Chiquita Canyon Landfill’s toxic fumes causing cancer cluster, neighbors say

Local and state leaders gathered near the Chiquita Canyon Landfill in Castaic Tuesday to demand more be done to protect the community from the odorous and toxic fumes, which they say has created a cluster of cancer cases.

State Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo (D-Chatsworth) said in a news release that on one particular street with 14 homes, seven people are battling cancer, including four diagnosed this year alone.

Schiavo herself stayed in that neighborhood to demonstrate the danger, developing several symptoms of illness despite her “short exposure.”

Her findings echo the calls of many neighbors and community groups, who have highlighted illnesses like headaches, nausea, asthma, breathing difficulties, burning eyes and skin rashes, among other symptoms of exposure to toxic substances.

The troublesome odors have been the subject of hundreds of complaints, and despite orders from the South Coast Air Quality Management District, there has been “no meaningful improvement,” regulators said earlier this year .

Those complaints began in earnest in May 2023, the AQMD said .

The root cause appears to be an underground landfill fire, which is forcing the landfill operators to excavate and relocate trash, the Los Angeles Times reports .

“Many of these actions actually have the adverse side effect of increasing odors in the immediate and short term even though they are considered necessary to curb the emergency situations occurring at the landfill,” AQMD attorney Kathryn Roberts said at an August hearing.

On their website , landfill operators acknowledge the odor, which they say is due to “an abnormal biotic or abiotic process (also known as a landfill reaction) taking place deep within a lined, but older and inactive portion of the Landfill waste mass.”

“Chiquita continues to work diligently with all of its regulators to address this landfill reaction and any related impacts,” the company said .

Operators also issued a statement to KTLA apologizing to area residents.

“Chiquita fully recognizes and regrets that neighboring communities are suffering odor-related impacts as a result of the reaction,” the statement said. “Chiquita is working hard to address and mitigate these impacts. Adjacent neighbors participating in the Chiquita Community Relief Program have thus far directly received nearly nine million dollars from Chiquita. In addition, Chiquita has distributed over 1,700 air purifiers to local residents and ensured every school classroom around the landfill has been outfitted with carbon filtration devices. The current data and evaluations by multiple scientific experts show that there are no anticipated short- or long-term health impacts due to emissions from the Chiquita Canyon Landfill.”

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