Most Santa Clarita Valley folks have a hunch that something’s going wrong “over there, off the 126.” And people living “over there” by the Chiquita Canyon Landfill absolutely know something is very wrong, and they’re in a living hell trying to get effective assistance from almost anyone involved: L.A. County with their myriad of agencies, state water agencies, air quality boards, Gov. Gavin Newsom, and Waste Connections itself. By appearances and observed impact on the ground, all are dithering and running out the clock.  The extent of failure to respond to westside SCV residents’ needs and concerns is vast. Pick it, Republicans, Democrats, boards, specialists and corporations: All have failed the people. Noxious landfill gases continue to sicken and ruin lives of those living in proximity to the landfill.  And who are these lives getting ruined?  At first two years ago, the silently suffering people of Val Verde living close to the landfill took the hard hits. As the landfill crisis accelerated, areas impacted today include Castaic, Copperhill, Williams Ranch, Stevenson Ranch and the “new” Valencia areas. Schools full of kids and businesses full of workers are also submerged in disgusting odors and volatile organic compounds being spewed into our valley’s air. This is not a Val Verde problem. This is an “everyone problem.”  To date, there have been over 24,000 citizen complaints and over 270 formal notices of violation issued to Waste Connections, the landfill operator. Despite this outrage, there’s been no monetary fines assessed to Waste Connections, no rollback of waste being accepted by the landfill, and nothing but kind words and gentle wrist-slapping by the vast L.A. County machine to Waste Connections. The dump remains in full operation and making bank. Indeed, work on the root cause continues, albeit slow beyond belief. L.A. County is in a fix on this. They are also in on a fix on this. The county’s agreement with Waste Connections contains what is essentially an agreement to defend Waste Connections. The county and Waste Connections have built a bed they together sleep in. And failure to plan for backup options has the county with few options to Chiquita for trash disposal.  A shocking fact is that only 20% of all the trash going into Chiquita comes from the SCV. The other 80% of all those trucks, all that pollution, all the trash you see coming up and down our freeways, comes from other areas inside L.A. County. The county has mandated the SCV as L.A. County’s toilet of preference. We’re the county’s junk pile. And county hands to help appear compromised as they’ve been so slow providing meaningful assistance to Val Verde and surrounding residents.  Supervisor Kathryn Barger recently penned a letter asking for studies of cancer clusters around the landfill. Residents have been begging the county Health Department for over a year to do door-to-door health assessments during this crisis, but always to answers of, “No, we study the numbers, not the people.” Good grief. We’re now two years into this thing. Amidst all the shell games and rigmarole of agencies pointing fingers with lack of meaningful results, there are two local politicians with the guts to step up and say what needs to be said. They just might be the ones to trigger real action on our behalf.  Rep. Mike Garcia was the first national-level leader to wade into this morass. Mike’s view from the very start was well assessed: Either shut the dump down during the remediation efforts, or at the very least, close off the landfill to anything other than SCV trash, exclusively. Cut the amount of trash way back to essentially punish and focus the landfill into quicker motivation to solve the current emergency. At least, let’s lessen the typical trash odors while we fight the “chemical reaction” odors and VOC’s venting from deep down in the landfill.   Mike wants a reluctant Gov. Newsom to declare a state of emergency. Thousands of lives have been disrupted and unknown damage is happening to the health of our fellow residents, with special concern to the aged, ill and children in schools. Mike Garcia had the courage to speak out urging fast, decisive action. Says Garcia, “Once we have a state of emergency, the Federal EPA can step in and really make both cleanup operations and public relief flow way faster and more meaningfully than the county has achieved.” Further, Garcia is pushing a bill through Congress that will make all assistance and legal judgements for landfill victims be tax-free. Finally, measurable help may be on the way.  Mike is joined in his efforts by Democratic State Assemblywoman, Pilar Schiavo. Pilar stands with Mike on forcing rollbacks at the landfill and pushing for a state of emergency declaration. Pilar stands with Mike on assessing real consequences to Waste Connections for their slow operational responses and secretive financial aid response.   The only breath of fresh air from this fiasco is that Republican Garcia and Democrat Schiavo are working together on a common cause for our local impacted citizens.   The county and its agencies must get on board with Garcia and Schiavo. Enough public pressure might just cause the county to take off the kid gloves and get serious about representing SCV people over L.A. County trash.  You have an opportunity to apply needed pressure: There’s a rare “all hands on-board” meeting Oct. 28 at 6 p.m. at Castaic Elementary School. Present will be Barger, Garcia, Schiavo, the Chiquita Canyon Oversight Committee, and likely hundreds of Val Verde and Castaic residents – and hopefully, YOU.   Our leaders must firsthand witness how disturbing suffering through these noxious emissions really is. Given that it may take two, five, seven years to completely stop this “chemical fire/reaction” 150 feet deep in the landfill, serious financial and health aid and even relocation services must be made to those affected.   Let’s discard our trash, not our people. SCV landfills only for SCV residents, certainly until this fiasco is resolved. Politicians must stand up for our people, not trash nor the trash companies making millions off our health.  Gary Horton’s “Full Speed to Port!” has appeared in The Signal since 2006. He is a member of the Chiquita Canyon Oversight Committee. The opinions expressed in his column do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Signal or its editorial board. 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