Board to Study Alleged Dump-Related Illnesses : Lopez Canyon: Five people, including four children, reportedly became ill from methane emitted by the landfill.

Air quality officials looking into toxic gas emissions at the Lopez Canyon Landfill indicated Tuesday that they will investigate allegations that methane from the dump caused four children and a worker to become ill.

At a conference held to prepare for upcoming public hearings on the dump, members of the South Coast Air Quality Management District hearing board included a number of medical experts in a list of witnesses they intend to call to testify about the incidents.

The five-member hearing board, a quasi-judicial panel, will hold its third hearing Friday into alleged violations of state air pollution control laws at the city of Los Angeles-operated dump.

On April 27 and May 5, elected officials and residents of nearby Kagel Canyon and Lake View Terrace called on the board to close the landfill until the city has complied with state regulations governing methane gas emissions.

The hearing board, the AQMD’s enforcement arm, has the power to go to court and close the dump if violations are found. It also can limit the amounts and kinds of trash dumped there.

Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), who represents the area, and others said that the city was ordered in August to bring the emissions under control by January but has not done so. As recently as March, they said, emissions were measured at 10,000 p.p.m., far above the 500 p.p.m. allowed under state law.

The board will continue taking public testimony at 1 p.m. Friday at Dexter Park in Kagel Canyon. The city and AQMD will present its witnesses beginning June 8 at the district headquarters in El Monte.

Included on a list of witnesses approved by the hearing board are medical personnel from the state Department of Health Services, the Los Angeles County Health Department and doctors who treated four children who became ill on Oct. 12 while playing in their yards.

Robert and Claire Telford testified at an earlier hearing that the doctor who treated their 11-year-old daughter told them she had become ill because she had inhaled noxious gas.

Board members also said they would subpoena doctors who treated a city worker who had been overcome by gases escaping from the dump Jan. 29 to testify June 8.

Board member James D. Joyce said he hopes the hearings can be concluded June 8 and the board can act then because an emergency situation appears to exist at the landfill, based on testimony that gas emissions have caused health problems.

“We should move as expeditiously as possible,” said Harold V. Brown, hearing board chairman.

But Deputy City Atty. Christopher Westhoff, representing the city Bureau of Sanitation, said Tuesday that it will take him three or four days to present the city’s witnesses and that the hearing board set aside June 14 and June 18 for other hearings if needed.

Westhoff has maintained that the city is in compliance with an Aug. 2, 1989, hearing board order because it has installed gas collection wells to control emissions. He said no one expected the wells to work immediately. “It takes as long as six months or longer for a gas collection system to stabilize.”

“I’m really not sure what we’re accused of,” Westhoff said. “The city has received no list of allegations.” He would not comment on the hearing board’s witness list because he said he has not had a chance to examine it.

Tuesday’s proceedings appeared to reassure residents who monitored the meeting.

“I think they’re trying to look out for us,” said Phyllis Hines of the Lake View Terrace Improvement Assn. “You can see they’re concerned about the health issues. I think they’re trying to be fair-minded.”