Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita, and Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo, D-Chatsworth, have penned a bipartisan letter from elected officials at the state and federal level asking Gov. Gavin Newsom for a State of Emergency declaration due to the issues at the Chiquita Canyon Landfill.  The letter, signed by Garcia and 15 state legislators, says there is an urgent need for this declaration to protect the health and safety of residents living near the landfill. Schiavo and Garcia both issued news releases about their joint letter on Wednesday afternoon.  “The environmental disaster at Chiquita Canyon has only worsened for residents in Val Verde, Castaic and the Santa Clarita Valley,” Garcia wrote in a news release Wednesday. “Innocent residents continue to face severe health problems and financial hardships because of this ongoing issue. It’s more urgent than ever: We need a State of Emergency. I’m grateful to have Assemblywoman Schiavo as a partner committed to taking this fight directly to the governor.”   The landfill has had a subsurface reaction a few dozen feet below the surface at over 200 degrees, which is creating air pollution that draws thousands of complaints per month from an area that appears to keep expanding based on complaints found regularly on social media.    The landfill is also producing an inordinate amount of leachate that has to be stored and treated at the landfill through emergency permits while the landfill figures out the problem.   The specific root cause of the reaction and how it might be solved have yet to be determined.  “Chiquita continues to work cooperatively with its regulatory oversight agencies to advance solutions,” according to a statement from Chiquita Canyon Landfill, shared via email by spokesman John Musella.   In her release, Schiavo reiterated her call for more comprehensive health testing, sharing horror stories she has heard from the landfill’s neighbors.  “The operator has spent millions on mitigation measures, but the reality is at the end of the day, it’s still burning around 200 degrees … I appreciate all the efforts but it’s not enough,” Schiavo said. “We need to ramp up what we ‘re doing to protect the community, which includes doing a real health study.”  The L.A. County Department of Public Health issued a health study months into the crisis last year, but it did not look at the leachate impacts, and it ultimately determined that more study was needed.   Such a study has yet to take place, according to officials, which is why Schiavo said more resources might help through the declaration.   L.A. County officials have consistently denied there’s been any need to declare a state of emergency, citing all of the resources that have already been mobilized.  Kevin McGowan, director of the county’s Office of Emergency Services, said in a phone interview Sept. 22 that the purpose of making such a declaration is to make sure all available resources have been mobilized, and referenced a pair of joint task forces made up of county, state and federal agencies that are working on the issues related to the landfill.  County officials also said in that Sept. 22 call that the governor could issue such a declaration unilaterally regarding a state of emergency.   When asked if the county would bear any cost or negative repercussions in making such a declaration, McGowan said an errant call could impact people’s attitudes toward future declarations.   “It cost the confidence of our community,” McGowan said, adding the county’s focus has been on making sure the accountable party is taking responsibility, “because if we declare a local emergency and that emergency doesn’t actually do anything, people are going to have unmet expectations and meaning of what that emergency proclamation would be.”   When asked for comment on such a declaration, state officials have said they are working with the task force agencies and “exploring all options to manage site conditions and protect the surrounding community and environment.” The Chiquita Canyon Landfill Advisory Committee announced an Oct. 28 meeting with 5th District LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, Garcia and Schiavo from 6 to 8 p.m. Castaic Middle School. The post Garcia, Schiavo pen bipartisan letter over landfill   appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.