ATHeNS pause 2n15
Regording a over Torrance Dally Breeze and [email protected] 1
ENVIRONMENT
Antelope Valley residents are engaged in
legal battle against massive illegal dumping
An environmental attorney says huge debris
piles present 'increased risk of fire, airborne
toxins and groundwater contamination'
By Scott Schwebke of Ventura, who owns Cal-Spread-
[email protected] ing LLC. Irwin, whois also a defen-
dant in the suit and did not respond
On a blustery blue morning in to requests for comment, is accused early June, Beth Worrell scampered of partnering with several compa- up a 10-foot-tall, woodchip-cov- nies to illegally dispose of waste. ered berm that juts for more than a
quarter-mile from the dusty Mojave SAFETY CONCERNS
Desert floor just inside the Kern A Southern California News County line near unincorporated Group review of hundreds.of Neenach. pages of environmental reports
Worrell paused briefly at the and emails, along with numerous top of the giant mound and then photographs and videos, reveals the disappeared down the other side. immense toll of unregulated dump- A few minutes later, she reemerged, ing in the Antelope Valley. clutching a handful of unlikely trea- Aside from the obvious eyesore of Sates piles of smelly waste towering more
"I'm making a collage for Kris- than 30 feet high in some spots, tina," Worrell said wryly as she serions health and environmental placed a plastic baby bottle, a metal threats lurk in the air and the soil. rod, a rusty pair of pliers, and a used "When the trucks were coming syringe in the dirt with her bare in and dumping, you could see the hands. plames of dirt in the air," said Mroz,
Worrell's friends, Kristina Brown who lives about 1 ½ miles from the of Fairmont and Ashley Mroz of Three Points dumpsite. "Who Neenach, are engaged in a David knows what we were breathing in?" vs. Goliath legal battle against some The Three Points site is a mere titans of Southern California's waste 528 feet from a main water wèll. management industrv over the Kern that serves Neenach's 798 resi- dump site and more than 100 others dents. None of the illegal dumps are like it scattered throughour the equipped with protective liners to Antelope Valley prevent groundwater contamina-
A federal lawsuit filed by the, tion, Kelsay said
pair in April aims to rid the desert From 2020 to 2024, self-combus- of thousands of tons of household tible wood chips and organic mate- construction, demolition and solid rials used to camouflage garbage as waste disguised as malch that has mulch have sparked 42 fires, cost- been illegally dumped for decades ing taxpayers more than $1,6 million in the far reaches of Los-Angeles, to extinguish and exposing down- San Bernardino and Kern counties. wind Antelope Valley residents to V Browmand Miroz allege Arakelian toxic smoke, contaminated dust Enterprises Inc./doing business as and airborne particulates, accord- Athens Services; Universal Waste ing to the Los Angeles County Fire Systems Inc.; California Waste Department.
Services, LLC; Organic Energy Solu- The Bravo fire on April 29, 2024, tions, LLC; and America's Recycling at the 80-acre Hallgren dump site Co. Inc. are violating federal envi- on 280th Street West near Neenach, ronmental laws by collecting trash cost the Fire Department more than from contracted Los Angeles-area $288,000, took four days to extin- cities and then discarding it in the guish, and wafted toxic smoke over Antelope Valley to skirt expensive residences, the department said in landfill fees. a report last year. Beth Worrell displays items from a massive Neenach mulch berm in June 2025. SCOTT SCHWEBKE - STAFF "These sites have been used to Following the Bravo fire, Mroz bury large amounts of solid waste said, her 5-year-old daughter had Area residents without the oversight or safeguards nosebleeds and a dry cough for Ashley Mroz, required by law," said Washing- more than seven months and now left, and Beth fon na ANA nMA HAwmo MoM HAm ANLmHNP Ln
pose a serious threat to public health hair, clothes and our dog's hair," in the Lancaster and safety, including increased risk Mroz said, adding that she and her ched one of hire, airborne toxins and ground- husband also have a 2-year-old son. Antelope Valley water contamination. Our goal is "People couldn't even drive near the on June 5,2025. to ensure these sites are remedi- area without getting a headache or HANS ated so they no longer endanger even a bloody nose. It completely GUANCHE the surrounding neighborhoods or robbed me and my kids of the sanc- STAFF environment" tuary of our home. We moved here
POGRAPHER
Athens, which has a 15-year, $687 for the beautiful open land, sunrises million contract with Los Angelesto and sunsets, not to be a dumping process residential organic waste, ground."
denies any wrongdoing.
"Athens does not engage in illegal DECADES OF DUMPING
dumping as alleged. Athens' organic Illegal dumping - especially of material goes through a compre- contaminated mulch and construc- hensive process at our advanced tion debris - has long plagued the compost facilities," the company Antelope Valley. But it has been that expenditures to mitigate ing field that belonged to Irwin, the COUNTY ISSUES ORDER said in an email. "The material is exacerbated within the past five illegal dumping increased from Cal-Spreading LLC owner. Following numerous complaints routinely tested for compliance years by stricter state organic waste $1.3 million in the 2017-18 fiscal year For several weeks, Brown and from Brown and an emergency with CalRecycle's standards, and diversion mandates and limited to $4.4 million in fiscal 2022-23. her ex-husband, Colin Roddick, community meeting, inspec- our processing facilities are regu- disposal infrastructure, Los Angeles Additionally, the number of cases watched in disbelief as more than tors with the Los Angeles County larly inspected for adherence with County Board of Supervisors Chair filed by the Los Angeles County 30 to 50 trucks a day arrived at the Department of Public Health's state regulations." Kathryn Barger said. district attorney's Environmental property before 6 a.m. to well after Solid Waste Management Program Diversion records for the city of In October 2024, the supervisors Crimes Division decreased from 15 dark and unloaded massive quan- toured Irwin's property on Jan, 30, Los Angeles show that from 2021 unanimously approved proposals in 2019 to just two in 2023. No cases tities of a mysterious gray-colored 2024. There, they found multi- to 2024, Crown Recycling Services from Barger for stronger illegal were filed in 2024 or so far this year. material that seemed to have no ple stockpiles of construction and in Sun Valley, which is owned by dumping policies, including new Illegal dumping on public and agricultural purpose. demolition waste covered with Athens, shipped thousands of tons ordinances regulating mulch appli- private property is punishable by a "We are not farmers, but it didn't layers of green waste mulch. of waste to Cal-Spreading for the cation, contamination thresholds fine of up to $10,000 and six months look right," Brown said. About a month later, Irwin was Three Points dump site near Neen- and fire prevention standards. in jail. Satellite images indicate mate- issued a cease-and-desist order for ach, which is on the L.A. County Plans to use mobile cameras, Although state law criminal- rials deposited on Irwin's property violating the county's land applica- side of the border with Kern. license plate readers and drones to izes the disposal of garbage, waste rapidly increased in size from Janu- tion requirements, which prohibit Additionally, in May 2024, monitor hotspots and catch offend- and other materials on both public ary to February 2024. solid waste disposal without a San Bernardino County issued ers have been adopted. and private property, enforcement Eventually, the waste piles - permit, and was ordered to remove a notice of violation to Athens- "Rural communities are suffering remains difficult in regions like the containing plastic buckets, tiles, the illegal materials by March 30, owned American Organics for ille- from illegal mulch dumping that is Antelope Valley. Regulations cate- particle boards, concrete, foam, 2024. gal dumping at a vacant parcel in extreme and uncontrolled," Barger gorize the dumping of commer- tires, linoleum, drywall and plas- Although Irwin was granted an El Mirage. said. "Our county needs to step up cial quantities of materials such as tic ground with woodchips - grew extension to comply with the order; Bill Love, chief of BioStar Renew- its work to cite and enforce every rocks, concrete, asphalt or dirt as : more than 15 feet high and stretched inspectors returned to his property ables, which is the parent company applicable regulation to put a stop misdemeanor, while a loophole had for a half-mile. Irwin has since flat- on Aug. 7,2024, to find 24 remaining of Organic Energy Solutions, also to this illegal dumping, now." allowed for the property owner's tened the material with heavy piles of prohibited waste, including denied the lawsuit's allegations. Economics is driving the prob- consent to excuse a hauler's liability. equipment. glass, plywood and plastics, accord- "Material leaving our facility is lem, with haulers opting to pay as However, state regulations now "It looked like a Twinkie stuffed ing to county records. regularly tested by an independent little as $4 a ton to dump at an illegal empower enforcement agencies to with construction debris," Brown Irwin admitted to investigators laboratory and subjected to regular site instead of $60 to $120 a ton at a pursue waste suppliers and haulers, said. that the contaminated mulch was government inspection," Love said. licensed facility. expanding accountability. Brown vented on Neenach's from Athens' American Organics "Test results consistently show that Some haulers contract with land- *The large geographic area of community Facebook page that facility in San Bernardino County, material leaving our facility tests owners, while others put trash on the Antelope Valley results in fewer the waste was perilously close to according to legal documents filed below legal limits for metals and private property when residents are resources allocated per square her property and threatened two by attorneys for Brown and Mroz. other contaminants. While others not present, leaving them with the mile," Barger said. "As a result, state parks, the Portal Ridge Wild- Despite issuing a notice of viola- may be engaged in improper activ- responsibility of cleaning it up. services like waste management life Preserve, the Angeles National tion and a corrective action order, ities. BioStar is committed to clean. The dumping problem has also and law enforcement are spread Forest and an aqueduct. Los Angeles County abruptly renewable energy and is confident been exacerbated by loopholes thin, leaving illegal dumpers with "The trucks keep coming, and the reversed its position, effectively that the truth will demonstrate that in state law that initially limited fewer deterrents." piles of contaminated mulch, boiler authorizing Irwin to continue BioStar's conduct has been safe and enforcement to landowners instead fuel and trash have been getting dumping, the attorneys said. ethical" of haulers and waste generators. NEIGHBORS SOUND ALARM closer to my home daily, and last Information was not immedi- California Waste Services Presi- Additionally, there has been an Although the history of Ante- week the piles were dropped on ately available from Los Angeles dent Eric Casper said his company oversupply of green waste tied to lope Valley dumping is well-docu- our common property line - so it's County regarding whether Irwin has never dumped construction, state mandates without sufficient mented, Brown, who is a makeup all we see and smell," Brown wrote was fined. He sold his property for demolition or household waste in end-use markets, Barger said. artist, was nevertheless caught to the group's 820 members. "All $290,000 in June to a renewable the Antelope Valley or anywhere off guard on the night of Jan. 3, else. MIXED OUTCOMES 2024, when a convoy of big rigs sme is te vil. es er dnsane enough dumping has stopped smells terribly. It's an insane fire The remaining companies named Los Angeles County's crackdown rumbled along a dirt road next to hazard." on the property, Mroz said that as defendants did not respond to on illicit dumping has yielded mixed her two-bedroom home. Irwin, who is suing Brown for having to continuously badger the requests for comment. results. The desolate 12-acre property, defamation in Los Angeles Superior county to take meaningful enforce- Although the suit targets six Dumping cases decreased from dubbed Desert Ranch. is dotted Court, claimed to the county that he ment action against waste compa- major dumpsites, more than 21,959 in 2020 to 8,216 in 2023. More with tumbleweeds, a windmill, intended to plant alfalfa and barley nies has left her exhausted and 100 others of various sizes have been than 16,000 tons of illegal waste several adobe outbuildings and on the property for animal feed jaded. identified in the Antelope Valley, were dumped in the county in 2020. fields of colorful poppies nearby. It However, Brown noted on Face- "My perspective has changed Kelsay said. 11,500 tons in 2022 and 16,700 tons has been featured in photo shoots book that water, irrigation wells, to the point where I don't trust the One prolific dump totaling 160 in 2023. and is a filming location. silos, drying structures, and farm- county or the government," she said. acres in the community of Fairmont The Los Angeles County Depart- After passing Brown's house, ing equipment were conspicuously "They're supposed to be working previously belonged to Sean Irwin ment of Public Health reported the trucks turned onto an adioin- absent from the parcel. for us."