Power Plant, Dump Cited 17 Times for Odors in Sun Valley

A Sun Valley landfill and an electrical generating plant powered by gas from the dump have been cited 17 times in recent weeks for emitting odors that workers at a neighboring business say have made them sick.

Notices of the violations, each punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, have been issued by the South Coast Air Quality Management District to L. A. By-Products Co., owner of the Penrose Pit at 8301 Tujunga Ave., and to Pacific Lighting Energy Systems, which generates electricity at the site by burning methane gas from decomposing trash.

The smells are so noxious at times that “we’ve had two people quit because of sickness,” said Glenda Ciotti, community relations officer for Transit Contractors. That company operates dial-a-ride programs for the elderly and handicapped from offices within 100 yards of the power plant.

She said the smell has made some of the program’s 60 drivers feel sick. “Then they go get in the vans, and they’re taking elderly and handicapped people around,” she said.

Officials of L. A. By-Products and Pacific Lighting said Friday that the origin of the smell is a mystery. They said the area--with its auto junkyards, industrial plants, and other inactive landfills--contains many other potential odor sources.

Recognize Complaints

“We realize that there are some odor complaints coming from the neighborhood,” but “nobody can find the source,” said R. M. Salisbury, president of L. A. By-Products.

“We’re sensitive to the people in the area,” said Tony Henrich, a spokesman for Pacific Lighting Energy Systems, which is owned by Pacific Lighting Corp., a giant holding company whose largest subsidiary is Southern California Gas Co.

But “our study to date suggests that our plant is not the source of the odor problem,” Henrich said.

However, a sulfurous smell that was conspicuous at Transit Contractors on Friday seemed identical to an odor in the Pacific Lighting generating building.

And air-district spokesman Ron Ketcham said there is no doubt that the odor is coming from either the power plant or the landfill, even though the specific reason for the problem is still under investigation. Ketcham also said that tests by the air district have shown unusual levels of sulfur and other odorous compounds in gases emitted by the dump.

The district itself has come in for criticism from employees of the dial-a-ride program. Although inspectors wrote odor citations just about every other day in September, Ciotti faulted the agency for not doing more to stop the problem.

‘People Here Are Sick’

“I don’t think they realize that there’s real people here who are sick,” she said.

Ketcham denied that the agency has dragged its feet. Ketcham said air-district lawyers probably will file a request next week with the AQMD hearing board for an abatement order. Once the petition is filed, it will be two weeks or more before it is taken up by the hearing board.

The district’s response has been “fairly quick . . . considering the number of cases that we’re involved with,” Ketcham said.

An abatement order can be issued for repeated violations of air-quality rules, following a public hearing at which both the affected companies and district staff present their case. Such an order usually sets deadlines for specific corrective steps. Once an abatement order is issued, the maximum penalty for violations goes from $1,000 to $6,000.

The Penrose Pit is a former sand- and gravel-mining operation that was converted to a private landfill in the early 1960s. The 71-acre dump was closed last year, and Pacific Lighting built a plant to generate electrical power from the prodigious amounts of methane and other gases given off by decaying trash.

Positive Achievement

Such landfill gas-to-electricity plants, which are increasingly common, have been heralded as the only positive result of society’s reliance on landfills.

Pacific Lighting officials said that, when the Penrose plant opened last December, it was the largest landfill gas-to-electricity plant in the country.

The Penrose plant--like a twin Pacific Lighting generating station at Los Angeles’ Toyon Canyon landfill in Griffith Park--can produce about 9 megawatts of electricity. That’s enough to supply about 9,000 homes, or the equivalent of 115,000 barrels of oil a year, according to the company.

Ketcham said air-district inspectors issued the first odor citations to Pacific Lighting alone, then began citing both companies. Pacific therefore has received tickets on all 17 days, L. A. By-Products on only 14.