Fort Belknap tribal officials walk past some of the toxic acid rock mine waste left behind by the Pegasus Gold mining company in the 1990s. Zortman Landusky Gold Mine Pollution
Cypress, California – In a key decision reflecting growing public concern over environmental health, the California Board of Environmental Safety voted Thursday against a proposal to weaken the state’s hazardous waste regulations. The rejected plan, introduced by the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), would have allowed the agency to dump contaminated soil and other hazardous materials in local municipal landfills — a move environmental advocates said would endanger vulnerable communities.
California has some of the nation’s strictest hazardous waste laws, exceeding federal standards. Much of its toxic waste — including contaminated soil, waste oil, and paint residues — is trucked out of state to Utah, Arizona, Nebraska, and Arkansas facilities. In 2023 alone, California produced more than 567,000 tons of hazardous soil. The state’s two dangerous primary waste landfills — Kettleman Hills and Buttonwillow, both in the Central Valley — are expected to reach capacity by 2039.
The DTSC had argued that easing regulations could reduce costs and cut emissions from long-haul waste transport. But environmental groups and residents pushed back, saying it would put communities near landfills at risk of toxic exposure and set a dangerous precedent.
“I don’t think that municipal waste landfills were ever designed to accept this kind of waste,” said Jane Williams, California Communities Against Toxics executive director. “To deregulate it puts those landfill communities at risk.”
Angela Johnson Meszaros of Earthjustice emphasized that the issue isn’t just about industrial waste. “Fires are not the only thing that cause soil to be hazardous,” she said, referencing the increasing number of wildfires transforming homes, cars, and everyday items into hazardous debris.
Indeed, California’s largest-ever hazardous materials cleanup followed last year’s devastating wildfires in Los Angeles. Thousands of tons of toxic ash and debris had to be handled through a complex waste pipeline, including temporary storage, separation, and transport to specialized out-of-state facilities.
Local concern over toxic exposure is mounting. Just this week, the Pasadena Unified School District reported elevated levels of arsenic and lead in nearly half its campuses’ soil. In Southern California, Melissa Bumstead of Parents Against the Santa Susana Field Lab — a site long plagued by industrial pollution — expressed relief at the board’s decision. Her daughter is a two-time cancer survivor; Bumstead herself was born with three spleens.
“The more we see climate change, the more we see wildfires, the more this is going to become a front line issue,” Bumstead told the board. “We need a plan that protects Californians now and in the future.”
The board is expected to finalize broader hazardous waste management reforms this summer.
