Sheriff Fighting Order on Gas-Retrieval System at Jail

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is fighting an order by air-quality officials who want the department to install a retrieval system to siphon off methane gas rising from a landfill at the County Jail in Castaic.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District issued the department a notice of violation Jan. 24 because methane gas levels at the dump were four to six times above the state safety standard, AQMD spokesman David Rutherford said Monday. Despite the high readings, it is not clear whether a health risk exists, said Mohsen Nazemi, a supervising engineer with the AQMD.

The AQMD ordered the department to install a system of wells and flares that would collect and burn off the gas created by decomposing garbage. Such systems are standard requirements at landfills, Rutherford said.

But Capt. Tom Hehir said the Sheriff’s Department will ask an AQMD review board to grant a variance allowing the dump at the Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho to operate without the retrieval system. The department could submit its request as early as next week, he said.

Hehir said the Sheriff’s Department opposes the retrieval system because consultants retained by the department doubt there is enough methane to collect at the dump. Cost is a concern as well. The consultants estimate a gas-collection system could cost between $500,000 and $1 million, he said.

According to Hehir, recent studies found an average of only 9 parts per million of methane, well below the standard of 50 parts per million.

The AQMD’s order was based on 1988 tests that found averages as high as 324 parts per million of methane, Rutherford said.

The low readings provided by the Sheriff’s Department did not impress AQMD engineers. “We were not convinced” that a retrieval system is not needed, Rutherford said.

The landfill, about 10 years old and located in a remote portion of the jail, covers 37 acres but could expand to 54 acres, Hehir said. It accepts 22 tons of refuse from the jail each day.