The Fight to Stop Hazardous Waste at Sunshine Canyon Continues
- wearealiso
- May 24
- 3 min read
Published on Medium.com on February 19, 2025
Feeling that they have no credible assurances that fire debris may soon arrive at the Sunshine Canyon landfill, Granada Hills residents held a protest outside Van Gogh Elementary School Tuesday afternoon.
Approximately 55 persons, including small children, held signs and chanted.
This event took place five days after Los Angeles County held a virtual town hall during which spokespersons for Republic Services, the owner of the landfill, and Colonel Eric Swanson of the US Army Corps of Engineers answered questions about whether hazardous debris will end up at the site and what the process is for Phase II debris that will go to up to 17 landfills in Southern California, including Sunshine. During that meeting, some of the residents’ questions were addressed, but residents were still skeptical about the lack of a guarantee that all hazardous materials would be found and sorted out during Phase I of the cleanup.
The County Board of Supervisors had planned at its February 18th meeting to discuss waivers for the Sunshine Canyon, Calabasas, and Lancaster landfills to allow extended hours and an increase of debris accepted daily until May. But the volume of opposing written comments sent into the board helped to move the item to the February 25th agenda. By Wednesday morning, a total of 831 comments had been submitted. Only five were in favor of the waiver. One of those was given by Jordan R. Sisson, a member of the Integrated Waste Management Task Force for Los Angeles County as an appointee of the California Waste And Recycling Association.
Updates on the cleanup process were given at Wednesday morning’s press conference. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, whose district includes the Sunshine Canyon landfill, said, there’s “a lot of frustration in the community.”
A reporter asked about FEMA’s (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) decision to decline to conduct confirmation testing, asking if six inches of soil was enough? The agency’s representative replied, “Six inches seems to be enough,” adding that “we can keep digging” but even going deeper they could find contaminants that were there long before the fires.
The colonel leading the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ efforts called these “legacy contaminants” and they’re not concerned about any that don’t have to do with the fires.
Another reporter asked if the county had the list of 17 landfills that are scheduled to accept the debris. Supervisor Horvath said that the county provided that list.
She said the concerns from the community that her office is hearing are about how is it guaranteed that the debris that ends up at the landfills is not hazardous to one’s health. She also said they’ve been asked about enforcement to ensure nonhazardous waste gets to the Class III landfills. As these are permitting licenses issued by the state, she wanted the state to speak to the processes to ensure people’s safety.
She was also asked about the board meeting and she explained that the item was tabled, “because of these questions. We wanted to make sure our time communicating with the community they get the answers they need.” She talked about the board’s discretion in just two aspects: the operating hours and the tonnage that will be allowed on a daily basis.
Barbara Ferrer, the director of the LA County Department of Public Health, mentioned the LA fire health study consortium and various other testing plans that are part of the Los Angeles County Comprehensive Postfire Assessment. She mentioned a town hall about the testing that was held on February 18th.
For now, the community that has been negatively affected by Sunshine has been considering what actions to take. One resident started a petition that has gathered more than 1,100 signatures in just a few days.
At the Granada Hills North Neighborhood Council’s monthly meeting on February 4th, more than a hundred residents attended to voice their concerns about the possibility of the debris being transported to the landfill.
That same council will be holding a special joint Outreach/Public Safety Committee meeting, specifically to discuss the Sunshine Canyon issue, on Thursday, February 20, at 6:30 pm at the St. Euphrasia Parish Hall, 11776 Shoshone Avenue, Granada Hills.
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