Executive Blasts Landfill Opposition
Taking the offensive in the battle over the proposed Elsmere Canyon trash dump, a BKK Corp. executive blasted opposition to the landfill on Monday as “a glossy gold-plated NIMBY campaign.”
Ken Kazarian, BKK’s vice chairman and president of the Elsmere Corp., made the comments during a nearly two-hour defense of the landfill and his company at a public hearing before the county Planning Commission.
But Kazarian was also critical of the city of Santa Clarita, where residents, business owners and the city government have all condemned plans for the 190-million-ton garbage dump.
“Santa Clarita was born from an anti-Los Angeles County sentiment,” Kazarian said of the city’s incorporation in December, 1987. “Given that community spirit, [a dump at] Elsmere has little chance to gain support.”
He added sarcastically: “Listen, we want to invade them and dump L.A. trash up there . . . The opposition is nothing more than a glossy, gold-plated NIMBY campaign.”
The city of Santa Clarita has spent more than $1 million in the fight against the dump in the past six years while Torrance-based BKK has spent more than $20 million.
Landfill opponents have argued that a dump would create foul smells, cause traffic problems, risk contaminating ground water, endanger wildlife and generally harm the area’s semirural lifestyle.
But on Monday, Kazarian minimized environmental problems. He said the area’s soil was already contaminated by an old oil operation, but that the ground water was not affected. He said open space set aside by BKK Corp. provided enough room for a wildlife corridor. Garbage trucks would not create problems on city streets, he said, because the dump is accessible from a freeway.
Kazarian accused Santa Clarita of spreading false information about those issues, as well as about whether the area lies on an active earthquake fault.
“Santa Clarita,” he said, “wants to turn this into a popularity contest . . . For some, the fight has become bigger than the issue.”
He added: “If I sound mean or vindictive, I’m sorry, but we’re human too.”
Monday’s session, the Planning Commission’s seventh public hearing on the landfill, was reserved for rebuttal from BKK. The issue will return to the Planning Commission sometime before the end of the year, and will ultimately be decided by the County Board of Supervisors.
