Bipartisan Press Conference Urges Action on Chiquita Canyon Landfill Toxic Fallout

 

By Santa Clarita Star Staff

 

A bipartisan press conference brought together Congressman Mike Garcia, Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo, and challenger George Whitesides to address the environmental and health impacts of the Chiquita Canyon Landfill disaster. Local leaders and residents called for a state of emergency, highlighting toxic air emissions and a potential cancer cluster near the landfill in Val Verde and Santa Clarita. Criticism was directed at Supervisor Kathryn Barger and Governor Gavin Newsom for their roles in the landfill's expansion and lack of urgent action.

 

SANTA CLARITA, Calif.  — In a rare display of bipartisan unity, a press conference was held Tuesday, October 15, featuring the offices of Republican Congressman Mike Garcia and Democratic Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo. Residents and local leaders gathered to discuss the ongoing impact of the Chiquita Canyon Landfill on the surrounding community.

 

Notably, both Garcia's office and George Whitesides, the Democratic candidate challenging him, stood together in solidarity. The event drew attention to frustrations over the landfill's expansion and the health effects it has had on nearby residents.

 

During the press conference, Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger were criticized. Barger, in particular, was called out for her role in advocating for the landfill’s expansion. Assemblywoman Schiavo, who has been outspoken about the issue, spent time staying with one of the affected residents, highlighting the toll the situation has taken on local families.

 

“We are here today to make one thing abundantly clear that the people of Val Verde, Castaic and Santa Clarita need help,” Pilar declared. “And Los Angeles County and the state and the federal government must do more, and they must declare a state of emergency and bring immediate relief to the community. Every night and well into the morning, toxic fumes full of cancer-causing chemicals such as benzene and other harmful gases like hydrogen sulfide and methane are descending on the community. Looking at satellite imagery, I don't see any methane emitter that comes close to what Chiquita Canyon landfill is producing in all of LA County. Today, in an effort to ensure that no one with the power, that no one with the power to help is able to turn away and go about their days as if this isn't a crisis, we want you to hear directly from residents about their health struggles.

 

Schiavo then described her night staying at a resident’s home near the Chiquita Canyon Landfill.

 

“To better understand what our community is experiencing, I took Jennifer and her family up on their offer for me to stay at their home, where we found a cancer cluster on their street, which borders the landfill,” Schiavo said. “Today, I'm releasing a video that is a video diary documenting my experience on October 1st when I spent the night. And it was just one night. It was literally 12 hours, 7:30 at night to 7:30 in the morning. Jennifer and her husband and three children, three young children were nice enough to host me. Within a half hour of being inside their home with windows and doors closed, I had a headache and burning eyes. And as the night progressed, I continued to get more of the symptoms that I've been hearing from neighbors. My throat started to burn and was scratchy. My eyes were burning so much I just wanted to keep them closed. And at one point, my face got red like there was a reaction, a skin reaction happening, and it was hot to the touch, and you can see it a little bit even in the video. And in the morning when I was getting ready, now, doing my morning routine, I blew my nose, and it started bleeding. I haven't had a nosebleed and I don't, I can't even remember when. So something that, you know, something that people in LA are not experiencing in their normal day-to-day lives, but people in this community are experiencing every single day. All of this after being outside for 10 minutes max, and then leaving the screen door, I stayed on their travel trailer, leaving the screen door open for about an hour. So maybe an hour of moderate exposure to the air. And in the morning when we dropped off the kids at the school, which is right here in the distance, and has some of the worst air quality in the region, I started to have a tight chest and feel like I needed to take a big breath of air to get more air. Residents have endured this and far worse for over a year and even worse on Jennifer’s street.”

 

Schiavo insisted that the area was indeed a “cancer cluster”.

 

“Of about 14 houses closest to the landfill, seven people have cancer, with four neighbors being diagnosed just within the last year,” Schiavo said.

 

Tami Stephens, a field representative for Congressman Mike Garcia's office, read a statement.

 

“As a resident of this valley, Congressman Garcia has been fighting for the residents affected by this environmental disaster since day one, working to get them the relief they desperately need and deserve,” Stephens said. “In February, he welcomed the EPA's involvement in the emergency response at the landfill and was among the first elected officials to call for the landfill’s closure with the exception of local trash collection. By March, he led a bipartisan letter with Assemblywoman Schiavo and other federal and state representatives urging Governor Newsom to declare a state of emergency. Throughout this crisis, he has consistently met with afflicted residents and called for an investigation to hold those who are responsible accountable. In Washington, he worked with federal agencies to secure overhead monitoring assets to assist with the emergency response as well as introduce the Chiquita Canyon Tax Relief Act to make relief payments and legal settlements tax exempt for residents. This would apply to all past, present, and future payments. When the opportunity arose to join Assemblywoman Schiavo in sending another letter to the governor for a state of emergency, he seized it immediately. Congressman Garcia is grateful for the Assemblywoman's partnership and remains committed to working in a bipartisan manner to resolve this issue for the residents. He is again calling on the county to also support a declaration of a state of emergency. There is no downside to it. It will make more resources available at all levels of government and our community deserves it. Thank you.”

 

Suzan Evans, who is a resident who lives near the Landfill, shared her story about how she has been affected by the disaster. She was helped out of a wheelchair to stand at the podium to speak.

 

“I've lived in Val Verde for about 23 years,” Evans said. “I moved to my current home in Val Verde about 12 years ago. It's 500 feet from the dump. I was aware of the promise of closure, just like Jennifer and everybody else back here. I became involved in the fight to stop LA County from expanding the dump in 2017. All those toxins that Jennifer mentioned didn't matter. They expanded it.  When Aliso Canyon blew methane through Porter Ranch, they were given a state emergency in just over three months. Can someone tell me why the toxins spewing out of Chiquita are not more toxic than methane alone?”

 

Evans blamed Barger for not acting with urgency to resolve important issues for residents who live near Chiquita Canyon Landfill.

 

“I believe Barger campaigned to be reelected to the office of she's in now using the dump as something she would resolve,” Evans said. “Obviously she has not done that. She promised us new windows and doors and central AC for those who have swamp coolers. Within months of that statement on television, she reneged on the promise and said the dump is responsible. ‘Make them [Chiquita Canyon Landfill] pay. I'm not helping you any further.’ She said that nothing will help us more than what we're getting now. I honestly don't want the dumps money. It's taxable. Will probably make me homeless because I am on a fixed income… I'm disabled and I fear that this is, I'm going to die long before this is resolved. And that's not fair to anybody to die knowing that the dump is still actively killing us.”

 

The crowd began to chant, “It's not fair. We need clean air.”

 

Lynne Plambeck, the head of Santa Clarita Organization for Planning and the Environment (SCOPE) and a former member of the Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency Board of Directors, also spoke at the press conference.

 

“We were standing by this community in 1998 when they made a deal with the landfill saying it would be closed in 20 years,” Plambeck declared. “And then just like what the government did to the Native Americans in our community, the county reneged and they expanded this landfill in spite of a lot of this information being in the environmental impact report. They disclosed a cancer cluster. They disclosed that they took air monitoring readings from Merceda and New Hall instead of next to the landfill. They wouldn't put any monitoring in because they knew there was a problem then. Now where were seven years, eight years later? And we have all these problems still. And it's because the County didn't do its job.”