Jail Ordered to Install Gas Retrieval System
Regional air-quality officials have once again ordered the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to install a gas-retrieval system at a garbage dump at the department’s jail farm in Castaic.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District hearing board refused Wednesday to grant the Sheriff’s Department permission to operate the small landfill at Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho without installing equipment to siphon off methane gas generated by rotting garbage.
The AQMD said state law mandates such equipment at all landfills.
Technically, the department had sought a “temporary variance” that would have allowed the department to operate the dump legally until the hearing board could consider a request for a permanent variance on May 9.
The board’s action Wednesday makes it highly unlikely that a permanent variance will be granted next month.
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