Ascon Toxic Waste Dump

Operating as a landfill from 1938 to 1984, the Ascon Landfill in Huntington Beach, Orange County, is now a vacant 38-acre site. Most of the waste occupying the area came from oil drilling operations and construction projects, which were deposited into open lagoons and pits. Since then, remediation projects have been occurring in multiple phases, with the final site remediation work beginning in January 2019. However, soon after, two notices of violations were issued for the remediation work due to strong nuisance odors and dust, along with the project manager’s failure to report local complaints to the South Coast Air Quality Management District. As a result, the operations at the site were put on hold until better mitigation measures were implemented.

In October 2024, the Ascon team finalized a Restart Work Plan with the Department of Toxic Substance Control, and has begun the remediation process again. The remediation is expected to take 27 months to complete. Specifically, this Restart Work Plan encompasses moving contaminated soils and remaining waste to the interior of the site, then building a multi-layered environmental cap with geomembrane barriers, clean soil, and drought-tolerant native plants. For specific updates, check out the Ascon website for weekly field work plans.