Gas at Landfill Made Worker Ill, Officials Confirm : Environment: Activists and politicians object to Los Angeles’ failure to disclose the incident until it surfaced in routine monthly reports.

A city worker apparently was overcome by escaping gases at the Lopez Canyon Landfill earlier this year, city officials confirmed Tuesday--just 10 months after a similar incident touched off intensive scrutiny of operations at the northeast San Fernando Valley dump.

Various official city and county documents show that on Jan. 29, maintenance laborer Rudy Corrales reported feeling dizzy, nauseated and experiencing chest pains while repairing a gas well leak at the city-operated dump.

After Corrales reported the leak, methane gas readings recorded at the site registered more than 10,000 parts per million, far above the 500 p.p.m. allowed under the landfill’s air pollution permit.

City sanitation officials describe the incident as minor, primarily because a private doctor released Corrales, 33, to return to work the following day. Michael Miller, assistant director of the city Bureau of Sanitation, said that the leak was immediately repaired and there have been no further problems.

Miller and other sanitation officials blamed Corrales for trying to repair the gas leak rather than following protocol established after two landfill workers fainted in March, 1989, while digging into a hill of decaying trash.

That procedure calls for promptly leaving the site of a suspected leak.

“We see it as an issue of a breakdown in training,” said sanitary engineer Malcolm Toy. “We told the fellow where he broke down, had additional training for everyone else and said, ‘Let’s learn by this mistake.’ ”

However, anti-dump activists and politicians say they have added the Corrales incident to their list of examples of unsafe landfill practices.

They particularly object to the city’s failure to publicly disclose the incident until it surfaced in routine monthly reports submitted in February to the state Solid Waste Management Board.

“What else don’t we know about?” asked Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar). “I don’t think the public is getting treated right by the city.”

The South Coast Air Quality Management District also never was notified about the incident, said spokesman David Rutherford.

The AQMD has issued 12 violations against the landfill during the past year, for problems ranging from malfunctioning equipment to documented odor complaints from neighbors.

“We are unaware of this and we’ll be looking into it,” Rutherford said. “Obviously when something happens over there, an inspector should be made aware of it.”

However, Ed Avila, deputy mayor and former city Public Works Board president, said the incident was not considered serious enough to warrant AQMD or public notification.

Information about the gas leak came on the heels of reports earlier this week that the city has agreed to add up to 200 more gas extraction wells to the dump after an AQMD inspector found many areas of the dump emitted methane gas at levels above 10,000 p.p.m.

The wells, installed during the past year and a half to meet air pollution requirements, tap gas building under the landfill and transport it to a flare station where it is burned off.

In last year’s incident, two workers were taken to the hospital after breathing gas believed to be hydrogen sulfide.

One of them, Keith O’Kray, was hospitalized 11 days for tests, but no toxic residue was found in his system and he later returned to work, Toy said.

That accident fueled the complaints of dump neighbors who object to proposed expansion of the dump.

It also touched off a state review of landfill practices, which ended in court.

As a result of that accident, the city hired worker safety consultants who provided training sessions and suggested that special masks be used.

Corrales was wearing a mask on Jan. 29, but told his superiors that the gas penetrated the mask.