Schiavo, Barger demand that landfill do more to protect residents while working to prevent catastrophic failure
By Signal Staff
Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo and L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger have issued a joint demand calling for Chiquita Canyon Landfill to do more to protect nearby residents from the impacts of new work Chiquita is undertaking to shore up the landfill’s west end to prevent a potentially catastrophic failure.
Schiavo, D-Chatsworth, and Barger, whose district includes the Santa Clarita Valley, sent a joint letter to the landfill and its parent company, Texas-based Waste Connections, and issued statements Thursday saying they understand the work is necessary — but it is only exacerbating residents’ years-long battle with the landfill’s stench and resulting health impacts.
The landfill, Schiavo and Barger said, is not doing enough to shield residents from those debilitating impacts, and their letter called for a response and a plan for additional community support by Friday.
“This work began without adequate notice to the community, or a plan to keep people safe in a real way during this work,” Schiavo, flanked by local residents who live near the landfill, said at a Thursday morning press conference at her district office in Valencia. “This community has already suffered enough from the negligence and inaction of the landfill.”
The new work that started a few days ago, Schiavo said, has already worsened living conditions and health impacts for nearby residents.
The work in question is called the “West Toe Buttress Project,” intended to shore up the west end of the landfill to prevent a slope failure that could be caused by the “elevated landfill temperature event” in which trash within the landfill is burning.
That ELTF, expected to continue for as long as 20 years, has resulted in thousands of complaints over the past several years and multiple lawsuits from residents who say the burning trash reaction has caused a debilitating stench and multiple health impacts, rendering their communities unlivable, predominantly in Val Verde and other areas closest to the facility.
The landfill has received multiple violation notices from regulatory authorities including the South Coast Air Quality Management District, and multiple county, state and federal agencies are involved in seeking a solution to the crisis.
The immediate work in question involves removing the geomembrane covering a portion of the landfill, so the buttress can be constructed.
“Settlement in the reaction area has caused movement of the west toe,” said a notice from Chiquita that is being distributed to residents this week. “To ensure there is no further movement, Chiquita will be constructing a stabilizing buttress.”
The notice adds: “There may be increased odors associated with this work. Chiquita is working closely with its regulators to minimize impacts to the community associated with this project.”
Excavation is not expected to contact buried waste, but the portion of the digging that “has the highest potential to encounter waste” is scheduled to begin Monday and be completed by Aug. 14, the notice said.
During that time, the notice says, Chiquita has created a “cool zone” for impacted residents: A meeting room at the Embassy Suites on Westinghouse Place, where residents can escape the heat and the landfill’s stench from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day.
Schiavo, Barger and the residents gathered for the press conference Thursday morning say that’s not nearly enough.
“Frankly the fact that the plan was not in place to protect people before the work happened is shocking and it really shows how little the landfill cares for the health of our community,” Schiavo said during the news conference, adding that the limited hours of the cool zone fail to take into account that the most nauseating odors occur in the evening and at night.
“With these higher levels as the cover is being taken off, and they are digging into the landfill to excavate it, we know that more and more toxins are being released into the community and into the air that people are breathing,” Schiavo said. “The landfill truly should be moving people out of this community. That’s what should be happening.”
Failing that, she added, at the very least, “They absolutely should be offering refuge away from landfill gases during this construction being done. It is literally the bare minimum for the disaster that they have caused.”
Barger, represented at the news conference by staff member Isabell Berberian, issued a statement saying the letter she and the assemblywoman signed jointly is only asking the landfill operator to do the basic things it should already be doing.
“Today’s joint letter makes one thing clear: While the work to stabilize the landfill must continue, protecting the health and well-being of nearby residents cannot be treated as an afterthought,” Barger’s statement said. “The requests outlined in our letter are practical. The requests outlined in our letter are reasonable.”
Those requests, she said, are drawn from a mitigation plan called for by the L.A. County Public Health Department. They include: at-home support, such as air filters and purifiers; measures to reduce air intrusion from outdoors into residents’ homes; a shuttle service to the cool room at the Embassy Suites, for residents who don’t have transportation; and, short-term hotel relief for those who urgently need it.
“These are not extraordinary requests,” Barger’s statement added. “They are the basic responsibilities of a company whose operations are directly affecting the lives of thousands of residents nearby.”
Landfill Response
John Musella, who has acted as the local spokesman for the landfill, on Thursday provided The Signal with a copy of the notification that is going out to residents about the nature of the work and the information on the cool zone, which he noted in an email was opened on Tuesday, a week ahead of the required date.
“The info has been posted on the Chiquita website and Facebook page since the Cool Zone opened and was shared with Assemblywoman Schiavo on Monday,” he wrote.
The Signal requested additional response from Chiquita regarding the letter from Schiavo and Barger, but none was received in time for the publication of this story.
Residents Speak Out
Jennifer Elkins, a Val Verde resident and mother of three, spoke at Schiavo’s news conference and said the situation in her community is only getting worse.
“We have been dealing with this disaster in our community for more than four years and we see no end in sight,” she said, adding that the cool room’s limited hours are not enough: “What about at night when there is nowhere safe to escape to? … Stepping out of our homes, into the outside air, has been unbearable … Our community was already suffering before this work began, but now it is 10 times worse.”
Jose Luis Bobadilla, speaking in Spanish, said he has lived in Val Verde since 1982. He became emotional as he told the story of his health deteriorating while living near the landfill, to the point where he had to close his restaurant due to health impacts he attributes to the landfill.
Val Verde resident Abigail DeSesa said she was grateful that the cool room was established — and thanked Schiavo and Barger for their efforts to push Chiquita to provide it.
But, she said, it’s not enough.
“My lunch has been a child-sized bag of goldfish and a banana,” DeSesa said. “How is that supposed to work, day after day, week after week? There are two living room chairs, one love seat, lots of conference room chairs and round tables, a TV and WiFi, but no outside food or drinks are allowed and nothing set up for the families with children. We cannot use any of the hotel amenities, even though you can see straight out to the pool. And it’s summer. Just a room for all of us to sit, with a security guard.”
She added that, since pets are not allowed, those with animals have to go back and forth to their homes to care for them.
“When 7 p.m. hits, the room closes and we must leave with no place to go other than back to the gas blanketing our town,” DeSesa said.
She added that she’s waking up feeling ill every morning with headaches and eye pressure. “Where is the relief for that? I did not break the landfill, so why I am I paying a heavy price with my physical and mental health to fix it?”
