Neighbors living near Chiquita Canyon landfill say fumes are causing cancer cluster

Santa Clarita Valley residents living near the Chiquita Canyon Landfill have renewed their calls to Governor Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency for the possible health impacts they are dealing with due to toxic fumes escaping from the landfill. 

Over the years, the landfill has been targeted in thousands of complaints over concerns of pollution and the odor, and now people say that there's a cancer cluster as a result of those issues. 

Related: EPA claims Chiquita Canyon Landfill violated federal Clean Air Act

Multiple people living in Castaic, Val Verde and Santa Clarita all say that they've dealt with a litany of health issues because of the landfill and they publicly voiced those concerns in a press conference with Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo on Tuesday. 

Val Verde resident Brandi Howse was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer in February last year. She's lived in the area, just 900 feet away from the landfill, for the last two decades with her family. They say that the issue is much worse than what many believe.

"What people misconstrue is that it's odors and it's not just odors, it physically makes you sick," said her husband Steven Howse.

Tuesday's request for a declaration of emergency included 16 additional legislative signatures, on top of Schiavo's. 

"The street also has a cancer cluster. There's about 14 homes, seven people have been battling cancer, one has passed away. Four people have been diagnosed just in this last year," Schiavo said while speaking with KCAL News about one of the many affected areas. "It's hard for us to justify asking, you know, FEMA to come in and help relocate when the state and the county don't say that it's an emergency."

Schiavo's office conducted a community survey to highlight the extent of the crisis, with almost every respondent reporting that either they've had direct a health impact, or a family member has. 

"In addition to multiple new cancer causes just this year, known cancer causing chemicals like benzene and other chemicals have been causing health impacts like headaches, nausea, bloody noses, burning eyes, skin rashes, asthma, vertigo, vomiting, tremors, heart and breathing difficulties that require ER attention, and more," said Schiavo's office when reporting the survey's results. 

Related: Chiquita Canyon odors cause myriad of symptoms, independent study says

In just the first six months of 2024, the Southcoast Air Quality Management District says that they received about 10,000 complaints from the community. 

Though the landfill has taken steps to try and assist the community by creating a community relief program, drilling more wells to mitigate the problem, distributing air purifiers to community members and given classrooms carbon filtration devices, residents say that the damage has already been done. 

"The stench was so bad that my heart automatically went into 166 beats a minute," said Val Verde resident Steven Lee. "The landfill I think is 100% responsible for my health issues and for everything, even the losing memory at my house."

Abigail Desesa, another Val Verde neighbor, says that her 25-year-old son went numb and turned extremely pale back in June as he couldn't breath and was gasping for air. 

"I blame the landfill," she said. 

With moving out of the question, Howse is hopeful that a declaration of emergency can help them before it's too late for others. 

"I don't want anybody else in my family to contract cancer, or anybody else in my neighborhood," she said. "I guess it's just frightening and I don't want this to happen to anybody else and I don't want to continue being exposed to chemicals that may be hurting me more."

Neighbors want the state to completely shut down the landfill, or for some sort of government to buy out the people living in the impacted areas and help them find new places to live. They also want to make sure that no one else is allowed to move into those homes until the issue is resolved.