectively addressed.”
Barger represents the Santa Clarita Valley.
Located adjacent to the Newhall Pass along Interstate 5, the Sunshine Canyon landfill had previously been hit with a class action lawsuit that garnered $3.5 million for affected residents of the area upon settlement in 2018. The plaintiffs alleged that the landfill was emitting noxious odors and pollutants.
The motion being presented on Tuesday states that historic rainfall in early 2023 contributed to “persistent gas and fresh trash odors emanating from the landfill,” adding that the number of complaints received by the South Coast Air Quality Management District increased by 163% in 2023. In total, the AQMD received 1,721 complaints last year compared to 653 in 2022, as well as 63 odor-related notices of violation.
The first quarter of 2024 has seen more than 670 complaints received and 26 notices of violation handed out by the AQMD.
These complaints and violations are similar to what the Chiquita landfill, located along Highway 126 near Val Verde, has faced in the past year. Recently, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board found it to be in violation of 11 terms of the 2010 stormwater-discharge permit under which the facility is operating.
Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita, recently called for the landfill to be shut down in order to allow the facility to address its growing problems. Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo, D-Chatsworth, has requested that Gov. Gavin Newsom declare a state of emergency related to the landfill.
Barger has also called for state agencies to consider revoking the landfill’s permits, rather than the county acting to unilaterally close it down.
A civil lawsuit filed in L.A. County Superior Court is calling for the landfill to be shut down via a preliminary injunction. Citizens for Chiquita Canyon Closure has named the landfill and the county as defendants in the case, which has an April 12 date for a case management conference, where the parties meet with the judge to discuss how to handle the case and what it would take to settle the case before a trial.
Also listed as a “party of interest” is Waste Connections, the Texas-based company that owns, operates and manages Chiquita Canyon.
The case management conference is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on April 12 in Department 86 at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in downtown L.A.
