Month after month I read complaints regarding the Chiquita Canyon Landfill, and Gary Horton (column, March 19) demands “A Call for Action.” Bold, Gary. So just exactly what sort of action do you propose? Declaring a “state of emergency”? What will that accomplish? Probably not much more than what we’re seeing right now, because that’s not the solution.
Now, may I be so bold as to tell y’all what exactly needs to be done, and I see myself as professionally qualified to make such a statement.
During my 38 years as a mechanical engineer at the L.A. Department of Water and Power, I spent seven years in the Environmental and Governmental Affairs Section. That’s the group that deals with hazardous materials and waste issues — everything from underground transformer oil and fuel tanks to contaminated soils and aquifers to asbestos abatement to landfills.
This might border on sarcasm, but there’s a federal agency known as the “EPA,” and it is responsible for dealing with “Superfund” sites. The only way to deal with Chiquita is to have it declared a Superfund site, and there’s a specific bureaucratic process involved in that. The real adventure starts here: tinyurl.com/v7y2dshh.
That’s the National Priorities List. The NPL guides EPA in determining which sites are so contaminated as to warrant further investigation and cleanup. Hazardous waste sites become eligible for Superfund cleanup when EPA receives a report of a potentially hazardous site from an individual, state government, or federal agency. Did you read that? An INDIVIDUAL can do it.
You want action at Chiquita Canyon? That’s the action that needs to be taken, so stop complaining to the local leaders who have failed you, get ready to work, and get on with it.
Arthur Saginian
Santa Clarita
