Forest Service Opposes Key Element of Landfill Plan

Critics of the proposed Elsmere Canyon landfill said the controversial project was dealt a major setback Tuesday when U.S. Forest Service officials announced they are opposed to a land swap viewed as vital to the proposal.

The landfill’s proponents downplayed the government’s action but for years have called the 1,600-acre land swap a key component in a developer’s plans to place a 190-million-ton landfill in Elsmere Canyon, east of the Antelope Valley Freeway and just outside Santa Clarita.

Under the proposed swap, the federal government would allow BKK Corp. to take over a portion of Angeles National Forest for the landfill. In return, BKK would deed to the government land of equal financial and aesthetic value.

Forest Service officials oppose the trade because the landfill would eliminate open space and harm the area’s riparian habitat, said Paul Johnson, a deputy forest supervisor with the agency. The landfill project also fails to adequately explore other possible sites for a dump, he said.

“Unless there is some astounding information that would come in,” agency officials will oppose the land swap in their written comments for the Elsmere Landfill’s draft environmental impact report, Johnson said. That document, which has been in the works for several years, is projected to be released in January.

Landfill opponents, from members of a citizens group created to fight the proposal to the Santa Clarita City Council, are calling the Forest Service stance an important victory. They note the federal agency’s concerns are similar to their own.

“That’s what we’ve been saying all along,” said Marsha McLean, president of the Santa Clarita Valley Canyons Preservation Committee. McLean and city officials fear the landfill could contaminate ground water, increase air pollution and give off foul odors.

“We haven’t stopped the landfill yet, but we’ve slowed them down,” said Jo Anne Darcy, a Santa Clarita city councilwoman and a field deputy for Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich.

Supporters of the landfill proposal downplay the recommendation’s significance.

Ken Kazarian, president of Torrance-based BKK, said he was disappointed by the announcement. He predicted the agency will reverse itself and recommend the land swap once public hearings and studies of the draft environmental report are complete.

“I think the Forest Service is in a position where they can’t do anything but take that position until they’ve had a fair hearing of the issues,” said Kazarian. “Otherwise, they would fall into the category that some people . . . have put them in by saying it’s a done deal.”

BKK has spent more than $1.5 million on the environmental report, and an early recommendation by the Forest Service in favor of the land swap could have further fueled opponents’ arguments, he added.

“Santa Clarita has tried to make the accusation that the environmental impact report was going to be no good because BKK is paying for it and we can influence it,” said Kazarian. “I would say that, number one, this goes to prove that they’re incorrect and, second, people have to look at the real data.”

Public input might not change the Forest Service recommendation, but studies of environmental and technical findings in the preliminary environmental report should support BKK’s position, he said.

If the land swap does fall through, BKK will study the feasibility of putting a landfill on the several hundred acres of land the company owns elsewhere in Elsmere Canyon, Kazarian said. That landfill would probably be smaller than the projected 190-million-ton capacity of the existing proposal.

“It’s not the preferred alternative from our standpoint,” said Kazarian. “When we started the project we looked at that, but we figured our current proposal was superior. Not necessarily environmentally, but technically, in its operation, and visually.”