Restrictions on Landfills Gain Support in Assembly

Opponents of the proposed Sunshine Canyon landfill expansion won an initial round Monday when the Assembly Natural Resources Committee endorsed legislation to restrict trash dumping in the hillsides encircling the San Fernando Valley.

The bill, introduced by Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman (D-Tarzana), would effectively block the expansion of existing dumps or the creation of new dumps in much of the Santa Monica Mountains and the Rim of the Valley Corridor--a ring of low mountains that contain the Sunshine and Lopez Canyon landfills.

The 7-2 vote came after Friedman amended the bill to include the Valley sites, which county officials consider crucial to handling the region’s future trash production. Previously, the bill was aimed at blocking county plans to dump trash in Mission, Rustic and Sullivan canyons in the Santa Monica Mountains.

La Follette Cites Concerns

“I don’t think we can look at those canyons and say, ‘Oh, goodie, there’s a hole to fill up,’ and then do it,” said Assemblywoman Marian W. La Follette (R-Northridge), who persuaded Friedman to expand the measure. She cited continuing concerns over ground-water contamination and the possible destruction of scenic parkland as reasons for safeguarding the 140,000-acre Valley territory.

“More and more wells in the San Fernando Valley have been determined to be contaminated,” La Follette, a committee member, told colleagues in urging support for the bill. “Rainwater on our landfills is contributing to contamination. Health has to be our No. 1 concern.”

The committee action, which sends the bill toward an expected vote on the Assembly floor, came nearly a year after Granada Hills residents began protesting a massive expansion planned for Sunshine Canyon.

Problems With Noise

Homeowners spokesman Norene Charnofsky told the committee that the expansion of the 235-acre landfill to 1,000 acres, as the county has proposed, would continue exposing homeowners to noise and odor from the dumping of 7,000 tons of trash there each day.

County officials argued that serious problems exist in disposing of trash in the Los Angeles region, and that the bill would compound those problems.

The bill would prohibit dumps from operating anywhere in the 295,000-acre target area after December, 1989. That would make it impractical to expand the dumps, Friedman said, because the newly added portions would have to be closed almost immediately.

Stephen R. Maguin, head of solid-waste management for the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, said the bill would undermine regional planning efforts to deal with the escalating volume of trash, now estimated at 42,000 tons per day.

“We are all aware of the unequal distribution of waste throughout the county,” Maguin said, alluding to disproportionate volumes that now go to the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys. “This bill would preempt the local planning process” and perhaps divert greater volumes of trash into overburdened San Gabriel Valley landfills, he said.

Jack Michaels, representing the county Board of Supervisors, told committee members that landfill sites in the Santa Monica Mountains were purchased by the county long before Congress designated the areas as federal parkland.

“Because of the longstanding ownership of this property by the county and the sanitation districts . . . we urge a ‘no’ vote on this bill,” he said.

Supporters of the bill argued that increasing concerns over hazardous wastes make it all the more important that future landfills are placed far from population centers. The Sunshine Canyon landfill is within a mile of the nearest home, homeowner Charnofsky said.

Friedman, who said federal and state parkland “should be the last place to put a trash dump,” called the committee vote an important hurdle for the bill. He said it is the first indication that the Legislature may support the effort.