DIAMOND
BAR, Calif., Aug. 27,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the South Coast Air
Quality Management District (South Coast AQMD) Hearing Board issued
an Order for Abatement that will require Chiquita Canyon Landfill
to take additional steps to reduce odors that have been impacting
the community for nearly two years.
The order includes more than two dozen conditions that will
improve leachate collection, add preventative maintenance and
inspections, mitigate odors associated with excavation activities,
and require additional air monitoring. Conditions related to the
mitigation of trash odors and the proposal to change operation
hours will return to the Hearing Board on November 13th and 14th,
2024, for consideration. These contested conditions require an
exchange of documents between the parties which will take
additional time to gather, review, and evaluate.
The order was agreed upon to offer the community immediate
relief and avoid delaying implementation of the vast majority of
conditions. South Coast AQMD has received more than 20,000
complaints about odors from the landfill from nearby residents
since January 2023.
Today's order requires Chiquita Canyon Landfill to take
significant actions, including:
- Limit the size of the excavation area needed to address
the ongoing elevated temperature reaction and employ additional
odor mitigation measures during excavation, including applying an
odor neutralizer or odor suppressant, providing notice to the
community of excavation activities, performing air sampling at the
excavation site, and reducing excavation activities if an odor
nuisance Notice of Violation is issued.
- Collect instantaneous and integrated landfill surface
samples for analysis across the Reaction Area at least three
times per month, at intervals of no more than once every 7 days,
and additionally across the remainder of the landfill at least four
times per quarter and taking corrective actions as applicable based
on the analysis.
- Expand the public notification system for exceedances of
air quality standards for benzene and H2S to include five
additional monitoring stations.
- Develop standard operating procedures for leachate tank
operations in accordance with industry standards and best
management practices to prevent leachate tank overflow, failure,
and spillage in the tank farm areas, as well as conduct daily
inspections of leachate tanks, tank connection ports, valves, tank
hoses, and other leachate tank-related equipment.
- Install real-time remote monitoring systems for
temperature at no fewer than twenty wellheads and investigate the
feasibility of a remote monitoring system to measure pressure
within the well.
The Chiquita Canyon Landfill is a landfill/solid waste disposal
facility located at 29201 Henry Mayo Dr., in Castaic, California. This Order for Abatement
was first issued by the Hearing Board in September 2023 and modified in January and
April 2024. South Coast AQMD brought
a Petition for an Order for Abatement to address issues relating to
the facility's liquid leachate collection system and an ongoing
public nuisance. In nearly a year following the issuance of the
original Order of Abatement, the landfill has shown no meaningful
decrease in nuisance-level odors in the impacted communities. The
elevated landfill temperature is ongoing at a portion of the
Chiquita Canyon Landfill and is considered a rare occurrence.
Numerous experts have been retained to understand and mitigate the
impacts of the elevated temperature.
Today's Order was issued by the South Coast AQMD Hearing Board.
The Hearing Board is an independent panel that hears all sides of a
case, weighs the evidence, and reaches a decision. The Hearing
Board convened a hearing on August 17,
2024, which was reconvened on August
20, 2024, and August 27, 2024.
The public was given the opportunity to testify, and evidence was
received.
South Coast AQMD is the regulatory agency responsible for
improving air quality for large areas of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San
Bernardino counties, including the Coachella Valley. For
news, air quality alerts, event updates and more, please visit us
at www.aqmd.gov, download our award-winning app, or follow us on
Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter) and Instagram.
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SOURCE SOUTH COAST AQMD