How a ritzy L.A. enclave learned a bitter lesson about the limits of its wealth: Calabasas residents thought it would be easy to keep wildfire ash from being trucked to their local landfill. They were wrong.

4 comments

1. The article is long and mentions legal and logistical challenges how to manage the toxic and hazardous ash from the LA wildfires.

   It also talks about nimbyism in the US and a few things stood out. A sense of entitlement and condescension among the residents towards other areas; and a realization that no one protected from climate change irrespective of how wealthy you are. Once the governance breaks down, you are literally on your own.

   A few quotes from the article

   * Something larger, and less quantifiable, already has been [affected]: Calabasas’ inviolable sense of security, of purity, of protection from the threats of the outside world. Kraut called this “the magic that creates this community. It just has this sense of peace, this sense of serenity.” Now residents would regard every creek, the soil, even the air itself with suspicion.
   * The leaders of the landfill movement were among the first to put their houses up for sale. [One resident] planned to spend the summer in New York, hoping that by the time she returned, the trucks would be gone and all the ash safely buried.
   * [Calabasas] is not a marginalized community, like some poor town outside of Houston or in Louisiana where they manufacture pesticides. Calabasas is a beautiful place to live. It’s nestled in the hills, the property values are really high, the schools are great and there’s none of the riffraff you see in L.A. with the homeless problem. But the powers that be are choosing expediency over safety. If they can do it to this community, that means they could do it to anybody.
   * The 2025 fires had augured a future in which even a Calabasan could suffer sudden and catastrophic environmental injustice.
   * There’s no amount of money that can make you feel protected. It doesn’t matter. People think we have all this privilege. What good is privilege if you’re still being poisoned? It doesn’t matter how much money you have or how little, we’re still going to get poisoned just the same.

2. “Rich folk don’t want to pitch in during times of crisis”

3. I understand the perception of Calabasas, but it’s not a matter of nimby-ism when the landfill they are dumping contaiminated waste in a Class III landfill, meaning it accepts non-hazardous municiple waste.. no paint, no batteries, not even salt. So it’s hard not to speculate that the current lining of the dump could break down. I read that some studies show volitile organic compounds were already found in older and unlined sections of this dump. The two elementary schools, enormous housing trackss and wells/springs that are down gradient would be impacted if these contaminants spread through the aquifer system.

   I don’t know much about infrastructure or ground water management, but considering Arroyo Calabasas runs straight to the headwaters of the LA river, it feels like this will be a city wide issue in the coming years.

   I can’t find really anything online about this issue, which is surprising since the Kardashian’s were so involved from the start. Curious to hear what people in the community are talking about. What’s next for the dump? what’s going to happen to all of the communities butted up against is? I am particularly invested since I live in a small community called Liberty Canyon, and I can see the entire west side of the dump from the hill I live on.

4. This is the New American Dream in a nutshell: Be rich enough so things don’t ACTUALLY affect you. Whether it be poor schools, violence and criminal activity in a neighborhood, environmental issues, or healthcare…. Have enough to cover your OWN ass and fuck everyone else.

   The residents of that area almost seemed to understand…. Almost.

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