RESIDENTS PROTEST ODORS: Granada Hills residents last year staged a protest at the Sunshine Canyon Landfill in Sylmar. Photo: Los Angeles Daily News.
UPDATE: Feb. 8, 2017
Following months of South Coast Air Quality Management District public hearings, a possible solution to the methane odors emanating from the Sunshine Canyon Landfill in Sylmar will not impact Temescal Valley’s El Sobrante Landfill.
If you recall, we reported in November that there was a possibility of 3,000 tons of a trash a day being diverted from Sunshine Canyon to El Sobrante.
The SCAQMD has now issued an order of abatement that limits the morning hours that Sunshine Canyon can receive trash, and has directed the landfill to divert tons of organic food waste and create better trash cover to control methane gas. The organic food waste would be recycled at a Gardena transfer station before heading to a Carson wastewater treatment plant and a Chino composting plant, according to the L.A. Daily News.
(Published Nov. 28, 2016)
LA County landfill could be ordered to ship trash elsewhere
What does a stinky Los Angeles County landfill have in common with Temescal Valley?
Residents of Granada Hills for many years have filed complaints with the South Coast Air Quality Management District about the methane odors emanating from the Sunshine Canyon Landfill in neighboring Sylmar.
EL SOBRANTE RESPONDS
“We do not have a position on the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s (SCAQMD) petition for an Order of Abatement against Republic’s Sunshine Canyon Landfill facility. El Sobrante is a regional landfill that serves multiple counties such as Riverside, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, San Diego and Orange. Regardless of SCAQMD’s decisions at Sunshine Canyon, it will be business as usual at El Sobrante. We will continue to provide critical waste disposal services while operating in accordance with our permit and complying with our approved tonnage and truck limits.”
MORE AQMD HEARINGS
The Hearing Board will hold further hearings at SCAQMD, 21865 Copley Drive, Diamond Bar, on the following days:
– Tuesday, Nov. 29, at 9 a.m.
– Wednesday, Nov, 30, at 9 a.m.
– Thursday, Dec. 1, at 9 a.m.
The AQMD board soon could be placing an Order of Abatement on the landfill that would limit its hours of operation and reduce its intake of garbage by 3,000 tons a day. Options for where those 3,000 tons of trash will be sent are limited, and Temescal Valley’s El Sobrante Landfill could be a possible recipient. El Sobrante is not at capacity on the daily amount it can receive and could accept 3,000 more tons which equates to about 175 more truckloads a day.
Also involved in the Sunshine Canyon fray are the county and city of Los Angeles. At the urging of county Supervisor Michael Antonovich, last month the county Department of Public Health announced it had served a notice of violation to the landfill, stating it is a “nuisance affecting the health and well-being of residents.”
Los Angeles City Councilman Mitchell Englander earlier this month introduced a motion that the city identify another facility to accept the trash, the LA Daily News reported. Englander was quoted as saying, “It’s the first step in shutting it down. I want to stop the odors.”
Representatives of Sunshine Canyon, operated by Republic Services, say they have spent $27 million since 2009 in trying to remedy landfill odors. They also have stated that of the 9,000 complaints received by the AQMD since 2009, 70 percent over a five-year period came from only 20 addresses. They argue that it makes no sense for the AQMD to divert the waste because of additional emissions that would be generated by trucks used to haul it elsewhere.
Sunshine Canyon hired a consultant who has reached out to residents of communities where landfills are located to “warn” them of the possibility of more trash and more trucks.
An Oct. 20 meeting coordinated by the consultant at the Marie Callender’s in Corona was attended by about 20 Temescal Valley residents. Also attending were Waste Management employees Miriam Cardenas and Lily Quiroa, and Jeff Greene, chief of staff for 1st District Supervisor Kevin Jeffries.