County and federal officials said Wednesday there’s been no significant change in the regulatory oversight at Chiquita Canyon Landfill, in response to questions about Waste Connections CEO Ron Mittelstaedt’s statements in a shareholder call last week.
In giving updates Thursday regarding Chiquita Canyon Landfill, Mittelstaedt touted “substantial progress” during a call about the company’s Q3 earnings, which saw increased revenue to $2.34 billion per WasteDive.com, a trade industry publication, and net income of $308 million.
“And I think most importantly, there was a unified regulatory agency oversight committee led by the EPA, along with various California state regulatory agencies and local regulatory agencies that were all involved in the reaction very diligently on a day-to-day basis,” Mittelstaedt said during the call, adding that, along with the Chiquita teams working on the issues, “that committee was abandoned by the direction of the EPA two weeks ago and returned to normal local regulatory oversight,” according to a transcript of the call shared with The Signal.
The CEO indicated the change in structure was “an indication of the agency’s view of, you know, where things are at, that everything that is known to be.”
He also indicated that some of the negativity in the press was political posturing in an election year.
John Musella, spokesman for Chiquita Canyon, followed up those comments Wednesday afternoon, in an email on behalf of Mittelstaedt:
“Mr. Mittelstaedt’s recent commentary during Waste Connections’ investor conference call held on Oct. 24, 2024, regarding Chiquita Canyon Landfill reflected the dissolution of the Response Multi-Agency Coordination (RMAC) group at the landfill and the transition back to the Multi-Agency Critical Action Team (MCAT) as the lead regulatory coordination group.”
The change in the task force’s dynamic wasn’t mentioned during the EPA’s update at the community meeting Monday in Castaic, however, a spokesman for the EPA confirmed the change Wednesday, adding regulatory oversight remains with the EPA.
In his update Monday, Joel Jones, deputy director of compliance and assurance at the U.S. EPA, shared that more information is expected to be known in December.
When officials arrived at the landfill, there were three priorities: slowing the reaction; decreasing the off-gassing; and ensuring the stability of the reaction area.
On Monday, he told the room in Castaic that those issues remain the focus at the reaction site.
EPA spokesman Michael Brogan confirmed the scrim work is expected to be done in November, with that work expected to make a significant difference in the smell. Officials previously cautioned the smell was expected to get worse before the work is completed.
About two weeks ago, once the scrim work was nearing completion, one of the two federal task forces involved, the Response Multi-Agency Coordination group, was folded into the Multiagency Critical Action Team, Brogan said.
He said the changes were really about having the two separate teams work together more efficiently as one now that the initial scrim work was nearing completion.
Kevin McGowan, director for the Office of Emergency Services, also indicated in no uncertain terms that the EPA is still the lead agency.
“The U.S. EPA still has its unilateral order in place,” he said in a phone interview Wednesday, “and so federal, state and local regulators are still overseeing and have oversight on what’s going on there.”
The landfill garnered more than 2,500 complaints in September, according to state officials, indicating thousands of residents are still being impacted by the landfill’s smells on a daily basis.
County officials at Monday’s meeting said the landfill officials have indicated that unless an expansion is granted, the landfill will reach its capacity in one to two months.
Since early 2023, Waste Connections has been trying to figure out the root cause for why Chiquita Canyon Landfill has been creating smells that have sickened nearby residents.
Officials at Monday’s Chiquita Canyon Landfill Community Advisory Committee meeting indicated the subsurface reaction, which is still burning trash at around 250 degrees, could take anywhere from two to 10 years to extinguish.
