Test Shows No Toxic Gas in Methane at Poly High

A laboratory test has shown that methane gas seeping from a landfill onto the campus of Francis Polytechnic High School does not contain toxic gases, teachers at the Sun Valley school were told Thursday.

Jack Waldron, safety programs supervisor for the Los Angeles Unified School District, told a gathering of about 70 teachers that the test, conducted after a buildup of explosive methane closed the boys’ gymnasium three weeks ago, failed to turn up measurable amounts of benzene, vinyl chloride or other dangerous compounds that are often found in landfill gas.

But in response to requests by several school employees, Waldron said he will try to conduct a survey to see if there are unusual health problems at the school that might be connected with the landfill.

Cancer Threat Feared

The meeting, held in the library of the school, was organized by a committee of school employees worried about the risk of explosion and long-term health problems from the inactive Sheldon-Arleta landfill across a street behind the school.

Sylvia Brown, a school counselor who chairs the committee, said she was “very pleased” that there will be a health survey of Poly High employees. She said some employees are concerned because several teachers and administrators have contracted cancer in recent years.

An official with the Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation, which owns the landfill, said the bureau hopes to eliminate future methane seepage by selling off the gas.

Robert Alpern, principal sanitary engineer with the bureau, said the agency has solicited proposals from private businesses that could use the gas as an energy source. He said interested firms, which have until May 1 to submit their proposals, will be required to capture and utilize all of the gas.

“We’re going to sell that gas,” Alpern said. “That will take care of the problem.”

Gyms Closed in 1980

Methane, which is produced by decomposing trash, closed the boys’ and girls’ gyms at the high school in 1980. Another methane buildup in the school occurred three years later.

Then, on March 28, methane seeping through the ground rose through chinks and cracks in the floor of the boys’ gym, triggering an alarm system installed after the 1980 episode.

Bureau of Sanitation officials said the methane had eluded the dump’s gas capture system because a dump employee erroneously turned off a valve that controls wells and flares used to vent the gas.

Two weeks ago, city crews drilled wells through the pavement next to the gym to evacuate the gas, and the building was reopened when students returned from spring vacation on April 8. Waldron said Thursday that methane is still being detected near cracks in the gym floor, but that the risk is minimal because of the small amount involved.

Air-Quality District Letter

Although no toxic gases were found in the recent methane test, previous tests at the landfill revealed very small traces of cancer-causing benzene and vinyl chloride, according to a letter from the South Coast Air Quality Management District that was read by one of the teachers.

The letter, written to the teacher, said the tests indicated “that ‘toxic’ materials are not present” in sufficient amounts “to present a health hazard.”

But City Councilman Howard Finn, whose eastern San Fernando Valley district encompasses the school and several problem landfills, noted at the meeting Thursday that landfill gas emissions can change over time as different materials decompose. If “you take a measurement today,” he said, “it won’t tell you what’s happening next month.”

Although city and school district officials have been monitoring the school at 12431 Roscoe Blvd. for methane since the 1980 episode, Waldron and Alpern said they have not been checking for toxic gases.

Landfill ‘Closed to Public’

Alpern said the landfill, which the city operated from 1962 through 1974, was closed to the public and accepted only ordinary household garbage and street sweepings collected by city crews. As a result, he said, the landfill would not produce significant amounts of the more exotic gases.

But Virginia Norman, an art teacher who said she had lived near the school for 25 years, said Alpern was wrong in saying the landfill was closed to the public.

Norman said she and others “dumped stuff over there. Nobody checked what I dumped.”

Waldron said school and city officials will meet Friday to discuss a plan to install methane monitors between the landfill and school buildings. Currently, the alarm is triggered once methane builds up inside, but there is no way to detect underground pockets of the gas en route to the school.

Finn said that, if the Bureau of Sanitation cannot prevent future methane seepage, he would push the agency to install an underground wall between the landfill and the school.