AIR QUALITY | Waste Management

The Kettleman Hills Facility has several different types of waste treatment, storage, and disposal units for both municipal solid waste and hazardous waste. Although all the waste management units at the facility are strictly regulated by both the federal government and the state of California, following requirements that are designed to protect human health and the environment, these units, like those operated at other waste management facilities nationwide, have the potential to emit compounds present in materials received at the facility into the air.

Regulatory programs are in place at both the federal and state levels to minimize air emissions from waste management facilities, including the Kettleman Hills Facility. The primary agency responsible for protection of air quality at the federal level is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), which regulates air emissions and ambient air quality through the U.S. Clean Air Act. At the state level, the primary regulatory agency is the California Air Resources Board (ARB), which is responsible for implementing both the federal Clean Air Act and the California Clean Air Act. In addition, the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District (SJVUAPCD) is responsible for regulating air emission sources and achieving and maintaining air quality in the San Joaquin Valley. The California Department of Toxic Substances and Control (DTSC) also is active in the regulation of air emissions from waste management facilities. All of these agencies are involved in regulating potential air emissions from the Kettleman Hills Facility and, in addition, USEPA, SJVUAPCD, and DTSC often conduct inspections of facility operations.

Over the past 20 years, several research and investigative programs have evaluated the potential impacts of air emissions from the Kettleman Hills Facility both in the immediate vicinity of the facility as well as in Kettleman City, which is located 3.5 miles to the northeast of the facility. These efforts include monitoring of chemical concentrations in air using USEPA‐approved sampling methods and the use of well‐recognized mathematical models to calculate chemical concentrations in air specifically due to emissions from facility operations. Together, these investigations provide a scientific database on air quality at the site and support a common conclusion: the Kettleman Hills Facility is not adversely impacting air quality for the residents of Kettleman City. A brief summary of recent and historical studies related to air quality follows.

Recent Studies

Ambient Air Monitoring Program
Since 2006, an Ambient Air Monitoring Program (AAMP) has been regularly collecting air measurements at three sampling stations located around the Kettleman Hills Facility boundary. This program was initiated at the request of DTSC in accordance with the facility’s permit under the U.S. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the U.S. law that defines solid and hazardous wastes and sets up an overall U.S. waste management strategy. An initial evaluation of data from more than 100 sampling events showed that the ambient air around the Kettleman Hills Facility was consistent with background regional air quality. Since the initial evaluation, two additional years of sampling have been conducted. Later this year, a comprehensive evaluation of all the air sampling data collected by the AAMP will be conducted to further investigate whether the air quality around the facility differs from background regional air quality, and to evaluate the potential human health risks associated with facility emissions.

Human health risk assessment
In 2007, a human health risk assessment was conducted to evaluate potential air emissions from several existing and proposed waste management units at the facility, including hazardous waste and municipal solid waste landfills. The health risk assessment was included in the Subsequent Environmental Impact Report (SEIR) prepared as part of a permit application for hazardous waste landfilling at the Kettleman Hills Facility, in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The Kettleman Hills Facility risk assessment calculated the potential risks to human health that could result from these emissions at the facility’s property boundary, at the nearest residential location 2.5 miles northeast of the facility and in Kettleman City assuming, in each case, that a hypothetical person would be exposed for 24 hours per day, 350 days per year, for 70 years at each location. All of the non‐cancer and cancer risk assessment results at the nearest residential location and in Kettleman City were at least 30 times lower than California and SJVUAPCD targets. At the facility’s property boundary, assuming a 70‐year exposure scenario for a hypothetical resident, potential non‐cancer risks were below the target risk level but the cancer risk was slightly above the target. A more plausible estimate of potential risks at the property boundary, reflecting actual land use conditions, resulted in risks well below the target risk levels. Overall, the risk assessment showed that potential air emissions from the evaluated waste management units do not pose a public health concern in neighboring residential communities.

PCB Congeners Study
In the most extensive study of its kind ever conducted at an active and permitted facility, Waste Management, at the direction of USEPA examined the air quality impacts associated with a class of compounds called polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Although the manufacture of PCBs was banned in 1979, they can still be found today in transformers and other electrical equipment, which may be received and processed at the PCB flushing/storage unit at the Kettleman Hills Facility. This study measured the concentrations of selected PCB compounds (called congeners) in soil, air and vegetation at the perimeter of the Kettleman Hills Facility and, based on these data, calculated the potential human health and ecological risks that may be posed by the management, storage, and disposal of PCB wastes at the facility. In its study, published Jan. 2011, USPEA found that:

Risk of health impacts from PCB congener concentrations measured in soils, vegetation, and air near the perimeter of the CWM Facility are in the same range as risk of health impacts in other rural areas without known PCB activities or sources.
Concentrations of PCB congeners measured in soils, vegetation, and air at the perimeter as well as those collected at the B-18 landfill drainage swale of the CWM Facility do not adversely affect ecological species.
There is no evidence suggesting that PCB congeners from operations at the CWM Facility are migrating off-site at concentrations that would adversely affect the health of local community residents or the environment.

Historical Studies

California Air Toxics Hot Spots Evaluation (1996).
In accordance with California’s “Air Toxics ‘Hot Spots’ Information and Assessment Act of 1987,” Waste Management evaluated potential air releases from the Kettleman Hills Facility according to a plan developed with SJVUAPCD. In 1996, SJVUAPCD issued the Kettleman Hills Facility “Prioritization Score and Ranking”, where a score of less than 1 designates the facility as low priority, a score of 1 to 10 a medium priority, and a score above 10 as high priority. The Kettleman Hills Facility received a score of 0.244, and a Prioritization Category of "Low".

Air Monitoring Program (1986 – 1995).
This study, which was conducted at the request of the Kings County Planning Agency, evaluated the potential for off‐site transport of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from the Kettleman Hills Facility by measuring VOCs in air at three stations located at the Kettleman Hills Facility, one station in Kettleman City and one station in Avenal. Air samples were regularly collected at these five stations, producing a database of more than 15,000 measurements over the course of the study. The monitoring program results showed that the Kettleman Hills Facility had no discernable impact on air quality in Kettleman City or Avenal. In 1995, the Kings County Planning Agency determined that the facility had met its air monitoring requirements and approved discontinuation of the program.

1994 Topographical, Meteorological and Airborne Contaminant Characterization at Kettleman Hills Facility (1995).
This study, conducted at the request of DTSC in accordance with DTSC and U.S. RCRA guidelines, evaluated air emissions from the Kettleman Hills Facility during 1994 and 1995. The study involved collecting samples of air, soil, soil pore gas, and the solid and liquid waste materials within and in the immediate vicinity of potential emission locations at the facility. This was done to identify and quantify hazardous constituents that might be emitted into the air from the facility, if any, and characterize the land and weather conditions that might affect their transport. Based on analysis of the data collected, the study concluded that the potential impact to off‐site receptors was not great enough to justify an ambient air monitoring system around the Kettleman Hills Facility.

Gaseous Tracer Study (1988).
Under the direction of the California Air Resources Board (ARB), a series of six atmospheric tracer tests were conducted at the Kettleman Hills Facility in 1988. These tests, which were conducted under extreme “worst case” dispersion conditions, showed that winds blowing from the facility towards Kettleman City were rare.

Air Quality Test Report (1988).
From August to September 1988, tests were conducted at the Kettleman Hills Facility to determine the composition of landfill gases, the presence of chemical compounds in the ambient air around the facility and whether off-site subsurface migration of landfill gas was occurring. The study results showed that the Kettleman Hills Facility did not have an adverse effect on air quality surrounding the site and that measured air levels around the facility were generally similar to background air quality levels.