Saving a Significant Area

I have been working with various groups in the north San Fernando Valley who oppose expansion of this landfill into Sunshine Canyon, part of a significant ecological area adjacent to O’Melveny Park, a 700-acre wilderness park.

I oppose the landfill for three reasons: 1. Health and safety concerns that are being ignored. 2. Preservation of over 8,600 oaks. 3. Preservation of the significant ecological area.

The preservation of a forest of more than 8,600 mature oak trees in a city as crowded and polluted as ours is very important. This forest is intrinsically valuable for the present and for the future citizens of this city. Has no one heard of the “greenhouse effect?” Aren’t we doing just what the rain-forest settlers are doing: destroying the forest to satisfy pressing needs? They destroy the rain forest for mining and grazing, while we plan to destroy this oak forest and use it as a dump site.

Many of the citizens here in this community feel that their health and safety concerns are not being addressed. This landfill is located in the Newhall Pass where wind speeds exceed 80 m.p.h. during Santa Ana conditions. If large pieces of garbage go flying around, what about toxic materials, medical waste? There is no on-site air quality monitoring, so we don’t know.

This landfill is also close to the California aqueduct (distance to the aeration cascade approximately 3,500 feet), close to two DWP plants (distance to the Jepson filtration plant approximately 1.2 miles) and upstream of the Van Norman Reservoir (approximately 1.7 miles), which together provide L.A. with 75% of its drinking water. As far as I know, no agency does ground-water monitoring of this landfill for potential contamination.

The preservation of the significant ecological area concept is of critical importance. These areas were set aside under the County General Plan in the mid-1970s to preserve a minimum amount of natural area for biological diversity and ecological balance. If this site is developed into a landfill, the precedent is set for the dismantling of any such area for any reason.

DR. JOAN SANDER

Granada Hills