It’s not often one attends a community meeting guarded by 20-25 peace officers. But this was exactly the setting at the Chiquita Canyon Landfill community input meeting this past Monday, hosted by the Landfill Community Oversight Committee at the Castaic Middle School.  Pulling up to the parking lot, I was immediately shocked to see a large protest, newscasting trucks, a dozen patrol cars, and inside, seating for over 250, and multiple cameras covering the event. Something very heavy was going down, and as a member of the oversight committee, I was humbled with a front-row seat witnessing important community history in the making.  This meeting has been many months in the making, while the underlying problem, no pun intended, has been years in the making. Fifty years of dumping in the making. Most urgently, the impacted people of Val Verde and Castaic have suffered for years, particularly these past two years as a “chemical reaction” has been burning at up to 250 degrees, deep inside the landfill. Prior committee meetings have been largely characterized by multiple county agencies doing little more than citing statistics, reading redundant reports, and telling folks that what was ruining their health and lives, really wasn’t, and that toxin levels of volatile organic compounds are too low to hurt them and what was bothering them was just “smells.”  Folks who struggle to breathe, who require constant doctor’s visits to clear their lungs, who suffer strange cancers, and who struggle to see through watering eyes don’t really care too much about officials telling them “everything’s alright.” After months of redundant meetings, working with Supervisor Kathryn Barger’s office, the committee was finally able to bring all our political Big Guns together under one roof to hear firsthand accounts from among the thousands of Val Verde and Castaic residents whose lives have been upended by the huge money-making concern called the Chiquita Canyon Landfill, the SCV dump making mountains of money as it piled in 80% of its waste from areas as far as 50-75 miles outside the Santa Clarita Valley.  Barger, Rep. Mike Garcia, Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo, and state Sen. Scott Wilk, along with heads of most of L.A. County’s and California’s air, water and trash regulatory agencies, were all in attendance. The meeting opened with all four leaders making opening statements, followed by comments from the oversight committee, and a long line of community members sharing heartbreaking stories of illness, distress, financial ruin … People near the landfill are getting all manner of illness.   Props to Supervisor Barger for helping set this up and showing up. For three hours 250-plus attendees hurled insults to her face while she gracefully withstood the assault. If nothing else, Kathryn maintains poise under pressure. Props also to committee leader Bob Lewis, who kept the lid on what easily could have exploded into something closer to a riot. And thanks to the Sheriff’s Department, which supplied the overtly present muscle to keep folks in line.  Barger started, defending the past process, and urging patience as the county worked with state and federal agencies to work through processes without declaring a state of emergency. This crowd was plainly and loudly displeased. Garcia pulled no punches, blaming Barger personally for the mess, while arguing L.A. County created this mess, owns this mess, mismanaged this mess, and is far too married to Waste Connections to be trusted to solve anything. Schiavo seconded Garcia’s condemnations and expressed tearfully her empathy for the affected residents. Wilk was pragmatic, sharing his experience with the quick resolution of the Aliso Canyon gas leak fiasco as opposed to the dithered L.A. County response at Chiquita.  Topping everyone’s list was convincing Barger to get L.A. County to obtain a disaster emergency declaration at Chiquita, a prerequisite for obtain state and federal assistance to both speed up response to the underlying problem at the dump – while providing tangible resources impacted residents require to repair their impaired and even ruined lives. This includes everything from medical care to tax relief, to house buybacks and relocation. Hundreds of families most impacted likely require relocation, as there’s no other way to protect them from the toxins emanating from deep within the dump.  Billions of dollars are at play. Giant trash conglomerate, Waste Connections, is on the hook for billions in repair and restitution. The county faces loss of revenue and hugely increased waste handling costs should the local landfill be closed.   This is a battle of billions of profits versus thousands of lives.  Monday evening, the thousands of lives won. Three hours of comments and testimony into the meeting, everyone on the panel was shell-shocked at the stories they had just heard. Garcia, Schiavo and Wilk doubled down on seeing an emergency declaration put into force and the landfill closed for good. Barger was plainly moved, stating (paraphrased), “I hear you and I promise you action on what you’ve requested.”  One speaker asked each government official if they would close the landfill in the next 120 days. Each replied YES, including Supervisor Barger – a huge move from her prior position. Asked if they would seek an emergency declaration, three of the four plainly said YES, with Supervisor Barger nuanced on an implied YES.  This is a huge victory for Val Verde and Castaic. Now comes the hard, continuous work required to achieve action and relief. Everyone is on record. All is recorded. L.A. County must quickly change course. And I believe Garcia, Schiavo and Wilk will hold the county’s hands to the fire.  Meanwhile, hold your own breath: Nearly every expert agrees this toxic burning mess, buried under the ground for 50 years, will take two, five, 10 years to subdue. Clean air for the SCV will require all hands on deck and hundreds of millions to achieve. Billions are required for relocation and restitution to the thousands who’ve seen their lives traded for trashy profits from decades of who-knows-what dumped in their backyards.  THANK YOU, to all four leaders for getting on board with reality. Everyone is watching, so no more shell tricks will be tolerated.  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. The post Gary Horton | Political Leaders Finally Trash Chiquita Landfill appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.