No Dangerous Gas Leaks Found at Dump

Tests conducted by the California Waste Management Board have found no evidence of dangerous gas leaking from the edges of the Lopez Canyon Landfill, a board spokesman said Friday.

“There’s not a gas migration problem, at least where we were able to test,” said board spokesman Chris Peck. “And we went all around the site, especially into the areas nearest to residences.”

Preliminary results of neighborhood air testing by the South Coast Air Quality Management District also turned up no alarming levels of chemicals, said spokesman Tom Eichhorn. Although no state health standards have been set for most gases present at landfills, Eichhorn said the gases detected were “within the normal range that you would find at a landfill.”

Edward J. Avila, president of the Los Angeles Board of Public Works, called the results reassuring. However, Rob Zapple, a member of the Kagel Canyon Civic Assn., which wants the landfill closed, viewed the testing more skeptically because it did not consider the potential for health problems from breathing even the lower level of gases.

Intermittent Problem

“I’m thankful for the testing, I’m thankful that it came out all right, but I’m certainly not satisfied,” Zapple said. “They were in place for just a few days, while the odor comes and goes. At times the odor is very strong, and I know it is indicative of gases flowing off the landfill.”

The Waste Management Board testing, which was conducted at 25 locations around the city-owned dump earlier this week, and the air district testing in three locations were prompted by a March 8 gas release that sent two workers to the hospital and made four others ill.

Cause of the workers’ illness was never determined because the city waited two days before reporting the incident, rendering tests inconclusive. State and local officials, however, believe that it was caused by a pocket of toxic hydrogen sulfide gas trapped in decaying 1982 trash that the workers unearthed.

The air district tested for methane, a common landfill gas, and hydrogen sulfide, but the Waste Management Board tested only for methane because it is easier to detect with available state equipment, Peck said.

“Methane is an indicator that other things might be present,” he said. “If there’s not methane, there’s likely not anything else.”

Remained Open

After the March 8 incident, the state threatened to close the dump until testing proved that no health dangers persisted. However, the state agreed to withdraw that order when initial air tests found no significant levels of toxic gases.

The air district issued a citation against the city the following week because the workers who unearthed the gaseous trash were digging a road without a required district permit. On Wednesday, the district issued a second citation to the city based on odor reports from landfill neighbors over Easter weekend.

The two violations, each of which carries a $25,000 maximum fine, have been turned over to the air district’s legal staff, which will determine what actions the city must take.

Lopez Canyon, the city’s only remaining public landfill, which accepts more than half of the 7,000 tons of household rubbish produced daily, must install a gas recovery system by early July under district regulations. Eichhorn said the system should reduce the likelihood of future gas release and odor incidents.

“Those burps are natural byproducts of landfills and that’s why the gas collection systems are necessary,” he said.

In response to the second district violation, Avila said the city assigned two industrial waste inspectors to the dump full time to keep track of landfill operations. “We call them toxic cops,” he said. The city also installed a 24-hour hot line that the district can call whenever it receives citizens’ complaints about odor.

“What I think we’re saying to the community there is we’re committed to being good neighbors,” Avila said. “We understand that no one wants a landfill in their neighborhood, but we also know we’re committed to picking up the trash and taking it somewhere.”