No Final Agreement in Land-Swap Talks

Negotiations between Rep. Howard Berman (D-Panorama City) and a representative of Los Angeles County concerning a complicated land-swap proposal did not produce a final agreement in Washington on Thursday, a Berman aide said.

“The negotiations are ongoing,” said the aide, Marc Litchman. “There’s optimism that it can be resolved. There’s still more work to be done.”

The land swap involves proposals to turn Elsmere Canyon near Santa Clarita into a public trash dump and to set aside strips of land across Nevada for lines that would carry electricity to Los Angeles from a coal-burning power plant in that state.

In return, Berman proposes preserving several scenic canyons as park land, including three in the Santa Monica Mountains--Mission, Rustic and Sullivan canyons--that are owned by the county and the county sanitation districts.

Under Berman’s plan, the Hansen Dam Recreation Area, a run-down park in the East San Fernando Valley, would receive $300 million in dumping fees from the Elsmere landfill. In addition, the Lopez Canyon Landfill, operated by the city of Los Angeles above Lake View Terrace, would be closed.