Recycling

The League of Women Voters, an advocate for recycling since 1973, applauds The Times’ recent coverage, including your editorial on composting (“An Organic Theory of Composting,” Dec. 31). Unfortunately, curbside recycling in the City of Los Angeles has arrived too late to save the finest remaining oak canopy forest in Los Angeles County. In order to accommodate trash from the city, Browning Ferris Industries Inc. (BFI) proposes to expand the Sunshine Canyon (North Valley) landfill into a canyon containing a forest of 8,600 mature oaks, plus big cone spruce and native walnut trees.

In order to convert this rare woodland and wetland habitat into a landfill, BFI must obtain from the County Regional Planning Commission 1) a conditional use permit, 2) a General Plan amendment to remove from the canyon its designation as a significant ecological area, and 3) oak tree removal permits for at least 6,000 trees. The Planning Commission’s final hearing on these applications and the Draft EIR for the expansion will be held on Wednesday, 9 a.m. at the Hall of Records, 320 W. Temple St.

Ironically, there is ample land immediately adjacent to the current landfill at Sunshine Canyon to accommodate the city’s trash until the proposed city-county landfill at Elsmere Canyon comes on line. The city-county agreement, however, states that after BFI gets the permits to expand into the county, the city will allow BFI to “pursue” the city permits. If the city fails to issue the permits by 1993, city trucks will no longer dump in the county part of Sunshine Canyon. Of course, by then the city will be able to dump at Elsmere, and it will be too late to save the oaks and the animals and birds dependent upon them. Is this rational land use or the politics of waste?

JUDY BORASH, President

MARILYN SAILOR, Natural Resources Director

League of Women Voters of Los Angeles County