Water Board Backs Expansion of Sunshine Canyon Landfill : Environment: Granada Hills area residents are worried about wildlife and contamination. The proposal must still get clearance from two state agencies.

A proposed expansion of the Sunshine Canyon landfill moved a step closer to final approval Monday when state water officials declared that enlarging the dump will not harm local water supplies.

The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board voted 8 to 0 to issue a permit allowing the dump operator, Browning-Ferris Industries, to expand the site into 215 acres just across the Los Angeles city line from the present landfill north of Sylmar. At the same time, the board accepted a plan by Browning-Ferris to prevent water pollution in the surrounding area.

Board members gave their blessing to the expansion despite objections from several Granada Hills residents, who said an expanded dump would wipe out wildlife and thousands of trees in the area. They added that it would create more dust that would blow into nearby homes and drinking-water supplies at Los Angeles Reservoir.

Residents also challenged an environmental report cited by the water board that concluded that there are no usable water supplies beneath the new landfill site. They said a consultant they hired said water is present in large amounts beneath bedrock under the site and could be contaminated by the enlarged dump.

BFI is pushing to open the new area as a Sept. 21 deadline for closing the existing dump looms. The present landfill was ordered closed by city officials after numerous complaints by City Councilman Hal Bernson, who has feuded for years with BFI on behalf of his constituents in Granada Hills.

Expansion of the dump into county territory was approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in February. It would have a capacity of nearly 17 million tons of waste and is expected to be open for 10 years. About 6,600 tons of refuse could be dumped there daily.

BFI must still obtain permits from state solid-waste and air-quality officials before it can open the expanded dump. In addition, city officials and homeowners have filed lawsuits to block the expansion.

Under the permit approved by the regional water board, BFI can accept non-hazardous wastes, including trash, manure, industrial wastes, ash, abandoned vehicles, sewage sludge and other materials. But a BFI spokesman said the new dump would not take sewage sludge or abandoned vehicles.

BFI officials described the expansion as “a state-of-the-art landfill” designed far in excess of state requirements. The new dump would be lined with two feet of compacted clay and contain monitoring devices to check for leakage of contaminants, they said.

But Wayde Hunter, a spokesman for the North Valley Coalition, a group of homeowners opposed to the expansion, complained that the water board approval was based in part on an environmental report prepared by a consultant paid by BFI. The report indicated that there are no usable ground-water supplies beneath the expansion area.

Hunter said a hydrogeologist hired by his group found “vast amounts” of water. He said potential leakage from the dump could contaminate ground water and flow downstream to Los Angeles Reservoir, which supplies much of Los Angeles’ drinking water.

BFI officials said they plan to remove all porous earth from under the expansion site through which contaminated water could move downstream.

In addition, the firm plans to re-create wetland areas in the Lower Arroyo Seco area of Pasadena to offset the destruction of about eight acres of intermittent stream bed and riparian habitat in the new dump area.

The mitigation plan must still be approved by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers.

Hunter said the North Valley Coalition plans to appeal the regional board’s approval of the expansion to the state Water Quality Control Board, the regional board’s parent.