CBS - KCAL NEWS
“LA County sues Chiquita Canyon Landfill owners over chemicals, gases hurting health of residents”
“Earlier this year, some local lawmakers and Santa Clarita Valley residents said the landfill has led to a cluster of cancer cases in the area and called on Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency. Steven Howse, who lives in the community of Val Verde, just 900 feet from the landfill, spoke out after his wife was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer last year.
"What people misconstrue is that it's odors, and it's not just odors," Howse said. "It physically makes you sick. ”
On Tuesday, ahead of an LA County Board of Supervisors meeting, concerned residents spoke at a news conference where they called for the landfill to be closed and for the county board to issue a local emergency declaration.
Multiple children spoke before reporters during the news conference, including a child who said she had a cough that lasted six months and another who said the noxious gases have made her feel ill and have caused her to struggle during gym class.
"I've have been getting sick on and off since school started," said Leila Martinez. "I would just like the landfill smells to stop. They're hurting a lot of people."
According to the lawsuit, leachate — the liquid that forms when rain water draws out chemicals from the landfill waste — contains hazardous chemicals such as benzene and has led to more fumes and foul odors.
"On numerous occasions, regulators inspecting the Noxious Reaction observed leachate bubbling, boiling, or shooting out from the Landfill like a geyser, sometimes as high as twelve to eighteen feet in the air," the lawsuit states. "The Defendants have failed to properly collect, treat, store, or dispose of the leachate, nor have they properly managed it as hazardous waste."
Among the hundreds of violations issued by public agencies against the landfill are several from the South Coast Air Quality Management District. During just the first six months of this year, the regulator received about 10,000 complaints tied to the site.
In February, a group of residents sued Chiquita Canyon over health issues they've experienced. A few days later, the LA County Department of Public Health released the findings of an independent study which reported that the landfill's noxious gases were possibly leading to short-term health effects such as headaches, nasal congestion and eye and throat irritation.
Just weeks later, a malfunctioning hose led to a hazmat situation at the facility. At the time, fire officials said one person was injured by a burst hydrogen peroxide line at the landfill, according to the Los Angeles Times.
