Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Knight the Latest to Oppose Elsmere Canyon Landfill
Assemblyman William J. (Pete) Knight (R-Palmdale) has announced his opposition to a 190-million-ton landfill proposed southwest of Santa Clarita.
The former Palmdale mayor cited environmental concerns about the Elsmere Canyon site in a recent letter to the U.S. Forest Service, the agency preparing environmental documents on the project.
“While I tend to oppose government restrictions on economic development, I feel that in this case the government should not allow a dump to be located in Elsmere Canyon,” Knight wrote in the letter. “The market will not bear the cost to the environment that a dump in Elsmere Canyon would entail.”
Opponents have said the landfill will harm local air quality, threaten the underground water supply and lower property values in Santa Clarita Valley.
City Councilwoman Jill Klajic urged Knight to take a position on the project, which the Santa Clarita City Council has gone on record opposing.
“This issue has been a recurring one in the Santa Clarita Valley for the past 20 years,” Knight wrote. “Time after time the proposal has been denied for various reasons. It would be very unlikely that all of these potential negative impacts could have been eliminated.”
Environmental documents on the landfill project are expected to be completed before the end of the year, possibly as early as November.
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