DOCUMENTATION
1. The Palos Verdes Landfill is a Class
1 (most toxic) landfill and was receiving approximately 40% of the Class 1 waste
generated in the Los Angeles region.
An article in the Peninsula News (8/16/80) revealed that the PV Landfill had
accepted dangerous drummed waste and claimed that the then District Director of Hazardous
Waste, Kieran Bergin, was not sure when the practice came to an end. Bergin also
stated that metal drums containing TCE (trichloroethylene) were dumped at the Peninsula
site. The article goes on to state that the U.S. EPA has determined TCE to be a carcinogen
and a substance that has "been appearing in groundwells across the country with
alarming frequency." The article also noted that the Regional Water Quality
Control Board does not require the District to test for TCE at the Palos Verdes site.
According
to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry TCE (trichloroethylene) is
a colorless liquid which is used as a solvent for cleaning metal parts. Drinking
or breathing high levels of trichloroethylene may cause nervous system effects, liver
and lung damage, abnormal heartbeat, coma, and possibly death. Trichloroethylene
has been found in at least 852 of the 1,430 National Priorities List sites identified
by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts19.html
[MAP]
A report entitled "Final Palos
Verdes Landfill Community Relations Plan" prepared by the County Sanitation
Districts contains the following information:
A chart of Class I (most toxic)
liquid waste disposed of at the PV Landfill from 1972 through 1980. Over 400,000
tons of Class I liquid waste was deposited at the site. Among the Class I liquid
waste deposited were the following: Acid waste, Pesticides, Solvents, Tetra-Ethyl
lead sludge, Chemical toilet waste, and Alkaline waste.
The following is from
a report filed by Ecology and Environment, Inc. in February of 1991. Ecology and
Environment, Inc. was the company tasked by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
to study the PV Landfill:
Although only one (Parcel #6) of the six parcels of
the PV Landfill was engineered to except hazardous materials four of the parcels
received hazardous waste (Parcels # 2, 3, 5, 6).
A Contact Report made by
the Department of Health Services and filed on January 25, 1991 states that "Although
Parcel #1 of the site was not thought to have received hazardous wastes, samples
from monitoring wells at the site have identified contaminants in the groundwater
beneath Parcel #1. In addition, it was reported that oil wastes were discharged to
Parcel #1 in the past."
A letter from the County Sanitation Districts
of Los Angeles County to the Executive Officer of the L.A. Regional Water Quality
Control Board dated March 11, 1975 states that "the Palos Verdes Landfill is
presently the disposal site for approximately 40% of the Class I wastes generated
in the Los Angeles region...."
2. For the first 18 years of its 28
years of active operations the landfill received waste with no manifests indicating
what was being dumped into the landfill, consequently we have an incomplete record
of what is actually in the landfill.
A report entitled "Final Palos Verdes Landfill Community Relations Plan"
prepared by the County Sanitation Districts contains the following information:
A
private operator, BKK, had a permit to engage in landfill operations on Parcel 1
(part of the current site of the South Bay Botanic Gardens) from 1952 through April
of 1957 when the private operators permit was revoked. {Note: The document does not
indicate why the permit was revoked nor does it infer any impropriety by BKK.} The
County Sanitation Districts reopened the PVLF (Parcel 1) in May of 1957. The Districts
expanded the facility in 1963 to include Parcels 2,3,5,6. Parcel 4 was added in 1970.
During its period of operations by the Districts, the PVLF accepted over 23.6 million
tons of solid and liquid waste. The document only shows the amount of waste received
at the landfill from 1957 (when the Districts took over) through 1980 when the landfill
was closed to further dumping. There is no indication in the document as to how much
waste and what type of waste went into the site prior to the District taking over
operations. Furthermore, from 1957 through 1961 the amount of waste received is given
as an estimate extrapolated from total receipts prior to 6/30/61.
3. The Palos Verdes Landfill is an old
style landfill with NO bottom liner to contain toxic leachate and has only five feet
of soil cover instead of a cap to protect from water intrusion from above. Many older
landfills have at least a clay cap while newer landfill caps use a composite system
consisting of a layer of clay and a synthetic, polyethylene membrane to protect the
deposited waste.
According to a report made by the Department of Health Services on 1/25/91, the
landfill was never formally capped. It is covered with 5 feet of soil.
In
the report filed by Ecology and Environment, Inc. for the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency in February of 1991 they too noted that there was no formal cap.
The
U.S. EPA document "Safer Disposal For Solid Waste: The Federal Regulations for
Landfills" published in March of 1993 states, "The EPA design lays out
specific requirements for liners and leachate collection systems. Liners must be
composite, that is, a synthetic material over a 2-foot layer of clay. This system
forms a barrier that prevents leachate from escaping from the landfill into ground
water."
In that same report by Ecology and Environment, Inc., mentioned
earlier, "sampling of perimeter wells at the landfill has shown groundwater
beneath the site to be contaminated with volatile organic compounds of heavy metals.
According to DHS (Department of Health Services), this contamination is attributable
to Palos Verdes Landfill; there appears to be no other source of hazardous substances
located in the vicinity of the site."
4. The Palos Verdes Landfill is in close
proximity to the Palos Verdes Fault line and has had its northern parcel identified
as prone to debris flow (mudslides), both factors call into question the continued
integrity of any barrier systems. [MAP]
A report filed by the Department of Health Services 9/13/1990 states: "The
Palos Verdes Fault, a subsurface fault, is located approximately 1,200 feet away
from the {PV Landfill} site. The fault could affect groundwater movement in the vicinity
of the site; possibly act as a conduit for groundwater movement to deeper aquifers.
A number of fissures are known to run off this fault."
The U.S. EPA document
"Safer Disposal For Solid Waste: The Federal Regulations for Landfills"
published in March of 1993 states, "To prevent pollution that could be caused
by earthquakes or other kinds of earth movement, new and laterally expanding landfills
may not be built in areas prone to them."
{Note: If the PV Landfill was
proposed today for the site it now occupies, it probably would not be approved due
to the above EPA regulations.}
5. The lack of a bottom liner (modern
landfills have double liners) means that if the soil cover is compromised by water,
the resulting toxic leachate will threaten the Peninsula communities as well as the
Torrance neighborhoods north of the site.
As mentioned earlier, in the report filed by Ecology and Environment, Inc. for
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in February of 1991 they stated, "Sampling
of perimeter monitoring wells at the {Palos Verdes} landfill has shown groundwater
beneath the site to be contaminated with volatile organic compounds and heavy metals.
According to DHS (Department Health Services), this contamination is attributable
to Palos Verdes Landfill; there appear to be no other sources of hazardous substances
located in the vicinity of the site."
In a memorandum from the L.A. Regional
Water Pollution Control Board dated August 9, 1963 concerning the Palos Verdes Landfill,
the Department of Water Resources states, "Because of the large drainage courses
that enter the sites from the south and west it is recommended that adequate precautionary
measures be taken to assure that surface flows through the parcels will not have
any contact with the deposited waste."
In a Briefing Document drawn up
for Assemblyman Jerry Felando on the Palos Verdes Landfill it reads, "The available
record tells us that contaminated ground water has moved off-site, presenting a hazard
to the adjacent ground water basin and, despite the presence of a landfill gas monitoring
and control system, toxic gases are migrating from the landfill and are reaching
the adjacent homes."
6. Subsidence due to decomposition in
a landfill can violate the integrity of the landfill cover..
In the "South Coast General Development Plan" (Palos Verdes Landfill)
of June 1985 by the County of L.A. Department of Parks and Recreation under the section
on Site Maintenance, the document states, "The decomposition of refuse produces
landfill gas and results in settlement of the landfill. The decomposition process
occurs over a long period of time during which both effects will be experienced.
The settlement causes cracks in the landfill cover , which alters surface drainage
patterns and may allow landfill gas to escape into the atmosphere or water to enter
the fill."
An online document from a course given by the Department
of Engineering Professional Development, University
of Wisconsin-Madison, in cooperation
with Waste Age stated the following:
"Volume reduction caused by biological
decomposition may be expected to result from wetting of the solid waste.
Settlement
due to volume reduction creates cracks in the cover material. Settlement can occur
within a few days of filling or can extend over many years."
http://165.158.1.117/muwww/fulltext/repind49/lesson10/lesson10.html
7. Meritage Golf projects that they
will use approximately 400,000 gallons of water per day.
Water usage projection made by Meritage Golf at meeting with Peninsula Homeowners
June 26, 2002.
8. The Palos Verdes Landfill borders
or is in close proximity to two elementary schools, two churches, a pre-school, and
numerous private homes.
Rancho Vista Elementary School, Rolling Hills Country Day School, Rolling Hills
Methodist Church (and
pre-school), and First Baptist Church of Palos Verdes,
homes along Moccasin Lane and Roanwood Drive.
9. Of the 19 applications purchased
by and sent out to golf course developers, only Meritage Golf submitted a proposal.
In a list of recommendations submitted by the County of L.A.Department of Parks
and Recreation to the L.A. County Board of Supervisors on March 20, 2001, the Department
of Parks and Recreation noted that only one proposal was received. It came from a
local limited liability venture named Meritage Rolling Hills Golf.
A list
was provided to South Bay CARES by the County of Los Angeles Department of Parks
and Recreation naming the 19 golf course developers who purchased the project's Request
For Proposal (application).
Map from "Palos Verdes Landfill Site Report and Ownership Alternatives"
by the Chief Administrative Office January 29, 1981
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California Division of Mines and Geology
.
The blue areas on this California Department of Mines and Geology map depicts
"areas prone to seismically induced landslides." A similar map depicts
the same areas as "areas prone to debris flow" (mudslides). The homes in
Torrance that have been evacuated by order of the City of Torrance are located within
the yellow circle.The areas circled in red are areas located on the Palos Verdes
Landfill. Dave Skelly, a civil engineer for Ocean Trails Golf, stated in the Palos
Verdes Peninsula News, "Water is the enemy of soil. It doubles its weight and
cuts its strength in half." Meritage Golf's projected water usage for the proposed
golf course is 400,000 gallons per day.
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