SANTA CLARITA, Calif. — The operators of the Chiquita Canyon Landfill Wednesday are resisting the installation of monitors on wells to test air quality and pollutants that have been reported for months, leading to complaints from nearby residents and members of the community.
Lawyers representing the landfill told the South Coast Air Quality Management District on Tuesday that installing monitors would strain Chiquita Canyon Landfill's ability to meet the deadline to complete the West Toe excavation project. They asked the AQMD for an extension to the deadline to install monitors.
Installing monitors on wells is one modification the South Coast AQMD is seeking to the order of abatement issued to the landfill operators in September. The hearing on Tuesday was the second in as many weeks regarding the landfill and how to address the toxic air it is generating.
The South Coast AQMD is also considering ordering the landfill to pause operations from 7 to 10 a.m., when trash odors have been reported to be strongest, reducing the landfill's working face by 50%, conducting daily inspections and testing for leachate leaks.
The modifications were introduced at a hearing Aug. 13 at the Santa Clarita Performing Arts Center at College of the Canyons in Valencia. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. at the South Coast AQMD headquarters in Diamond Bar.
Kathryn Roberts, senior deputy director counsel for the AQMD, presented a status report at the hearing in Valencia. In it, she reported the landfill is behind schedule in its following of the order of abatement.
"The overall status at this time, following up to 11 months of the abatement order, is that there has been no meaningful improvement to the odors," Roberts said.
Megan Morgan of Beverage & Diamond, attorney for landfill operator Waste Connections, said during the hearing in Valencia the odors are generated by elevated temperatures at the landfill, called ETLFs.
"Chiquita, its experts and the district have learned there is no simple way to slow and stop ETLFs," Morgan said in Chiquita Canyon's opening statement. "If there were, Chiquita would be doing it."
The Chiquita Canyon Landfill operators were notified in June they were in violation of the federal Clean Air Act by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The landfill was notified of violations for excessive toxic air emissions in a letter dated June 4. The operators of the landfill, Chiquita Canyon LLC, and the company that owns it, Waste Connections, received the notice from the EPA.
The landfill was also in violation of its operating permit by emitting high levels of toxic gasses such as benzene and volatile organic compounds that are known to create smog and contribute to the formation of the ozone, which can cause lung damage.
It was the first time the EPA issued a violation to the landfill operators and owner. The South Coast AQMD has received more than 15,000 complaints about the landfill from nearby residents since January 2023. The EPA is leading a multi-agency task force to monitor the landfill and track the pollution it is creating.
CalEPA, the state Department of Toxic Substance Control and the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board have also issued violation notices to the Chiquita Canyon Landfill.
In the notice sent by the EPA in June, it states the landfill "failed to maintain and operate air pollution control equipment in a manner consistent with good air pollution control practice for minimizing emissions."
The landfill has been the source of pollution and complaints for months.
In March, the Water Quality Control Board denied the landfill's request to expand operations in its East Canyon Project. The landfill applied for the expansion on Jan. 4, 2022. The water control board sent a letter dated March 1 informing the operators of the rejection.