I’ve been a member of Kathryn Barger’s Chiquita Canyon oversight committee for nearly two years. And over these two years things at the landfill have gone from calm and predictable to catastrophically sickening. New offensive odors appeared 18 months ago. These weren’t regular “dump” odors … these were more putrid, and more verifiably sickening. Sickening, not just as nauseous, but sickening as stifling headaches, ear, nose, throat and lung problems. Some folks are concerned about potential cancers. Short exposure results in nausea and respiratory problems. Extended exposure hasn’t been studied and rightly frightens residents.
The tone and tenor of our oversight committee public meetings have become more rancorous, more sad, more disappointing, more frightening, and yet sometimes more hopeful:
Rancorous, because we’ve learned over 20 months that these “odors” aren’t just harmless “smells.” They contain various VOCs (volatile organic compounds), which are toxic to humans and animals and are proven to impose painful short-term health impairments, with concern they may cause very substantial long-term health impacts.
Sad, because the residents of Val Verde, Castaic and other western parts of our valley are increasingly impacted by these disgusting smells and health impairments, and because they believe, (right or wrong) that all government agencies and Chiquita responses to these residents have constantly been too little, too late, with most community attendees concluding government and Chiquita actions are little more than purposeful delays, hoping the problem will “go away.” It hasn’t – it’s only gotten worse. Scientists say it will get worse before it gets better.
Disappointing, because we’re told that some delays are because there’s so many public agencies involved it’s nearly impossible to get ducks lined up to actually provide coordinated services to the affected population. We’ve got water boards, air quality boards, the entirety of L.A. County’s department staff leads, the national EPA, hired scientists, and all of Chiquita’s scientists … and still, hard questions remain unanswered and relief programs are as fragmented as answers have been.
And yet hopeful, because in the background, after months of dithering and wasted opportunity, Waste Connections (Chiquita’s owner) finally appears to have their act moderately in gear installing infrastructure that will hopefully eventually cure the problem. That problem is a 50-year-old section of the landfill experiencing a chemical reaction producing hundreds of thousands of gallons every day of toxic “leachate” – coming from who-knows-what buried 150 feet below the ground, building up pressure and percolating up and out, spewing these VOCs into our local air. The concluded solution, a hundred-plus wells, pumps, treatment systems, flares and a giant plastic cover over the entire thing, is now well toward completion. This is hopeful. Still, this fix might well take two to 10 years to completely resolve and end the offending chemical reaction.
Meanwhile, hundreds of impacted families suffer nearly continuously. Hundreds of homes are hammered by fumes so noxious they make living uninhabitable. The fume process wafting in and out continues unabated, and the affected areas are increasing, not decreasing.
Initially, Chiquita offered small room filters, which were more a joke than a solution. Months ago, L.A. County established a smallish assistance fund that didn’t go very far. And three months ago, Waste Connections developed their own “community relief fund,” which promised long-term funding for solutions based on need. This sounded hopeful, at first.
But Waste Connections has so far refused to make the terms of their “community relief fund” transparent to the public. No one but Waste Connections knows what areas are approved for what relief, or for how long, for what purpose, or for how much. It’s not much relief when you can’t plan or depend on what the relief is, or if you’re even relievable or not! Community frustration obviously runs high when your doctor tells you to move from your home because of what the fumes are doing to your lungs, but you don’t have the money to relocate and there’s no clear-cut program to tell you what’s available. Nor can you sell your home because the landfill emissions have made your home all but worthless.
Waste Connections has remained mum about just how much their “help” is helping. Folks in our meetings aren’t impressed with their legal coverup program.
To her credit, this week Kathryn Barger sent a joint letter from the county, South Coast Air Quality Management District and the federal EPA, to Waste Connections strongly urging they provide full transparency on their community relief program as well as substantially expand its scope. Disappointingly, however, the much-appreciated coordinated letter still remains only a request, not an enforceable demand. So, more time lost to enforce the basic human rights for clean air to breath.
And that’s the hitch: Waste Connections has neither stepped up to the plate on its own nor have any agencies compelled them to.
What it comes down to is this: It will take multiple years to end the dangerous emissions. It’s not reasonable or just to expect Val Verde, Castaic and impacted residents to lose their health and quality of life for L.A. County’s trash. Waste Connections, the county, the EPA, and all these other passive, non-enforcing agencies are making hundreds, perhaps thousands of people sick, ruining their lives. It’s that simple. Emissions from the landfill and passive enforcement by national, state and county agencies are ruining and shortening lives.
It’s well past time for pleas to Waste Connections to provide the justice of clean air to our citizens. The state of California, L.A. County, and the national EPA must pull whatever levers to relocate, restore, compensate, make safe our community members impacted by this catastrophe. No more talk, no more delays, no more soft-shoe shuffles. No more ruined lives due to lax enforcement and passivity toward remedying health concerns.
We must demand 100% proactive action for the benefit of our west valley community members – now.
Gary Horton’s “Full Speed to Port!” has appeared in The Signal since 2006. The opinions expressed in his column do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Signal or its editorial board.
