AQMD Cites L.A. for Lopez Canyon Emissions : Environment: The landfill exceeded state air pollution limits 28 times. The city faces $700,000 in fines, but a lesser settlement is being negotiated.

Regional air quality officials have cited the city of Los Angeles for violating state air pollution laws at Lopez Canyon Landfill in the northeastern San Fernando Valley on 28 separate occasions, exposing the city to fines of hundreds of thousands of dollars, city officials said Wednesday.

The violations carry fines of up to $25,000 a day, or a total of $700,000, but a lesser settlement is being negotiated and should be announced by Friday, Deputy City Atty. Christopher Westhoff said.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District enforcement staff cited the city Sept. 7 for exceeding the amount of methane gas emissions allowed under state law at the dump 28 times from April through July.

AQMD officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday. A spokeswoman for Diana Love, the district’s chief prosecutor, said AQMD attorneys had been meeting all day to work out details of the settlement.

Westhoff said the agreement also would cover steps that the city Bureau of Sanitation, which operates the dump, will take to control future emissions at the facility near Lake View Terrace. City officials have acknowledged, in hearings now being conducted by the AQMD hearing board, that a newly installed gas collection system, built at a cost of almost $4 million, is not working.

“We’ll be coming back to the board with a modified order of abatement to rectify all problems,” Westhoff said. “The city is not reluctant to deal with the problem.”

The AQMD citation was issued as a result of the hearings, which have been held periodically since April. At that time, residents who live near the dump and elected officials who represent the area asked the hearing board to close the landfill until gas emissions could be controlled.

According to the city’s own records, as recently as July, gas emissions at several points in the landfill were measured at 10,000 parts per million of air, 20 times the level permitted by the state.

Kagel Canyon resident Rob Zapple, who has led the fight against the landfill, said the citation confirmed “the community’s worst fears” about excess gas emissions at the dump and represents a “substantial victory for the community. We’re very happy that the AQMD’s enforcement staff has finally acted.”

Zapple said he disagrees with the proposal that the city pay a lesser fine.

“That money could be used for monitoring gas emissions at the landfill on a daily basis,” he said.

Westhoff said the violations listed in the citation were technical. Sanitation officials had not repaired cracks in the landfill from which gas was escaping within 24 hours as required by state law, he said.

That has since been corrected, Westhoff said. “What we needed to do was tighten up our own procedures,” he added.

Westhoff said the city also will agree to pay fines for past violations, including penalties for illegal excavation work during installation of the gas recovery system. During that work in March, 1989, a city worker was hospitalized after he was overcome by the fumes.

“We didn’t intend to excavate but we did,” Westhoff said. “We didn’t have a permit, so we agreed to pay a fine.”

City officials have maintained throughout the hearings that they are in “substantial compliance” with the law.