Alarcon Attacks Panel Over Landfill Vote : Lopez Canyon: Councilman accuses Planning Commission of ‘environmental racism’ in extending dump’s permit.

Angered by the Planning Commission’s vote to extend the operating permit of a landfill in his district, Los Angeles Councilman Richard Alarcon accused the panel Friday of “environmental racism.”

Alarcon also accused minority members of the commission of betraying the working-class residents who have lived near the Lopez Canyon Landfill near Lake View Terrace for nearly 20 years. “There were some people of color who turned their backs on us,” he said.

Alarcon’s charge came one day after the Planning Commission voted unanimously to extend by one year the operating permit of the city-run landfill. The dump’s current permit expires in February.

“Lopez Canyon is one of the many attacks on the poor and minorities,” Alarcon said of the 400-acre facility in his district.

Alarcon has long criticized the landfill, claiming it creates dust, noise and odor for adjacent residents. And he has blasted city sanitation officials for attempting to break a 1991 promise not to extend the landfill’s permit past its February deadline.

But his charges of racism indicate a new, more provocative battle plan, particularly in a community embroiled in the emotionally charged issues of affirmative action and police racism. Alarcon said city officials continue to press for the extension because the working-class residents of Lake View Terrace do not have the money or political clout to fight the city.

“I absolutely believe that the communities that don’t have the economic clout get dumped on,” he said.

State Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), another landfill foe, agreed with Alarcon. “I think the city is clearly liable to a charge of environmental racism.

“It’s not the Mark Fuhrman type of racism, but it’s the kind of racism that has strong economic overtones.”

Alarcon promised to appeal the commission’s decision to the full council within two months. But it must first be reviewed by the council’s Planning and Land Use Committee, headed by Valley Councilman Hal Bernson.

Bernson said Friday that he also wants to close the landfill when the permit expires in February. But he rejected the charge of racism, saying he fought for years to close a portion of the Sunshine Canyon Landfill near Granada Hills, a predominantly middle-income, white community.

“It wasn’t racial when it was in Granada Hills,” he said.

Sunshine Canyon is a 200-acre landfill that straddles the city-county boundary in the Santa Susana Mountains north of Granada Hills. The portion of the landfill under city jurisdiction was closed in 1991, but the County Board of Supervisors granted a waste-disposal firm a permit to expand the county portion, prompting a lawsuit by nearby residents. A settlement was eventually reached allowing the expansion on the county portion of the dump.

Robert Scott, a member of the commission, also rejected Alarcon’s charge of “environmental racism,” saying the panel’s decision was based on the money the city would save by extending the landfill permit.

Commissioner Les Hamasaki, an Asian American, called Alarcon’s charge “unfounded,” saying his decision was based on the savings the city would make by keeping the landfill open over the cost of shipping the city’s trash elsewhere.

“We are looking at it from a strictly financial viewpoint,” he said.

Also, Hamasaki said the city does not have an alternative plan to extend the permit.

A city-commissioned study said the city would save $56 million by extending the dump until 2001 over the cost of shipping the city’s trash elsewhere.

“I think the comments about environmental racism are not well founded,” he said.

Scott added that the Lopez Canyon Landfill was built long before most of Lake View Terrace developed around the dump. He said many other landfills were placed in the northeast Valley over the years to fill the holes created by massive gravel and sand pits.