State Action Could Close Key L.A. Dump

The state agency that regulates waste dumping has imposed restrictions on the operation of the Lopez Canyon Landfill where about 66% of Los Angeles’ household trash is dumped.

City officials predicted that the order could force the closure of the dump, at least temporarily, putting pressure on other dumps and forcing the city to use costly private landfills scattered around the county.

Within minutes of the 7-0 vote by the state Solid Waste Management Board on Friday, a deputy Los Angeles city attorney said that on Monday he will seek a temporary restraining order in Los Angeles Superior Court to block the decision from taking effect at the East San Fernando Valley dump.

Deputy City Atty. Christopher M. Westhoff said it will be business as usual at the dump Monday, but within about three weeks, the landfill would be “effectively closed by the action” unless the restraining order is granted.

“This is tantamount to a disaster,” Westhoff said.

The board is holding the city to provisions of its 1978 state operating permit. The permit, according to state officials, says trash may not be piled higher than 1,725 feet, no more than 400 trucks a day may dump at the site and dumping may be done on only 140 of the 392 acres. Los Angeles, board members said, is violating all of those provisions.

Between 6,000 and 7,000 tons of household trash is generated each day in Los Angeles. About 4,000 tons daily goes into the Lopez Canyon Landfill.

But the state permit says the city may dump only 8,000 tons of garbage a month at Lopez Canyon. State officials concede that the figure might be a typographical error and on Friday limited the city to 3,100 tons a day at the dump. Westhoff said that “there is no official contingency plan because you can’t plan for this.”

Edward Avila, president of the city Board of Public Works, said he believes that there is still operating room at Lopez Canyon. He said that with a temporary two-month shutdown, the life of the canyon could be extended for another year.

Luther Derian, senior city sanitary engineer, said private landfills in and near Los Angeles probably could handle any overflow from Lopez, at least for a while.

Among the dumps listed by city officials as alternative dump sites are the county-owned dump at Calabasas and three private dumps: Sunshine Canyon Landfill above Granada Hills, Bradley West Landfill in Sunland, and a BKK Corp. facility in West Covina.

City officials pointed out that private landfills around Los Angeles are costly, charging from $19 to $23 a ton. Derian said that if the city loses Lopez Canyon, the fees might increase.

In voting for the staff recommendation, E. L. (Skeet) Varner, a board member, told city officials that “your staff may not have intentionally violated the law, but obviously there’s violation after violation” of the state permit to operate the landfill.

The city is defending its actions at Lopez Canyon by pointing to a 1983 Los Angeles engineering report, which it maintains allowed the city to dump up to 4,200 tons a day and send 500 trucks daily to the facility.

City officials argued that the provisions of that document are valid because the city, state and county have operated under its guidelines.

But Robert Conheim, counsel to the Solid Waste Management Board, said the city had failed to change its original operating permit, so the conditions imposed in 1978 should be followed.

Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), who along with other area lawmakers vigorously criticized the city at the hearing, described the Solid Waste Management Board decision as “an important win, not just for the people who live around Lopez, but to everyone in Los Angeles.”

“The city,” he said, “has to abide by the law.”

Katz and others also questioned the city’s right to dump on seven acres of U.S. Forest Service land next to the Lopez Canyon landfill. The city said that it has a valid permit from the federal agency to dump on the land.

Both sides in the debate acknowledge that there is an approaching trash crisis as dumps fill up or restrictions are imposed on their operation. They also agree that a regional solution should be sought.

But members of the Solid Waste Management Board said their focus--at least Friday--was limited to what the city is allowed to dump at Lopez Canyon under its state permit.

Residents in nearby Lake View Terrace and Kagel Canyon have wanted the dump shut down. Their efforts intensified after a small section of the landfill was closed in March after two Los Angeles sanitation workers were overcome by fumes and hospitalized. But the state said at the time that it would not close the dump because only low levels of toxic substances were found during air and underground gas tests at the landfill.

Lopez Canyon has caused one rift on the City Council. On Wednesday, Councilwoman Joy Picus asked the council to oppose the waste board’s staff recommendation to restrict use of the landfill.

Councilman Ernani Bernardi, who represents the East Valley district that includes Lopez Canyon, angrily chastised Picus for not consulting him first. He stormed out of council chambers before the vote, breaking the quorum so that no vote could be taken.

In a letter to the Solid Waste Management Board on Friday, Picus predicted the board’s action “will force an upset in the current waste disposal practices within Los Angles County as a whole.” But Bernardi, in a letter, urged the panel to impose the tough restrictions.

Times staff writer Amy Pyle in Los Angeles contributed to this story.