THE SIGNAL
“Public Health directs Chiquita to reinstate relief program”
“Less than three months after the Chiquita Canyon Landfill’s relief assistance program was ended, the L.A. County Department of Public Health on Tuesday sent a letter to the landfill’s operators directing that the program be reinstated.
In the letter addressed to John Perkey, Waste Connections vice president and legal counsel, and Steve Cassulo, general manager of the Chiquita landfill, Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer wrote that the landfill has “failed to offer any support to affected residents” after terminating the relief program, and conditions at the landfill have only worsened since then.
Waste Connections is the parent company of Chiquita, which officially closed at the start of the year, stating in a letter on New Year’s Eve that operations were “no longer economically viable.” Noxious odors have been emanating from the landfill for more than two years — stemming from a subsurface reaction for which a joint task force of state, county and federal officials have yet to identify a root cause — and have caused “recurring health symptoms and a significantly diminished quality of life” for residents of Castaic, Val Verde and others near the landfill, the letter states.
Oshea Orchid, a Val Verde resident and attorney representing residents near the landfill in a lawsuit against it, said in a statement sent via text on Wednesday that she is “pleased to see that Public Health is finally stepping up to hold the landfill operators responsible for the public health crisis that they have created.” She added, though, that the relief program, if reinstated, needs further government oversight.
“The relief program being voluntary and without government oversight was always problematic,” Orchid wrote. “The landfill’s sudden termination of its relief program left residents without the ability to relocate or continue necessary home-hardening efforts. The landfill has also refused to provide rationale for how the relief program was implemented and what amount of relief was available to residents. While the landfill should be held responsible for funding relief to residents, Public Health ultimately has a duty to ensure relief is available to residents to protect public health during this serious environmental crisis.””
