Way too stinky: Castaic landfill ordered to reduce odors

DIAMOND BAR — The South Coast Air Quality Management District is seeking an order that would require the Chiquita Canyon Landfill in Castaic to take action to reduce community-impacting odors from the waste disposal site.

In May, the South Coast AQMD began receiving hundreds of odor complaints that investigators traced to the landfill/solid waste disposal facility, the Diamond Bar-based agency said in a statement Tuesday.

As a result of its investigation, South Coast AQMD found that the landfill was experiencing elevated levels of sulfur, specifically dimethyl sulfide, in its landfill gas — which its gas treatment system is not designed to remove, according to the regulatory agency.

South Coast AQMD said the underlying cause has been linked to a subsurface chemical reaction.

Since the start of its investigation, South Coast AQMD has received more than 1,200 odor complaints, the agency said.

Steve Cassulo, district manager of Chiquita Canyon Landfill, said the facility “shares the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s sense of urgency in addressing this odor issue and the underlying causes and addressing the local community’s concerns. We have been working cooperatively with the landfill’s various oversight and regulatory agencies including the County of Los Angeles and the SCAQMD.”

Cassulo pointed out that last week, Chiquita launched a Local Resident Air Filter Program, offering nearby residents experiencing odors a California Air Resources Board certified air filtration device for use in their home. Local residents interested in receiving an air filtration device can request one using an online form located on the odor mitigation page of the Chiquita website, www.chiquitacanyon.com.

The landfill said on its website that the most likely source of the odors is an increase in the production of landfill gas, known as LFG.

“Chiquita believes this increase in LFG is due to an abnormal biotic or abiotic process, also known as a landfill reaction, taking place within a portion of the Landfill waste mass,” the landfill company posted. “This reaction is not the result of a fire or other combustion within the waste mass and is not related to current operations. We are currently implementing short-term odor mitigation efforts while we work with the appropriate government oversight and regulatory authorities to implement long-term solutions.”

Through the order, South Coast AQMD will require Chiquita Canyon to pursue actions to reduce odors, including requiring the facility to investigate the cause of the chemical reaction and find a way to stop it, and take interim steps to reduce the impact to the community until a final solution is achieved, the agency said.

South Coast AQMD filed its petition seeking an Order for Abatement with the agency’s hearing board. The board is an independent panel that hears all sides of a case, weighs the evidence and reaches a decision. The hearing is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 6.