The West's largest hazardous-waste landfill is running out of room after four years of expansion attempts have been stymied by tragedy in nearby Kettleman City, Calif.
State authorities put the expansion on hold after community activists in 2009 reported a rash of birth defects in Kettleman City, implicating the landfill's toxic burial ground 3.5 miles away.
There have been months of government investigation, studies, updates and continued monitoring, none of which so far has turned up a connection between the birth defects and the landfill. There is no firm timetable among government agencies yet for action on the application to expand.
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