Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Plan for Elsmere Canyon Landfill Draws Fire : Environment: More opposition to proposed dump is voiced at second part of public hearing. Alternatives are explored.

Opponents of a proposed garbage dump at Elsmere Canyon blasted the project’s environmental report as woefully inadequate on Wednesday, and a Santa Clarita official said the city would fund its own study to search for alternatives to building a new landfill.

Jeff Kolin, a Santa Clarita deputy city manager, told the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission that his city is so concerned about the prospect of a nearby landfill that it has set aside funds to study other possible methods of garbage disposal.

“We feel this issue is so important that we are going to look into designing a county waste management system ourselves,” Kolin said.

Kolin did not say how much Santa Clarita is willing to sink into its study, but the city has already spent about $1.2 million fighting the landfill, and has set aside $900,000 more to pay for possible future legal fees.

The dump, which would be operated by BKK Corp., would be placed on 1,643 acres of land just southeast of Santa Clarita on a combination of private property and U.S. Forest Service land in Angeles National Forest.

In addition to Santa Clarita city officials, opposition to the proposed landfill has been raised by many of the area’s residents, environmentalists, local business owners and even scientists concerned about fossil beds in the canyon.

All claim the dump would cause too much air pollution, noise, traffic, disturb animal and plant life, and possibly pollute the local aquifer, which is the source of most of the Santa Clarita Valley’s drinking water.

But BKK officials say they can address residents’ fears while fulfilling a pressing county need for more landfill space.

BKK has spent about $20 million so far in fighting for the landfill, claiming it is needed to stave off a possible shortage.

On Wednesday, the Planning Commission held the second part of its public hearing for landfill opponents. The first hearing on May 31 drew 3,000 people, too many to be heard in one day. Proponents of the dump had their own public hearing before the commission in mid-May, during which about a dozen people spoke in favor of the landfill.

Most of Wednesday’s two dozen speakers focused on alternatives to a new dump: from reducing the county’s volume of garbage with increased recycling and composting to hauling trash by rail to remote locations, incinerating it, or processing it into pavement.

Officials from Washington state testified that they were able to avoid building a new dump several years ago by promoting recycling through ad campaigns and financial incentives, such as charging higher fees for garbage pickup and no fees for collection of most recyclable items.

As a result, 90% of King County residents now put out only one trash can for collection twice a week instead of the two-can, twice-a-week pickups of a few years ago, said Nancy Glaser, a solid waste official from Seattle.

Mark Aranso, president-elect of the Santa Clarita Chamber of Commerce, told the Planning Commission that his group--whose members include BKK--had also decided to oppose the dump because of its potential for hurting area property values and discouraging new business.

The Planning Commission will decide whether to grant BKK a permit to operate the dump later this year. The final decision on the landfill will be made by the county Board of Supervisors.