AQMD Cites Landfill After Nearby Residents Complain About Dust

The Sunshine Canyon Landfill has been cited for allowing dust to blow from the dump to neighboring homes in Granada Hills last weekend, officials said Thursday.

The landfill was cited by the South Coast Air Quality Management District for not taking reasonable steps to prevent the dust from blowing and for creating a public nuisance, said Carol Coy, AQMD enforcement manager.

The AQMD will consider whether the citations warrant a lawsuit against the landfill operator, Browning-Ferris Industries, Coy said. Many such violations, however, result in a negotiated fine.

An AQMD inspector visited the landfill Sunday afternoon after about 30 residents complained of the dust, Coy said.

Coy said the incident was unusual for the landfill. The AQMD has received complaints about dust from the dump for about six months and in each case, the operators were found to have taken “every reasonable precaution to minimize the dust emission.”

Sunday afternoon, a landfill attendant left the dump for about two hours, Coy said. While the attendant was gone, strong winds developed, creating a dust storm that could have been prevented if the attendant were there to moisten the dirt with a water truck, Coy said.

Browning-Ferris officials in Los Angeles did not respond to requests for comment.

The incident provided fuel for the dump’s critics, including Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson, who have demanded that the dump be closed or at least denied permission to expand into adjacent Los Angeles County territory.

“I thought it was a fire,” said Bernson, who saw the dust blowing Sunday while going to his home in the neighborhood. The landfill “really is bad and the condition is just getting worse and worse.”

Bernson and the residents are awaiting a city zoning administrator’s decision on Bernson’s request to revoke the 1966 zoning variance authorizing the dump to operate.

Zoning Administrator John J. Parker Jr. said he expects to reach a decision by mid-August. He said he is aware of the dust problem on Sunday.

Granada Hills residents have long complained of dust and debris blowing onto their properties.

“You walk onto a patio and you have dust and dirt everywhere,” resident Barbara Bell said.

Bernson said the dust storm was part of a more serious hazard posed by the landfill.

“The real problem isn’t the fact that the employee took off for two hours,” the councilman said. “If you have a situation where a landfill will cause these kinds of problems because of errors of omission by someone, then it’s in the wrong place.”

The proposal by Browning-Ferris to expand into county territory is pending before the county Regional Planning Commission.