By Julia Pierrepont III
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- One street of 14 homes near the Chiquita Canyon Landfill in Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California has seen seven cancer diagnoses, with four occurring in just the past year, a statistic way out of line with normal cancer occurrences.
This public health crisis has forced dozens of local residents to protest last week, urging stronger protections from harmful fumes emanating from the landfill facility run by a private company.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger and Director of Los Angeles County's Department of Public Health, Dr. Barbara Ferrer, then sent a letter, enlisting the help of the county's Cancer Surveillance Program to evaluate the possibility of cancer clusters resulting from noxious odors stemming from the landfill.
Seventeen federal and state-elected officials have also sent an open letter to California Governor Gavin Newsom, repeating a request to declare a state of emergency in response to toxic pollution at the landfill.
Chiquita Canyon Landfill, located approximately 32 km northwest from downtown Los Angeles, provides Santa Clarita Valley and surrounding Los Angeles communities with waste disposal services. The crisis emanated from a noticeable cluster of cancer cases in the surrounding area, said California State Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo, who once stayed in the area herself for a time and quickly experienced symptoms of illness.
Schiavo's experience aligned with many reports from local residents and advocacy groups who had long complained about health issues such as headaches, nausea, respiratory problems, asthma, skin rashes, and burning eyes, symptoms believed to be linked to the toxic emissions from the landfill.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD), which has been involved in addressing the complaints, reported that the odors began drawing widespread attention in May 2023. However, since then, there has been no "meaningful improvement."
Landfill operators have acknowledged the existence of the odors and identified the cause as an underground fire within the landfill, expressing regret over the impact this is having on nearby communities and pledging to mitigate the situation.
As part of their response, they have provided nearly 9 million U.S. dollars in relief to affected residents and distributed over 1,700 air purifiers. Additionally, classrooms near the landfill have been equipped with carbon filtration systems.
The growing concerns over the landfill have led to the formation of a multi-agency critical action team in late 2023. This team, led by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), included various state and local agencies such as the California Air Resources Board, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, and the South Coast AQMD.
Despite efforts to control the problem, the district reported that complaints about the odors have dramatically increased. In 2024 alone, the agency received over 13,000 odor complaints from residents living several miles away from the landfill. This marks a steep rise from the 7,000 complaints registered in 2023.
The situation has been complicated by the fact that the landfill fire, which has been burning in a closed section of the site since 2022, has so far been impossible to extinguish.
In addition to addressing the fire, the landfill has been working to reduce the spread of hazardous liquids known as leachate. This waste liquid, which contains toxic substances like benzene, has been stored in over 100 tanks on-site. In August, a tank was overfilled, causing a spill of 3,000 gallons of foul-smelling liquid.
The district has proposed restricting landfill operations during the morning hours when unfavorable wind conditions tend to carry the smells into nearby neighborhoods. However, Chiquita Canyon has pushed back against these restrictions, arguing that such limits would severely impact their operations and disrupt waste management across Los Angeles County.
The district hearing board is set to reconvene in November to review potential restrictions on the landfill's operations. In the meantime, local residents, environmental advocates, and regulatory agencies remain focused on finding long-term solutions to the ongoing crisis at Chiquita Canyon Landfill. ■