County Supervisors Clear Way for Landfill Expansion

After nearly two years of wrangling, Los Angeles County supervisors have cleared the way for an expansion of the Puente Hills landfill that will allow it to stay open another decade, barring a successful court challenge.

By a 3-2 vote, supervisors Tuesday reissued a permit to expand the nation’s second-largest landfill into canyons within 1,750 feet of Hacienda Heights homes and schools. The action extends the site’s operating life to 2003.

The conditional-use permit allows the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County, the landfill’s operator, to dispose of up to 12,000 tons of waste a day into the canyon dump, near the junction of the San Gabriel River and Pomona freeways. The expansion will more than double the total amount of trash the facility can hold.

Supervisor Deane Dana, whose district includes the landfill, had sought to limit the daily amount of trash going into the dump--which landfill opponents said could have saved some canyons.

But the board majority, led by Supervisor Ed Edelman, opted for the permit. “The need for this facility as an essential component of the county’s solid waste management system has been repeatedly demonstrated,” Edelman said.

The decision, opposed by Dana and Supervisor Gloria Molina, ends the latest chapter in a battle pitting the county against the Hacienda Heights Homeowners Improvement Assn., the Hacienda-La Puente Unified School District and R. R. & C. Corp. of Industry.

Residents who live near the dump were disappointed.

“All the Sanitation Districts know is how to put something in the ground and cover it up. They don’t care about these canyons,” said Nancy Abbott, who has lived in Hacienda Heights since 1964, six years before the landfill opened.

“They have a 10-year permit for the landfill but the expansion (provides) enough space for 20 years of trash,” said Abbott, who predicted a legal appeal of the decision.

Dana said he proposed the reduction in tonnage with the intention of forcing the Sanitation Districts to intensify its search for alternative trash disposal methods, including hauling waste by rail to remote dumps.

But Charles Carry, the districts’ general manager, told supervisors that any reduction in the landfill’s intake would cut the funds available to subsidize the proposal to transport waste out of the county by rail.

Supervisors last year approved a permit to expand the landfill, but Superior Court Judge Diane Wayne ruled it was invalid because the environmental study was inadequate. But in June, after an additional environmental study was prepared, Wayne changed her position and sent the matter back to the supervisors.