Undeniably, residents who live near the Chiquita Canyon Landfill have been suffering. I have led the charge to demand accountability from the landfill operator and County and State agencies who have regulatory oversight over the landfill.

Upon hearing the community’s initial calls for the landfill’s closure, I immediately directed the County to investigate every single aspect of the landfill’s compliance with County Codes and their Conditional Use Permit (CUP) to operate.

The County cannot unilaterally close the landfill without justification. Because the odors do not originate from active portions of the landfill and since the landfill’s operator is actively working to abate odors, closing the Chiquita Canyon Landfill would have no effect on decreasing or eliminating odors.

Based on available information—which has included the ongoing analysis of air quality monitoring data from local air monitoring stations, an independent health risk evaluation conducted by the County, as well as a root cause analysis conducted by the State of California’s technical expert and regulatory authority for landfills, CalRecycle—the County has not determined that closure of the landfill is currently warranted under the conditions of the County’s CUP.

I want to emphasize that the State has a very important and relevant role in responding to calls for the landfill’s closure. The County is only one of the numerous entities with regulatory authority over the Chiquita Canyon Landfill–all others are special districts or state agencies. State legislators who represent the community should take swift and urgent action to ensure these state agencies examine their respective areas of oversight and authority and assess whether the landfill’s closure is warranted or feasible.