Report Backs Larger Landfill : Lopez Canyon Expansion Predicted to Have Only Minor Impact

The proposed expansion of the Lopez Canyon landfill, which has been opposed by the dump’s neighbors in Lake View Terrace, would not significantly harm them, according to a draft environmental impact report prepared for the Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation.

The expansion would have few, if any, adverse effects on the area’s air and water quality, traffic at key intersections or health of nearby residents, the report said.

Increased noise from garbage truck traffic would be the only significant problem resulting from the additional landfill operations, which calls for doubling to 800 the number of trucks entering the dump each day, the report predicted. In addition, traffic and other landfill operations would lead to a “slight deterioration of local and regional air quality,” it said.

The report stated that ground water would be protected because liners would be placed on the floor and side slopes of the disposal areas.

The inch-thick report, which was sent to 80 Los Angeles city and county officials and state environmental agencies, details the city Bureau of Sanitation’s request to extend the life of the landfill from the early 1990s until the year 2005, which would allow burial of 26 million more tons of solid waste.

Lopez Canyon is the only dump that the city of Los Angeles owns and operates. Other dumps used for city trash are privately owned.

East San Fernando Valley Councilman Ernani Bernardi, who opposes the expansion, voiced doubts about the report’s conclusions.

“I think you have to put on rose-colored glasses when you read this,” Bernardi said. Bernardi said he has not yet thoroughly reviewed the draft document, but “I don’t go along with their suggestions that everything will be reduced to insignificant levels.”

Opposition Organized

Since the expansion was proposed in August, Lake View Terrace residents’ groups have protested against it at public meetings and have organized opposition to it.

The report will be reviewed by the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the California Regional Water Control Board and the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services--all of which must approve the expansion. The City Council and Mayor Tom Bradley must give final approval of the plan.

After a public comment period of at least 30 days, city sanitation officials are required by state law to respond to questions raised by the other government agencies, public officials or citizens.

The $16-million plan calls for bulldozing 6 million cubic yards of dirt--tearing down a mountain ridge--to make room for the garbage. A new and longer road would be constructed around the bigger dump.

In addition to 7,200 tons a day of household garbage, the city is seeking to dump 1,200 tons a day of sewage sludge, a mud-like waste product from raw sewage treatment facilities, which removes some of the organisms that make sewage a health threat.

The report listed only two instances in which an expanded dump could potentially threaten human health. Both dealt with the exposure to the sewage sludge.

Indirect exposure through contamination of water supplies would be avoided, the report stated, by the protective liners.

The most likely exposure to the sludge would occur during a truck accident or if trucks leave the landfill with sludge on their wheels, but a truck washing area and an emergency response plan to handle accidents would reduce these threats to “insignificant levels,” the report stated.