Vida En El Valle Blogs: The Latin voice of the central valley.

Cesar Canales, 4, stayed in his mother's arms while she told reporters of her miscarriage last August.

A small array of hope came to residents of Kettleman City in the way of a house-to-house visit by Environmental Protection Agency’s Pacific Southwest regional director Jared Blumenfeld. 

Parents of children who have either died or whose children suffer from birth defects met one-on-one with Blumenfeld yesterday afternoon. The families, some still in mourning, told the new EPA regional director they believe the cause of their agony is the nearby Kettleman Hills Facility, a toxic landfill operated by Chemical Waste Management.

Six children in the area of Kettleman City were born with defects that occurred within the span of 15 months (2007-08). Three of the infants died after long battles with various health conditions. Many of the residents organized and became activists. With help from Bradley Angel, the director of Greenaction, an environmental watchdog group, a portion of the 1,500 population from the dominant Spanish-speaking community launched protests in Hanford against Kings County officials. They filed a lawsuit after supervisors approved in December the expansion of the landfill.

Maria Salcedo talks to reporters about her visit with EPA director Jared Blumenfeld.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has ordered an investigation into the birth defects. And now with Blumenfeld, who has only been on the job for under two months, some of residents have been given a small amount of hope.

A horde of media surrounded parents Daria Hernandez, Maria Salcedo, Magdalena Romero, and Lizbeth Canales, who say Blumenfeld “promised” to conduct an investigation. Canales cried as she spoke into the cameras of her miscarriage that just occurred last year. In her arms was her son, Cesar, 4. Hernandez held her son, Ivan, 20 months, saying he will need speech therapy as he gets older. Ivan has already undergone two medical procedures to correct his cleft palate. Doctors told her he will need additional surgeries. Salcedo’s child died six months after birth. Romero’s child was also born with a cleft palate but later died. Romero told reporters she showed pictures of her daughter in the casket to Blumenfeld.

Melanie Estrada, 7, holds a sign that reads "Justice for the children of Kettleman City."

Only a few news organizations have followed the residents-turned-activists in their long fight against Waste Management. A couple of the residents said they wanted to give up because they felt no one cared, and not enough media was willing to hear them.

Kettleman City is surrounded by agriculture. One can smell the pesticide driving from the south along Highway 41. North and south directions of Interstate 5 is within three miles of the community. The landfill is to the west.

Many of the streets in the community do not have sidewalks. A school crosswalk is painted along Highway 41 , route often used by diesel trucks.

Blumenfeld toured the Kettleman Hills Facility in the morning, but did not attend the press conference.