Event Date
In person only | MCLE credits available | No registration fee
Landfills operate within a very complex regulatory framework and are overseen by a patchwork of agencies at the local, state, and federal level. When unexpected, catastrophic events occur at a landfill, it can require a simultaneous response from many different regulators, often with different priorities.
In 2023, the Chiquita Canyon Landfill began experiencing a subsurface elevated temperature (SET) event, causing significant amounts of landfill gas emissions that have harmed the nearby communities of Castaic and Val Verde. Join us for an overview of solid waste regulation in California, with a focus on the SET event, and how local, state, and federal regulators are navigating the complex legal framework governing the landfill to bring a meaningful response to protect the environment and the local communities. The discussion will focus primarily on the Integrated Waste Management Act, but will also address air, water, and hazardous waste laws.
Panelists:
Ronald R Darbee
Assistant Chief Counsel, California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery
Ron Darbee is CalRecycle’s Assistant Chief Counsel over the Debris Removal and Solid Waste Section of the Legal Affairs Office, where he has worked on issues related to solid waste law, regulation of the state’s solid waste infrastructure, and disaster recovery, primarily post-wildfire debris removal. Ron joined the CalRecycle Legal Affairs office in 2012. He holds a J.D. from Pacific McGeorge and an LLM from UC Berkeley.
Ben Grimes
Attorney Supervisor, California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery
Ben Grimes is an Attorney Supervisor at CalRecycle in the Solid Waste Unit and has been with CalRecycle since 2014. He currently oversees matters involving permitted solid waste facilities, closed, illegal and abandoned sites, and the Short-Lived Climate Pollutants (SB 1383) program. Prior to working on solid waste issues, Ben advised on matters related to the Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act. Ben is a graduate of the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law.
Emel Wadhwani
Chief Counsel, Office of Legal Affairs, California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery
Emel Wadhwani has served as Chief Counsel since February 2025. She came to CalRecycle after serving as Assistant Chief Counsel at the State Water Resources Control Board since 2018, and an Attorney at the Board for eleven years before that. She also served as Acting Deputy Secretary for Law Enforcement and General Counsel at the California Environmental Protection Agency for several months in 2024.
Previously, Emel worked in the private sector as an Attorney at Murphy, Hesse, Toomey and Lehane, LLP and at Foley Hoag, LLP. Prior to that, Emel was a legal clerk to the Honorable Norman H. Stahl, 1st Circuit Court of Appeals. Emel earned a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School, Master of Public Policy degree from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and Bachelor of the Arts degree in History from Yale University.
Lunch provided. Presented by CELPC.