BRADLEY TESTS UNDER WAY DUMP REGULATORS FIND DUST, PARTICULATES, BUT NO TOXICS IN TESTING SO FAR.

Byline: Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writer

Responding to concerns raised at town-hall meetings, air regulators have quietly begun testing for dust and toxic air emissions from Bradley Landfill.

Five months into testing and with four more months to go, regulators said they've found some higher levels of dust and fine particles coming off the landfill, but normal levels of toxic air contaminants.

Residents and neighborhood activists remain skeptical, having hoped they would get solid proof that the landfill is polluting the air.

``There isn't something there? It is affecting people!'' East Valley Coalition leader Ellen Mackey said incredulously. ``The (air district) may not be using the right equipment or testing for the right constituents.''

The South Coast Air Quality Management District officials stick by their monitoring data, but did caution they've only analyzed samples collected from August through October.

Bradley Landfill operators said this week that they had not been told the AQMD was testing air downwind of the dump but don't oppose the monitoring.

``It's a good idea,'' said Doug Corcoran, Waste Management Inc. district manager and operator at the landfill. ``We want to improve the area overall and the best way to do this is to do the tests and acquire the data.''

But he questioned readings that show higher levels of particulate matter and dust downwind from the landfill. How can the AQMD say the particulate matter is from Bradley and not the nearby gravel pits or construction at the Valley Generating Station, where testing equipment is located? he asked.

``There's no way it's coming from us,'' Corcoran said. ``You can come out here any day and there's no dust on the landfill. The little bit there would be right behind the truck as it's moving and we're right behind that truck with a water truck.''

AQMD officials leading the testing said based on the testing equipment location and the wind patterns, they'll get a pretty good reading from the dump.

``When we look at the wind pattern and it's blowing past Bradley Landfill and we're across the street, I think we can safely say it's from the landfill,'' said Henry Hogo, assistant deputy executive officer for science and technology advancement.

The AQMD has installed a platform with several monitoring instruments on the edge of the Valley Generating Station, downwind from Bradley Landfill.

One measures particulate matter, which is formed from dust, soot and vehicle exhaust and measures less than 10 microns or one-seventh the width of a human hair.

The monitor has recorded levels from 48 to 116 micrograms per cubic meter. Permanent testing equipment in Burbank recorded levels from the 30s to 81 micrograms per cubic meter. The samples also show more dust than carbon from vehicle dust in the particulate matter.

``It's consistently higher and we think we'll have to go out and take a look at some of the activities occurring,'' Hogo said.

The particulate matter readings are captured over 24 hours. The national health standard is 150 micrograms per cubic meter. The state health standard is 50 micrograms per cubic meter.

Another instrument measures 60-some chemical compounds, including benzene, propane and trichloroethylene. So far, the district hasn't seen any unusual readings.

The chemicals ``are near background levels, what you would typically see around urban Southern California,'' Hogo said.

The district also specifically tested for vinyl chloride, a chemical often associated with landfills. So far it hasn't been detected.

The AQMD is also measuring for chromium, an element associated with hardening steel and plating that has a high cancer risk, just to be on the safe side and because it's easy to sample in the air.

Kerry Cavanaugh, [phone]

kerry.cavanaugh-(at)dailynews.com