Bernson Still Has Hope for LANCER Plant

Scratching for an alternative to the dumping of more trash in his San Fernando Valley district, City Councilman Hal Bernson on Wednesday kept the door open to the possibility of building a LANCER trash-to-energy plant somewhere in Los Angeles.

“I for one am not ready to throw in the towel on LANCER,” Bernson said at a meeting of the council’s Public Works Committee. The committee was to have acted on Mayor Tom Bradley’s recommendation to scuttle the first Los Angeles City Energy Recovery project, to be located in South-Central Los Angeles.

Others Were Planned

In winning a two-week delay on a decision on Bradley’s recommendation, Bernson said he is prepared to recommend that the South-Central location be abandoned pending the completion of an analysis of its health risks. But, he added, he is not ready to give up on the LANCER concept.

Once the South-Central plant was completed, others were to follow on the West Side and the Valley. Bernson said in an interview Wednesday that he would be willing to consider any site, including the Valley, provided it is found to be safe.

LANCER plants, which would burn household trash to generate electricity, were proposed by the city as an alternative way to get rid of the 5,000 tons of rubbish that Los Angeles residents toss out each day. The city sends most of its trash to landfills in the Valley, but those sites are expected to be full by 1993, and the development of new landfills or expansion of existing ones has been blocked by nearby residents. In addition, a bill is pending in the state Legislature to prohibit new dumping in most of the mountains around the Valley.

Bernson complained that Bradley’s decision to scuttle the South-Central LANCER project was based on political considerations, and he said it is “premature and irresponsible” to dismiss incineration as an option--especially with no alternative for the long-term disposal of the trash--without awaiting the results of a study on the health risks of the project.

Used in Other Areas

“To abandon a potential technology that is being used successfully in other parts of the country and the world without giving it a fair evaluation is totally irresponsible,” Bernson said after the meeting.

“We have a lot of time, effort and dollars invested in this thing,” he said in an interview. “Plus we haven’t solved the problem of what do to do with our solid waste.”

Bernson complained that the Sunshine Canyon Landfill above Granada Hills in his district now receives 60% of the city’s trash. But more important, he said, city sanitation officials have projected that space in the city’s remaining landfills will be exhausted in 1993, and, without LANCER, there is no clear alternative. City officials are looking at opening a new landfill in Elsmere Canyon in the hills north of the Valley.

Persistent Opposition

Bernson’s hopes of finding other sites for trash-burning plants are expected to run into the same problems that plagued the LANCER project in South-Central Los Angeles, most notably strong opposition from environmentalists and nearby residents. Council members also have become mindful of the political consequences of supporting the projects.

But Bernson said the city should at least determine whether such facilities are safe and, if so, see if there are any sites in industrial areas far from homes.

A spokesman for Bradley said Wednesday that the mayor doesn’t believe that LANCER projects, no matter where in Los Angeles, are “viable at this time.” Bradley said last week that the trash-to-energy concept works and would be acceptable in other parts of the country. But he said the Los Angeles air basin, with the worst air quality in the country, is different.