Law Sought to Prohibit Forest Dump : Environment: Federal representatives seek a national measure to forever block Elsmere Canyon proposal.

Imagine the equivalent of 3 1/2 Statues of Liberty jutting out of a national forest. Or 1 1/2 Washington Monuments towering above a natural ridgeline. All made of trash.

Using imagery everybody was sure to understand, opponents of the proposed Elsmere Canyon landfill pushed their case before a congressional subcommittee Tuesday, advocating federal legislation that would prevent any landfill from ever encroaching on Angeles National Forest.

“Will families choose the Elsmere trash dump as their place to walk, hike, ride and picnic with scenic views of trash trucks, bulldozers, water trucks, graders and 32,000-pounds-per-day of trash being dumped around the clock?” asked Santa Clarita City Councilman George Pederson.

Even though BKK Corp. appears to be backing away from the controversial 720-acre development--planning to sell its interest in the Elsmere project to rival Browning-Ferris Industries--landfill opponents told the House subcommittee on national parks, forests and lands that they want to ensure that the project does not resurface in the future.

The legislation introduced by Rep. Howard P. (Buck) McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) is designed to stop any current or future plans to use Elsmere Canyon as a landfill by prohibiting the Secretary of Agriculture from transferring any part of Angeles National Forest out of federal ownership for use as a solid waste landfill.

Such a land transfer is a critical part of the current plan. BKK has sought to use a portion of federal parkland for the landfill in exchange for private land of comparable value that the waste hauler would donate to the federal government.

But the land swap did not sit well with the many opponents of the project appearing before the subcommittee, including Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills), Rep. Carlos J. Moorhead (R-Glendale) and state Sen. Barbara Boxer, who has introduced a similar bill in the Senate.

“Because open space is already scarce in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, and because the demand for outdoor recreation opportunities will continue to soar as our region’s population expands, we need to make every effort to preserve what little accessible open space remains,” said Beilenson, who has hiked in Elsmere Canyon.

Harry Grossman, a senior vice president at Disney Studios, said the proposed mountain of waste would interfere with the many movies and television programs now filmed at Disney’s nearby Golden Oak Ranch.

The site, nestled into Placerita Canyon within view of the proposed landfill, has been the location for “Old Yeller,” “Swiss Family Robinson” and numerous other films.

McKeon considered the hearing a crucial first step in the progress of his bill. But subcommittee chairman James V. Hansen (R-Utah) remained noncommittal at the hearing, giving no hint on whether he would allow the bill to proceed.

It remains unclear if McKeon’s measure will even be needed.

BKK says its intention to sell the Elsmere land and concentrate on reopening BFI’s mothballed Sunshine Canyon Landfill near Granada Hills indicates that the Elsmere Canyon site is no longer a priority.

And whether it is a priority or not, the U.S. Forest Service, which has issued a preliminary report opposing the project, is expected to make a final decision in January on whether the Elsmere Canyon project can proceed.

A Forest Service representative testified that he agreed with McKeon’s concerns about the project but did not believe such a bill was necessary, given the Forest Service’s ongoing review.

“The Administration is unable to support [this bill] because we believe that the environmental analysis process--while difficult and often controversial--reflects the needs and desires of the public and ultimately results in well-grounded decisions,” said Gray Reynolds, deputy chief of the Forest Service.

The lone defender of the project at the hearing, BKK executive Dan Cohen, agreed that it was unnecessary for Congress to get involved in what he called a local matter.

“It is the role of local jurisdictions to decide whether the project should go forward,” Cohen said, showing off a number of letters in support of the project from area elected officials, including Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan.

But McKeon argued that it was important for Congress to take a stand, especially because this is the second time that a landfill project has been proposed for Angeles National Forest in the last 20 years.

“The national forest is owned by the federal government,” he said. “That’s why this is of national interest.”