Tests Begin on New Gas System at Landfill : Trash: A sports complex may reopen at Scholl Canyon if the methane-collection apparatus works as well as Glendale officials expect.

Testing began Monday on a gas-collection system that Glendale officials hope will allow the reopening of a tennis complex and golf course on the inactive portion of the Scholl Canyon landfill.

The sports complex was closed more than a year ago after potentially dangerous methane gas leaks were detected. Public Works Director George Miller said he was thrilled and hoped the installation of the system would end the city’s feud with the Air Quality Management District over the correction of the landfill’s gas-emission problems.

The AQMD threatened at several hearings this year to fine the city $25,000 a day for operating a substandard gas-collection system. Glendale officials contended that they needed to keep their old system operating while they installed the new one or the gas leaks could get out of control.

In an attempt to comply with the AQMD’s demands, the city in October stopped burning collected methane in its flare system and redirected the gas to flares operated by the AQMD in the active portion of the landfill.

The city, meanwhile, filed a lawsuit last month in Superior Court against the agency, maintaining that the AQMD’s conditions for the installation of the gas-collection system were too strict. The AQMD imposed a Dec. 29 deadline on the installation of the new system. “That’s what our goal was, and we made it,” Miller said.

Tests conducted last year revealed that the old system broke down when its horizontal gas-collecting pipes collapsed as a result of the gradual settling of waste in the landfill, which is more than 245 feet deep in some areas, Miller said.

The new $709,000 system, Miller said, was installed last week by Valley Crest Landscaping Co. and is being tested to make sure it meets all AQMD requirements. “We need to do some more work on it, but it’s in and its working.”

AQMD officials said they are encouraged by the news but have yet to verify that the new system is in place and operating in compliance with its standards.

“We’re pleased that the gas-collection system has been upgraded to the point where it is now,” said Robert Pease, the AQMD’s engineering manager in charge of supervising the Scholl Canyon project. “But we are currently in the process of verifying that the gas emissions do not exceed our standards. Once we get that information, we’ll have a better handle on the efficacy of the system.”

The AQMD evaluation should be completed in early January, Pease said.

Miller said that no date has been set for reopening the tennis courts and golf course but that the city is working toward that goal.