The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ordered Chiquita Canyon landfill operators Thursday to 'take immediate steps to protect human health and the environment' at the solid waste Castaic site.Last year, residents of the communities surrounding the 639-acre Chiquita Canyon Landfill filed nearly 7,000 complaints to the South Coast Air Quality Monitoring District about health impacts from the noxious odors and toxic runoff.
consistently traced odors back to the landfill and the reaction area and ordered that the source of the pollutants be revealed, and monitoring is to be in place. Removing the pollutants or cleaning the air and soil was not addressed. Thursday's EPA order requires landfill operators to mitigate off-site community impacts and to contain and reduce the smoldering or reaction event occurring at the landfill.