SANTA CLARITA (CNS) - The Chiquita Canyon Landfill has been reported for transporting and illegally dumping toxic waste at a facility in Gardena, according to media reports Thursday.
The California Department of Toxic Substances Control sent an alert to The Signal newspaper in Santa Clarita Tuesday detailing five Class-I violations committed by the landfill operators. The violations are the highest listed on the DTSC website and are "a significant threat to human health or safety or the environment."
The landfill operators have been found by the DTSC to be illegally disposing hazardous waste, in the case of Chiquita Canyon, leachate that contains toxic levels of benzene, a carcinogen, at a facility that is not permitted to treat hazardous waste, The Signal is reporting.
The DTSC is preparing a more complete report of the violations that is expected to be completed in April. A summary of the violations indicates the landfill operators failed to label a 4,600-gallon load of leachate pumped from Chiquita Canyon as hazardous waste and transported it to a nonhazardous waste facility.
The Chiquita Canyon Landfill operators addressed Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger's request for relocation assistance services for nearby residents of the landfill at a meeting at the Castaic Library on Feb. 13.
Barger is asking the operators of the Chiquita Canyon Landfill, which has been repeatedly cited for health and air quality violations, to provide relocation assistance services for those who live near the landfill and have been affected by the odors coming from the landfill.
In a letter Barger sent to a landfill executive, she requested immediate steps be taken to address the impacts on the community members who live near the landfill.
The landfill operators said they are setting up a community benefit and relocation program, but it will take a month to six weeks before it will be implemented.
"We are at an important crossroads. Although we have a significant number of organizations involved from the federal, state and county government levels, it has become increasingly clear to me that there is no predictable end in sight," Barger wrote in the letter addressed to John M. Perkey, vice president and deputy general counsel for Waste Connections, which owns Chiquita landfill and is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas.
"As you continue working to comply with oversight and odor abatement requirements, the very real and significant impacts to those living near the landfill must be addressed."
Barger's district includes the Santa Clarita Valley and the communities near the landfill.
Additionally, the letter requests the landfill operators to provide air filtration devices, to contribute more funds to the Utility Relief Program, which she initiated to help residents pay utility bills, and support a program that is intended to help homeowners make improvements related to the odors from the landfill.