SANTA CLARITA — An independent report on the Chiquita Canyon Landfill was met with calls to close it from the members of the community who attended a meeting at College of the Canyons, and more studies are needed to determine if the landfill is a health risk.
The report, shared Wednesday during a meeting at the college campus in Valencia, by a consultant hired by the Los Angeles County Public Health Department studied the air quality of the landfill and its surrounding areas. The landfill has been issued 100 violations and received more than 7,000 complaints from nearby residents who say odors are causing health problems and polluting the community.
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The consultant said the report’s data revealed no alarm bells and that his assessments were preliminary.
Those in attendance at the meeting vocally disagreed with the report and at one point called for the closure of the landfill.
The six-week study of the air quality at the landfill collected data from the end of October to the middle of December. The results of the study were similar to the findings shared by the South Coast Hearing Board of the Air Quality Management District in January. Both reports concluded more information was needed to explain what is causing strong, potentially dangerous, odors from the landfill.
The operators of the landfill have agreed to install monitors to test the air quality at the landfill. Those monitors have not been installed, and there are plans to complete installation in the coming weeks.
Adam Love, an environmental forensics expert with Roux Associates, the company hired to compile the report, said there were levels of benzene detected at the landfill and testing did not indicate levels that posed long-term health risks. However, Love could not explain why the landfill was producing detectable levels of benzene.
Love suggested more continuous and consistent air quality sampling is needed. The Environmental Protection Agency is part of a task force investigating the landfill.
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