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The Eton and Palisades fires were barely broken when Waste Management offered to accept the inevitable disaster debris at Elsobrandt landfills near Corona.
However, even if the company applied for an emergency exemption to accept wildfire tile ble on January 8th, landfill staff struggled for months to control their fiery situation.
In July, El Soblante’s manager notified the South Coast Air Quality Control District that chemical reactions brewed in the landfill were burning temperatures and causing toxic sulfur contamination.
Waste Management has sought approval to increase the tonnage to consume wildfire debris anyway.
Riverside County officials are currently requesting the assistance of state officials for technical assistance regarding the situation. They admitted that environmental regulators had been notified of rising temperatures, but refused to address whether it was appropriate to grant a waiver.
So far, no debris has been transported to El Soblante landfills in El Soblante landfills, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. However, as of Thursday morning, the landfill remained on the list of sites eligible to accept the material.
The Times asked about the chemical reaction at El Sobrante, so state environmental regulators say they have ruled out that they would allow them to steal fire debris there.
“The debris from this year’s fires have not been sent to El Soblante landfills, and no sites are considering future use for this purpose,” said Nefteri Coulee, a spokesman for the California Environmental Protection Agency. “We are currently investigating this incident and will provide additional details available.”
Waste management executives say the chemical reactions are not hindering daily operations at the 1,322 acres of landfills. The affected area is about 3,000 feet from part of the landfill where they planned to throw away the disaster debris, they say.
However, environmental advocates were even bothered that the landfill had sought permission.
“I was shocked and horrified that El Soblante was taking Ash when he knew that the landfill was on fire,” said Jane Williams, executive director of the California community, to the poison. “When landfills operate in this way, they significantly increase public health risks to surrounding communities. Uncontrollable landfills can emit more. [toxic] More benzene than oil refineries. ”
The situation at El Soblante landfills highlights the history of checkered compliance at many Southern California landfills poised to receive an estimated 4.5 million tonnes of potentially dangerous ash, rubber and soil from federal cleanup efforts. From excessive air pollution to inadequate testing, state and local environmental regulators have handed over dozens of violations to these waste disposal facilities in the past year alone.
El Soblante has been the second landfill in Southern California in recent years and has experienced this type of burnt hot chemical reaction. Since 2022, operators of Castaic’s closed Chiquita Canyon landfill have struggled to contain harmful smoke and contaminated spills from underground garbage fires.
These underground dump fires cannot easily disappear, and often take years to leave Peter. The cause was not immediately identified, but these incidents raise questions about environmental surveillance at California landfills.
Calleccikul, the state agency that regulates landfills, declined to provide comment.
In July, El Sobrante staff told the local aviation district that the landfill had experienced increased emissions of highly flammable hydrogen gas and lung-extending dimethyl sulfide.
According to waste management executives, the contamination came from two acres of “areas of concern.” Staff also reported that cracks, steam and liquid waste were infiltrating the surfaces of the landfill. Since then, landfills have begun to extract liquid waste from the reaction area to reduce heat and pressure and transport it to waste disposal facilities.
“South Coast AQMD continues to carry out unpublished on-site testing at the landfill and respond to all public complaints,” said Nahar Mogarabi, spokesman for the Aviation District. “This is an ongoing investigation.”
The conditions for the Elsobrante landfill are issues of the Chiquita Canyon landfill, where residents have called thousands of smell complaints to the local aviation district.
Aviation district inspectors found white smoke was discharged from cracks on the surface of the landfill, causing liquid waste to explode onto the surface in a geyser-like manner. The Environmental Protection Agency said the response poses a “immediate” danger to public health and the environment, citing toxic chemicals released. LA County officials helped organize a temporary relocation program for residents who wanted to escape the foul smell and toxic smoke.
Waste Connections, owner of Chiquita Canyon, closed the landfill in December, focusing on managing reaction areas.
Federal and state environmental regulators suspected the Chiquita Canyon reaction was caused by oxygen invasion.
Similar to oil drill sites, landfills have an extensive network of underground wells used to extract gases produced as buried waste decomposition. However, if the system fails or overdraws these gases, these wells can introduce oxygen into the waste, accelerate waste decomposition and generate heat.
In addition to air pollution, extreme heat can damage protective liners under landfills that prevent liquid waste from penetrating the groundwater below and moving into nearby areas.
Residents have recently protested outside Southern California landfills and have opposed the decision to dispose of fire debris in local landfills, which usually only deal with trash and construction debris. They expressed concern about the ability of these landfills to properly dispose of potentially dangerous wildfire ash and tile ble.
For the record:
2:36 PM On February 28th, an earlier version of the 2025a article said CalRecycle Inspectors had identified several violations at the El Sobrante landfill. Inspectors at Riverside County, who work in partnership with CalRecycle, have discovered these violations.
Over the past year, El Soblante landfills have been cited several times due to excessive air pollution from local air pollution. Meanwhile, Riverside County inspectors also identified violations of increased levels of flammable methane, inappropriate signs, and failure to perform adequate truck inspections to prevent dangerous waste from being disposed of on-site.
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