City Delivers Aggressive Critique of Elsmere Plan

In its latest--and certainly heaviest--attack on the proposed Elsmere Canyon landfill, Santa Clarita on Friday handed county and federal officials an 800-page report saying the design of the 190-million-ton garbage dump was “fatally flawed” and a threat to public health.

The report was hand-delivered to both the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission and the U.S. Forest Service. It was a formal critique of the county’s draft environmental-impact report on the landfill and came at the end of the public-comment period on the proposal.

The city spent $150,000 on technical consultants alone to comb through the county’s draft, seeking flaws and omissions, said Jeff Kolin, director of special projects. The document was released half a year ago, and city officials were working up until the last minute to prepare a response.

“I think I’m gonna go home and have a glass of wine,” Kolin remarked at a news conference Friday morning. He has been dubbed the Czar of Elsmere for heading the city’s fight against the dump.

Santa Clarita’s report contends that the county’s EIR does not adequately address alternatives to the construction of the landfill, the potential dangers of the Whitney Canyon Fault, which runs through Elsmere Canyon, or the possible contamination of ground water. The BKK Corp., which proposes to build the landfill, has repeatedly said the project will employ state-of-the-art designs and will not endanger the public.

While Friday was the last day for public comment, the battle is far from finished. Kolin said the Regional Planning Commission will take from 90 days to six months to review all the documents, letters and comments made during public hearings concerning BKK’s requests to operate the landfill.

Both sides have indicated they will appeal to the Board of Supervisors if the decision is not in their favor.

The city also submitted its critique to the Forest Service because the project would require a swap involving land owned by BKK and land inside Angeles National Forest east of Santa Clarita.