Hundreds of angry residents attend meeting about Chiquita Canyon Landfill

Hundreds of angry residents who live near the Chiquita Canyon Landfill are waiting Wednesday for answers about the future operations of the landfill that has been polluting neighboring communities for months.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger addressed the members of the community at a meeting about the landfill Monday at Castaic Middle School. She told members of the community the landfill is going to close in a month or two and it will be reducing its solid waste volume by Jan. 1. That means it will reduce its intake by about 50% at the start of 2025, an agreement previously reached by the landfill operators and the county. The landfill asked for an extension to the agreed upon date. Barger told the people at the meeting the deadline would not be extended.

The operators of the landfill have sued the county in part because the deadline was not extended.

"I'm hearing that the county will not - take on Waste Connections because we're afraid of being sued again. That is not true," Barger said at the meeting.

The landfill has been the source of complaints from nearby residents for overwhelming odors and air, land and water pollution two years. The landfill has been cited, warned and monitored for violating environmental regulations and codes and contributing to documented air and water pollution in nearby communities in Val Verde, Castaic and Santa Clarita.

The meeting drew local, state and federal representatives to address the concerns of the community and offer updates on the landfill's future.

Congressman Mike Garcia, state Sen. Scott Wilk and Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo were in attendance at the meeting.

Barger, who was repeatedly booed at the meeting, said the county is not planning on extending the deadline to reduce the intake of solid waste volume at the landfill. The landfill agreed to a reduction in its solid waste volume by Jan. 1.

But the landfill operators have filed a lawsuit against the county to extend the deadline, casting doubt on if the landfill will reduce its intake or cease operating.

A multi-agency task force headed by the Environmental Protection Agency has been monitoring the landfill for several months. But the county has not requested or declared a state of emergency to address the pollution the landfill is creating.

Garcia said at the meeting the state of emergency needs to be issued before federal aid can be allocated to people affected by the pollution from the landfill.

Schiavo told people at the meeting she has been lobbying Gov. Gavin Newson's office to declare a state of emergency and is most concerned about the health of the people who live and work near the landfill.

Wilk said he sent a letter to Waste Connections, the Texas-based company that owns the landfill, to address the community's concerns. The response from Waste Connections was far from cooperative. Waste Connections essentially dismissed his concerns, he said.

Barger told people at the meeting that county officials were not going to extend the deadline for the landfill to reduce its waste volume and that the landfill is likely to close in one to two months, based on estimates from the landfill.

In October, Castaic residents filed a lawsuit contending they have been sickened by noxious fumes and odors emanating from the Chiquita Canyon Landfill, according to court papers.

The suit, filed in Los Angeles federal court, alleges landfill owner- operator Waste Connections negligently and recklessly operated the site, resulting in serious harm to residents.

Barger and the county public health director asked for assistance to evaluate claims by Castaic residents that the Chiquita Canyon site has led to a cluster of cancer cases.

A Waste Connections representative did not respond to a request for comment from City News Service.

According to the lawsuit, residents allege the company failed to properly manage the landfill's gas capture, control systems and leachate systems. Leachate is a polluted liquid that forms from rainwater filtering through solid waste.

The alleged failure caused the emission of elevated and harmful levels of carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide and volatile organic gases, creating unsafe living conditions for thousands of residents, the lawsuit says.

This year alone, there have been 13,000 odor complaints about the landfill, according to plaintiffs' attorneys. Residents have reported headaches, nausea, respiratory issues and the inability to enjoy use of their properties due to the offensive smells, the suit states.

"If the landfill operator had taken proper action in maintaining its gas and leachate capture and control systems, community residents would not be suffering the alarming ailments they are now experiencing," plaintiffs' attorney Todd Becker said in a statement.

In August, The operators of the Chiquita Canyon Landfill were ordered by Southland air regulators to begin a series of steps to mitigate odors emanating from the facility, which has generated complaints from residents for nearly two years.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District Hearing Board issued an order of abatement that mandates various measures for odor control and monitoring. Among the steps are a limit to the allowable excavation area at the site, along with application of odor suppressants and increased air sampling.

The order also calls for collection of landfill surface samples for analysis at least three times per month, expansion of a public notification system when air quality standards are violated, development of procedures to prevent "leachate tank" overflows or failure, including daily inspections of tanks, along with installation of real-time remote temperature-monitoring systems at wellheads.

The AQMD is considering ordering the landfill to pause operations from 7 to 10 a.m., when trash odors have been reported to be strongest.