Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Bills Would Stop Use of Angeles Forest for a Dump : Elsmere Canyon: Boxer adds her weight to an effort by McKeon to block the proposed trade of public land.

Twin bills have been introduced in Congress in an attempt to block a key trade of national forest land needed to establish a controversial proposed landfill in Elsmere Canyon.

Rep. Howard P. (Buck) McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) submitted the legislation to prohibit transfer of any Angeles National Forest land from federal ownership for use as a landfill.

If passed, the measure would be a serious setback to a plan by BKK Corp. of Torrance to build a 190-million-ton dump in Elsmere Canyon, southeast of the undercrossing of San Fernando Road with the Antelope Valley Freeway. The firm has proposed trading 1,643 acres of public land around the canyon for BKK-owned property of equal financial and aesthetic value.

“Today, Elsmere Canyon is a place of tranquillity, rugged open canyons and a home to a varied population of birds, animals and native California plants,” McKeon said in a prepared statement. “Tomorrow, if a landfill is sited in this pristine canyon, we’ll have the world’s largest dump receiving up to 33 million pounds of garbage daily from the Los Angeles Basin, with a projected life span of 50 years.”

McKeon submitted the legislation Monday, the same bill he introduced in July. No action was taken on it before the session ended.

Santa Clarita city officials, who have vigorously opposed the landfill right outside city boundaries, said they hoped the submission of the bill by Boxer in the Senate would bring it increased visibility.

“This is a real big step in our efforts,” said Gail Foy, public information officer for the city.

Boxer, who submitted the bill on Friday, said in a statement:

“It is clear that this national forest property is far too valuable to be transferred for the purpose of constructing a landfill. We must also be concerned about establishing a precedent of using national forest lands for this purpose when realistic alternatives exist.”

Ken Kazarian, president of BKK, said he was frustrated but not surprised by legislative attempts to block the project that has been in the planning stage for seven years.

Kazarian added that he believed the landfill could still be constructed if the land trade is blocked.